The UConn Equestrian Team achieved the status of being the regional high point team at the close of this year\u2019s Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) competition season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d says team captain Elinor Addonizio \u201825 (CAHNR<\/a>). \u201cI think it gives everybody a lot of hope for the future to continue doing so well.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, UConn\u2019s point total was 276. The second-place team, Boston University, had 225 points.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really was an incredible season,\u201d coach Marilyn Bennett says. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of all of them. They put in a lot of hard work, and it really is a testament to that…It\u2019s a great way to represent the school.\u201d<\/p>\n For each show, teams choose individual riders in each event and class to be their point riders. This means those riders\u2019 points, based on where they place in the event, count toward the team\u2019s total.<\/p>\n \u201cEssentially it comes down to the point riders who won the most and did the best,\u201d Addonizio says.<\/p>\n At their home show in October, UConn\u2019s team earned a perfect score.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single point rider won their class \u2013 which is pretty much unheard of,\u201d Addonizio says. \u201cSo, that was a really big accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n One member of the UConn Team, Cara Bailey \u201827 (CAHNR), qualified for nationals, which will take place in May.<\/p>\n Currently, there are 24 showing members on the UConn Equestrian Team, and 30 members total. Riders are placed into jumping and flat event classes based on their experience and skill level.<\/p>\n What is unique to the IHSA competitions is that, unlike elsewhere in the equestrian world, riders do not bring horses to competitions. Instead, they are randomly assigned a horse from the hosting institution\u2019s barn.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have no idea until the day of what horse you\u2019re going to ride,\u201d Bennett says. \u201cSo that adds a whole other element to showing…It makes it unique and really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n To prepare for this challenge, the UConn team changes which horse they ride for each of their weekly practices.<\/p>\n This was the first year UConn competed in Region 4 with Massachusetts schools after their previous region was dissolved.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were pretty nervous heading into this new region because we\u2019d never competed against these teams, and they\u2019re all very accomplished teams,\u201d Addonizio says. \u201cSo, it\u2019s really, really exciting, and honestly we didn\u2019t expect it, which made it all the more special.\u201d<\/p>\n Addonizio has been a member of the team since her freshman year and was captain for the past two years.<\/p>\n