LEIGH FIFELSKI
For The State News
Coach Susy Turcott stood in the middle of a sandy horse arena Thursday encouraging her riders and their horses to lean, loosen up on the reins, progress from a trot to a canter and, hopefully, ride their way to nationals.
As the season winds down, three members of the MSU Equestrian Team are still saddling up for competition. So far, they have competed their way through regionals and are on their way to zones, scheduled for April 13 at Western Michigan University.
Emily Devers, Katie Lawery and Becky Plodzik all placed either first or second within their hunter-seat events in the regional competition March 13 and are continuing to practice at MSU’s Horse Teaching and Research Center.
“All three girls have a great chance to go to nationals,” said Turcott, who’s also an animal science graduate student.
The rest of the team also did well during the season. Competing against teams such as the University of Michigan and University of Findlay in Ohio, MSU usually places well in competitions.
“There’s always a chance to place first or second,” pre-vet freshman and team member Stratton Lee said.
Lee, the team’s only male member, said the team often competes against schools that have more access to facilities and horses, and more time to practice.
Still, five team members, including the zone qualifiers, qualified for the regional competition last month. Only one western seat rider attended, the other four were hunter-seat riders.
Hunter-seat equitation focuses on how a rider handles the horse while transitioning from walking to trotting to cantering. Points are awarded to those who control the horse the best.
“A good rider will make it look easy, like they are just sitting there doing nothing,” Turcott said.
Points begin at seven for first place and continue down to one point. Once a member reaches 35 points within the season, they qualify for regionals.
Having accumulated 31 points, Lee wasn’t able to compete in regionals, but he said he enjoyed the season.
“While competing, it’s hard trying to remember everything I learned: keeping my heel down, holding the reins in certain spots,” he said.
Plodzik, an animal science junior, is one of the advanced walk, trot and canter class zone-qualifiers and has been on the team for two years. This was her first time at regional competition, and she said it was an honor just to be there.
“I just went into the ring and tried to ride the way I had been taught for so long, and in the end, I received a first place to become the regional champion,” she said.
After qualifying for both jumping and flat classes at regionals, Devers, a horse management sophomore, continued to qualify for zones in first place for flat equitation. She just missed qualifying for jumping, with a third place finish.
Lawery, an animal science senior, was the only person in the walk-trot division to qualify for regional competition and will be competing in zones for hunter seat equitation.
The women have had to adapt to many factors throughout the season.
Team members have access to about 15 different horses and must be able to handle them all. The horses are school horses, which have been trained to understand commands given by a rider.
Turcott explained how alternating the horse at practice helps riders adapt to competition horses quicker. The competition host school provides its own horses and the team members don’t know which horse they will be riding until the competition.
She also said contestants do not usually ride the same horse for different events they have qualified for. They often switch horses between flat and jumping events.
Besides adjusting to different horses, the team also must adapt to coach turnover about every two years.
A former team member and first-year coach, Turcott plans to keep the position next year, but she’s unsure about the following years.
“It’s good to change coaches because you get used to different people - a more well-rounded rider has had different coaches,” Lawery said.
As for now, the team is focused on performing well at the zone competition.
There are four regions in MSU’s zone, in which at most two people from each region compete, with a maximum total of eight riders in each class.
Lawery said she hopes to do well, but regardless of the results, she’s happy to be doing something she’s always wanted to do - ride horses for a college team.
“I can follow through with my dreams,” she said.
For more information, call Turcott at (517)432-1458.
