Horse shows etc...

Pictures "borrowed" from Shannon Legget's facebook page

Showing Under the Stars last Friday was spectacular! We started off with freestyle reining followed by dressage musical freestyles and the annual costume parade. Must have been 20+ entries for the costume parade everyone of them was fabulous. After that craziness the evening settled down to western pleasure and hunt seat classes. Some students were showing at their first ever horse show – what a great way to start your show career!

Saturday was open house where we met a ton of people and the hunt seat seniors rode for Heather and Lindsay. Open house is always fun and we had lots of interest in the equestrian program from enthusiastic students and parents. Peggy and Lindsay travelled to Duke for a hunt seat IHSA show on Sunday and the rest of us had an easy day gearing up for the next week.

This weekend the western team is hosting IHSA shows on Saturday and Sunday. Lindsay is taking a group to Raleigh for a NCHJA show, I believe Ashley is meeting her there as soon as she lands at the airport on her way back from Australia! I am headed to Michelle Hargreaves Hidden K stables for an IDA show hosted by WFU – a new venue for us! Just a normal weekend for the equestrian program!

SAPC Student at Washington International Horse Show

Contributed by Kim Graves

Last weekend while the IHSA Hunt Seat team was making their way up to the chilly weather of Blacksburg, Virginia, another St. Andrews Equestrian was feeling the 30 degree weather and constant rain in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. SAPC Sophomore Kimberly Graves of Monroe, NC and her mount “Hand It Over”, lovingly known as “Bubba” accepted their letter of invitation to compete in the 2009 USEF Zone 3 Finals, held at the Washington International Horse show Local weekend. Approximately the top 20 horses in each division of the Zone, based on total USEF points, were invited. Kimberly and her horse were ranked 12th in the USEF Adult Amateur Hunter 18-35 standings. But that’s not going to last long. After a late night warm –up class, a 4:00 wakeup call, and a last place spot in the order of go it was finally the moment Kimberly had been waiting for. As soon as she stepped out of the ring to finish her second over fences class, Kimberly and Hand It Over were trotting right back into the ring for the top call in the jog. With a blue ribbon in the first class and a reserve call for the second, it all came down to the under saddle class to determine the Champion for the younger Adults. But Hand It Over stepped out of the line up where he lived up to his name and was once again handed over the blue rosette. With an accumulated total of 20 points Kimberly Graves and Hand It Over were once again invited back in to the ring to claim the Champion title. Not only were they crowned champion but they were now given the title of the 2009 Adult Amateur 18-35 USEF Zone 3 Finals Champion. “I could not have done it without the help of my wonderful professors who were willing to take time out to allow me to complete my tests and assignments early so that I could compete in this prestigious event. And to the Equestrian staff and Center for allowing me to stay in the saddle and keep my composure enough to where I can still be able to compete in such prominent events” commented Kimberly. A Tri color ribbon was not the only thing Kimberly brought back to St. Andrews, but a Champion Cooler to show her newly acquired accomplishment.

IHSA Hunt Seat Team at VA Tech

From Peggy:

Fifteen St. Andrews riders, Peggy, and Heather boarded a bus Sunday morning at 3:45 a.m. for the trip to Blacksburg, VA to compete in the Virginia Tech IHSA Hunter Seat Show. It was 53 degrees when we left Laurinburg and 37 degrees when we arrived in Blacksburg. Quite a shock to our “Southern thin blood”!

Our riders continued to dominate the Intermediate Division. Rob Jacobs and Audrey Bolte each won their Intermediate Equitation on the Flat classes and Rob won the Intermediate Equitation over Fences. Additionally, Sarah Rafferty won the Advanced Walk, Trot, Canter Equitation on the Flat and Blake Liljestrand won the Walk, Trot Equitation on the Flat class. Way to go Knight Riders!

One of the best parts of our day in the mountains was having so many parents of our riders come to the show. Katie Hansen’s parents won the award for the farthest distance travelled (dad had come from Wisconsin!). Rob Jacob’s mom and dad were there and Rob left with them to return to Maryland for his week long internship at the Washington International Horse Show. Audrey Hayden’s (Northern Virginia) and Audrey Bolte’s (Ohio) parents were there to cheer us on.

It is always fun to go to Virginia Tech and to ride in their lovely indoor arena and to get to spend time with Teresa McDonald who is their Director and a great friend of all the St. Andrews family. The leaves were changing colors – something we have not even seen a hint of yet in Laurinburg – so we know that Fall is on its way even though it is still in the high 70’s here.

Our next trip is Sunday, October 25 to Ginny Rollins’ farm, Echo Creek, in Hillsborough, NC for a show hosted by Duke University.

Its not all bad – finally some stability at SAPC

The Elephant in the room finally got noticed a week ago last Thursday when we learned that the judge in GA ruled in favor of the Southern Association (SACS) in the long standing lawsuit between us and the accrediting agency. Not a great start to fall break for students, staff or faculty. By the time fall break was over we learned that our programmatic accreditation with the American Academy of Liberal Education (AALE) had been upgraded to institutional preaccreditation effective for the 09-10 academic year with a site visit planned for Spring 2010 for admission to AALE for ten years. Meaning no matter what happens with the appeal process we are fully accredited and will not lose financial aid and other privileges that come with accreditation.

These announcements have created waves of tsunami size throughout the SAPC community. Rumors have been flying and although changes of this sort bring about uncertainty, rumors do not help what is already a stressful situation. Rumors that are unfounded help even less. President Baldasare is addressing the SGA and all students on Monday evening to give students a direct opportunity to ask questions and understand the real implications of the situation. If there was ever a time for the SAPC community to pull together and embrace a new era I would say that it is now!

The legal details and some thought provoking comments are available at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/10/12/accreditation#

Western Team Wins Double Header!

The western team pulled off two wins at the double header IHSA show this weekend. Saturday the show seemed to go on forever and Sunday the final result hinged on a ride off between Kelsey Moody from SAPC and Kody Zaagman from NCSU (Kody transferred to NCSU this semester after spending his freshmen year at SAPC.) The ride off was to break the tie for high point rider. Both competitors rode their best but at the end of the day Kelsey’s performance tipped the scale and SAPC was champion. Three riders qualified for western regionals at this weekend’s shows. Full results at http://www.sapc.edu/Equest/comp_ops/competitionresults.php

The dressage team had a fun trip to Virginia Intermont. We stopped at the Highland Games in Laurinburg on the way out of town to research some ideas for the National competition in April for which we want a Scottish theme. The competition at VI was very stiff. Greta Friesen placed 5th in the first level division, Rob Jacobs was 6th in upper training and Jessica Cusaac was 6th in the Introductory division. The team ended up 8th overall. Greta coached all day and did a fabulous job of setting everyone up for a consistent accurate test. Everyone rode to the best of their ability and I feel that we are close to being very competitive in a region that fields riders that regularly ride in USDF recognized shows at 2nd level and above.


Lindsay and Ashley had a good weekend at the NC State Fair Show. For freshmen Tricia James this was her first experience riding at an “A” rated show. Tricia and her horse Freedom Way (Nick) showed in the Pre Childrens/Adult Equitation and Hunter divisions and earned several 5th and 6th placings in stiff competition. Both Lindsay and Ashley reported that Tricia was very excited with her first outing at an “A” rated show. Katelyn Lang rode her horse Octavian in the Junior Jumpers and although she did not place had a great learning experience. Ashley had Ozzie, who is a recent donation to the program, at the show and had a good first outing. Ashley said it was great to catch up with many old friends at the horse show that she had not seen since returning to the east coast.

Pictures: Donna Fowble at VI & Kelsey and Carla with Popsicle and ribbons!

Oct 2 - 4

This weekend’s activities include the first in the SAPC Dressage Show Series at 3:00 p.m. today. Marsha Bryant from Southern Pines is coming to judge. Every rider will ride their test and then have 15 minutes with Marsha to work on some aspect of the test. Should be fun - show and clinic in one! Sat. we are practicing in the morning, taking a team trip to the Highland Games at the John Blue House and then heading out to Bristol for an IDA show at Virginia Intermont on Sunday.

Lindsay and Ashley are in Raleigh with several students showing for the weekend. Carla and the western team have their first western IHSA shows at SAPC and I don’t think Liz and Pebbles have anything scheduled this weekend other than helping out with the western show!