Mason Katz never has to worry about his bat not wanting to be swung. Anthony Hickey has never arrived at the PMAC to find the basketball throwing a tantrum.
In a sport where the only certainty is that no two horses ride the same, members of the LSU Equestrian Club have to be ready to handle anything.
“[The horses] all have their good and bad days,” said natural resource ecology and management freshman Kinley Scott. “We have all ridden enough [to be] prepared for whatever they throw at us.”
It takes countless hours to build a relationship with any particular horse, and anthropology sophomore Maggy Case said a certain level of trust is crucial for a rider and horse to perform at the highest level.
“It isn’t a sport where you can just show up, ride and leave,” Case said.
While the view of riding as a beautiful relationship between rider and horse is great for Hollywood, it is inaccurate when looking at the world of competitive showing.
At an Intercollegiate Horse Show Association event, a rider competes in one of six skill levels and is scored on ability to execute judges’ commands, maneuver around obstacles and appearance while riding.
In order to judge the rider exclusively on ability, each participant must choose a horse at random from an assortment of local horses and is not allowed any practice time before competing.
“[Shows] are a good test of your ability as a rider,” said psychology junior Katie Kuder. “You don’t have any time to really develop a bond with the horse. It makes it much more rewarding when you show well.”
Although they never get to ride the horses before the competition, there are other ways for the riders to learn about them. On the morning of a show, competitors get to watch the horses perform with their handlers during a period called schooling.
Competitions are split into two distinct classes: flat and fences. Flat classes are done with anywhere from five to 12 horses in the ring, while fences only show one horse per round. Each type of show poses its own challenges, but many riders believe flat is more difficult.
“[During fences] all you have to do is execute all of the jumps in order,” said animal science freshman Faith Meyers. “If you just stay in the background in flat, you won’t do well. The number of people in the ring really forces you to show yourself off.”
The equestrian club leads its region by a large margin and hosts the final shows of the regular season this weekend at the BREC Farr Park Equestrian Center, something the members are thankful for.
“There is definitely a home field advantage,” Kuder said. “By [Saturday] we will have ridden almost every horse at the show.”
A win this weekend would clinch the region and send the club to the Zone 7 championship in Amarillo, Texas on April 6 to compete for a spot at IHSA Nationals, something it just missed last year after finishing third.
