Liberty Equestrian Triumphs over Mary Washington

The Liberty Flames equestrian team took on their second competition of the season on a blustery day at Stillmeadow farm Oct. 22. The show was hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University, which runs its equestrian program out of Stillmeadow. The Flames took ten riders with a total of 14 rides during the competition.

After the team watched horses warm up, the show day started with Senior team captain Elizabeth Chenelle riding in the open over fences class. Her mount had been giving the warm up rider trouble, however Chenelle handled the difficulty in stride.

“When I first picked up the canter, he was behind my leg and I had to get him in front of my leg,” Chenelle recalled. “But then I felt like all the jumps came out of the same canter after that” This calm and assured attitude carried Chenelle to her first blue ribbon of the show season.

Her success continued in her flat class, which consisted of eight riders showing their horses at varying gaits. Chenelle came in second after her horse took some convincing to canter on the correct lead.

“He just kept bulging (his shoulder) at every step,” Chenelle related. “When we started cantering left he was just bulging the wrong way at first.”

These wins put the Flames in first place, though the University of Mary Washington was close behind. Also showing in open over fences was freshman April Simmonds. Her mount had been giving the warm up rider trouble that morning and had already refused a fence in a previous course when Simmonds mounted. This led to a rocky course, however Simmonds rode well and got him around the course.

“I’m eating my sorrows away,” Simmonds laughed as she munched on a chocolate bar, “But he was a fun horse.”

Simmonds’ Fences Round

The intermediate flat classes Liberty participated in were low placing, earning the school a fourth and a fifth. Though Simmonds riders intermediate on the flat, she normally rides as an eventer, differing from the hunt seat riding that intercollegiate competitions are made up of. She is excited to continue riding in collegiate competitions as well as furthering her own eventing career.

Freshman Amber Gayheart rode in the Intermediate over fences classes pulling a third place ride on a small bay horse. Though most IHSA events require horses above 14.3 hands for competition, some schools use ponies when there is a shortage of usable horses. Gayheart was pleased with her ride but believed she “should have ridden so much better.”

The next classes of the day were the novice classes and were dominated by Liberty’s sophomore team captain Zoe Leppke. Leppke won her over fences class and received second place on the flat. This boosted the team’s score higher, however solid rides from the University of Mary Washington and the University of Richmond kept the team on their toes.

“I knew that our walk trot rider was pretty fabulous so I wasn’t thinking much of (the score),” Chenelle said. “It was a bit nerve wracking, but I knew we had solid (point riders),” Co-Captain Zoe Leppke added.

Also competing in the novice division were Freshman Alex Davies and Senior Erin Wassem. They pulled a fourth and a second respectively. Freshman Kate Donelly and Junior Claire Gill followed as they rode in the walk trot canter divisions.

With Liberty at 35 points and Mary Washington with 36 before the final classes of the day, it came down to walk trot rider sophomore Anna Davidson.

When asked if she felt the pressure Davidson laughed and shook her head. “No, I mean, it puts a little bit of pressure on you but I just went out there and rode, did my best and didn’t stress or anything. That’s just going to make you worse.” Though a beginner hunt seat rider, Davidson displayed the same collected calm that open rider Chenelle had at the beginning of the day.

Davidson on Snoopy

Davidson rode a horse named Snoopy who had been ridden by Gill earlier in the day. Gill did not have time to advise Davidson on the horse, but was confident in her teammate’s ability to ride well. Davidson won first earning such exuberant whoops and cheers from her teammates on the sidelines, that Snoopy jumped forward to receive Davidson’s ribbon. Placing under Davidson were the point riders from the University of Richmond and Mary Washington giving Liberty a 39–38 lead over the University of Mary Washington and champion high point team of the day.

Though the win was the team’s second highpoint ribbon of the season and team history, it was the first time new associate head coach Suzanne Flaig had seen the Flames show.

“We were very pleased with the outcome,” Flaig recalled. “There was a lot of good competition and we were able to succeed with some challenging horses, which says a lot about the horsemanship and preparation of the student athletes.”

Host team VCU laid down solid rides according to VCU coach Tracey Harmon. “I think it went great,” Harmon related. “I think all the horses behaved well everybody rode really well, I was pleased with the way it went.” There were no falls during the show and only one re-ride had to be granted for a misbehaving horse.

The Flames look to defend their title at their next shows Oct. 29–30 at the college of William and Mary.

“I’m really happy with how everyone rode,” Arrigon said as the event came to a close. “The thing I’m most pleased with is that people are … really starting to ride the horses. We didn’t get lucky draws, we got some hard horses and people didn’t freak out they just rode them.” Arrigon is starting his second year as executive director at Liberty and hopes the Flames continue on their path of success.