Horse Illustrated Magazine

The U.S. Equestrian Junior Equestrian of the Year, who will be acknowledged at the 2020 U.S. Equestrian Annual Meeting at the Hilton West Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Fla., is Julia Stone. Stone will receive her award during the U.S. Equestrian Pegasus Awards presented by Adequan on Friday, January 10, 2020, along with other prestigious award winners.

Seventeen-year-old Julia Stone of Santa Barbara, Calif., has ridden hunter, jumper and equitation horses throughout her life. Trained by Jim Hagman at Elvenstar Farm in Huntington Beach, Calif., Stone has spent the last two years focused on the big equitation classes and year-end finals.

She developed a special relationship with the equitation horse she has been riding, Let’s Go, and the combination won several key awards throughout the season, such as winning the ASPCA Maclay Region 8 Final. In 2019, Stone and Let’s Go showed at prestigious competitions across the country, including the Winter Equestrian Festival, Pennsylvania National Horse Show, and the Del Mar International Horse Show.

Stone was a finalist in the United States Hunter Jumper Association Horsemanship Quiz Challenge Nationals, is a member of the U.S. Equestrian Lettering Program, and participated in Interscholastic Equestrian Association competitions throughout high school. A well-rounded young horsewoman, Stone also enjoys competing in western events, such as cutting and barrel racing, and participates in weekend backpacking trips on horseback.

Stone is described as gracious, well-spoken and extremely intelligent. She is now a freshman at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., majoring in international political economy. Stone started her career at Georgetown with a $10,000 scholarship from the Los Angeles Hunter Jumper Association after winning their Horse Mastership Scholarship Competition.

To learn more about U.S. Equestrian’s 2020 Annual Meeting and registration, how to purchase tickets to the 2019 Pegasus Awards presented by Adequan, as well access to a full schedule, visit www.usef.org/annual-meeting.