Ben Asselin, Bretton Chad, Kara Chad and Alexandria Smith will represent Canada at CSIOY Bonheiden, BEL, held May 17–20, 2012 and CSIOY Lamprechtshausen, AUT, held May 24–28, 2012.
Asselin, 18, of Calgary, ON, will ride two horses on the tour—his Junior Division gold medal mount from the 2010 North American Junior Young Riders Championships, Lolita, a 14-year-old Oldenburg mare, and Rush, an 11-year-old Belgian Sport Horse. Both horses are owned by Attache Stables.
Eighteen-year-old Bretton Chad of Calgary, AB will ride Stone Ridge’s 12-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding, Lasall, and 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Tjengo.
The youngest member of the tour, 16-year-old Kara Chad of Calgary, AB, will also ride two Stone Ridge owned horses—Calle 11, a 15-year-old Holsteiner gelding, and Alberto II, a nine-year-old Holsteiner gelding.
Smith, 19, who currently resides in San Juan Capistrano, CA, will ride her own 11-year-old Hanoverian stallion, Albatros 86, on the tour
“I am very excited about the Young Riders tour to Europe in May,” said Jump Canada chef d’équipe, Mark Laskin. “We hope this will become an annual trip and that it will be an important part of our development system. There is nothing that can substitute for Nations’ Cup experience. It is an entirely different level of pressure when you’re walking into the ring with a Canadian flag on your chest representing your country.”
Laskin added, “This is a first step in that development and has relevance to competing on a senior international Nations Cup team for Canada. I’m looking forward to working with the next generation of Canadian show jumpers.”
To assist in making this tour possible, Equine Canada has received two very generous anonymous donations helping facilitate this forward thinking initiative to develop our next generation of Canadian show jumpers.
There is currently only one FEI team event held annually in North America—the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC)—where junior and young rider teams represent their provinces or regions in a competition similar to a Nations’ Cup.
Additional details about the two competitions may be found for CSIOY Bonheiden, BEL at http://www.jumping-bonheiden.be/ and http://www.srclamprechtshausen.at/ for CSIOY Lamprechtshausen, AUT.
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