Acorn

Drew University's equestrian team finished fifth out of 11 teams in last Sunday's All-Region Horse Show at Briarwood Farms.

The team is now ranked third overall for the season.

Despite Sunday's windy and difficult riding conditions, the team celebrated some individual victories.

Freshman Kaitlin Natoli was High Point Rider overall, after winning both her novice flat class and novice jumping class.

She earned the team 14 points for her winning rides on Parker and Skippy.

She had never ridden either horse before and was able to see her work pay off.

'I have been working really hard with the team and in the lessons,' Natoli said.

Natoli is preparing to move from the novice level to the intermediate level. She has been riding since she was 5 years old and has two horses at home.

Although the team did not do as well as it did in the previous show, Coach Karen Sykes, a Drew alumna, said, 'I was very happy with the way people rode. I didn�t see any riding errors.'

Horse show judging is subjective, but The Intercollegiate Horse Show Association judges base their decisions mostly on a rider's skills.

'The judges in the Intercollegiate look at equitation, which is the body position of the rider,' co-captain junior Paige Weller said. 'They also take basic things into consideration, such as if the horse is doing what the rider asks.'

Weller co-captains with junior Tori Frederick.

The captains are in charge of organizing team meetings and workouts.

The equestrian team is a varsity sport with a varsity time commitment.

In addition to taking a riding lesson at least once a week, the team has three weekly workout sessions for strength training and shows on the weekend.

Team members typically wake up at 5:30 a.m. to go to a show and don�t return until 4 or 5 p.m.

Lessons are also time-consuming, because many of the riders take two or three lessons a week.

Because Briarwood Farms is nearly an hour drive away, a single lesson will take up an entire afternoon.

A rider with a lesson at 3 p.m. would have to leave Drew by 1:30 p.m. and would return around 6 p.m.

'It gets hard sometimes [getting to the barn], for driving reasons,' sophomore Courtney Conrad said. The team members try to carpool but still pay for their own gas.

Although the team is a serious time commitment, Drew equestrians reap the benefits. In the past few years, they have placed second overall in the region and have consistently sent riders to nationals. Drew equestrians also have school spirit and 'everyone clicks together,' sophomore Sam Wasson said.

The team will compete in another show this Sunday.

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