2012-2013 Season In Reflection

In intercollegiate riding, the schools are broken down into zones and regions based on geographic location. Purdue is in Zone 7 Region 1 along with IU, University of Illinois, Saint Mary of the Woods, Ball State, Taylor, Earlham, Parkland, Eastern Illinois, Manchester, St. Mary's College, and Butler. We have a total of ten "regular season" shows over the course of five different weekends during the year. Three show weekends first semester and two show weekends second semester. Each day of showing is a different show although the same teams are generally at each one. You are able to accumulate points as an individual rider as well as team points. The points are awarded to the top six places as follows:
First place: 7 Points
Second place: 5 Points
Third place: 4 Points
Fourth place: 3 Points
Fifth Place: 2 Points
Sixth Place: 1 Point
For individual riders, you can qualify for Regionals by pointing up into the next riding level. You need 36 points to point up and your points carry over to the next school year. The exception is the top level which is the Open class. For Open you need 28 points to qualify for Regionals but your points don't carry over to the next year. After you qualify for Regionals, you must place either first or second in your class at Regionals to qualify for Zones and then place first or second at Zones to qualify for Nationals.
In order to qualify as a team for Zones you must win your region as a team and to qualify for Nationals you have to win Zones as a team. At the regular season horse shows for each class your team has a point rider. This is the rider whose points count towards the overall team score. They are sort of the "offensive line" for the team. The other riders in the class are the "defensive line." Their job is still to do the best they can like the point rider so that they keep other teams' point riders from getting the high places and accumulating points.
Last year we were the Regional and Zone champions so we got to send a team to Zones and Nationals along with our riders who qualified individually. We placed tenth at Nationals last year.

The team after the Regional horse show at Blackdog Farm in Marion, IN. I went to support the riders who qualified. I took pictures of each of their rides and filled in their placings in the record book as they were announced.

Our Zones team after the show in Texas

Our Nationals team at the start of the show in Pennsylvania

PET Season Kick-Off Party and Horse Showing Defined

This weekend we had the equestrian team season kick off party at Slayter Hill. We met up for some pizza, team bonding time, and games. We also found out our new bigs and littles. Last year, since it was my first year on the team, I was the baby of my PET family but this year I got my little! Her name is Katie and she's in my lesson so we already have scheduled time to hang out every week! She's really nice and should be a fun addition to our family.

As promised, I will begin explaining how the intercollegiate horse shows work. Today I'm just going to go through the different classes and the schedule for a typical show day. The horse shows start with schooling which is where they warm the horses up. We get to the show in time to watch the horses warm up and in that time we can see what quirks they may have. In intercollegiate riding we draw what horse we ride out of a hat so it's very much a luck of the draw sport. You find out what horse you will be riding approximately five minutes or less before you ride. We don't get to warm up at all with the horse, we just have to get on and be ready to compete right then and there. After schooling, the show begins with the upper level classes and work their way down. They do the fence(jumping) classes first beginning with open and then proceeding to intermediate and novice. After they finish with novice fences, there is a short "intermission" where we go out and take the jumps down. After the arena is cleared, they bring the horses in to school again for the flat classes. When schooling is finished they resume the show with open flat and move through intermediate, novice, advanced walk trot canter, beginning walk trot canter, and walk trot. Typically the shows last from 8:00am to about 3:00 - 4:00pm. They announce the placings for each class as soon as the class is complete. The shows in general run a bit like track meets. You ride your class and the rest of the time you are there supporting your team mates. It's a bonding experience just as much as a competition.

That's all I have for this week. Next week will be a recap of how our team did last year.

First Lesson

The lesson schedule came out last weekend and this semester I will be riding every Monday evening. The other riders in my lesson weren't on the team last year but seem like a nice group of girls. We are a walk-trot/beginning walk trot canter lesson which is the first of the IHSA levels. The IHSA levels for flat classes are walk-trot, beginning walk trot canter, advanced walk trot canter, novice, intermediate and open. There are also IHSA levels for the fences(jumping) classes which include novice, intermediate, and open.

For the first lesson the weather was hot and muggy. The temperature was in the 90s and it was humid so we did a fairly easy lesson so the horses wouldn't get fatigued. We worked at the walk working on our two point and vertical positions which are good form exercises and Jerry worked on the basics with our new riders such as proper hand and leg position. I rode Derby this week who is one of our older horses. The other horses being ridden in our lesson were Porschea, Hope, Irish, and Blue.

The new riders did a great job in their first lesson and seem to be excited to ride again next week!

This weekend we have our team kick off party so this year's bigs/littles will be revealed and next week I will go into more detail about how intercollegiate horse shows work.

Start Of A New Season

Welcome to my blog! Here you will be able to learn about competitive horseback riding, learn more about my personal riding, and follow The Purdue Equestrian Team through our 2013-2014 season!

The 2013-2014 season officially began last week with the first team meeting. The first meeting is where we fill out all of the paperwork, including the release forms and team member contract, that we need to have submitted before the riding starts.

Before our coaches can make the lesson schedule for the semester they hold trial rides for the new members. Trial rides are designed to place each person in a riding level for IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association). That level will determine which level of lesson the rider can be placed into. I will discuss what the classes are in my next post.

After trial rides and the collecting of schedules with time availability, the coaches work together to devise a lesson schedule for the semester which should become available to us sometime this weekend. Lessons are expected to begin next week.

Here's to a great season of riding!