HARRISBURG, Pa.--Taylor Cawley of Zone 4 on Klaatje Z won phase one of the USEF Junior Jumper National Championship on Thursday evening, Oct. 9 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg.
Taylor Cawley on Klaartje (Photo by Andrew Ryback)The championship is a competition between the USEF Zones that represent various areas of the country, and Zone 4 includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina.
Zone 2 includes Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, and the Championship includes both team and individual competition.
Cawley, riding as a individual, won the $5,000 Junior Jumper National Championship Welcome Phase 1 in a time of 58.03 seconds.
Michaela Munson on Charlene placed second place, clean in 59.24 seconds, and Izzy Beisel on Diaz Barbotiere was third in 59.25 seconds.
Cawley has ridden Klaartje Z for just under a year.
Cawley, said the mare’s natural tendency to be quick on her feet paid off in Phase I.
“She's naturally quite fast, which I think helped,” said Cawley of the 11-year-old Belgian Sport Horse. “She's a competitor at heart. She has a super fiery personality, and you don't want to get in her way when she's in the mindset of winning.”
“It's really an amazing feeling to know that she's just as competitive as I am,” she said.
THE CLASS over 1.35m fences was full of well-known junior riders, such as Avery Griffin, JJ Torano, and Michaela Munson.
“I wouldn't say I get super nervous,” Cawley said. “I just mainly wanted to execute the plan as best as I could for both myself, my horse and my team. So, I'm really happy that it all went to plan today. Tonight's course was a very nice course. There were a lot of leave out strides more just based on track and kind of your adjustability of the horse and making sure you were comfortable in the ring.”
Friday evening includes the next phase of the Championship, the $15,000 USEF Prix des States Team Championship and Individual Phase II with the Individual Championship finale Saturday evening.
Cawley will be continuing forward as an individual and will not be part of the team representing her home region of Zone 4.
“I'm an individual this year,” Cawley said. “It's amazing to watch my teammates, as well as being able to compete for myself. I'm super excited for tomorrow and leading into the last day.”
Cawley has competed at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show before.
“This horse show in particular has a lot of history behind it,” said Cawley. “I know both of my parents actually have shown here quite a bit when they were younger, and my mom showed up to the grand prix. So, it's really nice to have all this history at such a special horse show that we get to compete at.”
The /USEF Prix des States Team Championship and Individual Phase II, which will begin at 6:15 p.m., Friday evening.
