Linck Dominated the USHJA 3'3'' Hunter Seat Medal Final - East

West Springfield, Mass.—Oct. 25, 2023—Out of 80 riders vying for the 2023 USHJA 3'3'' Hunter Seat Medal Final - East title, Kaitlyn Linck dominated each round aboard Linda Bammann's BG Touchdown. Held during the New England Equitation Championships at Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday, October 21, Linck, of Clinton Corners, New York, held onto the lead all the way through, taking the win ahead of Payton Baker and her owned Lightly Frosted in second and Francesca Giarrusso with her own Pontecini collecting third.

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The USHJA 3'3'' Hunter Seat Medal Final - East saw 80 entries compete over two rounds designed by Ken Krome, of Westminster, Maryland, and judged by Rachel Kennedy, of Brookeville, Maryland and Britt McCormick, of McKinney, Texas. At the conclusion of round one, Linck took an early lead with the top score of the day sitting on a 91. Sitting in second was Ruby Calger, of Westport, Connecticut, with an 87, and close behind with an 86 was Lila Racanelli, of New York, New York.

The top 25 riders returned for round two, which shuffled the scoreboard, and the top five riders returned for a final work-off round. The top five going into the final work-off round were Capri Truesdale, of Greenwich, Connecticut, sitting in fifth, Giarrusso, of Greenwich, Rhode Island, in fourth and Baker, of Greenland, New Hampshire, moved up six spots to sit in third place. Racanelli bumped up into second place after round two, with Linck staying on top.

The final testing round saw the top five execute a difficult course including two counter canter fences, a trot fence and halting in line. After testing, Baker moved up to collect reserve and Giarrusso took third overall. Ultimately, Linck, trained by Heather Gnewuch of West Lane Riding, held strong throughout each round and clinched the tri-colored ribbon with a 14.5 lead going into the work-off.

"Winning this class feels so surreal, I honestly wasn’t even expecting to win at all," Linck said of her victory. "Going into each round I wanted to stay as calm as possible and not let my nerves get the best of me so I decided not to walk the course for the first round. In the second round, I decided not to do the inside turns as I just wanted to have a nice smooth round and not to do anything crazy".

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BG Touchdown was originally brought up to be a Jumper contender for the Nations Cup under the guidance of Marcus Grünthal as his personal ride. Once Linck was able to take over the reins this year and try BG Touchdown in the Equitation ring, he truly started to shine.

"BG Touchdown, also known as Touchy, is only seven years old and started doing the Equitation quite recently," she said of her mount. "He is the sweetest horse in the barn and never wants to be bad. He is a little sensitive in the schooling arena when people get loud and he thinks he’s in trouble when he’s really not."

The USHJA 3’3” Hunter Seat Medal serves as a stepping stone for equitation riders, providing an opportunity to qualify and compete in a national equitation final at fence heights of 3’3”. The Medal is open to Junior riders, who have not competed in any of the following National Equitation Finals with fences at 3’6” within the same competition year, including USHJA Gladstone Cup Equitation Classic, ASPCA Maclay Finals, USEF Hunter Seat Medal Finals, USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals (East or West), WIHS Equitation Classic Finals, Jump Canada Medal Finals or the North American Equitation Championship.

"I would like to thank everyone who helped me get this far and believed in me so much," Linck said. "It has been such a long journey and I'm so happy to get this opportunity and to see it all paying off!"

The USHJA extends special thanks to the entire New England Equitation Championships team for hosting the event as well as Official Sponsors CWD, Nutrena and Parlanti; and Awards Sponsors Essex Classics.

To learn more about the USHJA 3'3" Hunter Seat Medal, visit ushja.org/HunterSeatMedal.

USHJA 3'3" Hunter Seat Medal Final - East Results

Rider | Horse | Trainer | Owner

Round 1 | Round 2 | Two-Round Score*
*The Final Round was not scored.

Photos: Anne Gittins Photography