Harrisburg, PA – Following three rounds of competition on Sunday, October 16, a field of 230 of the nation’s best junior riders was whittled down to one new Dover Saddlery/US Equestrian Hunter Seat Medal champion: Luke Jensen of Denton, TX.
Second place in the prestigious class – held as part of the 76th Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg, PA – went to Skylar Wireman of Bonsall, CA, and Kate Egan of Glen Gardner, NJ, rounded out the top three.
“The prestige of this horse show is incredible, so I’m very grateful to be able to compete here and to be here and show at the highest level,” said Jensen, who trains as a working student with John Brennan and Missy Clark of North Run. “The competition is incredible. Every rider here earned their spot, and they’re all incredibly talented – all the horses, all the riders. To be able to win it is very special to me and the prestige just makes me all the more grateful to be here.”
The opening round of competition got underway at 7 a.m. with a challenging course set by designer Thomas Hern, Jr., with input from judges Karen Healey and Mark Jungherr. The technical track posed difficult questions every step of the way, aiding Healey and Jungherr in narrowing down the large field to the top 25 riders that would then return for a second round.
“This is the highest level of this discipline, equitation, so I thought that it was a fair level of technical,” said Jensen of the course. “It would need to prepare you for future riding endeavors. The questions they asked were very fair; I felt very prepared coming from the North Run team. I think that we prepared very well, and I was able to confidently answer those questions.”
Healey added, “I wanted it to be a championship course. I didn’t want to be cookie-cutter. I didn’t want it to be run of the mill or what we see week in a week out. I wanted to ask tough questions, but I thought if you knew where your horse was and if you were aware of where you landed or what you had to do to come out, you could make everything work. It was all about keeping track of where you and your horse were.”
Jensen did just that exceptionally well, putting him at the top of the standings at the conclusion of the first round. Coming back as the final to return for the second-round course, Jensen and his winning mount, Jamaica, again checked all the boxes to hold onto their lead.
Wireman delivered a similarly well-executed second round, moving her from fourth place up into second aboard Famous.
From there, the top four of Egan, Wireman, Jensen and Isabella David returned for further testing. Each of them was handed a slip of paper listing the test, which included two challenging counter-cantered fences, a trot jump and a hand gallop down to the final triple bar fence. They were given time to review test while mounted in the ring before being asked to exit as to not see any of the other riders’ tests.
Returning in reverse order of their standings, David and Egan each had some minor bobbles in their counter-canter work, but Wireman returned in the penultimate position to throw down the gauntlet for Jensen.
Jensen, however, rose to the occasion to hold on to his win.
“They were both very, very close at the end,” said Healey. “I thought all of you guys did a great job. I mean the first course was not easy, and at first, I thought the second one was going to be way too easy. Then it kind of took care of itself a little bit. Then, it ended up working out the way we wanted it to at the end.”
Jungherr added, “[Luke] came in winning both rounds, and then their work offs were very close. He had a great connection with his horse, and he kept the same weight in his hands all the way through the three rounds over a lot of jumps.
Jensen has had the ride on Jamaica, owned by North Run, since the beginning of the year when he began taking care of the 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding in his working student role.
“Getting to [take care of him] is very, very special to me,” said Jensen, whose name will be added to the Adrian Van Sinderen Memorial Perpetual Trophy for the win. “I’m so grateful to do it, and I think it makes a big difference to know the personality of your partner.”
Earning the title of the Best Equitation Horse and the Doris H. Clark Memorial Perpetual Trophy, donated by Missy Clark, was Castlefield Spartacus, ridden by fourth-place finisher David and owned by West Hill.
Each of the top 12 riders was presented with a cooler, a halter provided by Dover Saddlery, and a Dover Saddlery gift card. The top three also received EquiFit D-Teq boots, and, as the winning trainers, Brennan and Clark received a $500 gift card to Dover Saddlery and a keepsake trophy.
For full results of the 2022 Dover Saddlery, USEF Hunter Seat Medal Final, click here.
From October 13-22, the 76th Pennsylvania National Horse Show hosts more than 1,200 of the best hunter, jumper and equitation horses and riders from across the nation. The 10 days of competition will culminate in the $100,000 Grand Prix de Penn National on Saturday, October 22. To learn more, visit www.PAnational.org.
