The riding program has always been a source of pride for the Garrison Forest School.
The Garrison Forest equitation team added to that tradition in its final competition of the season when it won the Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) National Championship on April 30 in Wilmington, Ohio.
Garrison Forest?s riding program is also comprised of a polo team, an equitation team and an eventing team. Jenny Mitchell, the coach of the equitation team, said that all three programs aided the championship win.
“While all the programs are different and have instructors with different agendas, we all sponsor each other?s different endeavors,” Mitchell said. The team is made up of high school and middle school aged riders. Mitchell said that 12 girls represented Garrison Forest in the championship, and nine of them were high school riders. The other three were middle-school students.
Garrison Forest hosted the national championships in 2005, and the team finished third overall.
The national championship is a qualifying event. Mitchell said that the top two teams and the top two individual riders in the zone competitions advance to the nationals every year. Garrison Forest is in Zone 3, which comprises Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.
VirginiaShriver is a senior captain for Garrison Forest and has been on the equitation team since the seventh grade. “I was not watching the points, but I found out [Garrison won] when somebody?s parent congratulated me. I think I was the last to know,” Shriver said.
During the competition, riders do not ride their own horses, but choose a horse at random. “I like it because everybody has the same advantage and disadvantage,” Shriver said.
Sue Wentzel coaches the equitation team at Madeira School in McLean, Va., the 2005 national champions. “It was nice for Garrison Forest to bring the national title back to our zone,” Wentzel said. “It speaks to the level of competition here. We enjoy competing against Garrison and because of it our team has developed a nice camaraderie with the girls we show against.”
TAKING THE REINS
» The IEA was incorporated in 2002, with Garrison Forest as a founding member, but the competition itself is six years old according to Mitchell.
» Garrison Forest won the competition with a score of 19. Riders are judged by their position in the saddle and control of the horse. Seven points are awarded to each team for first place, five for second, four for third, three for fourth, two for fifth and one for sixth. The competition is divided into classes for teams and individual riders: beginner flat, novice flat, novice jumping, intermediate flat, intermediate jumping, open flat and open jumping.
