SHELBURNE FARMS, Mass. – The Mount Holyoke College riding team returned to action on Saturday, competing at the Amherst College IHSA Show at Biscuit Hill Farm. The Lyons saw a number of outstanding rides on its way to earning Reserve High Point College honors with 33 points. MHC finished just behind the High Point Champions from Smith College, who posted 38 points.
The day began with two sections of open fences. Junior Mollie Kowalchik opened the first stage with a nice ride for fourth place, while first year Franny Eremeeva and senior Bridget Finnerty both had respectable rides to finish first and fifth, respectively. Intermediate fences was next in the ring with one large section, highlighted by a fourth-place finish from senior Sarah Felman.
Next came three sections of novice fences where the first section saw a lovely ride from senior Ellie Demmons for second place. In the second section, junior Sabrina Fox and sophomore Lily DeBenedictis also put in nice rides to finish first and second, respectively, while in the final section, junior Mika McKinney had a lovely ride for a third place finish.
Walk trot canter entered the ring next and in the first section, sophomore Jordan Green and first year Abby Watkins both had respectable rides to finish first and fourth, respectively. The second section saw sophomore Maggie Stuart and first year Maya Brody with nice rides to finish third and sixth, respectively.
In the final section of advanced walk trot canter, first year Christa Berry and sophomore Tess Ahlers rode well to post fourth and fifth, respectively. This marked Berry's IHSA debut. In the lone section of beginner walk trot canter, senior Madeline Ketley had a lovely ride for a second place finish.
The action moved next into the walk trot division, where first year Sesil Lee had a lovely ride to win blue in the first section. In the second section, sophomore Alexandra Friedman and first year Wenjie Li put in lovely rides as well to post first and fifth, respectively.
Three sections of novice flat took to the ring next. In the first section, sophomore Emma Recchi had a nice ride for fourth place. The second section saw Demmons return to the ring with a nice ride for a second place finish. In the third section, Fox and Isenburg returned to the ring with nice rides to finish fourth and sixth, respectively.
The day began to wind down with intermediate flat. In the first section, Felman had a nice ride on a tough draw to unfortunately finish out of the ribbons. The second section saw a nice ride from McKinney for fifth place.
Open flat wrapped up the day in two sections. The first section saw great rides from Kowalchik and Carter for first and third, respectively. The second also saw lovely rides from Eremeeva and Finnerty to post first and second, respectively.
With her two blue ribbon finishes from the day, Eremeeva was named overall high point rider. Both Demmons and Fox were called back to the ring for a ride off with two others for novice high point rider. After respectable testing from all, Demmons was named high point novice rider and Fox was named reserve high point novice rider.
The following riders qualified for regionals today: Friedman, Walk Trot; Demmons, Novice Flat; Eremeeva, Open Flat
Team standings:
Smith College- 38
Mount Holyoke College- 33
Umass Amherst- 29
Williams College- 22
Westfield State University- 18
Hampshire college- 13
Bennington College- 12
Amherst College- 11
Springfield College- 1
Mount Holyoke returns to action on Saturday, hosting the final regular season show of the fall at the Mount Holyoke Equestrian Center.
Photos courtesy of the MHC Riding Team. Show story courtesy of Taryn Isenburg, MHC rider.