Calder, 15, claimed top honours as an individual in the CCIY/J* division, open to riders aged 14-18, and led the U.S. Area 1 Team to a decisive victory in the team competition. Calder finished the three phases of competition – dressage, cross-country and stadium jumping, on her opening dressage score of 51.30 penalty points. Calder added no jumping or time faults to her score over the grueling cross-country phase on Saturday, and repeated the faultless effort in Sunday’s concluding phase of stadium jumping.

“I was very happy with my dressage test,” said Calder. “In cross-country, I had no penalties and everything rode really well. You could gallop and get your pace, but I was still a little bit nervous! Going into stadium jumping, I didn’t feel too much pressure because our team was ahead by something like 48 points.”

Sharing in the team gold medal victory were Alex Small, Alex Felsenstein and Kathleen Hart who claimed the win with a three-day total of 183 penalties. Sydney Olympian Robert Costello, Team Coach, and Joe Silva, Team Coordinator guided the U.S. Area 1 Team to victory.

Calder piloted HerzPrinz, her 12-year-old American Trakehner gelding, to double victory.

“My horse was great, he’s done a lot of three day events now and he knows his job,” praised Calder. “He finished up really well after cross-country, he’s so fit. And he was very happy and pleased with himself, he knew he had done well.”

Held at the equestrian site of the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, the 2003 North American Young Riders’ Championship marked the return of the event to Canada for the first time since 1992 when it was also held in Bromont, QC. Considered the mini-Olympics for riders aged 21 and under, the stars of tomorrow compete in the three Olympic disciplines of three day eventing, dressage and show jumping.

Calder’s win at the North American Young Riders’ Championship marked her second victory in a CCIY* event in 2003. These prestigious International Equestrian Federation (FEI) sanctioned events recognize only the highest caliber of competition. In addition to her win at the North American Young Riders’ Championship, Calder also won the the CCIY* division of the Virginia Horse Trials in Lexington, VA, in May. In addition to her two CCIY* wins, Calder won the Young Rider Preliminary Division of the Over The Walls Horse Trials in Hardwick, MA, in August marking her fourth major victory in 2003. In April, she claimed the Young Rider Open Preliminary division at the Beaulieu North American Classic with an incredible score of 29.9 penalty points. Her first victory of the year came in March when she topped the Young Rider Open Preliminary division at the Rocking Horse Spring Horse Trials in Altoona, FL.

Coached by United States Equestrian Team member Darren Chiacchia, Calder trains south of the border at Chiacchia’s Independence Farm with bases in Buffalo, NY, and Ocala, FL.