HARRISBURG, Pa.--Olivia Sweetnam on HDB Quality jumped a clean round in the third and final phase of the USEF Junior Jumper National Championships to win the individual championship on Saturday evening, Oct. 12 at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show.
On Thursday, the first day of the Championships, 16-year-old Olivia Sweetnam of Wellington, Fla., and Lexington, Ky., competing for Zone 4, finished second in the time converted to faults speed class to score 0.01 points.
On Friday she had two clean rounds to help her Zone 4 team to the championship.and her fourth clean round Saturday gave her the individual title when her teammate Isabelle Eamon on Magnolia, who had been leading on 0 faults, had a rail down to drop to fourth.
The top three finishers all went clean through all four rounds of competition, with Clara Propp of New York, N.Y., who is trained by Briane Goutal, rode Cocolina to win the silver medal, and Ava Myers of San Antonio, Texas on Sparky won the bronze.
“This experience has been amazing,” said Sweetnam. “I kind of put a lot of pressure on myself both last night and tonight because I wanted to do good for both my team and my horse. I know that Quality is very capable of doing this with ease, so I didn’t want to let her down.”
“THIS IS my heart horse, so it means extra to me,” said Sweetnam of the mare she has ridden for the last three years. “I know her very, very well. I’ve moved up from the 1.20m all the way to this level, and she’s taken me around a 1.50m track now. We have a really, really good bond both in and out of the barn because she’s one of those mares that, once you connect with them and earn their trust, she’ll do anything for you. I trust her with my life, and she trusts me as her rider. it’s so great that I can walk into the ring every single time knowing that she’s going to give it her all.”
“This experience has been great because I aspire to jump in a Nations Cup and compete in team competitions for the U.S.," said Sweetnam, whose father Shane was a member of the Irish team at the Paris Olympics and jumped a clean round in the team competition to qualify for the individual finals. "This competition has taught me how to better work with teammates, the drop score, and knowing what you must do to produce the best result for the team.”
Propp was awarded the William C. Steinkraus Style Award, a prestigious and historic trophy given to the rider who best exemplifies the American style of equitation and the respectful, dignified, courteous and workmanlike manner of a true sportsman.
“Coming into this evening, I knew I wasn’t going in on the podium, so I just wanted to have a clear round and hopefully move up,” said Propp, who was fourth going into Saturday night. “We did just that, and my horse was amazing!”
“Cocolina handles pressure really well," said Propp. "I just didn’t want to let her down because she’s more than capable of this. I loved the course tonight. I think the difficulty was exactly right for a class like this, and I think that it was fair. I think that it was very doable, but it definitely asked the horse and rider correct questions.”
“Sparky is 9 years old and before we got him, he didn’t have much experience in the 1.40m,” said bronze medalist Myers, who has only ridden Sparky for a year. “It’s been very nice to develop this young horse, and we develop together as a pair. We hit it off right off the bat. He's a funny, quirky horse, but he loves his job so it’s been a truly amazing partnership between us. I’m thankful to ride him every day.”