Bulldogs Bare Their Teeth At The Varsity Equestrian National Championships

University of Georgia wins the overall title, hunter seat phase and individual fences.

Two hours before their overall win at the Varsity Equestrian National Championships became official, riders from the University of Georgia had done the math and knew they had a lock on first place.

The team’s English and Western athletes excitedly gathered in their barn aisle at the show complex in Waco, Texas, to practice a newly penned cheer: “We wear red, we wear black, we won two, back-to-back!”

The words referred to UGA’s decisive overall championship repeat. Last year they won the overall title, but the hunter seat title escaped them, so the “Dawgs” returned to Waco more determined than ever.

Their resolve paid off: Not only did the Georgia riders go home with the national all around and hunter seat trophies (UGA’s Western team finished fourth), but they also won champion and reserve champion (Haylie Jayne and Kelley Cowperthwait, respectively) in the individual hunter seat fences phase at the eighth annual VENC, April 16-18.

“It’s absolutely thrilling to be in the spot where we’ve got two national championships—three, counting Haylie’s,” said UGA Equestrian Head Coach Meghan Boenig. “The consistency of our over fences team has been outstanding. They have a die-hard attitude and never give up under pressure. And our freshmen have it all figured out now. I think that bodes really well for the future.”

Teammates Face Off

In winning the individual fences section, Jayne lived up to her No. 1 seed position going in. Her teammate, Cowperthwait, pulled off more of an upset for the reserve champion finish, having entered as the No. 7 seed out of eight individual fences competitors.

Jayne, a junior from Elgin, Ill., whose major is classical culture, said that riding head-to-head against a teammate for the championship “took the pressure off completely. Kelley and I talked about it beforehand—we didn’t care which one of us won. We decided we were both just going to go for it. We wanted to really hand-gallop, make some really tidy turns, and show off. We had nothing to lose—the winner would be Georgia, either way.”

Indeed, their smart and snappy performances over the challenging finals course didn’t disappoint the capacity-level crowd.

Jayne, who also is UGA’s hunter seat team captain, said she felt the most difficult elements of the final round were “all of the tight rollbacks. Everything came up really fast. From jump 1 to 2, you had no choice but to do a really tight inside turn. On a horse you don’t know, that was really hard. I rode the horse first, and he had been standing for a while, so in the schooling ring, he wasn’t staying on either one of his leads. But luckily, when we went into the ring, his adrenaline kicked in and he stayed on them.”

By Jayne’s own admission, not every ride leading up to her triumphant fences finale had gone smoothly. In the semi-finals of the individual flat phase, she briefly went off-pattern, resulting in no score. “Once I realized I didn’t know where I was going, it was the worst feeling in the world,” Jayne said. “I just completely blanked. I did another maneuver and didn’t know where to go next, so I made a circle, which elimi-nated me.”

But the noble-minded team player, who grew up riding with her father, Alex Jayne, and showing on the A circuit, put it all in perspective. “I’m so glad that if it had to happen, that it happened in the individual phase and not the team phase,” Jayne said. “It definitely woke me up for my team ride, and it all worked out. Everyone was really supportive. I took myself away for a little while before my next flat ride, just to get mentally back on track. I was still pretty nervous for the next flat pattern, worried that I’d forget it again, but luckily I didn’t.”

Boenig was impressed by Jayne’s resiliency. “It takes a pretty special person to stop, regroup and come back like Haylie did for her team rides and her individual rides,” said the coach. “The mental game is something that Haylie’s definitely mastered. She’s been so consistent over fences; it’s been extraordinary to watch her. The same is true of Kelley. Both of them had such huge tests on Friday, having to go against high scores and maintain them when it was a real nail-biter in the semi-finals [against Auburn].

“But in today’s finals, I think it was just fun for them,” Boenig added. “And that fun paid off with beautiful scores and beautiful rides. I’m so proud and pleased with these two individuals.”

Cowperthwait, a senior psychology major from Southampton, N.J., credited the entire team for her individual success. “I think that just during this year we’ve really come together as a group,” she said. “Not only were we ready for this in terms of practice and preparation, but we were also all mentally ready to ride here, too. We badly wanted this championship, so we stepped it up when we got here, and we all went in and rode our best.”

Spreading The Glory