Jessica started riding at the age of 5 when she was given her first horse for her birthday...a 32 inch miniature! From there Jessica has been very active in 4-H becoming the NY State Champion at Training and First level at age 11. She has been dedicated to a pursuit of learning, teaching and overall horsemanship through her membership in the United States Pony Club since age 9. She recently passed her C2 Traditional rating which encompasses testing on the requirements of all phases of eventing at heights of 3 foot for cross country and stadium fences, as well as upper level horsemanship skills and veterinary knowledge. In her club, she often teaches the younger pony club members the benefits that dressage can bring to their eventing training and is often asked to be a team advisor for rallies and/or assistant for camps or testings. She hopes to achieve her A rating as a specialist in dressage over the next few years. Jess has been a recipient of 4-H Horseman of the Year and has represented her county and region at the state level in competitions in everything from horse judging, western and reining, to huntseat, showing miniature horses, horse related public speaking competitions and of course, dressage. She was the winner of the Yaraman trophy for Excellence in Dressage from her pony club, last year she received the Bronze medal award for 1st level performance from USPC, and most recently won the JR/YR Dressage Championships Kitwell Consul Challenge Cup for the highest scoring rider on an Arabian or part Arabian at Dressage4kids this year. Jessica was on a team representing USPC at Dressage4kids last year and earned a trip to CADI 2009 as a Dressage4Kids team member riding her eventing paint mare and repeated that again this year riding a Han./Arab cross after just a few rides on him. This summer the Kurr family and trainer Paula Cahill, offered Jessica a super opportunity to ride their schoolmaster Orion and train with them as if she were part of their family! It was due to their generosity that Jessica's journey continued, as after winning first level equitation for 12-15 year olds with a score of 98% she scored a 66.111% under Scott Hassler with Orion to earn a spot on her second US team heading to CADI.
CADI is the dream of Grand Prix rider and trainer Jane Karol of Concord, Ma it stands for The Children of the Americas Dressage Invitational. Several years ago she started CADI, an international show where they invite North and South American riders ages 12-14 to come together to compete, offering them top international experience prior to FEI Juniors. On arrival the international riders are provided with quality horses and draw from a hat to borrow them for the event. CADI provides trainers from the US and Netherlands to coach them through the week all whom have shown through Grand Prix and many having Pan Am and Olympic games experience. CADI is as much about the training you receive as the competition! Every Federation in South America and the Caribbean can nominate one rider to represent them at CADI and the US and Canadian riders must qualify by either competing at Dressage4kids as that organization sponsors one team of 3 to 4 US riders which are the top scoring riders showing at First level or above from that event, or ride at a CDI that offers that class to earn a qualifying score. It is held in Concord every October and is a 5 day event with the first day getting details like drawing horses and trainer assignments out of the way. They also have the University of New Hampshire Equine program come to do a basic horse care lesson as all riders are expected to take full care and responsibility for the horse they are given, and for some riders this is the first time they have to muck a stall so it is valuable information for them.
The next 2 days are training sessions and include a one hour lesson with your trainer, this year Jessica was assigned Cindi Rose-Wylieof Rosebrook Farm who did a super job working with her and the horse she was loaned for the event. US and Canadian riders who live within 600 miles must bring a horse to compete on, this year Jessica's trainer Leanne Haley- Brown of Wilson, NY very generously donated the use of her personal horse Rambutan, a 17.2 hand Hessen. Many would not have considered loaning a horse of this caliber to a junior rider and this speaks to the type of person Leanne is and her generosity to do this for her rider! With a distance of an hour and 45 minutes between her and Jessica, the pair had just 3 lessons together before Jessica brought him home to Geneseo for a week leading up to the event to work with him and get to know him a little better. Despite being a new pairing and competing against riders of whom many train full time during the day and home school at night, Jess and Rocky as he is known at the barn, settled right in together and got right to work in these early training sessions. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and rain kept all of the riders away from the show grounds and in an indoor located nearby until Friday which was when they rode the FEI Childrens Prelimiary Test. Judges for the event were Kathy Connelly, Suzanne Handler, and Sarah Geikie. Not your typical show grounds, the site is boarded on ringside by 2 large festival tents and a hillside, so as your not able to ride around the outside and 100 foot tents flapping literally feet away from the ring it can prove a bit exciting for some horses and not being able to let the horse see it before the test kept the anxiety level up for many riders to see how the horses would handle it up there. Jessica was assigned first rider of the first day... despite that, she ended up tied for first place with an average score of 68.261% as the US riders finished the day and was placed second on the podium by a one point difference in in the collectives, not a bad way to start the competition!
The order of go was flipped for the second and final day of competition meaning she would go last, as the riders performed their freestyles we knew it would be very close as scores that day were higher by 5-6 percentage points. Jessica and Rocky had a great ride in their freestyle test and earned another 2nd place with an average score of 71.547%. Then on to the overall championship awards, Jessica was named the US National Grand Champion and stood atop the podium as the Star Spangled banner played for the first time for her. It was a memory that she will never forget! Along with the grand champion ribbons she was awarded a new Diana riding coat and britches from Pikeur, a pair of signature leather gloves, a gift certificate for Dover Saddlery and Smartpack Equine, all whom were sponsors for the event. As grand champion she was also requested to ride in the Freestyle Serious Fun which is a Bearspot Farm for equine assisted psychotherapy fundraiser, and was to be held the next day. That morning 7 local Grand Prix riders came to the farm and in front of a crowd of several hundered people competed for the audience and judges top scores where all members of the audience had keypads to register a vote for each rider. These were true Grand Prix freestyles with lots of tricks like one handed freestyle canter pirouettes, and riding one tempis while waving to the crowd. Jessica was the first rider of the show and performed her freestyle in front of the amazing crowd as they were served brunch under the tents with the judges.
As part of CADI, Deborah Withers of Withers and Withers All Natural Horse Treats who boards her horse at Jane Karol's farm and offers her beautiful warmblood Norman to the International riders every year, also sponsors one $500 dollar scholarship to further the riders dressage education and defray costs of coming to CADI. Each rider is asked to send an application and letter explaining why they are deserving of as well as a letter of reference with the application, Jessica was awarded this scholarship as well from her application and was acknowledged in the event for her dedication to dressage and was told she "exemplified everything they had in mind when they created this scholarship!"
Jessie is the oldest of 4 children, she owns a paint mare and of course her mini, and is now searching for her next equine partner to help her reach her goals in dressage for the future. When not riding, she is an avid basketball player who competes on numerous travel and school teams throughout the year including at the AAU level as her team's point guard. Jessica would not be where she is today without the wonderful and generous support of the Kurr Family, Paula Cahill and of course her super friend and trainer Leanne Haley-Brown! Thank you does not begin to express what it has meant to her to have the support of so many around her, and it will be exciting to see where her next path leads!
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