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October 2013
The Plaid Horse
www.theplaidhorse.com
Get To Know Washington International Horse Show Youth Ambassador Elizabeth Kruse By Lauren Fisher/Jennifer Wood Media, Inc. The nation’s leading metropolitan indoor horse show, the 55th annual Washington International Horse Show will be held October 22-27, 2013, at Verizon Center in downtown Washington, D.C.
WIHS is a competition that draws many young competitors and spectators, and for this reason, it is especially important for the show to reach out to the public and educate the surrounding community about the fun and positive influence of activities with horses. Kruse has enjoyed participating in this special venture as an important part of the show’s connection with the local equestrian community.
Diana Hosford
“Ever since I moved to Washington, D.C., I have been in awe of the Washington International Horse Show,” Kruse stated. “I have WIHS posters on my wall, I’ve attended the show every year, and last year I was lucky enough to show in the Children’s Hunter Finals. My strong passion for this horse show is why I wanted to apply for the Youth Ambassador position. I was so honored to be selected and was so happy to receive the call in June! It has been wonderful to be a part of the WIHS team this summer.”
The 2013 Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) is honored to welcome 16-year-old Elizabeth Kruse of McLean, Va., as this year’s Youth Ambassador, serving as a voice for young equestrians in the Washington D.C. metro area. Kruse is one of a group of local students on the WIHS Junior Committee that are dedicated to helping promote the show and equestrian sport to a wider audience. Kruse is a rising junior at Langley High School in McLean, and competes often. She showed at WIHS last year for the first time and competed at the WIHS Regional Horse Show in 2009. Kruse has attended WIHS for many years with her friends and family and was on the WIHS Junior Committee in 2012. Originally from Minnesota, Kruse has been riding for many years and brings knowledge and excitement along with her love of horses and horse sport to the role of WIHS Youth Ambassador.
As the 2013 WIHS Youth Ambassador, Kruse oversees the WIHS Junior Committee, which this year has 20 members, the largest committee to date. As a team, the committee works to give WIHS a youthful perspective as the show develops new and exciting youth-related programs, from young rider events to Barn Night and Kids’ Day. One expanded program that the Junior Committee has helped with this year is the Animal Planet Horseless Horse Show. The event is held during Kids’ Day on Saturday, October 26, from 10 am to 2 pm in front of the Hotel Monaco on F Street. A grassroots idea in 2012, it has been expanded to include a fun course of jumps that kids of any age and size can tackle and shows those unfamiliar to horses what fun jumping can be—even if you don’t have a horse! Kids’ Day, sponsored in part for four years by the EQUUS Foundation, has a number of traditions that sprang from the Junior Committee, including horse shoe painting, offering Georgetown Cupcakes, a pony grooming station, and more. Kruse got to experience a whole new side of the horse show as a member of last year’s Junior Committee and wanted to build on that participation this year. Since the Junior Committee and Youth Ambassador program was created in 2009, interest has greatly grown over the past five years. The