Intercollegiate National Championships

St. Andrews has qualified riders for three National Intercollegiate Championships this spring. These competitions are the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) at the Kentucky Horse Park, May 5 -8 for hunter seat and western and the Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA) National Championships at Canterbury Show Place in Florida April 30 – May 1.

Hunter Seat Team members are Audrey Bolte, Rob Jacobs, Katie Hansen, Kali Cram, Sami Cram, Jennifer Callahan, Miranda Wright and Blake Liljestrand. Rob Jacobs will also be competing for the Cacchione Cup and Katie Hansen will be representing St. Andrews as an individual in the Open Fences division. Coach Ashley Duda said that the team’s goal at the beginning of the year was to place in the top five at Nationals. She believes this is possible. “This is a much stronger team than I had at Nationals five years ago when I coached for Kansas State. These students really want to win, they are self-motivated and I don’t have to tell them to work hard. If all the riders are “on” and everything falls into place we can bring everything home. We have placed second and third at two National tournaments and like I said they really want to win,” then she added with a laugh, “and the coach is more knowledgeable than five years ago!”

Coach Duda will continue with the regime of no stirrup work, lunge lessons and continual improvement of the rider’s positions in the saddle. “I am working with eight different personalities and each one needs something different. Some need more pumping up than others.” Coach Duda said that confidence in one’s ability to perform well at Nationals is really important. “This group has competed together all year and should feel very confident but it can be hard convincing people at this level that they can win. At the end of the day our riders will be much stronger because of this experience. Once they are in the ring all I can do is trust that our practices have given them the tools to react to whatever comes up with the horse they are riding. It is totally up to them, I find it hard to watch the over fences and usually watch the horse’s footprints to see if they are straight on course and have a good distance to the fence.”

Rob Jacobs is competing in the Cacchione Cup which is awarded to the National Individual Hunter Seat High Point Rider. “Most of the riders in the Cacchione Cup have a background in the 3’6” medal classes prior to coming to college,” said Coach Duda. “Rob’s background prior to college was jumping 2’6” courses on well trained horses and his position was not solid. He has come a long way in four years! He has the ability to lay down a beautiful over fences ride.” Coach Duda’s final comment was that given all the preparation the competition has an element of luck because you draw for the horse you ride.

Coach Carla Wennburg has two riders headed to IHSA Nationals to represent St. Andrews as individuals in western. They are senior Leah Davison in Beginning Walk/Jog and Brittany Powell in Intermediate Horsemanship. Coach Wennburg’s strategy is similar to Coach Duda’s when it comes to preparing her riders. “We have been working on body position, strengthening and correct design of position all year. Confidence is important at this point, winning is more about your mental approach than your physical approach. The horses can be good or bad and you have to be ready to deal with every situation. The patterns will be more intricate at Nationals plus the riders must convince the judge that they have a beautiful position and can ride softly. For Leah especially being 6’1” she stands out in the ring so that first impression is really important. The riders have to draw a horse that they can ride well, have a consistent performance on the rail and demonstrate an excellent pattern while exhibiting poise and confidence.”

Coach Wennburg is also a judge and she said that when she is watching her riders compete she thinks and reacts like a judge. “I analyze everything and know what is going on. It gets to be emotional too when you have worked so hard to get to this point and then the element of luck from the horse draw might help you or not. It sets you up for a lot of turmoil. I have to keep it in perspective and remind myself that neither my rider or I trained the horse.”

The IDA National Championships hosted by the University of Florida are where sophomore Lindsey Agaliotis and coach Jackie Dwelle are headed at the end of April. “I really thought we would qualify our team this year,” said Coach Dwelle. “When Averett University beat us by a tiny margin for the team title I was really disappointed because I believed we were strong enough to come out on top. They showed me! I am really excited to be travelling to Nationals with Lindsey representing SAPC in the Upper Training division. She has worked really hard to develop her horsemanship on all levels and has been a true leader for our team. Lindsey has been riding every day on as many different horses as possible to refine and hone her skills. Probably the biggest unknown for us is how Lindsey will cope with the pressures of competing at Nationals. It is different than a regular show and she has never been under that kind of pressure before. We have talked about it and discussed ways I can help her on competition day to stay calm and focused on her riding. Once she is in the competition ring I will be riding along with her and holding my breath! That is the hardest part of coaching because there is nothing I can do if things go wrong it is all up to the rider.”

Coach Dwelle went on to talk about her plans for the 2012 National competition. “When our regular season was over before spring break I started to look forward to 2012 and tried to figure out how we could be better next year. I came up with the Secret Squirrel Training Squad (there is a story behind the name) which required team members to submit applications for admission into the squad. I accepted eight riders and with the help of my two graduating seniors we have met consistently on Fridays and Saturdays to do lunge lessons and ride in halters bareback. The squad was also required to compete at Showing Under the Stars and several of them also competed at Antares to get more time in the competitive arena. It has been very successful, not only have the riders improved but we have developed several of the dressage horses into solid lunge horses.”

All three coaches agree that National Championships create a goal for a team to work towards. In addition this type of competition helps riders become more comfortable in a pressure situation and ultimately develops them to be effective stylish horsemen.