Canadian Eventing Committee Awards Athlete Development Scholarships

After careful consideration, the Canadian Eventing Committee has chosen three rising stars as recipients of Canadian Eventing Athlete Development Scholarships for 2004.

The Athlete Development Scholarship Committee, comprised of Kim Elliott-Foster, Peter Gray, and Murray Acton acting as chair, received a total of twenty-two scholarship applications. Andrina Calder of Toronto, ON, Jessica Ferguson of Uxbridge, ON, and Samantha Taylor of Richmond, BC were chosen to each receive a $1,000.00 scholarship.

“The quality of the applications was excellent, and continues to improve each year,” noted Acton. “It is always difficult to choose only three from so many competent individuals.”

As a result of her very successful debut competing at the Intermediate level, Andrina Calder, 16, together with Herz Prinz, a 14-year-old Trakehner gelding, have been named to the 2005 Canadian Eventing Long List. One of the highlights of Calder’s 2004 season was her impressive 19th place finish out of 85 starters at the 2004 Radnor Hunt International CCI** Three Day Event. In 2004, the duo also won the Red Hill Horse Trials at the intermediate level and Canterbury Horse Trials at the Open Preliminary level. Calder and Herz Prinz also won both the individual and team gold at the 2003 North American Young Riders’ Championships in the CCIYJ* division. Calder’s goals for the future include competing at the Olympic level.

Jessica Ferguson, 21, has been competing at the international level since 1999, when she rode to a second place finish in the CCIYJ* division at the North American Young Rider Championships aboard Let’s Boogie, a Morgan Quarter Horse gelding. In 2004, aboard Exploring, her eight-year-old Canadian Thoroughbred gelding, Ferguson completed the Midsouth CCI* in Lexington, KY in ninth place, and also received the award for best conditioned horse. Another one of Ferguson’s successful mounts was Little Joe, a Canadian Thoroughbred gelding. In 2002, the pair placed tenth in the CIC** division at the Bromont Three Day Event, and finished 64th out of almost 200 starters in the 2002 Radnor Hunt International CCI**. Ferguson’s future goals include competing at the three and four-star level.

Pony Club gave Samantha Taylor, 21, a great start in horsemanship, but her past two and a half years as a working student in Unionville, PA, for Buck Davidson has helped her achieve her goals as an event rider. Taylor and her two horses Livewire, a seven-year-old thoroughbred gelding, and My Silver Lining, a nine-year-old thoroughbred gelding, completed Midsouth CCI* Three Day Event in Lexington, KY in the fall of 2004. She hopes to have both horses ready for the intermediate level this spring. In 2003, Taylor completed the Radnor Hunt International CCI** Three Day Event, finishing in 20th place out of 103 starters with Aaron Vale’s Oslek. Taylor’s long-term goals include competing at the advanced level and being Short Listed for the Canadian Eventing Team.

The Canadian Eventing Committee created the Athlete Development Scholarship program to provide financial support, assistance and encouragement to athletes competing in the sport of eventing in Canada. These athletes must show a desire and dedication to represent Canada in the sport of eventing while at the same time promoting the advancement of the sport within Canada.