Lexington, Ky.—July 17

One might think that riding an Olympic horse, or one that had come from a professional, would give a junior rider an edge in any competition. But the Area II junior eventing team—Camilla Grover-Dodge, Morgan Booth, Amanda Beale Clement and Skyler Decker—have had some serious homework to do before earning the top spot after one-star dressage at the Adequan/FEI Junior and Young Rider Championships today.

They’ve had to really put their feet on the gas pedal in order to get their riding in tune and up to par with their mounts.

Grover-Dodge piloted Remington XXV to individual first place on a score of 38.3, setting a competitive tone early in the division and ending up the only pair to break into the 30s. Booth and Twizzel went last and put in the second place performance (41.8).

“You would think that since he went upper levels he’d be easier to ride, but actually, it makes him a lot harder to ride [on the] flat and jumping, so I had to learn new techniques to learn how to ride him through all the phases,” said Grover-Dodge, 16. “He knew he was at a competition so he got all puffed up and fancy but he almost cantered into the test which was bad, but he got in there and just put on his game face and was just so rideable through all the movements. He was great.”

Booth, 18, took the ride on Twizzel after the 2012 London Olympic Games and they scored a 41.8 to slot into second place. “He thinks he’s at Rolex again, which is really fun!” she said. “It makes my job pretty easy because he’s so ready to go. I kind of had to ride a bit tougher in the warm up and then go in and just take a deep breath and let him do what he does. He was almost too good! he predicted one movement in the corner, but it’s OK. He’s great.”

Averse to the boredom of retirement, Twizzel immediately clicked with Booth, who took her time getting to know him, riding with Will and Katie Coleman on the flat for a long time before starting to jump one year ago. “I just cantered to a little cavaletti and he left a stride out because he was so excited!” said Booth. “He was like, ‘Oh no, girl, this is how we do it!’ and then we bronced around. the jumping is a bit easier than the flatwork, but he’s incredible and i’m so thankful to have him.”

Decker, 16, has been to the Kentucky Horse Park for NAJYRC before, but has only served as a groom (last year for Grace Fulton). So this year, she was ready for her chance to shine in the arena. She rode Inoui Van Bost to a middle-of-the-pack score and was thankful to have her teammates by her side as well as a personal best performance.

“I was really proud of the way my horse handled the atmosphere because he’s a younger horse and he’s never been in something like this,” said Decker, who described him as “feral” upon meeting one another and building a partnership one year ago. “So as soon as I went down the centerline I was like, ‘Alright; he’s got his mind together.’ And then I just kind of rode every movement separately and tried to get as much out of him as possible because he tends to get a little tense. He’s a very quirky horse.”

Clement, 16, who got the ride on Peter Pan just last August, said “I’m on a Thoroughbred and he moves like any other horse so it’s really cool. He just trotted down that centerline and knew his job and knew what to do so i was really happy.

“I’ve definitely had to learn a lot; he’s not like any horse—he doesn’t crosstie, he’s a lot to handle, he bites, he kicks, he’s little but he has a lot of animation and we’ve really developed as a team,” she added. “He also came from a professional so it was a lot for me to learn moving on to such an amazing horse, so we’ve really learned a lot together, and I love him.”

Sinead Halpin coaches Area II and helped them prepare at an intensive training camp before NAJYRC. All the riders are looking forward to one last early morning cross-country course walk before that phase kicks off at 8:30 a.m.

For full results, click here.