This team is ‘Best in the West’
Some equestrian teams have all the luck – they get to travel in their own bus and sport matching warm-ups.
Others have to travel to 13 hours while packed into a Nissan Armada.
Mike Gagnon, president of the USU Equestrian Club, said last year’s team was one of the latter.
The seven members of the team that made it to last year’s regional equestrian competition in Sacramento, Calif., traveled in just such a vehicle, with “a burrito of luggage” strapped on the top, he said.
But the travel arrangements didn’t stop USU from winning last year’s regional and earning the title “Best in the West.”
They were able to beat well-funded, ranked teams at the competition, like Fresno State, Gagnon, a junior in animal science, said.
“We spanked them,” he said. “It was so funny. No one had ever heard of Utah State at the show. They were just like, ‘What?’ And so we pulled it off, and we took it – Best in the West.”
Some of that success has carried over to this year.
Gagnon said the team won its second straight region championship in the Western category by 50 points.
“We blew ’em out of the water,” he said.
Also, at the regional meet, held in Billings, Mont., on Feb. 10, they had two individual region champions – Katie Rose and Jason Romney – and three individual region reserve champions – Gagnon, Leisa Milano and Addie Shelton.
The team, along with those five individuals, went to the semifinals, which were held recently in Pomona, Calif., to see who would advance to nationals.
Rose and Romney qualified for nationals, and the team placed fifth out of eight teams.
But a lot of this may not make sense without some of the basics of equestrian competitions.
The riders can compete in different categories of horsemanship, where they are judged on how they hold their position on the horse while doing maneuvers and following a pattern.
Many people may be familiar with the maneuvers and jumps that are a part of the English category, but the Western category, which USU has won the last two years, is slightly different. It doesn’t feature any jumping, and focuses on things like jogging and loping.
Each rider gets a score based on posture – their legs being forward, their toes being pointed, and being relaxed and quiet in the saddle. Depending on the score, the riders get a place, which also has a point value attached to it. The rider gets seven points for first, five for second, and so on, down to sixth place. These points are accumulated throughout the year, and a rider needs 35 points to qualify for the regional competition.
Teams get points by choosing point riders. The riders, which are chosen either by the team or a coach, have their points applied to the team score. So, if a team chooses three point riders who all take first, the team score would be 21.
At each show, the host school provides the horses, so there is no need to haul horses. Instead, the team just brings their clothes, which, for the Western category, include Western shirts, scarves and chaps.
Having horses provided by the host can be a problem, because Gagnon said a lot of the horses in their region are ranch horses that are only broke to work, not to show. And, because of a random draw that determines a rider’s horse, Gagnon said they’ve ridden everything from ranch horses to draft horses and Amish cart horses.
But having to draw an unfamiliar horse doesn’t bother Gagnon. In fact, he said it is one of the good things about equestrian competitions, because it puts everyone on a level playing field and makes the competition less about the horse and more about the rider.
“The horse is just a fragment of the show. Everything is all about you, essentially,” he said.
Although he hasn’t ever drawn a horrible horse, Gagnon said he’s seen people from other teams get bucked off of their horses. As a bit of a joke, the team voted to see who had the worst luck. One of the girls on this year’s team won because she got the most ornery horses, he said.
All joking aside, the team is an important part of the equestrian experience, Gagnon said.
“We all come from so many different backgrounds,” he said. “We’re all at so many different levels of riding. We’ve all experienced different things in our training. Just coming together and sharing that with each other is big and it helps us out too.
“We help each other out a lot. We hang out a lot together, in and out of the ring. We’re just a big family.”
This family has 22 members, but only 15 actively compete, Gagnon said. The Equestrian Club, which is associated with the animal, dairy and veterinary sciences department, has been around for about six years and operates on money from ASUSU and club fundraising efforts, he said.
The equestrian show season starts in September, and the team competes in 10 shows, including one that is held at USU in October.
Gagnon said a passion for becoming a better rider and horseman is the most important thing about being in the Equestrian Club.
“(The main draw of the sport) is the passion for horses, as well as the drive to be a better rider,” he said. “The way the shows are judged, it’s not the horse. So you can’t blame that. It’s all about the rider.”
The club does recruitment every fall and spring, and anyone who misses their horses or wants to learn how to ride can e-mail Gagnon at mjgagnon@cc.usu.edu.
-dabaker@cc.usu.edu