Fifth-seeded Auburn University moved steadily up the brackets but ultimately couldn’t conquer the University of South Carolina Gamecocks (second seed), which effortlessly secured their second consecutive NCAA Varsity Equestrian National Championship in the equestrian version of the “Final Four,” April 20-22 in Albuquerque, N.M.

The match-up made Auburn look like an underdog–even through they logged their best total of the four rounds. In the end, South Carolina trounced Auburn, 906 to 853. The University of Georgia placed third.

“We pulled it off,” said Boo Duncan, head coach at South Carolina. “We were a little nervous.”

After her team clinched their second straight hunt seat championship on Saturday, she said, “We had a slow start on Thursday, but we got it together and focused. The riders were great yesterday and today.”

Depth Of Talent
The 2005 champions brought back their top riders from last year. Both Tara Brothers, a senior from Bend, Ore., and Kristen Terebesi, a sophomore from Glenmoore, Pa., competed on the flat and over fences.

Leading up to their meeting with Auburn, in the Final Four, Brothers had her better rides on Monterey (flat) and Leo (over fences), well ahead of her New Mexico opponents.

Terebesi rode Hamlet, an experienced equitation horse donated to Texas A&M University. The dark bay warmblood showed in five classes, twice with Terebesi over fences, for two scores of 160.

The championship round over fences had 12 jumping efforts. Riders also had to demonstrate two changes of lead before the last fence, which was that round’s trot fence. Most chose to perform simple changes on the arena’s long side leading up to the final turn to the trot fence.

Terebesi also rode Hamlet in the championship over fences. “I watched the girl go before me [Auburn’s Cassie McEnroe]. I gave him a good school to get him listening to me, and he was perfect over fences,” she said.

For the lead changes after fence 10, Terebesi described her strategy: “I squared up his turn, cantered, and went through the walk,” she explained. “It was a big enough ring, and he was perfect with that. I had two changes of lead on the long side. I dropped to the walk to show a little more control.”

Spyder was also a winning ride for South Carolina’s Lindsey Pace, the team’s only freshman, from Camden, S.C. In the championship round over fences, Pace scored 85 from both judges. Her 170 was the highest score of the Gamecocks or Tigers on Saturday.

Kelly Campbell, a junior from Keysville, Va., was the anchor rider for the championship round on the flat. She rode Sydney, a bay Thoroughbred.

She praised the test for that round. “It was the nicest pattern all week. I rode this one the best, and this horse the best,” she said. Her score was 134, her highest of the three rounds she rode.

Terebesi had drawn Will for her championship equitation round. She was most satisfied with how she rode the gray Dutch warmblood through the simple lead changes. “My circles were symmetrical on both sides. I looked at my track on the opposite side, and tried to match it up,” she noted.

Terebesi summed up the feeling of her winning team: “We had an awesome weekend, yesterday and today.”

Top Seed Down
Auburn University’s team of Tigers started as the fifth seed at the Championships. That position didn’t stop them from whipping the powerhouse first seed, the Bulldogs of the University of Georgia.

Round 2 on Friday afternoon determined the two schools that would go head-to-head for the title: Auburn vs. Georgia, and the University of South Carolina vs. New Mexico State University (third seed).

This year was the first time that Varsity Equestrian followed the NCAA tournament format. Twelve teams competed in the bracket system, with the top four seeds getting byes from Round 1 on Thursday.

Oklahoma State University was the fourth seed. Following Auburn as fifth seed were Texas A&M University (6), Sacred Heart (7), Fresno State University (8), Kansas State University (9), Baylor University (10), Southern Methodist University (11), and West Texas A&M University (12). These eight teams had to compete in Round 1, and the four winners then faced the top four seeds in the Round 1 bye bracket.

In NCAA jargon, riders become “players” on the team. They played two classes in each hunt seat bracket, for a total team score. In a bracket of school vs. school, each school’s team had four equitation players, competing on the same horses as their opponent’s team. Each day had a different equitation test, developed by a Varsity Equestrian committee and performed in a small dressage arena marked with dressage letters. All three tests included trot and canter segments without stirrups.

Over fences, three players represented each school. With three horses, the bracket had six rides. Rounds 1 and 2 had 10 and 9 jumping efforts, respectively, each with one combination, a trot fence, and a halt at the end of the course. Maximum fence heights were 3 feet.

The Horses Played The Game Too
On both the flat and over fences, a total of 32 horses competed across the four rounds in three days. They were a mix of school horses, owned by universities, and privately-owned horses loaned for the championships.

“For the championships, we got the best horses out here,” said Andrea Ice, U.S. Equestrian Federation Hunter Discipline/Collegiate Activity Director. “It’s a big collaboration to get the horses.”

The riders and coaches voted for their favorite horses. On the flat, Oklahoma State’s Will won the honors. Oscar, a bay warmblood from University of Georgia, was elected best hunter over fences.

Like their riders, the horses needed to be fit. In the championship round, each hunter had about 15 minutes after the first rider before the second one mounted for her warm up. Many of the horses were veteran campaigners who adjusted to the switch in riders, but they were still tired by the end of a class.
Ice noted, “The horses have been great, willing competitors. It is taxing for them, to figure out the different riders.”

University of Colorado’s Lazaro logged the largest number of classes. The gray warmblood–standing only 15.2 hands–performed in six classes with 12 different riders: four on the flat, and two over fences.

Officials withdrew horses from the list, substituting an alternate if a horse misbehaved badly. Judge Anna Jane White-Mullins stopped one rider when a horse started bucking during a test. She granted both that horse’s riders re-rides on an alternate horse.

Horse owners could specify the use of crop and spurs, as either “no” or “optional.” The owner could also change this option throughout the competition, so riders and coaches had to watch for adjustments to the “spur list” posted during the classes.