St. Andrews wins first IHSA Hunter Seat Show of the Season…but it was so much better than that!

Matt Arrigon was at the barn at 3:00 a.m. with the stall cleaning crew to finish preparing for the show. Facility Manager Jeremy Sansbury prepared breakfast for his crew in the farm house which was very warmly received by the early morning workers.

At 5:30 a.m. there were 70 students at the barn to help the barn managers with morning chores which included finding the horses in their fields in the dark to bring them into the barn! “They were going at 100 miles/hour, it was amazing to see so many of them at that time of day working hard and enjoying it,” said Equestrian Program Director Peggy McElveen. “I brought breakfast for everyone and I think just about every student came up to me and thanked me for their meal. I was impressed with the energy level and enthusiasm of the students all day. It was a very hot day and every time I refilled the water coolers people would come running. The team alone went through 8 cases of water! In the heat of the day I saw Cami running full speed to the barn returning a few seconds later (still running) with Soldier who was needed immediately at the ring. These students were really impressive during a really long day in very hot weather.”

The pre-show preparations went very well but things came to a sudden halt when the EMT did not arrive for the start of the show at 10:00. The Highland Games over at the Blue Farm House also required EMT’s on site and there was a mix up as to who was supposed to go where.

The draw table for early shows in the season is usually a simple affair, but Peggy reasoned that shows later in the year would be cold so she asked for the now famous duck pond to be set up for the draw. “It was a menagerie of ducks,” said Matt during the wait for the show to start. In addition to the rubber ducks used for the draw, Peggy had bought some of her collection of ducks to decorate the pond. “The pond received a ton of compliments from students who had not seen it before,” said Liz Dulski who ran the draw table for the 32 classes of the show.

This year our IHSA region (zone 4, region 3) is doing a service project called “Kickin’ Cancer”. This project is the brain child of Emilee Wilson who transferred to St. Andrews this fall. Emiliee’s father was recently diagnosed with a very serious cancer and Emilee wanted to do something in his honor. She approached Peggy at the beginning of the year to ask if the Equestrian Program could do something to raise money for cancer research and Kickin’ Cancer was born.

At this first show of the season Emiliee had T-shirts and bracelets for sale. There was also an area for people to remember or honor someone they knew with cancer. “I was amazed by how many have had cancer in their families,” said Emiliee, “and I was shocked by the support this fundraiser received. I had 61 shirts to sell and they were gone in the first hour! I have a list of people who ordered shirts after we ran out.” Emiliee’s Dad was at the show, “He was moved to tears by the number of students who were walking around in their new shirts and the support shown by people from all of the schools in attendance.” A dollar from every entry fee will also be given to Kickin’ Cancer at every show in the region this year. A committee is being formed with a student representative from each of the 11 schools in the region to plan fundraisers for future shows. “The committee will also decide on which organizations will receive the money we raise at the end of the year, the American Cancer Society is one but we may select to support others,” said Emilee. “This service project really bought everyone in our region together today,” said Peggy. “Everyone was on board when we discussed the idea at the coach’s meeting and by the response the project received it is clear it will continue to have benefits for everyone involved for the rest of the year.”

At the end of the day four St. Andrews riders - Kimberley O’Keefe, Kelsey Kocher, Emily McBee and Cami Glaff - were tied for high point rider with 14 points apiece. They all answered the tie breaking question correctly, so Peggy called it a tie and gave the ribbon to Cami as it was her 21st birthday.

What a day! The hunter seat team earned their win but the real winners were everyone involved in the St. Andrews Equestrian program, students, staff and parents. We would also be remiss if we did not recognize our equine friends without whom none of this would be possible. Horses from dressage, therapeutic horsemanship and western participated along-side the hunter seat horses to offer more than 200 total rides. Thank you horses, you are the reason that we come together, make new friendships, learn to support one another through good times and tough times and provide us so much more every day.

Students from the TH program holding the TH horses and sporting the Kickin' Cancer T-shirts (2 darker blue shirts)