Brooksten Fors of Pittsfield will be one of the nation’s top youth equestrians heading to Perry, Georgia for the Hunt Seat national finals.

Brooksten, a freshmen at Tidioute Community Charter School, competed this past weekend in Gettysburg and qualified for the national championship.

Over 400 of the nation’s leading middle school and high school equestrians will converge at the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agriculture Center on Thursday, April 22 through Sunday, April 25 to compete for top honors in Hunt Seat classes in the Interscholastic Equestrian Association national finals. The student riders, in grades 4-12, will travel from across the United States to participate in the competition.

Brooksten rides for the Lake Effect team and coaches, Linday Filley and Lori Herrmann, out of Edinboro. Brooksten also rides for Boulder Ridge Stables and Riding Academy in Pittsfield, which is owned by her mother Ivorie Fors.

Brooksten says it’s sometimes hard having your mom be your trainer — she’s in the barn six days a week — but also feels blessed for all of the experiences, friends and places she has traveled from showing horses.