This coming weekend, June 26-29, US Equestrian’s Eventing Young Rider Championships (YRC) will take place at Loch Moy Farm in Adamstown. James Power of Mt. Airy and his 10-year-old Connemara/Thoroughbred gelding Brambleridge Ponder the Truth (“Patrick”) will represent Maryland in the CCI2*-S at this prestigious event.
US Equestrian’s Young Rider program is the pipeline that develops the next generation of elite equestrian athletes in the United States. It focuses on high-performance talent development only. Riders from across the county will compete in three international-level divisions — the CCI3*, the CCI2*, and the CCI-1*.
Power and Patrick have been together since 2021 when they entered the Beginner Novice division at the Full Moon Farm H.T. in November. They moved up to Novice at the Olney H.T. in 2022 and a year later they moved up again, to the Training level at the April 2023 competition at Morven Park in Virginia.
Power and Patrick entered their first international competition at the CCI1* level at the November 2023 Virginia Eventing Center’s Fall H.T. That competition qualified them for the 2024 YRCs, at which they placed 5th of 20. In 2025, they won the CCI1*-L division at the May 2025 competition at the Virginia Horse Center, and two months later they placed 6th in the 2025 CCI1*-S YRC.
2025 was also the year that Power and Patrick reached the CCI2* level. In June they won the Middleburg H.T.’s Preliminary division and in September they did their first CCI2* at Plantation Field in Pennsylvania. They have been at the Preliminary/CCI2* level since then. They have been inside the top ten at their two most recent competitions — the CCI2*-S in April at Fair Hill and the CCI2*-L at the Virginia Eventing Center in May.
You can cheer this accomplished pair every day this weekend in Adamstown. They ride their Dressage test at 11:42 a.m. on Friday, they go out on Cross Country at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and they finish up with Stadium sometime between 9:30 and 10:15 on Sunday.
And then you can say that you “knew him when….!”