Horse Illustrated Magazine

The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) and Platinum Performance congratulate the juniors and young riders who competed at the USDF/Platinum Performance North American Junior and Young Riders Dressage Championships Aug. 1-5, 2007 in Lexington, Va.  This is the premier competition for FEI Juniors and Young riders age 14-21. Riders are invited to compete from each Canadian province, United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) zone (for show jumping), USDF region (for dressage), and U.S. Eventing Association area (for eventing), as well as from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean Islands and Bermuda via each country’s national equestrian federation.

U.S. riders took home 27 out of 36 medals in the Junior and Young Riders’ Dressage division. A complete list of U.S. results can be found on the USDF website at www.usdf.org.

Canadian Alexandra Duncan and her mare Electra from West Vancouver, British Columbia, were awarded this year’s Fiona Baan “The Pursuit of Excellence” perpetual trophy. The USDF presents this award to the young rider in the dressage portion of the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships who receives the highest average percentage score for all three of their dressage rides: team, individual and freestyle.

“The Pursuit of Excellence” is the legacy Fiona Baan left to all the FEI Young Riders, and to everyone who knew her or worked with her. For nearly 30 years Baan worked tirelessly with great dedication to the United States Equestrian Team (USET). She was U.S. dressage team leader for the 1976 Olympics, in which the United States won the bronze medal, the 1987 Pan Am Games and for the bronze medal dressage team at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The trophy given in her honor has been awarded since 1994 and resides in the Roemer Foundation/ USDF Hall of Fame.