Four Young Dressage Riders Chosen for Olympic Dream Program

Julie McKean

Julie McKean hails from Camden, Maine and has just completed her first year at Rollins College as a German major and Presidential Scholar. She and her partner, Stravinsky, a nine-year-old Danish Trakehner, train with Dr. Cesar Parra in NJ and Florida. In 2006, Julie and Stravinsky won team gold, individual silver and freestyle gold in the Junior Division at the NAJYRC. In addition, they were the FEI Junior Champions at the USDF Region 8 Championships. Julie was also the 2006 recipient of the American Trakehner Association Samurai II Scholarship Award. She is a USDF bronze medalist and has qualified for her silver medal in 2007. Julie has written articles that have been published in The Horses Maine and The American Trakehner Magazine. She was the Key Note Speaker at the Maine Dressage Society Annual Banquet in January 2007.
Julie began her riding career as an eventer, training with Willette Brown, but by age 12, she was compelled to focus on dressage. She and her ponies had many successes in the FEI Pony classes and were twice Reserve Champion at Dressage at Devon. Believing that riding a well-trained dressage pony is the best way for a child to learn dressage, Julie plans to help promote the budding industry in the U.S by breeding and training sport ponies for dressage. Julie's future goals include competing with Stravinsky in the NAYRC and the Brentina Cup. In addition, she plans to spend a college semester abroad in Germany where she will train while continuing her study of the German language. She is grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Dream program, which will broaden her knowledge of dressage and ultimately help her achieve her goals.

Jena Lynn Dick

Jena Lynn Dick is from Baldwin City, Kansas. She has been riding horses with her mother and sister for the past 12 years. She discovered dressage her freshmen year of high school and has been hooked ever since. In her spare time she enjoys friends and family, playing tennis, running, going to the lake, and singing. This fall will be her senior year at Baker University as a business management major and music performance minor. She is looking forward to starting an Event Coordinating business with a friend after graduation in 2008.
Walhall (Val), a 10 year old, Hanoverian gelding, is the love of her life. Val and Jena have been a team for almost 3 years. Val was awarded Third Level USDF Horse of the Year in 2005, and Val helped Jena earn her silver medal. In 2006 she took her spring semester of college off to train in California with Rebecca Rigdon. She was fortunate to stable at the barns of Steffen Peters, Guenter Seidel, Sue Blinks, and Christine Traurig. She attended the NAYRC last year and hopes to be on the Region 4 team this year for her second and final year competing as a young rider. She gives lessons to her family's German foreign exchange student and her mother. Over the years she has worked with clinicians such as Conrad Schumacher, Steffen Peters, Christine Traurig, Heather Blitz, and George Williams.

Natalie Perry

Natalie Perry started riding before she could walk. At the age of 9 she began taking lessons at a local hunter jumper barn. While training her first horse, a 4-year-old Quarter Horse, Natalie turned to dressage for help. Halfway through her first lesson, Natalie was hooked and never looked back. Since then, Natalie has trained and competed her Quarter Horse and Shire/National Show Horse from green broke through Third Level. In 2001 Natalie became the proud owner of a Westfalen mare named Rubina. With Rubina, Natalie was a member of the gold medal team at the 2003 Junior Dressage Team Championships at Dressage at Devon. In 2005, Natalie and Rubina were alternates for the Region 6 Advanced Young Rider Team. In 2006, they were members of the Region 6 Young Rider team. Unfortunately, Rubina came up lame on jog day. Natalie remained an important part of the team and earned the Captain Andrew B. de Szinay Sportsmanship Award at the 2006 NAYRC closing ceremonies. She has earned her USDF bronze and silver medals.
Natalie is a full-time student at the University of Washington where she is majoring in business with an emphasis on marketing. She also cares for four horses at her parent's small farm on a daily basis while riding between two and four horses six days a week. Natalie teaches dressage to up to 10 students a week and teaches clinics in Portland and Bend, Oregon. In the future Natalie plans to continue training horses and riders and hopes to ride on a team for the US.

Hannah Holland Shook

Hannah Holland "Holly" Shook, was born April 30, 1991, and lives in Charlotte, NC. She trains with Diane Ritz at Hidden Spring Farm in Monroe, NC. Recently, Holly has been living, training and competing in Wellington, FL. With the help of Marlene Whitaker of Custom Freestyle, Inc., she won her first Prix St Georges blue ribbon at the Palm Beach Derby for the Young Rider freestyle.
Holly was one of twelve young riders to receive an invitation to compete in the 2007 Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Dressage Festival of Champions held in Gladstone, NJ. She is hoping to qualify for the 2007 NAYRC in Lexington, VA. Though young, her determination coupled with the athleticism of her mount, Cape Town, an ex-eventer, make them a fiercely competitive team. Holly and Cape Town have a special connection. He is all heart and an amazing friend.
In 2006, Holly was overall individual champion at the USEF Junior Team Championships, and she won NAJC Region 1 junior team gold, junior individual gold, and individual silver in musical freestyle. She was the USDF nominee for the USEF Junior Equestrian of the Year Award for outstanding contributions to equestrian competition, and she appeared on the October 2006 cover of USDF Connection.
Holly has ridden in clinics with such notables as George Williams, Sue
Blinks, Debbie McDonald, Steffen Peters, Bo Jena, and Anne Gribbons.


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