2005 Dressage at Devon - American Junior Riders Championships

Meet the Riders - Ashley Peterson and Augustus

Ashley Peterson is a 19-year-old resident of Oyster Bay, New York who has been riding since she was 11-years-old. She trains with Lendon Gray, who was instrumental in the finding and purchase of her current horse, Augustus. Augustus or “Gus” is a 9-year-old Dutch Warm blood gelding purchased for Ashley in June of 2004. She knew she had found the perfect horse for her based on his sweet disposition and personality that matches so well with hers. “He was out of shape when we found him, he had not been ridden since December and we tried him in June. He was trained to the I1 level at the time of his purchase and had been shown I1 in the past, which helped.”

Last year Ashley and Gus competed in the junior classes at horse shows with a season average of a 67%. This year they duo tried out for NAYRC and accumulated a season average of 64.9%to land them a fourth member on to Region 8 team. In the team test, they finished 11th with a 64%. They moved on to the individual test, where they earned a 64% to finish 9th. This placement moved them on to the freestyle, where they finished the competition with a 66% and a 10th place finish individually. Her team finished in seventh place overall.

“The NAYRC was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. The NAYRC has always been my goal, so reaching it was quite an accomplishment for me.” Because of her scores at NAYRC, Ashley and her horse qualified to compete in the Young Rider division at Devon. This marks her first time competing at Devon and she is quite excited to be here.

Ashley is also a Pony Clubber. She has earned her C2 rating and has competed at the Nationals six times and earned several medals. She is also the USDF Region 8 Regional Representative. Duties include monthly conference calls, taking notes and running raffles. She is also involved in the Dressage Foundation and was selected to go to Europe this summer to visit barns and go to horse shows.

Ashley and her mount earned the Reserve Champion spot at the Region 8 Finals. Last year the pair also earned a bronze medal at the equitation seat medal finals. Ashley has earned her USDF Bronze Medal and is currently working on her Silver Medal.

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