Thursday Morning Feed from Fleeceworks

There’s a warm place in my heart for sports biographies. Books, movies… if there’s an athlete with a story worth telling, I want to hear it.

There’s just something unequivocally inspiring about watching the trajectory of a sports figure’s life unfold, no matter how familiar the narrative arc: 1) athlete dedicates self to sport, 2) athlete is faced with seemingly insurmountable challenge, 3) athlete overcomes obstacle to achieve success–the end. I enjoy sharing in their victories as much as I thrill in following them down into the deepest, darkest caverns of self-doubt, whereupon they are forced to rescue themselves. Sport biographies give me hope and renew my faith in the power of sheer will.

For many of the same reasons, it’s important to me that we highlight the journeys of our fellow equestrians here at Horse Nation. Each week, we feature a number of rider blogs hailing from various corners of horse sport, each exemplifying the spirit of the athlete that I so fiercely admire.

The 2012 FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships are fast-approaching, to be held July 17-22 at the Kentucky Horse Park. For many of our nation’s brightest young equestrian stars, this event marks the most important competition of their lives thus far and comes loaded with an enormous amount of pressure.

We already have one Young Rider blogging for Horse Nation about her journey to NAJYRC, Teresa Harcourt, an eventer from California who is riding on a wave of success going into the summer [Welcome Teresa]. Today, we’ll be introducing one more, thanks to our fantastic sponsor Fleeceworks, which is showing its support of the Young Rider program by sponsoring the Area V Young Rider teams. Jacob Fletcher will be allowing us to participate in his and his team’s adventure toward the Championships.

It’s a brave thing for these Young Riders to allow us insight into their lives and emotions in the stressful months leading up to July. In return, let’s show them our support.

Go Riding, and go Young Riders.