Chase Shipka Earns Eventing Rider fo the Yeaer and Rising Star Awards

Middleburg,VA – It’s official: Foxcroft School rider Chase Shipka is a rising star and she’s getting an award that says so. Not only is Shipka the U.S. Eventing Association’s Junior Preliminary Rider of the Year but the 17-year-old Marshall, VA, resident has also been named 2013 Nutrena Rising Star in Eventing, the USEA announced recently

Shipka, who will receive the awards at the USEA’s annual dinner December 6 in Cincinnati, moved up from the training level to preliminary last winter and proceeded to win six events en route to the top of the Junior Preliminary Rider points leaderboard. She dominated the class finishing 23 points ahead of her nearest challenger, with 112.5 points.

In addition, Shipka finished 42nd on the World Equestrian Brands Rider of the Year list -- the overall standings for all USEA eventers! 

Shipka’s  first-place finishes came on three different horses, two of which also made year-end leader boards. Victory Shehan was 10th among Preliminary Horses and Ever So Lucky was seventh among Preliminary Thoroughbreds. At the Virginia Horse Trials earlier this month, Shipka rode Victory Shehan to second place and Ever So Lucky to sixth in the Preliminary competition.

The big news at that show, though, was her victory on Palm Crescent in the CCI1* Three-Day event. An international level competition, the Virginia HT CCI1*,drew more than 25 entries from around the country. Shipka and Palm Crescent stood in fourth place after the dressage and then claimed the blue ribbon with a clear ride over the long, hilly cross-country course and a strong show jumping round.

Other victories this year came at the Morven Park, Plantation Field, Surefire Farm and Sporting Days Farm, as well as the MCTA and spring Virginia horse trials.

Shipka moved to the Middleburg area from Wyoming before her freshman year at Foxcroft and has taken advantage of the School's unique Exceptional Proficiency Program to train with international star Jan Byyny at Surefire Farm and, during the winter months, in Aiken, SC. The EP Program also enables Shipka, a  strong student and  junior leader, to spend the winter months training and competing in Aiken, SC, while keeping up with her classmates academically. 

Shipka recently began training with Will Coleman, who was a member of the US Olympic Team in 2012, and working on her flatwork with dressage specialist Allison Spivey.

Founded in 1914, Foxcroft School (www.foxcroft.org ) is a college-preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 9-12 located in Middleburg, VA. Its 2013-14 student body is comprised of 165 girls from 21 states, the District of Columbia, and nine foreign countries. About one-third of the students receive financial assistance. Nearly three-quarters of the students are boarders and more than 80 percent of the faculty and administrators live on campus. Foxcroft offers 75 courses, including 15 Advanced Placement classes and an innovative STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) program. The 36 members of the Class of 2013 were offered 139 acceptances and nearly $1.2 million in merit scholarships from 100 colleges and universities in the U.S., England, France and Scotland, including Barnard, Cornell, UCLA, Washington & Lee, Virginia, and Virginia Tech.