For many competitors, the CN North American Junior and Young Riders’ Championships (NAJYRC) is their first experience riding on a team, as well as their first time competing under international rules. The Championships serve as a proving ground for these riders who aspire to someday represent the United States in international competition.
Olympians such as Karen Lende O’Connor, Chris Kappler, Lauren Hough and McLain Ward all competed at the NAJYRC before going on to their highly successful equestrian careers. Another example is Nathalie Bouckaert Pollard of Chatsworth, GA, a two-time NAJYRC individual Gold Medalist, whose early accomplishments at the NAYJRC led to a successful career in the sport of eventing.
Nathalie, daughter of Belgian Olympian Carl Bouckaert, hit the major equestrian scene with team and individual Gold Medals in eventing at the 1997 NAJYRC. One year later, she returned to claim the individual Gold and team Bronze Medals.
She completed her first four star competition, where just finishing an event of that magnitude is an accomplishment, at the famous Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event in 2002. Nathalie then started the year off big in 2003 when she placed third in the Foxhall Cup CCI***, in Atlanta, GA. She was then selected to the United States’s “B” Squad for the 2003 Pan American Eventing Championship in Fair Hill, MD. There, she rode her now well-known mount, West Farthing, to a respectable eighth place finish.
In 2004, Nathalie married fellow eventer Michael Pollard and then went on to place seventh in the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** Modified Division. Later that year, she placed second in the Over The Walls CIC***, an eventing World Cup Qualifier.
Continuing her winning ways, Nathalie, who trains in show jumping with U.S. Olympian Laura Kraut and in dressage with six-time Olympian Robert Dover, rode West Farthing to victory in the U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF) Three-Star Eventing Championship at the 2005 Fair Hill International CCI*** in Fair Hill, MD, and was awarded the USET Foundation Challenge Trophy.
“The NAJYRC was such an incredible experience!” said Pollard, remembering her first time at the event. “As a young rider, inexperienced at that high level of competition, the Championships really gave me a feel for what it was like to ride on a team and feel the pressure to perform. It was my first experience riding on a team, and it helped teach me that sometimes, as a rider, you have to put your team’s needs above your own.”
The NAJYRC is the premier equestrian competition in North America for junior and young riders, age 14-21. Young equestrians come from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean Islands to vie for team and individual medals in the three Olympic equestrian disciplines of show jumping, dressage, and eventing.
The Championships began in 1974 as an eventing challenge between the United States and Canada. A Dressage Championship was added in 1981, and Show Jumping debuted in 1982. The first complete Championship was held in British Columbia, Canada in 1982. This year, when the Championships return to the Virginia Horse Center, August 1-6, it will mark the first time that officially-recognized championships for juniors (age 14-18) will be held in all three disciplines along with the championships for Young Riders (age 16-21).
Further information on the CN North American Junior and Young Riders’ Championships is available on line at www.youngriders.org.
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