The Otterbein hunt-seat equestrian team were reserve champions at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Zone 6 Finals last Saturday, March 28. This placing has qualified the team to compete at the 2015 IHSA National Championship at the end of April.
In intercollegiate riding, competitors ride unfamiliar horses and are judged on their equitation (or form) and their ability to control the horse.
“It was a really exciting show. It all came down to the last class, it was a tight race throughout the entire day,” said coach Tenley Struhs.
In the last class of the day, intermediate flat, sophomore Mackenzie Gerdes placed second and helped the team secure the reserve champion position and qualify for the IHSA nationals.
“It was definitely a lot of pressure,” Gerdes said.
Juniors Sam
While coach Lindsay Yinger thinks that the team has worked hard, deserves to go, and will be able to remain competitive, she plans to have the riders practice hard until the competition, "I think that they aren’t going to have stirrups and I think that they are going to ride a lot. They need to be riding a lot,” she said.
“To be completely honest there are a couple of really super hard teams that are going to be really tough to beat,” said Yinger.
This is the team's first year returning to IHSA nationals since they qualified and placed 7th in 2013.
IHSA Nationals will take place at the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, Massachusetts, between April 30 and May 3.
