Intercollegiate Horse Show Scoring

The fall intercollegiate season comes to a close with St. Andrews teams having the following points.

Hunter Seat 200
Western 144
Dressage 16

This places the hunter seat and western teams in the lead in their respective regions by 32 and 20 points and the dressage team one point behind Averett University in their region. The point value differences come from the different approach taken by the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) and the Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA).

IHSA and IDA both use the same system when it comes to awarding points to individual riders.

1st – 7 points
2nd – 5 points
3rd – 4 points
4th – 3 points
5th – 2 points
6th – 1 point

Individual riders in both organizations accumulate points towards year end awards and for the opportunity to ride at Regionals for IHSA or Nationals for IDA. IHSA has more competitive layers at the end of the year than IDA.

In IHSA, point riders are designated by the coach at the coaches meeting prior to the start of the show. Schools may have more than one rider in each division but only one rider’s score counts for the team. In IDA usually 2 teams of 4 riders from each school compete for the day’s points. IHSA Hunter Seat has 8 designated point riders with one drop score. IHSA Western has 6 designated point riders with no drop score. IDA teams count the best 3 scores (by point value determined by their individual placing in their division) from each team of 4 riders. At the end of each show the most each team can score is as follows.

IHSA Hunter Seat – 49 points
IHSA Western – 42 points
IDA Dressage – 21 points

In IHSA the team’s points from each show are cumulative. For example three perfect shows in hunter seat would earn 147 points. In IDA the winning team earns 7 points, the second place team 5 points etc. So a perfect score for three shows for IDA would be 21 points. To further complicate things no matter how many shows are held in a region for IDA only a team’s top 4 shows count. If a school has a second team their points do not count towards qualifying. In IHSA each region must have a minimum of 5 shows to qualify for Regionals and therefore Zones and finally Nationals.

Very confusing and this does not address all the rules in both organizations that start with “In the event…".

I’ll discuss individual scoring and qualifying for Regionals and Nationals in a later post.

Currently, all St. Andrews Intercollegiate Equestrian Teams are strong contenders in their respective regions.

Regional Standing for All St. Andrews' Intercollegiate Teams

IHSA Hunter Seat - After 5 shows
St. Andrews University 200
UNC-Chapel Hill 168
North Carolina State University 161
Duke University 154
East Carolina University 154
Coastal Carolina University 116
UNC-Charlotte 89
UNC-Wilmington 89
Virginia Commonwealth University 84
Davidson College 37
Martin Community College 14

IHSA Western - After 4 shows
St. Andrews 144
NCSU 124
VA Tech 82
High Point University 59
Martin Community College 43

IDA – After 3 shows
Averett University 17
St. Andrews University 16
Furman University 10
North Carolina State University 11

Show teams, Alums etc.

As is the case with most weekends during the semester the equestrian staff were going in several different directions this past weekend. Carla and the western team had back to back shows at Martin Community College and the show team with Ashley and Heather were showing in Raleigh at an NCHJA show. Peggy headed to Raleigh Friday to support the show team and I accompanied Carla as the second driver to Williamston NC.

The western team arrived early Saturday morning for a 2:00 start. We were able to watch some of the horses school and Carla ran through patterns on foot with her riders. They have miniature cones which they set out to practice patterns. The show started late and did run a little slowly which intensified the chill in the air which you really feel if you spend most of your time on the bleachers! Unlike St. Andrews, Martin does not have a small army to run their shows and does a wonderful job with only 17 students and 2 staff. The day was long but our riders were focused and very supportive of one another. At the end of the day NCSU came out ahead. Peggy was keen to be updated so we were soon into a pattern of texting placings and accumulated points back and forth after each class.

After checking into our hotel we went to the Shamrock restaurant for dinner. The food is family style ranging from burgers and fries to seafood and steaks with vegetables - something to appeal to everyone. At the end of the meal Kimmy made an announcement that Alum Leah Davison had paid for everyone’s dinner! What a great supporter! Brittany called Leah right away and the entire team thanked her for generosity and support.

Sunday the show was not scheduled to start until 11:00 a.m. so I made a quick visit to the NCDCTA Harvest Moon dressage show at the Horse Complex. Talk about a contrast! At the western show the music was country and the classes ran when folks were ready. In dressage land, classical/elevator music was piped into the indoor arena and riders reported to the ring at their appointed time. The atmosphere was serene and organized. I spent a happy hour at the show watching FEI level tests before returning to the hotel pick up the team.

Sunday’s show ran more smoothly than Saturday’s. We started on time at 11:00 and were done by 3:30 including running the BOB Derby to raise money for IHSA Nationals 2012. I got better at texting Peggy (I have a 5 year old flip phone) and she texted back that she was at Elon’s IHSA show to see Alum Rob Jacobs ride in the Alum class. Rob was second on the flat and first over fences. At the western show our riders were really on form beating NCSU by one point!
The drive home is only about 3 hours but it seemed longer as we were driving directly into the sun which is low in the sky at this time of year.

A good weekend for the SAU equestrian teams. The western team showed grace and determination with many challenges during the weekend, our alums remain involved with the program in one way or another and the show team earned many ribbons and represented St. Andrews well to the horse show world. Very happy to be part of this wonderful program!

Good weekend for western and show teams!

The western team still leads the region by 20 points after this weekend's back to back shows.

Katie Hansen and Alexandra Fullerton were champion and reserve champion in the NCHJA Equitation Finals in Raleigh.

For a complete report of this weekend's shows click here!

November 19th, 2011 - Riding Open House

High School Seniors sign up for Riding Open House on Nov 19th? This is the only open house this year where you will have an opportunity to ride our horses! Come meet the coaches, tour the incredible equestrian center and learn about the many and varied programs St. Andrews has to offer. Click here to register!

Questions? Drop me an email dwellejm@sapc.edu