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Hollis girl earns spot in national equestrian program

By Grace Pecci - Staff Writer | Dec 18, 2018

HOLLIS – While many eighth-graders enjoy social media, TV and video games, 14-year-old Amanda Gardiner of Hollis often finds herself in an arena filled with obstacles, training for and competing in equestrian events This month, Amanda was one of 12 equestrians across the country selected for the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Emerging Athlete Eventing 18 program.

“The program aims to identity and nurture athletes with the aim of competing at the highest level of the sport as high performance athletes representing the U.S. on an international level,” the organization stated via news release in announcing the winners.

According to the release, the 12 Eventing 18 athletes were selected based on the talent of the athlete or horse-and-athlete combination, and less on the horse’s ability.

Along with being one of 12 across the nation to be chosen, Gardiner was the only athlete chosen from New England.

Amanda is eligible to train in Ocala, Florida, from Jan. 7-10. Amanda’s mother, Meg, said although her daughter is the youngest in the program, it doesn’t bother her.

“She is cool as a cucumber when it comes to competition,” Meg said.

Amanda has competed througout the nation. In 2018 alone, her mother said Amanda and her horse Rover, also known as Relentless Pursuit, completed four preliminary events and one international event.

Meg said in March, Amanda and Rover took home second place at Rocking Horse in Florida. In June, the duo took first place at Green Mountain Horse Association in Vermont. In July, they took second place at Fitch’s Corner in Millbrook, New York.

Meg said in August, they finished in fourth place out of a large field consisting of mostly professionals. During the same event, they received first place for junior riders.

Amanda will have a busy year in 2019. Next year, Meg said Amanda is looking forward to training with the Emerging Athlete program in Ocala, Florida. Meg said Amanda will continue to compete with Rover at the preliminary level with aims to go the the North American Youth Championship in July at Rebecca Farm in Montana, as well as the American Eventing Championships in Lexington, Kentucky.

In eventing competitions, there are three phases: Dressage, Cross Country and Show Jumping. Dressage focuses on the partnership between the rider and horse, and how the horse demonstrates obedience based on the rides cues with his or her legs and hands. Dressage is scored by a judge. Judges also look at the horse’s balance and rhythm. The second phase is cross country.

Discover Eventing, a website that breaks down eventing, notes, “the cross-country phase typically takes place on the second day of competition, and always after the dressage phase.”

During this phase, the pair must jump over and clear different obstacles such as fences, water and ditches.

“Horses must be bold and brave, while riders must carefully control pace in order to not only finish the course in time, but also without expending too much of the horse’s energy,” the website notes.

The third phase, show jumping, which consists of 12-15 jumps, tests the stamina of the horse after the cross-country phase. There are penalty points if a horse knocks over a pole in the show jumping phase or if the horse misses a jump or refuses to make a jump in the cross-country phase. The horse and rider with the lowest point by the end of the competition takes home the blue ribbon prize.

It all takes dedication and lots of practice.

“Amanda is very determined, very bold, very self-assured,” Meg said. Amanda has had to learn over the years to be assertive.

“When you’re riding a 1,000-pound animal, you have to be in control,” Meg said.

Meg said Amanda grew up around horses and began riding at a very young age.

“The more she rode, the more she loved it,” Meg added.

Grace Pecci can be reached at 594-1243, or at gpecci@nashuatelegraph.com.

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