NINA is a dual US and Thai citizen, who has competed for both flags as a junior. When she turned 18 two years ago, she elected to represent Thailand. In 2007, at the age of 15, Nina and her horse Pacific Storm represented United States Eventing Association AREA II at the North American Junior Young Rider Championships (Junior Olympics). They had a dramatic & heartbreaking near miss at “gold”, when Nina had a stop and fall at the very last fence. Later that year the pair went on to win the Individual and Team Gold medals for Thailand at the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. Nina became both the youngest rider and the first woman to win an individual equestrian gold medal for Thailand. She was one of 5 finalists nominated for Rookie Athlete of the Year and was named 2007 Thai Rider of the Year. At the Asian Games in China in November 2010, Nina and Chai Thai led the Thai team to Team Silver. They led after dressage and cross-country but one rail down each in the team and the individual show jumping rounds dropped them to 4th place individually. Her medals from both the SEA and ASIAN GAMES earned her the right with the Thai Olympic Council to pursue 2012 Olympic qualifications. Nina has received two royal medals from the King of Thailand for outstanding service to the country.
In 2010 Nina was named the Best Young Rider (Under 21) in the USA. To our complete amazement, Nina has won the Best Young Rider for a second consecutive year, sweeping all Advanced, Intermediate and Preliminary Leaderboards. She finished 2011 as the #2 Lady Rider and #7 Overall in the USA. She is # 57 on the FEI HSBC World ranking list.
Nina started riding at the age of five, trained intensively and competed on weekends through high school. She is a graduate “B” Ponyclubber. She currently competes several upper level horses. Her trainer is Kim Severson, a US Olympic silver medalist and three time winner of the Rolex Kentucky Four Star. Nina also takes regular dressage lessons with Gerd Zuther, and show jumping clinics with Katie Prudent.
Nina graduated cum laude from Collegiate high school in 2010 and received early acceptance to Stanford University with permission to defer for 2 year to pursue 2012 Olympic Qualification. This February Nina successfully moved up to the three star level. She and Fernhill Fearless placed third at their first Advanced horse trials, going double clean in both cross country and show jumping, and finishing on their dressage score. Then on a very wet weekend at Fairhill in April, they won at their first CIC*** (short format) and were second at their first CCI *** (long format) @ Jersey Fresh. Hence the pair has met the minimum eligibility requirement to compete at the London Olympics 2012. In order to earn an individual slot to compete at the Olympics, Nina will need to keep earning more points at the three star level to stay within the TOP 20 on the FEI Olympic Athletes ranking list (not including riders from nations like USA, Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand etc. that will compete as a team).
Nina’s quest to turn a far fetched childhood Olympic dream into reality has exceeded all our expectations. She was invited to compete at the LONDON TEST EVENT, an experience that was invaluable for her and her support team. Her win on Jazz King at the CIC *** in Pardubice and 2nd place on Tipperary Liadhnan at Poplar Place take her one small step further towards going to LONDON 2012! However, many competitors are intent on qualifying also, and the race to accumulate points is heating up.....much more than we had expected!
2011 has been an amazing year for Nina. She has become a confirmed three star rider. She has a fair chance of going to London 2012 (to be announced Mar 1, 2012). And Winning the FEI HSBC RISING STAR AWARD is an accomplishment that was beyond her dream!
