Thermal, CA – February 22, 2025 – With a win in Saturday’s $7,500 North American Junior Championship Trial 1.40m Classic, Madison Wiener is one step closer to punching her ticket to the 2025 FEI Jumping North American Youth Championships.
Desert Circuit 7 at the Desert International Horse Park marks the first of three Zone 10 Selection Trials for the Children’s, Pre-Junior, Junior and Young Rider teams for this year’s NAYC.
For Weiner, returning to the NAYC, this time as a Junior competitor, is a major goal for 2025.
“Last year was my first year doing [the NAYC], and it was such an amazing experience,” said Weiner who was part of the silver-medal-winning Zone 10 Pre-Junior team at the 2024 NAYC. “Now we’re trying out for the Junior trials, and I’m really excited!”
Wiener’s winning mount on Saturday, February 22, is the same mare she piloted to her NAYC silver medal, Boubou de la Roque. This time, the pair were the fastest of three entries to qualify for the jump-off, and they earned the win with a time of 37.806 seconds. Second place with a time of 38.638 seconds went to Lilah Nakatini and Livius P, and Zoe Wolf and Gerko III van de Zeilhoek took home third with just one fence down in the jump-off.
“The first-round course, I was very nervous, but it was a good course,” said Wiener, who trains with Jamie Taylor at Cloverleaf Equestrian. “I’m not super experienced over the water, so that was a little bit of a challenge, but we did that well, so that’s always a good start! She’s always fast, so I wasn’t too worried about the time allowed. It’s more just about going clear, staying efficient in the turns, making sure we’re not fading out too far in our bending lines.”
Wiener continued, “We’ve been working on just staying consistent, keeping my confidence up, jumping a bigger height. We had a little time off in December leading up to these trials, so it’s just about getting on, staying consistent and kind of remembering what I want it to feel like.”
Zone 10 NAYC Trial competition continues Sunday, February 23, for the Young Rider and Pre-Junior competitors. To access a complete schedule and all results, click here.
