Gate Jump: The Tigers beat Oklahoma State and Baylor. JD Schein / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
The weather held out last weekend as the Auburn University Women’s Equestrian team triumphed over Baylor University 10-7 Saturday and Oklahoma State University, who arrived undefeated, 10-9 Sunday.
“We had strong competition, which is very exciting,” said senior Coburn Park, who competed in hunt seat on the flat. “We rode really strong.”
In hunt seat equitation over fences, Baylor University beat Auburn 2-1, with Baylor’s Heather Healy receiving MVP with a score of 82.
In western horsemanship, Auburn and Baylor tied 2-2, with MVP going to Baylor’ Nicole McCoy with a score of 77.
Auburn dominated Baylor in hunt seat on the flat 5-0 from Auburn’s Rebecca Rifkin’s score of 91. Baylor came back and beat Auburn in Western Reining 3-2 with a high score from the MVP Katie Buss with 71.5.
“Reining is going fine, and hunt seat is doing well,” said coach Greg Williams. “Horsemanship we will continue to push and work on. Baylor is a good horsemanship team.”
Overall, Auburn’s score was 1635 while Baylor had 1475 points.
“I was happy with my ride,” Park said. “There’s always room for improvement, but I’m pretty happy all-in-all.”
In western, Auburn had a score of 715 against Baylor’s 695. Auburn’s 820 score in hunt seat beat Baylor’s 780.
“I think maybe we should have done better in western (against Baylor), but it seemed scores got better and we began progressing, which is always a good thing,” Williams said.
Against Oklahoma State, Auburn won 4-1 in western reining with a score of 78.5 from Lyndsey Jordan, who also received MVP. In western horsemanship, Auburn lost 2-3, and the MVP went to Sam Davidson of Baylor, with a 77.5.
Baylor beat Auburn in hunt seat equitation over fences 3-2. Ally Blais from Oklahoma State received MVP with a high score of 85. In hunt seat equitation on the flat, Auburn tied with Oklahoma State 2-2, and Rebecca Rifkin received MVP with an 86. Auburn had a total score of 1511 against Oklahoma State’s 1529.
“Western team did fabulous (against Oklahoma State),” said assistant coach Lisa Helfer. “Hunt seat rode well, and reiners were really strong with 4-1. Horsemanship was close with 3-2, coming on strong at the end.”
Auburn had an impressive score of 743 in western and 768 in hunt seat.
“We need to work on fine-tuning and accuracy in all movements, making sure the horses perform well,” said Julie Gibbes. “We rode really smart. The scores (in western) weren’t in our favor (against Baylor).”
Auburn rode impressively over the weekend, but the key to its success was teamwork.
“The main thing is staying behind each other,” said Kimberly Tidwell. “We stayed together and won. When we get down, we bring each other down.”
The Auburn University Women’s Equestrian team will compete against Georgia March 7 at 1 p.m., followed by Stephen F. Austin the next day.
“The team did well,” Tidwell said, who competed in western reining, “Some girls made mistakes. I made mistakes. We have to learn from them and move on. Learn for tomorrow.”
