EQUESTRIAN CLUB
Historic Overview
The Equestrian Sport Club has been around for many years and has always been competitive as a team. The national organization has two divisions, English and western, where riders compete at various levels depending on their previous experience. For the upper levels in English, an over fences division is available, and for the upper level in western, the more advanced competition of reining is available. The sport club is a member of the intercollegiate horseshow association (IHSA), which is the national organization that runs the program. The program offers classes for people who have never ridden before, all the way up to people who have been competing at the upper levels in their respective discipline. There are six levels involved and as people improve, they can earn enough points to reach the next division. In every class, members are placed from first through sixth place, and receive points for each ribbon, with the first place ribbon being worth seven points, the second place ribbon being worth five points, and so on. When members reach 35 points, they qualify for the regional competition and move up in level. Points carry over from year to year, except in the Open (the highest) division, where the points repeat each year, as people in this class cannot advance to a higher division. Team members compete both as individuals and team members. In all six of the offered level, the person whose points will count for the team in that class is chosen ahead of time, so it behooves the team for the coach to know and be able to choose the best riders. At the end of the day, the highpoint and reserve high point individual and team is announced, and ribbons are awarded. At the end of the season, our team usually ends up with one or two individuals from the team who qualify for zones, and once in a while, one of those individuals qualifies for nationals. Last year, two members, Stephanie Mitchell and Laura Bagby, attended zones in California, and Laura Bagby went on to place sixth over fences in the national competition back east. There are nine schools that participate in the region spanning British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, including Central Washington University, University of Washington, Linn-Benton Community College, Western Washington University, Seattle University, Oregon State University, University of Oregon, and University of British Columbia. In the past, our team has been fairly competitive in the English division even though the team cannot afford to have enough horses to hold regular team practices. The western division, on the other hand, has been practically nonexistent. It has been a goal the past few years to send a whole team to zones, however, we have not yet achieved that goal. The membership continues to grow year after year. About four years ago, there were only five members that competed regularly on the team. This year out membership included 28 people, most of who were actively involved in the club. In the past, the club has not held any formal fundraising, yet has been able to raise funds by giving members lessons using a horse that we lease. The club also hosts at least one show a year, which helps with funds, too. Overall, the team makes about five dollars per ride, which can go a long way in helping to fund the team. For the last few years, the show has been held at Gold Creek Equestrian Center, in Woodinville, WA, as there are not enough horses to hold the show in the Pullman area. By using the Equestrian Center, the team has been able to get some nice lesson horses and use the personal horses of the owners. The Bagby's, the owners of Gold Creek, have been very generous in letting us use the Center at a very low cost to the team. The past few years, the members have been asked to pay for their own entry fees and about $200 total to the club for extra travel and accommodation fees. This does not include the food in the trips. With this method, which often goes into our fundraising category, the team can have enough money in the treasury to pay or mostly pay for the people who qualify for zones and nationals.
Fall 2006 Review
Last fall, the team got off to a great start ending first semester in the lead for the English high point team and having a competitive western team. Many members were placing in the top of their respective classes. In the four fall English shows, the team won three high points. One member, Julianna Simon, even managed to win an Individual High point for the English division, which is a big accomplishment. In the first six Western shows, the team placed third on three occasions and fourth once. In this semester, two team members, Julianna Simon and Erin O'Donnell, qualified for the regional competition in their respective classes. In the middle of October, we found a horse, Spud, to lease from a college student. He was used in lessons, taught by the two most advanced members of the club, Stephanie Mitchell, and Tyler Chavez. Each lesson cost individual club members $25 to help pay for the boarding of the horse and to help pay for the time spent teaching by the two coaches. For people to just go out and ride Spud on their own cost the member $15. At the show near Portland, we received a team donation of almost $600 in the form of food for the show. We were also given, free of charge, a place to stay for the night for almost twenty competitors. At the show down in Corvallis, OR where we stayed in a hotel, we asked members for money, which helped raise team funds so we could afford the year. At the shows that contained English, we took about twenty people to the competitions. At the single show that did not contain English, we sent our six western riders, which was almost a full team. Fall 2006 was very successful and organized for the team, and the members went home for Christmas in hope that spring 2007 would continue in the same manner.
Spring 2007 Review and Preview
Spring did not start out quite as well as the fall began. There were four hunt seat shows, and the team received two reserve high points and two third place awards. Enough leeway was lost at these four shows that Oregon State beat WSU by a small margin. This margin was the smallest it has been in remembered history. The Western team lost several riders who completely left school. At the four shows, the team was able to pull out a single third place. Once all of the qualifying competitions were complete, we had five people, Erin O'Donnell, Erin Wheeler, Stephanie Mitchell, Jenny Ottenburg, and Julianna Simon, qualified for the regional competition in the English division and one member, Tyler Chavez, qualified in the western division. Two members of the English team, Julianna Simon and Jenny Ottenburg, qualified straight for zones as two people from the regional competition go to zones and only two people qualified for the regional competition in their respective divisions. For the first time in remembered history, we had a person in every English class at the regional competition. At the regional competition, five of the six members qualified for zones; the most ever. Tyler Chavez received grand champion in his Western class, and the Erin O'Donnell, Stephanie Mitchell, and Julianna Simon each received reserve champion ribbons in their respective classes at the regional competition. For the western competition occurring March 24 and 25 Tyler is flying to Pomona, CA, accompanied by Stephanie Mitchell because she has attended zones in the past. For the English competition, we are sending four team members to Pomona, CA on the separate dates of April 7 and 8. If any of these members place in the top two in their respective classes, they will qualify for the national competition in Springfield, MA, in the first week of May.
One of the shows this semester was run by WSU, which served as our fundraiser. Many compliments were received about the organization of the show and over one thousand dollars was the profit for the team. Another goal that is currently being completed is to get on the WSU cable show. One of our meetings was filmed this semester and on Tuesday, the 20th of March, a lesson involving several student riders was taped out at the Breezeway, a local stable. This helps the publicity of the club and helps let people know what the team is doing. There were several new team members this semester, but we also lost several team members, so it turned out about even. This spring there may also be another local show hosted by WSU as a fundraiser later this spring, but it has not yet been decided. Overall, spring has been successful and the team wishes the best of luck to those competitors going to California.
2007-2008 Preview
The main goal for the club next year is to continue being as organized in the structure and function. The team plans to spend more time on fundraising and donations now that we have an approved donation letter. Next year we might have to have tryouts to limit the team size as there are a limited number of spots open for competitors in each division. The team plans on continuing the lessons, if possible, as it is felt that the lessons helped to make the club the most successful it could be. Another goal for the team has been to hold an IHSA show in the area, whether in Spokane or Pullman. It would be nice not to have to travel to Oregon or the West side for every show and would allow more publicity, in that students could attend to see what the program is about. Next year, the hope is that we can send a team to the zone competition for the first time ever. With the rising gas prices, we are asking for a little bit more money from the SRC to help minimize the cost of being a member of the team and to allow us to continue and fund more activities. This past year, the members paid for their own entry fees, which run about $100 per weekend, their own food, and about $300 extra over the course of the year to help with hotel costs and the horse we leased. We are trying to cut down on the out-of-pocket costs of the members who participate so that more people can afford to have fun with the team.