At just 14 years old, Ellington Vasan is heading into the 2026 Gotham North/FEI North American Youth Jumping Championships presented by USHJA with a new partner, a change in division, and a story that's come together in a matter of months.
Vasan (Los Altos Hills, Calif.) is moving up to the Pre-Junior Jumpers this year after a successful debut at NAYC last year in the Children's Jumper division aboard Bling vd Duvelshoeve Z, where she earned a Children's Jumper team silver medal as part of Zone 10 and finished fifth individually. This year, she'll compete aboard Numero Valentina Z, her own 2015 Zangersheide mare (Numero Uno x Unknown), known at home as "Val," born, fittingly, on Valentine's Day.
Vasan had originally planned to campaign Dotcom D'Authuit, a 2013 Selle Fançais mare (Diamant de Semilly x Quidam de Revel), owned by Marigold Sporthorses, LLC, known affectionately as "Dotty," at this year's championship, but with Dotty not at 100 percent, Vasan made the call to switch to Val for NAYC. "I'm really confident on Val," Vasan said. "I think bringing her to this event just makes more sense, and hopefully Dotty will have another chance to shine in the near future."
Val came to Vasan by way of U.S. jumping athlete Lucy Davis Kennedy, a 2016 U.S. Olympic team silver medalist, who previously trained and competed the mare. Vasan began riding at age 9, after attending a riding camp with a friend, and has spent nearly five years in the saddle since. She points to Davis Kennedy as a guiding influence and role model as she looks toward her own long-term goals in the sport, including a professional career competing at the top international levels.
Vasan began riding Val in early March of this year, first flatting her for about a month during the Desert Circuit in Thermal, Calif., before progressing to jumping. The partnership came together quickly. "After I did a lot of flatwork with her, I was like, ‘Oh my god. This is the horse for me,’" Vasan said. "Ever since we started jumping, our partnership kind of took off."
Vasan describes Val's personality as close to ideal for the job. "If I could make my dream horse, it'd be a dainty pocket rocket with springs,” Vasan said. "When I look at Val, there's nothing I would really change about her. She’s my type of horse."
Much of Val's willingness and work ethic is credited by Vasan to the relationship she had with her previous connections at Old Oak Group. "When a horse is deeply loved by their owner, they just have this capacity to fight hard and try for you," Vasan explained. "During our rounds, I may make mistakes, but she totally takes care of me. She doesn't bat an eye. Val goes back around and tries just as hard the second time."
Vasan qualified for NAYC aboard Val in just two competitions at the Del Mar National Horse Show and The Oaks Capistrano Cup, having secured the ride only three to four months before this year's championship. "I didn't have the right horses, and I had to make a few sacrifices," Vasan said. "I ended up with the best teammate for NAYC that I could ever ask for.” When speaking about her previous NAYC mount, Bling vd Duvelshoeve Z, and her future star, Dotcom D'Authuit, Vasan couldn’t withhold her praise for “her mares” as she calls them. “They've taken me so far. They got me where I've wanted to be for the past year," she shared.
Outside the show ring, Val has a well-known appetite for bananas – peel included – along with banana-flavored treats and smoothies, apple-flavored stall toys, and the occasional half watermelon. Asked which celebrity Val most resembles, Vasan shared that the mare reminds her of Colombian pop star Shakira.
Heading into NAYC, Vasan's focus with Val is on the fundamentals: keeping her body tall, riding with her leg on, and making sure Val – a mare she describes as sharp and quick to anticipate – stays in front of her aids. For Vasan, the championship is as much about the team environment as it is about competition. "The only way to get experience competing on a team is to do it," she said. "It's really good practice, and it's so much fun."