Equestrian gallops to glory

Oberlin's squad makes an impressive appearance at Lake Erie

Yes, it's true; there is an equestrian team at Oberlin. And on Nov. 7 and 8, the Oberlin College Equestrian team (OCET) captured a victory at the Lake Erie College Horse Show.

Competing against eight other teams, Oberlin tied Miami University with 30 points, giving Oberlin its highest team finish and its first championship. Because of the tie, a coin toss would ultimately determine which team would actually take home the champion's ribbon; unfortunately, Oberlin suffered a bit of bad luck, as Miami won the toss.

In a remarkable display of good sportsmanship, however, members of the Miami University team approached the OCET after the event and traded ribbons out of respect for the Oberlin performance. This was understandable, considering the Miami team had nearly 70 riders, while Oberlin had a mere 19 overall.

Here is how the equestrian intercollegiate system works. The only horses ridden at the events are the horses from the school where the show is taking place. The rider picks the name out of a hat of the horse they will ride approximately 15 minutes before they actually get on the horse and go.

Most likely, they have never ridden the horse before, unless they happened to draw the same horse at a prior show.

The rider has access only to a small, one-line description of the horse and may ask around to gain the opinions of fellow riders; otherwise, the horse is entirely unfamiliar. This system undoubtedly emphasizes the skills of the riders, since the safety net of a familiar horse has been removed.

On Saturday junior Heather Van Aelst placed second in her intermediate flat class, allowing her to "point up," advancing to the next division while giving her an opportunity to qualify for the regionals. Later that afternoon, she placed fourth in the open jumping competition. Junior Bonnie Fletcher placed in both of her Intermediate classes, but was involved in an unfortunate accident - namely, being kicked by a very pregnant horse named Erma - and spent the rest of the day nursing her bruises.

Despite the injury, the team still excelled, as senior Audrey Wasser won first place in her flat class, and first-year Alison Schwartzwalder took second in her jumping class and third on the flat.

On Sunday Oberlin swept both of the Open Jumping classes, the highest level of competition, when Van Aelst and sophomore Allison Matthews each won first place in their respective classes. In the open flat classes, VanAelst and Matthews won fourth and fifth respectively.

Sophomore Janet Leonas also came through with a blue ribbon for her walk-trot class, and senior Kelly Dunn won third place for the same division. Overall, the team was placing in nearly every class, and slowly racking up the points that would ultimately lead to a victory.

Each ribbon won corresponds with a certain number of points and as these points are totaled up a winner is determined. Not every rider is riding for team points, since that would mean that larger teams such as Miami University, who had three or so people in each class, would have an unfair advantage.

The odds were not in our favor either, since schools like Ohio State University, with equestrian teams as important to their athletics program as their football teams, frequently win shows.

Other schools, such as Lake Erie College, offer majors in equine management, and Lake Erie was riding their own familiar horses in the show.

Overall, given our team size and the odds, the OCET really outdid themselves at the show, and, in typical Oberlin style, helped to bring a little funkiness into what is usually a pretty conservative activity.

-Karen Shaviv is a member of the Equestrian team.