Greves Equine Youth Show Team
The first stop on our tour highlighting first time attendees at the Appaloosa Youth World Show is Greves Equine. It turns out that all of their youth competitors this year are first time attendees at the show. Lauren Wardell, Elynn Luse, Everleigh Miller, Maranna Wall and Elliette Miller took a few minutes out of their busy first day of showing to meet this great group of youth competitors.
Lauren Wardell
Lauren started riding the summer before her freshman year of high school. She played volleyball prior to that and did not make the high school volleyball team. She said that her grandmother, Donna, didn’t want to see her unhappy so suggested that she try riding lessons. She started to ride at Greves Equine instead of playing volleyball. Their loss is our gain!
Lauren stated that she wanted to learn barrel racing but they “converted her.” She started to ride lesson horses and stepped up. She met Emily Lundstrom and Baily (Doubledippedincolor). She has showed at local appaloosa shows around Indiana and Illinois and led the nation in Youth Walk Trot 11-18.
She said they decided to show at Youth Worlds this year as it is her last year as a youth rider. She will be showing in the Youth 14-18 and Novice All Around events. She lives about an hour from the barn and drives there every day to ride. Lauren says she is the type of rider that gets anxious and all up in her head. She has learned to do deep breathing to help this but also credits the barn and all her horse show moms, Ginny Tower and Janna Piantedosi, for pep talks and helping her get through her nerves.
Lauren is most looking forward to her showmanship and bareback equitation classes. “I’m a showmanship junkie.” Lauren is also a member of the Purdue University Equestrian team and was voted outstanding freshman last year.
Lauren is off to a good start on her first day of the horse show with a Reserve Championship in Novice Hunt Seat Equitation 14-18.
Elynn Luse
Elynn started to ride because her very good friend, Everleigh Miller, rode and she started to ride at the same barn when she was around 6 or 7 years old. She started by riding lesson horses and then leased a horse named Quinn that she showed mostly western. She then rode Craving Chocolate in the Walk Trot 10 & under events at regional appaloosa shows.
Elynn moved up to riding Eve, Choc Full of Kisses, about two years ago and rides her in the all-around events, advancing to the walk trot 11-18 events. Like her other youth team members, her preparation for Youth World included a lot of practice. She is really looking forward to showing in trail as she feels she is very good at this event.
Everleigh (Evie) Miller
Evie started to ride when she was 5 years old. She started by taking a lot of lessons. She leased Mercedes, Chocolate Principles, and showed her lead line and walk trot in the western events. Evie rode her next horse Wally, Vested All Mighty, in the walk trot 10 & under events for two years. Last year she and Wally won many of the Walk Trot 10 & under year end high point awards.
Evie now rides Too Hot to Sleep and Miss Impulse in the youth walk trot 11-18 all around events. She has been riding Miss Impulse since September. She has always wanted to show at the Youth World Show and is really looking forward to showing in the Western Pleasure class.
Maranna Wall
Maranna started riding in 4-H at 10 years old and within a year was riding with the Greves Equine team. She started riding Jax, ABs Sleepy Machine in the walk trot all around events. Last year she started to lope and started loping events. She ended up selling her horse and a month ago leased Dexter, Hotroddinchip. She is riding Dexter in the Youth Novice 14-18 events.
Maranna said that getting ready for Youth World’s involves a lot of preparation, riding every single day. She wanted to show at Youth World’s because, after showing regionally, she felt she was ready for this level of competition. She is looking forward to seeing how it goes.
Elliette (Ellie) Miller
Ellie started riding because her aunt and uncle rode for a long time with the Greves. She started riding western at the barn with Corey, who is the barn starter horse. She showed Mercedes in lead line. She moved to walk trot 10 & under events and still showed Mercedes.
Ellie is now showing Wally, Vested Almighty in the Walk Trot 10 & under events. When asked why she wanted to show at the Youth World show, she said it was because she wanted to win a world championship and winning is what she most looked forward to. Just so you don’t think her confidence is overblown, before this article was even finished Ellie had a World Championship trophy in hand.
All of these fantastic young ladies ride with Greves Equine in Bloomfield, Indiana. They obviously have a solid riding program which is producing not just top-notch youth riders, but hard-working riders as well.
