August 14, Gladstone, N.J.

After a month on the road, Jamie Pestana may need to buy an extra suitcase to carry home all her loot when she returns to Livermore, Calif. She won both classes in the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Junior Championship this weekend to earn the national championship—just two weeks after she won two individual gold medals at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships.

Pestana said “Winny” is normally a very forward horse who loves to show off his extended trots.

“But yesterday when we went in the ring, it wasn’t like he misbehaved, but he just didn’t have the go button like he usually does,” she said. “Today I was like, ‘You’ve got to give it all. We’ve been gone for almost a month and this is it.’ I went around the outside and said, ‘Come on, let’s do it.’ He went in there and really went for me. I was really happy with today.”

The judges rewarded Pestana with 70.26 percent in the Junior Individual test, leaving her with an average score of 69.42 percent for the two days. Catherine Chamberlain, 15, placed second in both tests on Verdicci to grab the reserve championship with an average of 69.19 percent over Genay Vaughn, 16, on Waranja (67.63%). All three girls competed at the NAJYRC, and Chamberlain took home two individual silver medals there.

Pestana’s results don’t show it, but the 17-year-old high school senior faced plenty of adversity on her way to the national championship. She injured her shoulder in a fall while running hurdles and has been putting off surgery so she could continue to ride. “I was trying to get through this year,” she said. “I was hoping for next year too, but that’s just not going to happen. They said six months no riding [after the surgery], but in reality it will probably be four.”

Then her 6-year-old Hanoverian (Wolkenstein II—Franzisca) suffered some sort of trauma on the trip from the NAJYRC in Kentucky to New Jersey—possibly a fall in the trailer—and he was very sore for his first week in Gladstone. Pestana gave him time off and made sure he received plenty of massage, chiropractic work and acupuncture so he’d be feeling his best in the ring.

Next, as they were heading around the ring before their test today, Winny tripped and almost fell to his knees. “That definitely made me nervous, especially with my shoulder and his soreness. I just walked and picked it back up, and he seemed to be fine,” said Pestana.

Fortunately, Pestana has done almost all of Winny’s training herself since she and her mom, Nadine Pestana, purchased him from Catherine Haddad as a 3-year-old, so she knows the gelding inside and out.

“He let me go in there and really ride him. It felt no different than if I’d been riding him at home. It’s so nice to have such a young horse that can listen so well and have such a good connection in the show ring,” said Pestana.

– Catherine Chamberlain also trained her horse from the lower levels up. The Chandler, Ariz., native got the 8-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Krack C—Nadine’s Monday) three years ago when he was only competing at training level. She trains with Teri Patton-Hallman.

– This is Genay Vaughn’s second time at the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Junior Championship, and she’s placed third two years in a row. A C-1 Pony Clubber from Elk Grove, Calif., Vaughn trains with her mother, Michele Vaughn, and Jan Ebeling.

– Genay’s mare, Waranja, is a 14-year-old Hanoverian (Walt Disney I—Engie). She shares her sire with Catherine Haddad’s Winyamaro, who is competing in the selection trials for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Waranja spent the beginning of her career as a broodmare, and she produced the stallion Donner Starr, who now stands at Starr Vaughn Equestrian.

– Clare Green, who finished in fifth overall with Ramazotti, is primarily an event rider who competes at the preliminary level with her gelding Windbrook Sensotronic (Nick).

Full results for the Junior Individual Test can be found on www.foxvillage.com.

Complete Standings

Name/Horse/Junior Team/Junior Individual/Final Average

1. Jamie Pestana/Winzalot/68.59%/70.26%/69.42%
2. Catherine Chamberlain/Verdicci/68.48/69.89/69.19
3. Genay Vaughn/Waranja/68.48/66.78/67.63
4. Stephanie Bedford/Wahlen/67.56/66.15/66.86
5. Clare Green/Ramazotti/66.00/63.31/64.65
6. Natalie Martin/Royal/65.51/61.68/63.59
7. Kaitlin Blythe/Daverden/63.45/62.89/63.17
8. Heather Ots/Varekai/64.91/60.42/62.67
9. Dominique Cassavetis/Charming Princess/62.10/62.15/62.13
10. Emily Sours/Noble Baron/60.54/63.42/61.98
11. Rebecca Cohen/Downtown/63.18/60.31/61.75
12. Mary Kathryn Nommensen/Dom Perignon/62.27/60.05/61.16