Game Face
By ASHLEY AIKMAN
Her heart beats to the rhythm of her horse’s stride as the horse canters around the arena. Taylor Prince desperately tries to get her mount under control when the person keeping time yells, “30 seconds!”, signaling how much time she has left to prepare before starting competition. Riding horses has been a part of Taylor’s life for the past fifteen years, but this type of riding is completely new to her. When the timekeeper yells, “Time!”, she takes a deep breath and slowly collects her thoughts before approaching the cone. The next two minutes will decide the competition.
When Prince signed her letter of intent to join Texas Christian University’s Equestrian Team, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. She knew she was a great rider, but Prince says, “Riding for a women’s collegiate equestrian team is so much different then what I am accustomed to.” Instead of riding the same horse every day, collegiate riders practice and compete on a different horse each time.
Head Coach Gary Reynolds stresses that he recruits riders who “are mentally and physically tough” because riding for this team takes more than just a love for horses.
TCU’s team began with just six riders and has rapidly grown to a team of over forty in just the past four years. Each girl relies on the others to be her rock. If one rider is having a rough day, the others provide encouragement and instill confidence. Reynolds stresses that even if a rider loses her point in a game, “this is a team, a family,” and your teammate will be there to get the job done.
Unlike other sports, equestrian riding involves controlling a 1,200-pound animal with a mind of its own. Events such as Horsemanship and Equitation require the rider to guide the horse through a series of maneuvers. For example, the judge analyzes how well the rider can get the horse to execute the pattern drawn out in advance. “Some patterns are more challenging than others depending on the judge and the level of competition,” says Prince. In addition to collecting her own thoughts during the game, she must always think ahead to anticipate what her steed’s next move will be.
Senior team member Lauren Quiroz says, “You learn to think like your horse during years of practice with them.” But on a collegiate equestrian team, you don’t have to figure out just one horse, as in individual competition; every horse has a different mentality and with nearly thirty horses in TCU’s stables, the girls never know what kind of horse they will get on competition day. Therefore, to ensure that every rider experiences each horse’s quirks, daily rotations are put into place during practice.
To make things even more interesting, when TCU’s team travels to play other schools, they must compete on the home team’s horses. Quiroz says, “Going to compete at Fresno State is always the most challenging” because the horses are not as comfortable with unfamiliar riders as most.
Senior Tassie Munroe carefully began to mount an anxious Fresno State horse named Bo who, just minutes before, had reared up into the air and flipped over onto the opposing team’s rider. Munroe witnessed the accident but remained calm and collected, carefully petting Bo as she sat in the saddle and got adjusted before going in the ring to compete. Coach Gary Reynolds told Tassie to “think ahead of the horse.” Munroe nodded, took a deep breath, then entered the arena and performed the pattern with flawless execution for the win.
Collegiate riders are only allotted four minutes in the arena to figure out the animal before competing. Prince says, “That four minutes goes by so fast! I am so focused on making a connection with the horse that I don’t even hear the timer yelling out the countdown.” Riders strategically use their four minutes to test the horse’s capabilities and attempt to make the horse comfortable by petting him and whispering calming words like “easy.”
During competition, riders from opposing teams compete head-to-head on the same horse while a judge gives a score ranging from zero to one hundred, and whoever receives the greater score wins a point for her team. Competitors spend many hours at practice “mentally strengthening each individual to be able to go and out-ride their opponent at every competition. This sport is such a mental game,” says Reynolds. While the format seems easy enough, it is actually quite the opposite. The scoring is quite variable as the judge can add or subtract points from the score based on how well or how poorly the horse performs the maneuver. In the judge’s mind, if the horse does a poor job, that is an error on the rider’s part. The competitor that makes the horse perform the pattern most correctly while appearing natural and effortless will win the point for their team.
At practice you will often see the team huddled in a close circle mounted on their horses, listening in as their coach leads a mental activity. In one activity, the girls envision riding the perfect pattern and going through the obstacles over and over again until they have the perfect, winning ride. “Mentally envisioning the perfect ride and working out all the mistakes that you see in your mind helps to ensure that those mistakes will not occur in the arena,” says Reynolds. In addition to mental strengthening, the riders spend at least three hours, four to five times a week at practice working on specific maneuvers in order to train their horses for an upcoming competition.
At team practice, Prince rides around the arena on Buddy working on his stops and turns. She carefully breaks down each component in order to perfect each part before piecing the turn together. When Buddy flips his head in the air to show that he is irritated, Prince gently pets him before attempting again. She said, “You must have a lot of patience since these horses have a mind of their own.” After a three-hour practice, Prince finally managed to persuade Buddy to perfect his turns.
TCU’s Equestrian Team was established in 2006 and won their first national championship title in only their second year as a program. Competing with teams like Texas A&M, established in 1999, goes to show that TCU’s team is a force to be reckoned with.
But to call any team weak would be inaccurate. Riders for collegiate teams are recruited for a reason—they are exceptional horsemen. In order to recruit team members, coaches must watch individual competitions around the nation to scout out exceptional riders and decide to whom they will offer scholarships for the upcoming year. Texas A&M head coach Tana McKay says, “We are looking for riders who not only have proper equitation and horsemanship, but for those who are functional on any type of horse…the emphasis is definitely put on the rider’s true riding talent.”
Both teams attribute their success in large part to becoming mentally and physically fit in the gym through cardiovascular and strength training. “Beep, beep, beep!” Senior TCU Equestrian member Lauren Quiroz rolls over in bed at 5:35 a.m. every morning to turn off her alarm. She quickly gets ready for workouts that begin promptly at 6 a.m. three days out of the week. Teammates who live on her street pile into a car with eyes still glazed over and water bottles in hand to drive to the athletics weight room on campus.
Munroe gasps for air as she leans against the wall of the football indoor practice field, having just sprinted 1,000 yards back and forth across the field with the rest of the team. “Back on the line ladies,” yells the strength coach, Jason. Still catching their breath, the girls line up on the goal line, then race from one end of the field to the other once again. The first team member to finish, Munroe bounds across the goal line after her final sprint with a smile on her face. Jason hollers, “Good job, girls. Let’s get a break.” The girls run to the middle of the field and huddle up, not caring if their sweaty bodies rub against each other while they place their hands in the circle and yell “Go Frogs!”
Though non-athletes may not realize it, TCU’s Equestrian Team attends workouts just as regularly as men’s basketball and men’s golf. If the riders can push themselves to sprint thousands of yards back and forth across a football field at 6 a.m., they know they can achieve what they put their mind to in any setting.
For example, during the Fresno State competition, the opposing team’s rider climbs atop a horse that won’t stand still. As she enters the arena, the horse bolts to the opposite side. Her eyes widen as she panics and pulls on the reins in order to get the horse to stop. She is too late. The horse already has already taken advantage of her. Because Fresno’s rider didn’t think ahead, she received a score of zero. TCU’s team member, Quiroz, who must ride the same horse, stands at the end of the arena with confidence showing on her face, knowing that she would not let the same mistake happen to her. She mounts the horse, gently pets him and tells him “easy,” then enters the arena while the horse strains against her grip. She thinks ahead every step of the way through the designated pattern and scores a solid eighty-five, winning the point for TCU. Quiroz came out of the arena saying, “There was no way I was letting this horse take advantage of me. I showed him who was in charge,” while high-fiving her teammates as they congratulated her.
Taylor Prince has learned a lot over the past semester when it comes to collegiate riding because she has a group of girls helping her every step of the way. At TCU’s practices, each rider gives pointers and helps the other girls succeed by sharing her knowledge of the sport. Every team member is genuinely concerned with the well-being of her teammates. Prince says, “This team is my family away from home.” The team’s strong bond further strengthens the capabilities of each team member.
During competition, Prince reaches the starting cone and nods to the judge, signaling that she’s ready to begin what will turn out to be a flawless pattern. As she walks out, smiling team members come up to her to tell her “great job!” Prince anxiously looks over at the scoreboard; she has to beat an 82. The scoreboard attendant fumbles with the numbers. Finally, an 83 is displayed. TCU’s team jumps up and down in excitement, hugging Prince, who has just scored the winning point. Her hard work has paid off, and her “family” has helped her every step of the way.