Edited Press Release
September 27, 2025 — Upper Marlboro, MD — Sydney Mohrhardt, of Boca Raton, FL, was named champion of the Taylor Harris Insurance Services (THIS) National Children’s Medal Finals on Saturday, September 27, during the 2025 Capital Challenge Horse Show Equitation Showcase, presented by BIGEQ.com. The Show Place Arena at Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro, MD, hosted 41 junior riders who qualified over the course of the year for the 32nd year of this prestigious finals.
“When I found out I won, I couldn’t believe it. It was just amazing. All of the hard work I did with my horse and my trainers paid off, and I’m so grateful to them that they were able to get me here,” shared Mohrhardt, who trains with Jacob Pope and Nick Pongracz of Hickory Ridge LLC.
For Mohrhardt and her mount, Saint Louis, this win caps off their first year competing in the equitation divisions together. Known as “Junior” in the barn, the 15-year-old Zangersheide gelding owned by Clear 4 Takeoff, LLC, has been in the family for six years and was first matched with Mohrhardt’s older sister in the jumper rings before Mohrhardt took the reins a year ago.
Each rider competed over a first-round course by the design team of Meghan Rawlins, Ken Krome, and Joe Carnicom, and their performance was evaluated by three panels of two judges each. Panel one included Brian Lenehan and James Waldman, panel two was Geoffrey Case and Mark Jungherr, and panel three was Sissy Wickes and Robert Crandall. Each panel presented a score, which was then averaged to give each horse-and-rider combination their official mark. The top 10 scoring riders returned in reverse order for round two.
Scoring an 87.5, Mohrhardt led the first round by less than two-tenths of a point. She and “Junior” returned last in the order and executed the second round seamlessly to earn another top score of 89.5, earning her championship title on a score of 177 without the need for additional testing.
“The second round was super fun. He loves these technical courses, and he’s really good at them, so I tried to just ride it the same and keep it fun and confident,” explained Mohrhardt.
With the win, Mohrhardt gets to add her name to the banner of previous champions, cementing her in history as the 2025 winner of the THIS National Children’s Medal finals.
“All week I’ve been looking at the names, so it’s great that my name is going to go up there,” she continued. “It’s been so much fun competing at Capital Challenge. This was my first time here. We came for this medal final, and I’ve had such a blast. It’s such a cool horse show, and I’m really grateful I was able to come here.”
Carsyn Korotkin steered Blue Gate Stables, LLC’s Indigo Van De Muggenhoeck to the next-highest score in the second round of 87.66. Combined with her first round score of 85.33, she earned second place with a total score of 172.99. Kenzie Smith finished just behind Korotkin in third with scores of 86.58 and 86.33 for an overall score of 172.91, riding Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright’s Lagerfeld.
In the outdoor arena, the top three riders from all age equitation divisions held throughout the Equitation Showcase, presented by BIGEQ.com, were invited back to take the rail for the North American Junior Flat Equitation Championships. Maggie King, of Spring, TX, rode Oakland Ventures LLC’s Kentucky to the win, qualifying from her standout performance in the 16-Year-Old Equitation Section B earlier in the day.
