February 25th turned out to be a great day in the lands of horse shows. That was the day Sweet Briar’s riding center held its SWVHJA Winter Show with many student participants.  In the Open Hunter Division Annabel Voorhees’13 and Sweet Briar’s Morning Edition won champion, placing first and second in her over fences rounds.

Sweet Briar’s Loki with Katy Coombs’12 won the Open Hunter under saddle, which assisted her in winning Reserve Champion behind Voorhees.  In the Children’s/Adult Hunter division, Ali Davidson’13 atop Sweet Briar’s Chasing Gold won champion in both of her over fences wins.  In the Special Adult Hunters, Eryn Wiley’13 riding Sweet Briar’s Classified ended the day with a Reserve Champion from her over fences win.  Alex Mebane’12 and Sweet Briar’s Scarlet won Champion in the Pleasure Hunter Division with Caileigh Bryant’14 on Sweet Briar’s Fable following closely winning Reserve Champion. Overall, it was a successful day with many SBC riders placing at the top of their classes.

Though, the biggest turnaround must have been Eryn Wiley; during her warm up course she states “I ate dirt when I flipped off Linus” simply because she knew it would be a crowd-pleaser.  Linus had spooked at a jump, which resulted in an unplanned dismount for Wiley.  But she did not let that phase her; as she remounted and won her next class!

In the world of IHSA the Sweet Briar Vixens finished the year second in the region behind Bridgewater College.  The team rode very well during our final show.  During the competition, a couple riders qualified for regionals (which were to be held after the show).  Regionals are the midway step between the regular IHSA Shows and Zones.  Only riders who accumulate a minimum of 36 points are eligible to compete.  Once the riders are qualified for regionals the school that hosts Zones allows a certain number of riders per division to ride.

This year, the cut off was after the top two riders. When the riders compete at Zones this year, the top two proceed to Nationals, which will be held May 3-6 in Raleigh, North Carolina.  During the last official IHSA show Kathryne Richard won her Novice flat class, then I won my Intermediate flat class, which qualified us to compete later in the day at regionals.

Olivia Smith qualified for both Open flat and over fences before the day’s competition, so she had no worries.  Both Olivia and I took second in our regional classes on the flat, and Kathryne won her class, which means…you guessed it! The three of us are moving on to compete at Zones at Goucher College in Baltimore Maryland on April 7.  All of us are extremely pleased, Kathryne states, “I am so proud of my team and myself, and I am looking forward to representing my school alongside my teammates at IHSA Zones”.

Though with this honor comes responsibility, Coach Ian McCartney is expecting us to work hard every time we ride, which includes riding without stirrups every day for a minimum of 10 minutes.  I know I will certainly be sore for the next couple days.  But all of us are excited and are keeping our eyes on the prize to hopefully make it to Nationals!

The final show before spring break is coming up quick: we have the ANRC team plus Elizabeth Hansbrough and Katie Cartwright competing at the Virginia Intermont Classic at the Lexington Horse Center March 2-4.  Upon return from spring break, our Sweet Briar Spring show is the first weekend.  The SBC Spring Equitrial is March 31, April 6 is ODAC’s, April 7 is IHSA Zones, April 14 is the SBC Annual Show, and April 16-22 is the ANRC National Finals.  Be sure to wish the ANRC Team good luck when you see them! They are going to be busy after spring break!

Contact Sarah Hibler at hibler14@sbc.edu with any questions or comments.