Equestrian Blog

I just love this time of year! The air is cool and crisp and when you walk out of your dorm in the morning to go to class, there is that refreshing campfire smell from the smoke of wood stoves. The leaves have changed colors and it looks as though the trees caught on fire overnight. I can't tell you which of these things it is that makes me have such strong feelings for this season. Maybe it is not the season at all, but the events that symbolize it.

Everyone relates fall with special days like Halloween and Thanksgiving. Here at Judson, however, we have a few additions to the list. Along with Halloween comes POP-In Night. A time when we all dress up and have our own trick-or-treat of sorts on campus.  

If you stand outside on campus during the late afternoon/early evening, not long after the cool air of fall has arrived, you are sure to hear the sounds of preparation for another of Judson's fall traditions. The sounds are those of the girls playing field hockey, in practice for this years infamous HOCKY DAY.  Hockey Day is a day full of fun and competition.

This year's hockey day is tomorrow and I am so excited! This is the first year that I have gotten to play field hockey and I had no idea how much fun it would be...

 I would be lying if I were to say that it wasn't a little bit intimidating the first couple days of practice, but after you get used to the aggressive faces, the slapping sticks and the hard flying ball it really is some of the most fun you could have.

Fall at Judson is about more then just cool weather and beautiful trees, it is about tradition.

Today’s riding class was one of the most enjoyable yet.

Due to scheduling and what not there is only one other person in my Thursday western team riding class. Today however the other girl who is usually in my class was not there, so I had the class to myself.

Since it was only me and there were horses in the barn that would not be used today, my coach Mrs. Jennifer and the riding instructor for the class, Allie, decided they would ride with me. The objective for our class was to ride efficiently - to learn and demonstrate a pattern.

It was not a hard pattern, but it was LONG. Most patterns that we get when we go to shows are 3 to 5 steps long, this one was like 14. I was able to remember it, though, and got it right on my first try. Well, I got the,concept right at least. I was riding one of the more stubborn horses here at,Judson and we had a few issues traveling in a straight line, but overall, it went ok. I was happy with my ride though because I was able to fix several things in my riding that I have been having problems with.

On our way back to the barn we crossed paths with the 2 girls riding in the next class. They informed Mrs. Jennifer that they had not yet ridden the horses that she, Allie, and I were riding and since we didn’t have anywhere else to be, Mrs. Jennifer thought that it would be a good idea for the 3 of us to take our horses back to the arena with the other two, so that we could play "fruit basket turn over" - a game where you ride the horse you are on at all 3 gaits in both directions, then switch horses. This gave us a chance to ride 5 of the Judson horses in one class. This will prepare us in case we draw one of them at the show we will be hosting here in a couple of weeks.

So it was a very productive class, very relaxed and enjoyable. I wish every class could be like that. 

The show this weekend at Berry College went very well.

The weather was a little bit colder than any of us were expecting,so we were a little unprepared for that. Fortunately everyone had brought their team jackets, which are really nice winter jackets, so we were able to stay somewhat warm.

My mom was able to come on Saturday and since there were two shows that day, a huntseat show and a western show, she got to see me ride twice. She almost missed my first ride though, because she forgot about thetime difference between Alabama and Georgia! Thankfully, I called that morning to see where she was at and she had just enough time to leave the house and get to the show before I rode, she got there halfway through the class before mine.

For my huntseat shows ,at least, I thought that I had really good rides, but I only placed 5^th in the first show on Saturday and reserved (7^th) in the show afterwards. Neither ride was perfect,but I still thought I had done better than I had placed. The class that I rode in though is a very competitive class and there are around 10 riders in it, some placements really weren’t that bad. Plus, it is all just one person’s opinion.

Other team members' families came to watch also and they brought food for us for lunch. We had chilly, taco soup, brownies, chips, and an assortment of other yummy things to eat. I think we were the best fed team there! It is great to have parents and families bring us food, but even if they didn’t, we were still glad that they came. There aren’t usually a lot of people that come out to our horse shows and support the equestrian team because the shows are usually so far from campus, so it is really nice to have “fans” besides just the other members of the team.

After the western show, the girls that only ride western rode back to the school with the parents that had come, because the huntseat shows are about two and a half times longer than the western shows and there was no real point in all of us sitting around for them.

Overall it was a successful weekend.

The next show that we will ride in will be the show hosted right here on campus at Judson College. It is a very important show for us, not only because we are the hosts, but because it is the only IHSA show in the state of Alabama. The show will be on November 14 and is the same day a Judson’s scholarship day.

I hope that everyone will be able to come see at least part of the show. 

 We have arrived at our hotel in Rome, Georgia for the IHSA horse show tomorrow. This weekend's show is hosted by Berry College and will take place on Berry's campus at their equestrian facilities.

We left Judson at 10 this morning, but took a leisurely, fun trip here. We stopped in Birmingham at the Galleria for lunch and our shopping fix for the trip. My group spent most of the time in the Yankee Candle store and by the time we left, all of the candles smelled the same. I guess our noses weren't working anymore!

I was so proud of myself because I managed to go the whole time without buying anything. Then we went into one more store as we were leaving and they had this really cute dress on sale, I just couldn't resist. It was only seven dollars though, so it's ok, I think.

We made a quick stop at Wal-Mart in Gadsden to pick up a few things we had forgotten. Then, of course, we had to pop into a couple of other stores in the same little plaza.

We then continued on our way. We stopped in Centre to eat dinner with Judson Trustee and Alumni President Mrs. Shumaker. Our meal was prepared by some members of her church. After we ate, the owner of a therapeutic riding program talked to us about her farm.

Once we arrived at our hotel, the preparation for tomorrow's show began. I had to try on a new pair of chaps to make sure they fit and to stretch them out. I then had to have another team member fix my hair to make sure we could get it to work for the hunt seat show.

Now, we are chilling in the room, relaxing.