Jacqueline Ruyle and Cyramo Z Snag First CSI3* Win

Orchid De L’Isle and Danielle Urban Win 4-Year-Old USHJA Young Jumper Final

The USHJA Young Jumper Championships calls the Traverse City Horse Shows Tournament of Champions home this week alongside the Silver Oak Jumper Tournament. The championship provides a unique opportunity for young horses and their owners and trainers, allowing them to step in the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring, the very ring that often welcomes CSI5* action, and begin their jumping careers.

Judged on jumping penalties and style, broken into categories of front legs, hind legs, bascule, rideability, instincts, scope, and movement, the 4-year-olds jumped three rounds over three days. The ultimate champion on Thursday was Orchid De L’Isle, owned by Rose All Day LLC, with Danielle Urban aboard.

“I’ve always loved working with young horses, so to get to attend this event, which I’ve wanted to do for the last couple years, was an exciting thing to do,” Urban, of Elkhorn, NE, said of the USHJA Young Jumper Championships. “My business is typically coaching and training, so this was a fun, new experience for us. It’s an exciting event for the young horses. It tests their capabilities at the end of the year after seeing how much preparation you put into them over the summer.”

“Our 4-year-olds have had a really light year,” Urban went on. “We’d show and then give them some time off. They don’t need to be jumping a lot, and they don’t jump a lot at home. We do a lot of flatwork and ground poles, so this is probably the biggest these 4-year-olds have ever jumped today at the final championship.”

Orchid De L’Isle, which Urban calls “Vespa”, is not only showing promise in the ring, but also at home and in situations outside of the ring, especially given that her primary rider is an amateur.

“We try to get them off property, and we try to get them new experiences,” Urban said of her philosophy behind bringing up a show horse at a young age. “Vespa is ridden primarily by an amateur rider, Emily Gordon. Emily rides her probably four out of the five days at home and lessons on her and takes her on trail rides and tries to get her experience in all things out of the arena if possible.”

Urban returned to Traverse City Horse Shows for this event for the first time in nearly a decade, in awe of the changes that have been made across the property.

“It’s probably been eight years since I’ve been here,” she shared. “Now that we’re back, we really want to come back next year for several weeks. There are way more rings than last time I was here, and it’s more organized with the jumpers on top and the hunters below. The footing seems to be great, especially since we got so much rain yesterday and you can’t even tell today. The jumps look great. It’s a beautiful facility.”

Reserve Champion honors in the 4-Year-Old Final resulted in a tie between Taylor Flury’s two mounts HFF Coronet’s in the Black, owned by High Finance Farm, and Bliss Starlite. Bliss Starlite, bred and owned by Melissa Hirt of nearby Maple City, MI, received the U.S. Breeder Award at the conclusion of the USHJA 4-Year-Old Young Jumper Championship.