In a big weekend for WTAMU sports, the school’s equestrian team added to the excitement by sending 18 riders to compete at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Zone 7 Region 2 Western Championships on March 4.

The first class of the day would be the fastest paced event with nine riders from four schools, including four WT riders, competing in Open Reining. The class would prove to be highly competitive with all nine riders showing that they could complete a near perfect pattern on horses they had only mounted minutes before. WT riders would sweep the third through sixth spots with Hannah Agee and Christa Forsburg placing third and fourth respectively followed by Hannah Welter and Kristen Liesman.

In Open Horsemanship, Addie David would bring home the Lady Buffs’ first championship of the show. WT’s Christa Forsberg and Kristen Liesman would sweep the other two top spots of the four rider class. The three WT students showed horses they had drawn earlier in the day in front of a judge that evaluated their ability to get a horse to perform under an unfamiliar rider. Davis and Forsberg’s placing would earn them a spot on the semifinals entry list in Ohio later this month. Continue reading →

The Lady Buffs traveled to Lubbock on Oct. 29 to show in two western shows at Texas Tech for their first official away show of the weekend.

The first show of the day started with multiple classes of reining. The first reining class saw two WTAMU riders hitting the board as Christa Fosburg took third and Hannah Agee took fourth. The second reining class saw WT grab their first blue ribbon of the day as Kristen Liesman won the class with teammate Kelsey Kenson taking third. The last reining class saw similar results to class one as Hannah Welter finished third and Tabatha Taylor took the fifth place ribbon.

Christa Forsburg was seen on the score sheet again in the first class of Open Horsemanship when she finished third. Kristen Liesman won her second class of the day in the second class of Open Horsemanship to add another blue ribbon to her wall. Continue reading →

Photos of the WT Equestrian team at their latest competition. Visit our Flickr page to see the photos in high quality.

Photo by Stephen Ingle.

The WTAMU Horse Judging team heads to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the All American Quarter Horse Congress.

The group, led by Dr. John Pipkin, is made up of 11 girls. In the past they have earned over 60 team and individual titles. In 2008, the team won the Quarter Horse Congress by 15 points over second place Colorado State University.
While they finished fifth at the event last year, they hope to resume their winning ways this year.

“Everybody really, really wants to win Congress since we didn’t get to last year,” Emily Bruehl said. “Individually, I hope to just do my absolute best since this is my first year judging.”

Team member Christa Forsberg talked about the mental and physical aspects of preparing for an event like Congress.

“Not only do you have to be prepared mentally but physically too because you need to be healthy and practicing a lot,” Forsberg said.

Hillary Finck said she takes every opportunity she gets to practice.

“We always say practice in the shower, practice while driving, and prepare mentally,” Finch said.

While the team would love to win the “Triple Crown” of the Judging World, they are focused on doing the best they can.