2012 IDA National Championships

The dressage team returned from Centenary College in New Jersey late last night from the IDA National Championships. The team arrived in New Jersey Thursday evening after a day of driving. Delaware Valley and Cazenovia College also contributed to the horse pool and on Friday morning the team observed all the horses being ridden for the horse selection committee who designate the groupings of horses. Videos were taken of all the horses for scrutiny after the horse draw. Friday afternoon was an opportunity  to visit the Beval tack store to shop for some bargains.

The IDA annual meeting and horse draw took place at the host hotel that evening and the team was excited to draw horse group C. After business and dinner everyone was entertained by a hypnotist who very tastefully provided an excellent distraction from the gradually building tension of the competition.

Saturday was an early start with the parade of horses at 7:30 followed by the Opening Ceremonies. First level rider Lindsey Agaliotis had the third ride on her horse and had the opportunity of observing his first two tests before mounting. Lindsey rode a solid test ending with an average score from the two judges of 69.05%.

Next up was Lauren Parker for St. Andrews who had the second ride on her horse. Lauren rode more conservatively than Lindsey for an average score of 66.6%. Paige Tillison drew the first ride on her horse turning in an average score of 63.85%. Last to ride for St. Andrews was Jenna Marten who was also the last ride of the day. Jenna rode beautifully to earn a score of 72.81%.

The competition is followed by a parade of teams for the presentation of prizes. Lindsey, Lauren and Paige all knew their placings within their divisions but Jenna’s division was not posted prior to the awards ceremony so the tension built. The individual placings were awarded with Lindsey placing 7^th, Lauren 12^th and Paige 10^th. The introductory level division started with the lower placings and the St. Andrews group became more and more excited as they were counted down. Finally Jenna’s name was called for 2^nd place! We found out later that she was reserve high point champion for team day which earned her another ribbon and additional prizes! There is no drop score at Nationals so at the end of the day St. Andrews had 21 points earning them 7^th place. “Mission accomplished,” said Coach Dwelle, “our goal was 7^th or better!”

Sunday’s individual competition started early and the only rider that qualified as an individual was Lindsey Agaliotis riding at first level. Lindsey drew an F.E.I level horse which was 17.2 hands and massive. She was also the first ride on the horse. Her warm up went well but Lindsey who is just 5’2” and had never ridden a horse trained to this level had a difficult time with the large horse in the competitive arena when he became distracted and spooky. Lindsey kept her composure through what was a very frustrating ride.  The experience was another reminder of how humbling horses can be. “I was very disappointed for Lindsey,” said Coach Dwelle, “she has never ridden a horse trained to that level and in the 10 minutes of warm up it is very difficult to learn how to do that. Lindsey handled the situation with exceptional grace and I am very proud of how she represented us in what was an extremely trying situation. Had she drawn any of the other horses she would have had a much stronger ride, but that is horses for you, they can be very humbling and you have to be prepared to be dealt that card once in a while. Lindsey showed yesterday how well she can ride, I am very proud of her and all the team members they were wonderful ambassadors for St.Andrews.”

Coach Jackie Dwelle, Lauren Parker, Paige Tillison, Lindsey Agaliotis and Jenna Marten.

Such an exciting time to be at St. Andrews!

The ANRC team placed 4th at Centenary College in New Jersey competing in the American National Riding Commission National Championships. The team of four riders traveled with their horses and Coach Ashley Duda to compete against approximately 15 other colleges. The competition consists of four phases; a written test of riding theory and equine science, a USEF hunter equitation test, a hunter seat equitation medal course and a Derby style equitation course similar to a hunter trials course.

The weather caused changes in the schedule, delays at the airport, and a loss of sleep for the riders, however at the end of the weekend all riders were very pleased with the final result.

The dressage team will be driving to New Jersey on Thursday to compete in their own Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA) National Championships at Centenary College. St. Andrews has not qualified a team for IDA nationals since 2002 although individuals have represented the college in most years. The team is led by Lindsey Agaliotis at first level who qualified as an individual at upper training last year. Lindsey qualified this year as an individual as well as riding for the team. Her team mates are Lauren Parker in upper training, Paige Tillison in lower training and Jenna Marten at the Introductory level. Interestingly, Jenna is the only equine business major of the group. Lindsey is an interdisciplinary major, Lauren is an education major and Paige is a psychology major, showing that dressage is a sport for everyone!

Beginning this weekend the St. Andrews Equestrian Program begins the move to Raleigh. As the host school of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships St. Andrews is providing many of the volunteers, approximately 23 horses and many hours of Director Peggy McElveen’s time and organizational expertise. More on that shortly!

The Titanic Sportsmanship Challenge

St. Andrews hosted the Dressage Sportsmanship challenge today. The show was an invitational and run along the lines of a conventional IDA show with a few differences. Riders rode on the usual teams of four, but the teams were scrambled so that a team consisted of riders from different schools. Elon and Virginia Tech were the invited schools and with the St. Andrews students made up 6 mixed teams. The day was also very educational with time for each rider to speak with head judge Kris Hamilton after their ride. Kris went over the tests box by box and for some riders educated them on how the collective marks are awarded so they could understand what they needed to improve upon from a positive perspective.


We were incredibly fortunate as Carla Wennberg agreed to be the second judge at E. So riders received two judged tests, plus a conversation with Kris Hamilton immediately after their ride. None of the horses were designated to a level so the teams had to decide which level the horses in their group would compete in. With each horse going twice we had 4 to 6 horses in each division. It was great fun to see Windsong and Corky placing 1st and 4th at first level, and then placing 2nd and 1st at Intro! Socke won upper training and Chico was the winner at lower training.

Given that today is the 100th anniversary of the Titanic going under, the show had a Titanic theme. The horse groups were The Unsinkables, The Luxury Liners and The Icebergers. Teams selected their own names and placed in the following order.

1. Tight as Ice

2. The Leonardos

3. Theres Room for Two

4. Artic Crash

5. I’d Hit That!

6. The Iceberg

Individually, SAU riders placed well and there was an immense amount of excitement about the direct feedback from Kris Hamilton. There were a couple of riders who at the last minute did not attend so two riders got to ride two different tests on two different teams. From a coaching perspective it was an invaluable experience for all my riders from the ones whose interest in dressage is just beginning to the riders going to Nationals who are looking for every bit of feedback they can find. As Carla said at one point during the day, “it is both educational and fun!”

First Level Test 2

1. Lindsay Agaliotis SAU (Reserve High Point 75.81, 70.27, avg. 73.04%)

2. Anna Graves VT

3. Erin Hudson SAU

4. Cody Armstrong VT

5. Andrea Tito SAU

6. Helen Wright Elon

Training Level Test 3

1. Jenna Marten SAU

2. Lauren Parker SAU

3. Cara Barskey VT

4. Kea Kiser VT

5. Sarah Jones SAU

6. Abigail Skillman SAU

Training Level Test 1

1. Paige Tillison SAU

2. Cara Barskey VT

3. Caitlin Cleaver VT

4. Danielle Dombrowse VT

5. Bridget Newman SAU

6. Claire Pollard SAU

Introductory Level Test B

1. Andrea Oliver VT (High Point Rider 71.56, 78.75, Avg. 75.155%)

2. Jenna Marten SAU

3. Danielle Dombrowse VT

4. Danielle Chambers VT

5. Masha Peckham SAU

6. Sarah Hathaway VT

It is a Great Time to be a Knight!

This has been a very exciting (slightly overwhelming) semester. Starting with the dressage team qualifying for their National Championships mid-March, followed by the western team a week later and then the hunter seat team over Easter weekend. The words trifecta and hat trick have been heard in the barns lately. St. Andrews is the only school in the nation to have all three of its teams qualify for their national championships in this year. It is also a first for St. Andrews to have all three teams going to their respective National Championships. Ashley, Carla and I were interviewed for the Laurinburg Exchange on Monday and Jason Chisari. You can read his story here.


Needless to say, we are continuing to work our team riders as hard as we can. Alie McGraw was so excited to qualify for IHSA Hunter Seat Nationals. When I saw her after she returned from Goucher College the first words out of her mouth were, “Jackie – all those lessons paid off!” Fitting in practice around school work and keeping grades up is required at St. Andrews so the students have become masters of time management and prioritizing.

The dressage team is hosting a fun show this Sunday called the Sportsmanship Challenge where the entire team will be competing against invited riders from Elon and Virginia Tech. Each team of 4 riders will have representatives from each of the three schools and the riders select which horses they ride and coach themselves. I am very excited to have Kris Hamilton judging at C and our own Carla Wennberg has agreed to judge at E to give everyone the opportunity to ride for two judges. Next week the western team will be hosting Debra Jones Wright for a day long clinic to get them tuned and ready. The hunter seat team has already had several clinics this year so they will be working hard with Ashley for their final preparation in the run up to Nationals.

On top of all this excitement The Ride-Like-A-Knight Therapeutic Horsemanship program was just recognized by the “North Carolina Association of Community Based Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded & Community Alternatives Programs Service Providers” better known as “The Providers Association” with the 2012 Group Achievement Award. RLAK was nominated for this award by the Monarch Group who participate in the RLAK program.

A student posted on our facebook page last week, “it is a great time to be a Knight!” I have to agree!

Remembering Oscar Allen

The St. Andrews Equestrian Program lost a true friend this week. Oscar Allen who was 80 years young died after a short illness. Until a few weeks ago, Oscar was still working mowing, weed eating, raking and watering the plants as needed. He would help out with stall cleaning and worked alongside the maintenance crew. Oscar knew everyone and everyone knew Oscar and loved and respected him. He loved to joke and kid around and would be quick to tell you a story which was often totally unrelated to the topic of conversation. As he got to the punch line he would start giggling and laughing and you just had to join in whether you “got it” or not! Oscar was never one to say anything negative and was always happy and upbeat. Oscar did not have a cell phone and several times a day he would say, “got a call my sweetie” and would go to the nearest land line to call his wife Irene. Over the years Oscar had a variety of vehicles which he would drive around the equestrian center often with tools and the weed eater balanced on the hood or roof. The tools were never in danger of falling off as he was super respectful of the 15 mph speed limit. So much so that as he headed down the drive way just ahead of the runners participating in the 1 mile run for a recent fitness test, organizer Heather Wile was heard to say, “That is not the pace car, you may pass it” and everyone knew what she was talking about!


Oscar’s wife Irene worked for Shelby and Tom French in the late 70s and early 80s. She was nanny to their daughter Diana and kept house for the Frenchs’s. Oscar worked for McCarter Electric and also helped out with maintenance around Singing Wood Farm which was where the equestrian program started. In the early years he was the sole stall cleaner, did all the maintenance and mowing and anything else that was needed. One of Diana’s horses was named after Oscar and with a show name of Namesake. Many years later Cathy and Daniel Geitner (both SAU alum) named a race horse after Irene, her show name was Oscar’s Wife!

Oscar remained connected with St. Andrews as the equestrian program grew, Shelby moved to Sweet Briar College and Peggy McElveen took the helm. He continued to work on the maintenance crew and also worked for various staff members mowing and cleaning up the yards at their homes. He was a one of a kind individual who was friends with everyone he met. Staff and students who knew him (and over the years there were many) recall his infectious laughter and sunny outlook on life. Oscar you will be missed at St. Andrews but never forgotten.