2001 Northeast Junior/Young Riders Dressage Championships

A Dream Realized

The Championship is the felicitous realization of a long-held dream of Lendon Gray, member of the 1980 and 1988 U.S. Olympic Dressage Teams, five-time Olympic Festival Gold Medallist and member of the 1978 World Championship and 1991 World Cup teams. Raised in a tradition of self-sufficiency and hard work, Lendon spent her childhood years riding western, hunt seat, bareback and advancing through the ranks of the U.S. Pony Club, an equestrian organization promoting horsemanship, horse and pony care, safety and good sportsmanship to young people.

In recent years Lendon has channeled her infinite reserve of energy into training and developing both junior and adult amateur riders at her training facility, Gleneden Dressage at Sunnyfield Farm in Bedford, New York. She is intensely committed to developing riders, especially juniors, to learn correct basics and become all-around horsemen and horsewomen, with correct position, competitive skills, and knowledge of all aspects of riding and horse care. To this end, Lendon, assisted by a handful of fellow devoted horsewomen, instituted the Northeast Junior/Young Rider Dressage Championships, a competition where, she informs riders in her welcoming letter, "fun, learning and sportsmanship are foremost."