Despite the losses, the Aggies held their own against the Skyhawks and Pokes
By Krista Hajjar — sports@theaggie.org
On Oct. 18, The UC Davis equestrian team traveled to Tennessee to go up against the University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin) equestrian team in a two-day meet. The Aggies put up a good fight but ultimately came out on the bottom with a final score of 16-4. Still, the Aggies gave memorable performances and walked away with further competition experience.
The first event to take place was fences, where Lauren Kolbe, a second-year political science major, and Natalie Wasson, a third-year international agricultural development major, led the Aggies and scored two points for the team. Unfortunately, Wasson and Kolbe’s performances weren’t enough to beat the three points scored by the UT Martin Skyhawks at the beginning of the event. This left the Skyhawks one point ahead of the UC Davis Aggies following the first event. Nonetheless, Kolbe gave a strong performance in her fence competition, as she kept up with the Skyhawks riders and tied with two of their riders with a score of 84 in the event.
The second event that took place was flat, where riders and their horses are judged based on walk, trot and canter around the ring without jumping. The Skyhawks came in strong with their riders scoring a total of four points throughout the event. The Aggies failed to close the gap with this event as the only rider to score a point was Margaret Franke, a graduate student and communications major.
UT Martin rider Elizabeth Becker took the highest score in the flat event, scoring an 89. Kolbe was just shy of scoring the point for the Aggies, but fell behind by one point from Becker with a score of 88.
The third event to take place was horsemanship, where riders are judged on the art of riding, handling and training horses. The teams were in constant battle throughout this event with both team’s riders trying to earn the point. However, the Skyhawks wouldn’t let the Aggies leave with a victory. Each rider from the UT team scored a point over the Aggies, placing them at a score of 5-0 in the third event of the competition.
In spite of the ending high point gained by the Skyhawks, the win was not easily achieved. Maddie Gregory, a graduate student and sociology major, had the third-highest score in horsemanship with a score of 74.5. Her finish was just under what was needed to earn a point for the UC Davis team.
The last event to take place at the meet was reining. In this event, riders and horses are judged based on their performance in a pre-selected arena pattern from memory. Reining patterns consist of large fast circles or small slow circles that the horse must perform from memory. The Skyhawks took the win in the reining event, scoring four points over the Aggies. Emma Dillon, a fourth-year animal science major, had a great ride, scoring a 68.5 and a point for the Aggies.
After the four events, the final score was 16-4 with the Skyhawks claiming their victory on their home turf.
The Aggies took a small break before going back into their two-day competition on Oct. 19 against the Oklahoma State University Pokes. The Aggies held their own in the fences event, beating the Pokes with a score of 2-1. They continued to stay in the lead but tied in the second event, flat, with a score of 2-2.
Kolbe scored a point for the Aggies with a score of 71, while Franke not only got an incredible score of 93 but earned the Most Outstanding Player Award in this event.
Horsemanship took a turn for the Aggies, as the Pokes came back and took the event. The Aggies lost to the Pokes in the event with a final score of 3-1. Reining saw the same results with the Pokes coming out on top with a final score of 3-1.
The UC Davis Aggies took another loss, as the final meet score was 9-6, but put up a strong fight throughout the meet. The equestrian team will take a break before going up against the University of Minnesota Crookston on Nov. 1 in South Dakota, where they will aim to break their losing streak.
By Krista Hajjar — sports@theaggie.org
