The crisp morning air on Jan. 25 at the Oppenheimer Family Equine Center filled with the sounds and smells of horses as families, bundled in blankets and puffy jackets, filled the bleachers, eagerly waiting for riders in green and gold to saddle up.
Eight colleges competed at Cal Poly in two regional Western horse shows from Jan. 25-26. The Cal Poly Equestrian Team (CPET) earned second place on Jan. 25 and first place on Jan. 26.
Thirteen CPET riders competed, showcasing their skills. Each rider was judged on their riding position and control over their horse’s gait. The shows were part of the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA), a nationwide league.
Claire Saydah, an animal science senior and horse show committee member, took on the responsibility of announcing the event. As the show began, Saydah grabbed her microphone and asked the riders to line up to draw their horses — a pivotal moment in the competition.
The horse draw is a random process. CPET volunteers pulled horse names from a small tin pail, assigning each rider in line a different horse for the competition ahead.
Horses “don’t all have the same buttons,” Saydah said. “They don’t all come with the same set of instructions.”
Riders typically watch their horse compete throughout the day to study their behaviors and prepare for their ride, Saydah said.
As the host school, Cal Poly had an advantage in supplying horses for the show. Of around 30 horses in total, Cal Poly supplied 20, Saydah said. Many CPET riders have likely ridden most of the Cal Poly horses entered in the show.
This was the case for environmental engineering sophomore Baeya Kardokus. She drew Roanie, a Cal Poly horse.
“I love that you can draw a random horse and you kind of don’t know until right when you get on,” she said after winning Level II Horsemanship with Roanie, a horse she described as “very sweet.”
Kardokus won second place in Ranch Riding and second place overall in Saturday’s show. Her points contributed to Cal Poly’s success.
Team captain Jaimie Knode, an animal science junior, has been riding since she was 8 years old. She rode competitively during high school and joined Cal Poly’s equestrian team her freshman year.
“I like competing a lot,” Knode said. “I just like having a good ride.”
Knode placed fourth in her class on Saturday and took home first place on Sunday. In addition to her personal performance, she played her role as team captain by making sure her teammates knew their patterns and were ready for their events, Knode said.
“My favorite part of it is being friends with all the girls on the team and being a part of all of it,” Knode said.
Woven into the competitive aspect of the horse shows is a sense of community. Animal science senior Madison Martinich said she has gotten to know riders from other schools during shows throughout her four years on the team.
“I have a lot of friends on the other teams, so it’s fun to see them and visit with them,” Martinich said.
Martinich did not have any show experience before joining the team, she said. Now she is the horse manager for the six horses that CPET owns. She is responsible for assisting riders with the horses and helping when horses get injured.
“Now it’s cool, because I’m like, ‘Oh, wow. Six years after I really seriously started riding, I’m responsible for training these horses,’” Martinich said.
In her two events, Martinich won third and fourth place.
The team’s next show is at University of California, Davis on Feb. 15-16.
