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