SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (May 27, 2011) - Recent graduate Lindsay Sceats was featured in the latest issue of Sidelines magazine. A copy of article can be viewed by clicking here. It can be read in its entirety below.
In publication since 1988, Sidelines is devoted to the people and personalities that make the horse world exciting. Based in the winter capital of show jumping, polo and dressage, Sidelines is nestled firmly in the heart of the horse world. Sidelines follows its readers as they travel to various show circuits across the country and is the sponsor of dozens of major horse shows and events from Florida to California. This month's magazine focused on education.
Sceats earned the prestigious Alumnae Association Scholar-Athlete Award at Mount Holyoke's annual athletics awards celebration earlier this month. She was selected by the department for her outstanding achievements as both an athlete and a scholar. The award, which is sponsored by the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association, is considered by many to be the department's most prestigious.
With Sceats leading the way, the Lyons qualified for the IHSA National Championships for the third straight year and 20th time in program history this season. They grabbed third place overall, finishing just behind Centenary College, Skidmore College and St. Lawrence University.
Sceats was at her best during her junior campaign, when she captured top honors in the prestigious Cacchione Cup Class at the National Championships. By doing so, she became the third rider in program history to achieve the feat.
She majored in biochemistry and earned a 3.95 grade point average. The Colorado native will attend the Stanford University Medical School next fall. As a junior, she served as a captain for the riding team. In addition to her recent induction into Phi Beta Kappa, Sceats has also earned the Louisa Stone Stephenson Chemistry Prize and the Bernice MacLean Excellence in Biology Award.
Five Questions for Lindsay Sceats - 2010 IHSA Cacchione Cup Winner
Lindsay Sceats is determined to keep horses in her life, whatever it takes. Her family wasn't horsey, but they lived down the street from a barn that held the junior rodeo finals in Colorado Springs. By the age of seven, Lindsay started lessons on western trail horses, but soon switched to English because she wanted to jump. She got her first equine at nine and she's still crazy about horses and riding, especially jumping. In addition to maintaining a 3.95 GPA at Mount Holyoke, Lindsay won the Cacchione Cup at the 2010 Intercollegiate Horse Show Association's Nationals: it's the highest individual accolade bestowed by the IHSA. C .J. Law, head riding coach at Mount Holyoke, claims that if anyone can combine riding with medical school and then balance a career successfully with grand prix jumping, it's Lindsay.
Sidelines: What was a highlight during your junior years?
LS: Winning the Ronnie Mutch Scholarship. It was a great experience getting to work with so many top trainers. We have good trainers in Colorado, but not the breadth that you have on the East Coast and in Florida. I was 14 or 15, and my mother came for part of the time and my trainer for a week. What stands out in my mind is the time people spent doing flat work with their horses. They weren't just hacking. They were training to compete.
Sidelines: What took you to Mount Holyoke?
LS: I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to an all-girls school and try the East Coast. I ended up getting a scholarship for academics, and my mom said if I went to Mount Holyoke I could take my Danish Warmblood gelding, Waldi (aka Puffy), and that did the trick. Once I got here, I loved the riding team and the combination of academics and horses, so I stayed.
Sidelines: When did your success in Intercollegiate kick in?
LS: My freshman and sophomore years, I was learning how to do it. Last year was a stand-out year. Mount Holyoke has a great history of producing good open riders who go on to be very competitive in the Cacchione class, so it was nice to follow in their footsteps. We all [27 qualified riders] competed in the jumping and flat rounds. Then they brought back 10 or 12 for another jumping and flat round. I made that cut, but didn't know where I stood. The third round put me into the final four. Winning the team competition is so important to all of us, because of the emphasis on sportsmanship and team spirit, but it's also pretty impressive when a school can claim they had a winning Cacchione Cup rider.
Sidelines: What are some of the most important things you learned from C. J. Law?
LS: She's really good about making sure the horse is in front of your leg. She helped me to put horses together correctly on the flat and incorporate lateral work – getting on horses you've never seen before and riding them with a positive attitude and not getting sucked into thinking that you got the bad draw. She's a great lady. She keeps a lot of us organized all the time, and we really appreciate all she does. C. J.'s big on sportsmanship. No matter what kind of ride you've had, you get off, pat the horse, take it back to the handler and then, if you need to be by yoursel ffor a few moments, that's fine, but you don't ever take it out on the horse. She's a really cool horseman. She's a good leader to have.
Sidelines: Are horses part of your future?
LS: I always said I wanted to be a doctor or a jockey, but I grew too tall to be a jockey. I'm heading to Stanford in the fall. It was the only one with a barn on campus, so it had to be that medical school and the old man (Puffy) is being dragged along. I would love to keep riding as an amateur. Eventually I would love to get a judge's card. There will always be horses in some shape or form in my life. I'm going to Spruce Meadows with Puffy. I'm so excited: it's my first time ever to show at Spruce and we're doing the Low Amateur Jumpers. My ambition is to move up eventually to High Amateur. Puffy's 18 now – he used to be a Grand Prix jumper. I need his clone so I can go after my goal of competing Grand Prix someday.
Article written by Lauren R. Giannini
