This year at convention young endurance riders got the chance to learn more about their favorite animal -- the horse -- which went perfectly with the convention theme "riding with knowledge."

We had several contests, keeping all of the kids coming back again and again to the Junior booth located among our biggest supporters, the vendors. All the kids had fun getting to know each other. We will be starting up an email list so friendships can be continued via the Internet. If you would like to be on the email list just drop me a note and we will add you.

A special thanks to Alina Vale for taking a day off from veterinary school to help in the Junior booth and to Sydney Johnson for creating a matching game for horse bits and boots.

We had a coloring contest, a hippology (study of the horse) test, a scavenger hunt and a storytelling/pizza party combined with our Junior Subcommittee meeting. See the list to find out if someone you know won a contest. If you know a vendor that donated a prize give a big thanks.

In addition to the contests we held a 50/50 raffle. Our Friday winner was Pam Bailie winning a gift certificate to Advanced Biological Concepts for $191. On Saturday our winner was Mark Engemann winning a gift certificate to Healthy as a Horse for $160. A special thanks to those of you who supported the youth through this fundraiser. We also had a generous donation from California State Horseman's Association in the amount of $50.

We hope to continue making it fun for the youth at convention in the years to come, so if you weren't able to make it to Reno mark your calendars for Louisville, Kentucky, next year.

During our Junior Subcommittee meeting we talked about the possibility of the juniors returning to being their own committee rather than being a subcommittee of Competitions. We also talked about adding an AERC age division of 16-21 to give youth a chance to gracefully bridge over into the adult divisions. Both of these items would require much discussion, and we would need to present the ideas to the board of directors before anything would be changed.

The subcommittee is dedicated to having better communication during the next year. If you have any ideas for the Junior Subcommittee or would like to be on the Subcommittee please do not hesitate to call or email.

In addition. Jan Stevens spoke about the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships that will be held in Colorado this summer. There will be an endurance ride for juniors and young riders held in conjunction with the championships. Endurance youth will be included in all the events at the championships.

Let us know if there is anything we can do to get you qualified as we are hoping to have a great turnout and let the equestrian community see what endurance riding is all about. Hopefully we will get enough support to continue having this event yearly.