Courtesy Mary Schneider

The University of Massachusetts equestrian team defeated Mount Holyoke in their region competition after coming in second place for the past 11 years.

The team is part of the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA), which is a national organization that includes 300 colleges and universities, according to the Equestrian Team’s Web site. Western Massachusetts is zone one in region three of the IHSA which also includes 13 other schools.

These include four out of the five schools in the five college area – UMass, Smith College, Amherst College, and Mount Holyoke College.

According to the Web site, UMass and Mount Holyoke have been “neck-and-neck” in competing for the top-placing team for some time.

“Competing against Mt. Holyoke every weekend was not easy,” said Joscelyn Gray, the team’s secretary. “Sometimes we would be so close to winning, and they would just pull ahead unexpectedly. Being in second place only made us fight harder to win.”

There are many factors that helped lead the team to the regional victory, according to co-captain Ariel Weisman.

“I think that our winning the region has a lot to do with confidence of our riders, and consistency,” said Weisman. “We took on a lot of new team members that would help us put together the strongest roster possible for each show, helping to earn points for our team as well as block other teams.”

The point system in the IHSA can be complicated.

According to the team’s Web site, there are five levels: Walk-Trot, Beginner/Advanced Walk-Trot-Canter, Novice, Intermediate and Open. The three upper levels, Novice, Intermediate and Open, include flat classes as well as jumping classes. The ribbons riders win for their teams account for certain point values and the more points a team gets, the better.

There was much to do to prepare for the regional competition.

According to Weisman, the team normally practices on Wednesday nights. The riders separate by division and ride for about 45 minutes each. When there is a Saturday horse show, riders competing can practice on Friday mornings for a half an hour to prepare.

“After each ride, we are critiqued by our coach, Jerry Schurink, on what we need to work on and what we did well,” said Weisman.

Schurink is not only the coach of the team, but also the director of riding at UMass, the coordinator of the Equine Industries program offered by the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, and the Head of the Equine Studies Program, according to the team’s Web site.

Schurink, due to a recent illness, could not comment extensively, although he noted the productivity of the team.

“The five team officers are all seniors that have been on the team for three to four years and their leadership has been key in keeping up the team focus and spirit,” he said.

Even though the team has won their region, there is still much work to be done.

“Now that we are regional champions doesn’t mean its time to relax, it means now we have to ride even better and completely be on top of things even more than we were before – the game only gets tougher,” said Gray.

Getting ready for the regional competition was challenging, and now the team has to prepare for the upcoming obstacles that stand in the way of nationals. The team will compete in the regionals competition, but the riders will be judged on an individual level, not as a team since they won their own region.

“As regionals are approaching – they will be Saturday March 29 here at UMass – we will continue to hold both these practices which will become more intense,” said team co-Captain, Bailey Sheran. “We will be riding a lot without our stirrups and practicing tests as well as fine tuning our positions and preparing mentally.”

In addition to the regionals competition, the team must compete in the zone championship competition.

“We compete against the winners of three other regions within our zone, and the top two teams advance to nationals at the Los Angeles equestrian center in California,” said Weisman. “We will prepare for nationals by practicing more and riding as much as possible.”

Making it to nationals would be something that the team has worked toward for a long time.

“If the case is that we do qualify for nationals after zones, we have been preparing ourselves for this since the beginning and we are not going to start becoming the kind of riders that compete at nationals – we are going to continue on being those riders who know that this is where we belong, and we want to show everyone – even outside of the IHSA – that this is a team with amazing skill and a passion for competition,” said Gray

The riders will train in different ways to be in peak condition for these upcoming competitions.

“We also are involved in mandatory workouts that we do on our time away from the barn, so alternative training really helps keep us in overall competitive body condition,” said Gray.

Much of the success of the team can be attributed to great teamwork, according to Weisman.

“I think our team is so strong because we have a real energy between us,” said Weisman. “We all really want to help each other out and do whatever it takes to ride well. Our riders come from so many different backgrounds that everyone has something different to offer, and we all get along really well and want the team to succeed as a whole.”

Sheran has a similar opinion on why the team was finally able to beat Mount Holyoke.

“We as a team have really clicked; we all get along really well,” said Sheran. “We realize that to be the best we have to be ready to sacrifice and dedicate ourselves to each other and hard work.”

Being close as a team has helped to break the team’s second place streak, according to Gray.

“Every year we have come closer and closer to that goal [of being first] but along the way we also focus a lot on the fact that we are a team and we help each other grow stronger as competitors by setting the tone of sportsmanship and friendship at practices and shows,” Gray said.

As far as what the future holds, the team will work as hard as possible to advance in their competitions.

“We are one of the most competitive regions and we’re going to bust our butts between now and zones so hopefully we will have success and be off to California for Nationals,” said Sheran.

Eden Univer can be reached at [email protected]