The riding program at Garrison Forest is speeding to a gallop this fall, hoping to compete for another national championship. The program, divided between equitation, eventing and polo, has already finished first in team eventing and second in equitation this month.
The eventing team, which competes more frequently individually, won first place at the Jenny Camp Event at Tranquility Manor Farm in Jacksonville, Md. Senior captain Samantha Cohen said that regrouping this fall has been a real test.
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“Everybody pulled it together and performed their best, and the results showed that,” Cohen said. “We have won other years, but between getting a new coach and getting new girls on the team, it took more concentration and effort.”
Jenny Mitchell took over as the team?s coach in April. Mitchell is not a new face in the Garrison stable, where she also served as the equitation team coach. Last spring, Mitchell and the equitation team won the Interscholastic Equitation Association National Championships in Ohio.
“Because [Jenny Camp] is the only team event out there in the fall, it is equivalent to winning region,” Mitchell said, comparing the eventing competition to the equitation meets.
Though similar, both are different. Eventing consists of three stages, including dressage, cross-country jumping and arena jumping. Equitation involves more events and skill levels from advanced to novice, and during those competitions, riders randomly draw horses from other schools.
A week before Mitchell?s eventing team won at Jenny Camp, Garrison Forest captured a second at an IEA Show at Goucher College on Oct. 14. Mitchell said equitation team captain Lindsay Sample was a big part of that finish.
Sample is ranked first in Garrison?s regional zone in children?s jumpers, according to Mitchell, and will be competing this week at the Washington International Horse Show at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
