The Otterbein equestrian team held an exhibition show on March 11 in preparation for its upcoming regional and zone competitions.
Each year, Otterbein sends riders who accumulated at least 36 points in other competitions to the regional semi-finals. If they place first or second in their class at regionals, they advance to zones. This is the last step before nationals where there is both an individual and a team competition.
Freshman pre-vet student Maddie Kress started at the University of Kentucky where she accumulated points, points she carried with her to Otterbein this semester.
Kress, who is headed to zones as a novice fence rider, said, “They had me ride a horse from Otterbein who I have never ridden before to practice.”
At horse shows, riders are faced with the challenge of randomly drawing a horse’s name off a list, getting on without a warm up, then going straight into the arena to compete.
The coaches encouraged their riders to take advantage of the practice show as extra experience going into their upcoming events.
Senior captain and marketing major Emily Egensperger said, “at regionals you just have to get on and ride, so having practice switching on different horses in a show setting gave me the opportunity to adapt to different horses.”
Freshman nursing major Bella Orders said she was only one point away from qualifying for regionals this year and she wants to practice as much as she can so she can secure her spot next season.
While most riders at the show had the intention of practicing for regionals, freshman pre-vet student Megan Leclerc was there for more than just that. Currently second in the point standings in the region for dressage, Leclerc said she hopes to finish first and wants all the practice she can get. Her horse just recently recovered from a three-month long injury.
“It is important for me to get in the show arena to get my horse back into a competition setting without the pressure of an official show,” Leclerc said.
