Pierson Student Shines At Winter Equestrian Festival

Rebecca Burnside had an inkling that her daughter, Amelia, would become an avid equestrian the first day she dropped her off at The Green School, when Amelia had yet to turn 3.

Burnside recalls watching her daughter make a beeline for the horse paddock, and climb up onto the fence to pet one of the horses that lives alongside other small farm animals at the Sagaponack School.

A decade later, Amelia’s affinity for horses has only grown, and now, at the age of 12, she is finding continued success in the competitive ranks.

Amelia, a sixth-grader at Pierson Middle School, recently won the circuit championship in the children’s hunter horse younger division (for riders ages 14 and under) at the Winter Equestrian Festival, a months-long event that draws some of the top horses and riders in the country and recently wrapped up in Wellington, Florida. Amelia and her horse, Lord Nelson, competed in nine of the 12 weeks of the festival, performing well enough to earn the title. She rides and trains with Erin Stewart, who runs Erin Stewart LLC, which is based in Wellington during the winter and operates out of Equanimity Farm in Riverhead during the summer months.

Amelia began taking riding lessons when she was just 5 years old, training with Kristina Muse of Beach Acre Farm at Wölffer Estate Stables. She began showing at a young age, on ponies, first in the short stirrup division before steadily moving up. She started showing in Wellington three years ago, winning circuit champion with the pony Blue Moon’s Glass Slipper in her first year, and returned last year to compete with a new pony, Almost Midnight. This was her first year moving up to riding a horse, and she had success with “Nelson,” as he’s called around the barn, right away.

The circuit championship with Nelson is what Amelia and her parents hope is just the beginning of what will be a long and successful equestrian career. Amelia will continue to compete at the top AA-rated shows throughout the country, from Upperville in Virginia to the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival in Michigan, and is training toward competing not only in the hunter divisions (where the judges focus on the horse’s style and jumping form), but also in the equitation division (where the rider’s style, form, and ability to complete challenging courses with several riding tests built in are the focus for judges), and in the jumper division as well, where it’s a race against the clock for horse and rider as they negotiate larger fences with tight turns.

“Her long term goal is the Olympics,” her mother said. “She wants to go all the way. That’s her goal. She’s been saying it since she was nine and she hasn’t wavered.”

Achieving a big goal like that requires certain sacrifices and accommodations, which Amelia and her family have been making. During the winter, she completes her coursework (still following the Pierson Middle School curriculum) through Upper Echelon Academy, a schooling system that caters to competitive equestrians in Florida, helping set up a framework and infrastructure for them to get their work done while balancing their riding, training and showing responsibilities.

Her mother said that it’s working out so far.

“Pierson is super supportive and believes in her doing this,” she said. “And she’s a good student and has shown she can handle both.”