For teenage equestrians, there are several highlights in the horse show world. One of these is the McClay Horsemanship Championship, the biggest junior equestrian competition of each year. Sun Valley native Samantha Taft qualified this year for the McClay during regional finals in Monroe, Wash.
The McClay is an equitation competition, meaning the rider, rather than the horse, is judged for style and form.
There is a jumping round and a flat-phase round. The jumps are between 3 feet 6 inches and 3 feet 9 inches, so not as high as would be seen in the adult Grand Prix competitions. Rounds are not timed. A first-round score is based on 100 points. Taft received an 80. She finished fourth out of 22, which qualified her for the national finals, to be held later this month in Syracuse, N.Y.
However, Taft, a junior at The Community School in Sun Valley, will not compete in the finals, though she intends to go watch to "see what my competition is."
"We're both green and new at all this," she said, referring to herself and her 6-year-old Irish warmblood, Athabasca.
Taft and Athabasca train with Jeff and Shelley Campf of Oz Inc. in Canby, Ore.
"I travel a lot there and in the summer I'm pretty much there full time," Taft said. "We have horses at home that my mom and I play with but (Athabasca) is really fancy. A true show horse. We have a really good bond."
Taft's first horse show, she said, was at "age 6 on a little white pony here."
"I went to Oregon to jump it up a notch. It's really exciting."
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