First Day of Competition at IHSA Nationals - One Perspective

Thursday: Former St. Andrews IHSA coach and SAU alum Sarah Rhymer and I are working the draw table or put another way managing the ducks in the duck pond! The draw table is always a good place to be as you meet everyone. In addition to the competitors, parents stop by as well as IHSA officials and stewards. Sarah has a 5 week old puppy that is looking for a home so we have an added attraction – as if the ducks weren’t cute enough! Bernie Trauig stopped by to video the ducks in action for an Equestrian Coach video on IHSA.

Meanwhile, the rest of the staff are busy with multiple responsibilities. Hunter seat starts the competition so Ashley of course is coaching. Rob is schooling and preparing horses all day which I believe started around 5:00 a.m. for the key hunter seat people. The barn staff also had early start having left close to midnight yesterday due to late arriving horses.

Heather is typing up announcements to recognize our sponsors, Pebbles has not been seen but food miraculously appears on a regular basis! Our own Debbie Bell arrived with a car load of goodies from the Admissions office – thank you Jeff Bennett!

Thursday Evening: With the draw table finished for the day, I relocated to the St. Andrews barn area, to help Carla and the western riders with their horse selection. All the horses had been ridden during the day, but each one had to be shown to the horse selection committee. The reiners started the selection process around 5:30 followed by the horsemanship horses.

The schooling was wrapping up when I left at around 8:30. Kellie and the barn staff had returned from dinner and were busy wrapping legs, packing feet, picking stalls and doing the late night hay and water. Pebbles was on another run to the airport to pick up a western judge and Peggy was going to the store for additional cases of water. With the heat the crew had gone through almost 50 cases in the first few days. Tomorrow schooling starts at 6:00 a.m. followed by the first horse draw at 7:30. Going to be another busy day!