Johnson living dream in Lexington

BY SPENCER CAMPBELL
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Two years ago, at the behest of her mother, Paulena Johnson scribbled a list of goals onto a sheet of paper.

Paulena, then 14, had taken up horse jumping, and her mother, Kim, wanted to know just how serious her daughter was about the sport.

“One of her goals was competing in the Young Rider Championships,” Kim said. “Here she is two years later, competing. There isn’t a bigger thrill in the world than for a parent to see their child succeed.”

Kim can be excused for oozing pride. Today, at least one of Paulena’s predetermined dreams will come true when she begins riding with 230 other young equestrians in the 2009 United States Equine Association Junior and Young Rider Championships in Lexington, Ky.

Paulena began riding when she was in the third grade at Bristol’s Fox Hollow Riding Academy, and started competing in horse shows five years later. She was also a late-comer to jumpers, a class of horse jumping that focuses on the speed in which a rider navigates a course of jumps, rather than subjective observations.

“In jumping you aren’t judged by a judge,” Paulena said. “Whoever goes around clean and the fastest without having any rails down wins. It’s probably the most fair of the three [equine jumping classes].”

In the eighth grade, a friend from Florida suggested that Paulina train in the Sunshine State. So, while attending Tennessee High for the past three years, Paulena has from January through March received instruction at Ashland Farms in West Palm Beach, Fla.

“Tennessee High has been so supportive of me,” Paulena said. “The second semester they offered me on-line classes. I wouldn’t be able to show like I show without their support.”

All of the support and the traveling between Bristol and West Palm Beach finally paid off this year.

The field at the Young Rider Championships consists of the best riders from the 12 qualifying zones spread throughout the United States, not including zones in Canada and Mexico. Paulena competed in Zone Three, which consists of Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

Attending competitions from January until June, Paulena earned $2,360, according to the USEF’s Web site, finishing third in her zone. The top four finishers in each zone make it into the Young Rider Championship.

In her first year trying to qualify, Paulena – and her horse “Anyway” – made the field at one of horse jumping’s premier tournaments.

“It’s the only international championship held every year in North America,” said Joanie Morris, the USEF’s international high performance marketing director. “We equate it to the Junior Olympics. These kids are the best of the best, for sure.”

Paulena knows that her equine career will continue to soar, through college and then ... who knows where?

But for now, the 16-year-old who is quick to inform that she will be 17 next month is just happy that one of the goals she scrawled for her mother in ink has come true.

“I just wanted to make it here,” Paulena said. “Now it would be great to win an individual title. For my first time [at the Young Rider Championship], I’d just like good riding.

“I’m here now. I’ve done that.”

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