Update: The Cal Poly Dressage Team placed 5th as a team at nationals, according to Kargenian.
The Cal Poly Dressage Team will compete in the Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA) National Championship for the second year in a row this weekend.
The team competed in six shows this season, taking first place four times and second place twice, said Caroline Kargenian, team member and an animal science sophomore. The team won its last regional show of the season in February, beating five other Western schools and solidifying the team’s spot in the championship on April 24-26 in St. Louis, Missouri.
“It felt gratifying because we had been wanting to work up to that same achievement again, and so to be able to pull that out and show the fruits of our work was exciting,” Kargenian said.
Cal Poly placed 10th in the national championship last year as a team.
“We’re excited to be back at nationals and see what we can do while we’re there,” Kargenian said.
This year, the four riders on the show team qualified to compete together as a team. Two riders qualified to compete individually, including Kargenian, who was the national champion of her level last year.
“Dressage is like ballet on horses,” Kargenian said. “It’s one of those sports where you’re working really hard to make it look easy.”
There are four levels in the IDA: introductory, lower training, upper training and first level. Judges evaluate each rider based on how well they perform different movements and patterns with the horse at certain areas on the court.
The horses at the championship show will be provided by nearby schools, Kargenian said. Each rider draws a horse at random and is allowed 10 minutes to warm up before riding in front of the judges.
In addition to the show team, Cal Poly’s dressage club has a general team that does not compete in shows, but allows riders of all skill levels to learn about dressage.
The team’s student show coach, kinesiology sophomore Makenzie Ford, organizes practices and handles administrative tasks. As a team leader, one of Ford’s goals is to ensure riders feel prepared for the championship.
“Being so repetitive on how we practice I think is helpful just to prepare [riders] for going in there at nationals,” Ford said. “I think seeing how we can bring our competitiveness is going to be fun.”
The team practices every Sunday, but riders dedicate anywhere from three to 15 additional hours during the week to prepare.
Lily-Rose Bacon, dressage club vice president and a biomedical engineering junior, said she rides six or seven days a week. She also runs and lifts weights to build strength for riding.
Bacon trains with Jackie Ahl-Eckhaus, a mentor to the team and an award-winning horse breeder. Bacon rides at Ahl-Eckhaus’s barn, Mountain View Sport Horses, in San Luis Obispo.
Ahl-Eckhaus attends the team’s practices and said she has seen improvement in riders’ technical skills and confidence this season.
“They’ve all done such a great job,” Ahl-Eckhaus said. “I’m very proud of them.”
Bacon will compete in the first level, the highest in the IDA. She started riding horses at age 7 and competed at the national level in high school through the United States Equestrian Federation, she said.
Bacon described dressage as “a pursuit of perfection,” but her love for horses comes before the sport.
“I just adore the fact that you can walk in and have a partnership with an animal and communicate in, I guess, a different language,” Bacon said. “It’s a feeling you can’t replace.”
