One Equestrian's Journey: Hunter Seat Review 2011

The fall 2012 History & Theory of Modern Riding class were tasked with following up on last year's publication of The St. Andrews Equestrian Program History 1969 - 2011by documenting the events of 2011 - 2012. I am now in the process of editing and laying out these papers to be shared as PDF files both printed and electronically. The paper below written by Tori Burkey tells a lot about the hunter seat program. I will have to do some serious editing to fit it into the 2 page format for electronic publication but wanted to share the entire paper in this forum.

The Hunter Seat Team
Fall 2011

I asked St. Andrews University’s IHSA Hunt Seat Coach, Ashley Duda, what her first thoughts were of the new team and she states “I knew that with the combination of returners and freshmen, we would have a strong team.” With this being said, Coach Duda was right. In fall 2011 the St. Andrews Hunter Seat Team won three out of five shows finishing the fall season with a total of 200 points! The next two shows to take on were the Tournament of Champions. To show how dedicated our riders, coaches, and staff members are to the team and program, we went from thirteenth place out of twenty five in the beginning of December to the second show at the end of January with sixth place. That is a huge difference in a month’s period. Rob Jacobs became an instructor in the spring and I asked him what his thoughts were on the team. “I thought we had a very strong team who understood the importance of hard work and dedication it takes to be successful.”

Spring 2012

The spring semester was just as much of a success as the fall. There were two shows held in February, both hosted at St. Andrews. In an interview with Kali and Sami Cram (class of 2013) I asked them what was a high for the year for them. “High of the year was definitely our perfect scores at our last few shows last year. Ashley was amazing! She knew we could do it, believed in us and was an amazing coach!!!!” At both shows in February, we won. This left us with 298 points and first in the team standings. To give an insight on how Coach Duda would train the riders for the shows, she not only had us doing a ton of lunge work, jumping exercises, and no-stirrup work, but also made sure we understood all the feelings of the horse and working with the horse instead of making the horse work for you. Another strategy she taught the riders is to think of the ride as a job, and to break it down step by step. “Thinking, "I must walk in, pick up a canter, go past my rhythm, then settle in the rhythm, count 1-2, and make sure my horse is straight to each fence" is easier than worrying about how you are going to find all 8 jumps” states Coach Duda. At the end of the interview, Sami Cram added a statement, “She [Coach Duda] always told me "Go in there and do your job" She was always so good at getting into our heads and knowing our weaknesses and strengths and knowing that if someone told me it was my JOB I would go in there with no emotions and just ride.” Obviously, Coach Duda’s mental preparation approach worked.

At Regionals, the St. Andrews Hunt Seat Team won and moved on to Zones. We also had four individual riders, Katie Hansen, Kim Graves, Kayla McBath, and Allie McGraw, make it and continued on to Zones. Since we hosted the last show, we held the Regionals Award dinner at our facility. At this dinner many awards were given out. Four St. Andrews University members won awards that day. Heather Wile was awarded the Event Manager Award. She was the back bone of all the events that went on at our barn. She worked day in and day out to make sure everyone was informed and everything went as smooth as possible. The next award went to horse of the year. This award is chosen by all the coaches in the region for who they thought was the best and most consistent horse of the year. The Horse of the Year Award went to our very own, Pepi la Pew, also known as, Skunk. Coach of the Year Award also went to our very own, Ashley Duda. And finally, a Horse Care Award was given out. This was decided on who dedicated the most time to the horses and it was Sami Cram (class of 2013).

The next show to tackle, was Zones. When I asked Coach Duda if she thought we would make it to Nationals as a team she replied, “I knew we had the talent to make it… However, Zones is the toughest test throughout the season… we would have to work non-stop to be mentally and physically prepared…” Zones were held at Goucher College this year. For Coach Duda, one high of the year, “Zones! Winning reserve champion at zones (we were second to the host school, Goucher College) and qualifying for nationals was one of the best moments of my life.” St. Andrews University placed second. Allie McGraw placed first in Novice Over Fences. And Kayla McBath placed second in Intermediate Flat. Kim Graves placed fourth in Open Over Fences along with Katie Hansen with sixth in Open Over Fences. Up next, Nationals!

This year, nationals were going to be a little special, St. Andrews University was going to be hosting it in Raleigh, NC in May. Since we were hosting, we had to bring a lot of horses. Everyone, whether on the team or not, worked hard and helped St. Andrews Hunt Seat Team make it to Nationals. Those that were not on the team helped in more ways than most of them even know. Students are placed in lessons with other students that are close together in skill level. So every lesson, the other members of the group, provided competition for each other to be better. The entire equestrian student body also helped because they rode the horses. They helped keep the horses clean and in shape throughout the year. This was a big deal since we had to provide a lot of the horses at Nationals.

I asked Coach Duda what her concerns were at Nationals, “I was not concerned about our physical preparedness because we worked non-stop the entire year. However, I always was concerned that we would be mentally relaxed when it came time to walk into the ring. And, as always, the draw is always a concern! I would make many wishes that the draw would be in our favor!”

St. Andrews University Hunt Seat Team placed eight in the Nation.

Team
Shiloh Kozlowski -- Walk- Trot Equitation—4th
Miranda Wright – Walk-Trot- Canter Equitation – 6th
Kali Cram – Novice Equitation on the Flat – Honorable Mention
Sami Cram – Novice Equitation Over Fences – 9th
Sami Cram – Intermediate Equitation on the Flat – Honorable Mention
Kali Cram—Intermediate Equitation Over Fences – 4th
Katie Hansen – Open Equitation on the Flat – Honorable Mention
Katie Hansen – Open Equitation Over Fences – Honorable Mention

Individual
Allie McGraw – Novice Equitation Over Fences – Honorable Mention
Kayla McBath – Intermediate Equitation on the Flat – Honorable Mention
Katie Hansen – Open Equitation on the Flat – 7th