IHSA etc.

My weekend started really early and amazingly the Fayetteville News and Observer arrived before I headed out to the barn. The cover of the weekend section had a great picture in silhouette of one or our hunt seat riders leading a horse into the lesson barn. Inside in “A day in the life of Laurinburg” was a great piece about the riding program including quotes from Ashley Duda. Later in the article the pipe band was also featured.

Hunt Seat IHSA Show – Wow! This is Peggy’s report to the SAPC community.

St. Andrews Riders Score Big Win in Season Opener

The St. Andrews Hunter Seat Team bested all 17 teams in Zone 4, Region 3 in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association season opener on Saturday, September 26. With a record crowd in attendance, the St. Andrews riders dominated the competition throughout the day. Led by junior Rob Jacobs, the riding Knights had secured the Champion Team title before the last six classes of the thirty one classes were contested. Rob Jacobs was Champion High Point Rider and freshman Katie Hansen was Reserve Champion High Point Rider. The final team results were:

St. Andrews Presbyterian College - 47 points
Virginia Tech - 37 points
Virginia Intermont College - 31 points
Duke University - 30 points
Elon University - 27 points
NC State University - 26 points
UNC- Chapel Hill - 25 points
UNC- Greensboro - 22 points
Appalachian State University - 17 points
East Carolina University - 16 points
UNC - Charlotte - 13 points
Wake Forest University - 12 points
Davidson College - 10 points
NC A& T State University - 6 points
Western Carolina University - 5
Averett University - audited
UNC - Wilmington - audited

Special thank you to Mike Morton who served as the announcer for the show!

The next Hunter Seat Team competition is October 18 at Virginia Tech.

The St. Andrews Western Team begins its season at home this Saturday, October 3. The Western Team is currently ranked 4th in the nation.

The Dressage Team is competing today at Averett University in Danville, VA.
Late News:
Greta Friesen won the First Level division!
St. Andrews Team placed 4th overall!

As you can see the dressage team had a good day at Averett. All my riders tried their best and there were some great rides that did not place but were tactfully ridden. The funniest part of the day was when the dog ran through the arena during Olivia Taylor’s intro test. Olivia said she hardly noticed it while the audience was laughing at the high speed canine. Olivia placed sixth in the Intro division and freshman Lindsay Agliotis placed fifth in lower training.

Next weekend SAPC hosts IHSA Western, the dressage team has the first in the SAPC Dressage Shows on Friday and then heads to Virginia Intermont Saturday afternoon for a show on Sunday.

SAPC Hunter Seat IHSA

First intercollegiate show of the season tomorrow! IHSA hunter seat. Our IHSA region-_Zone 4, Region 3 – competes against , ASU, Averett , Duke, Davidson, ECU, NCA&T, Elon, Martin Community College, NCSU, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Greensboro, VA Tech, Virginia Intermont, WCU and WFU. Laura Norment will be judging, Mike Morton has kindly offered to announce and the TH Club is doing the food booth with help from alum Mike Kryzsak and the IDA team. Horse show chair for Riding Council – Sarah Rafferty – has had an incredibly busy week getting all the horses looking their best and rounding up volunteers to hold horses, work the gate, serve as jump crew, and generally being available to cheer on the SAPC team. The weather is forecasted to cool down a little tomorrow (today’s high is forecasted at 86°) and thunder showers are possible. Should make for an interesting day!

Sunday Laura Norment will be here to do a hunter seat clinic and the IDA team heads to Averett for our first show of the season. Busy, busy, busy! Next weekend its western’s turn for some show fun!

So the teams were announced this week and we had a huge meeting on Monday night to get all the paperwork completed, discuss team expectations, and congratulate everyone who made a team. There were probably 20 people sitting on the floor in LA 102 with standing room only for the coaches! This week Riding Council is hosting a tack up clinic so that all team members know how to tack up for hunt seat, western and dressage. Its great getting to learn about the other disciplines!

Lindsay and Ashley are headed to Greensboro for the Sedgefield horse show today with a group of riders. Good luck this weekend! Our first IHSA show is a week Saturday for hunt seat. It will be a big show requiring everyone to help out. The IDA team is competing at Averett on Sunday the 27th. Laura Norment will do a hunt seat clinic on the 27th at SAPC, and Liz and Pebbles are headed to a workshop in Brevard that same weekend. Just a typical few days in the life of the SAPC Equestrian program!

Team Tryouts

Big weekend at the Equestrian Center with tryouts Friday & Saturday for IHSA, IDA and C Show teams. Nerve wracking for everyone trying out but a great opportunity to ride under pressure and really show what you can do. I think all coaches are treating it like a show class. For hunt seat we have a simulated flat class and over fences, dressage riders are all doing a test at the appropriate level and western riders will be showing off their stuff in the pen. The first shows are coming up at the end of the month with SAPC hosting IHSA Hunt Seat on Sept 26th and the IDA team travelling to Averett on Sept. 27th. The A show team will be headed to NC State Fair starting Sept 30th so it is safe to say the show season is in full swing!

Other news, several of us are attending the American Heroes celebration in Laurinburg this Saturday. Deb Bridges wrote an inspiring story about the benefits of therapeutic riding which won a story telling contest. Mark Mannette Assistant Professor of Theater at SAPC will be telling the story. Deb’s own experiences with TH, and some of the benefits she has seen in other riders are featured in the story. I also here that Max has a mention!