The St. Louis Equestrian Team competed in the regional meet at the Midland County Fairgrounds Oct. 1 through 3.

The team ended up placing fifth out of 14 teams. Despite working hard and taking lots of points in speed events, the competitors were unable to make it to one of the top two teams, which move onto the State Meet. Meanwhile, Bethany Bowerman ended up placing first for Barrels, Cloverleaf, Flag race. Rebecca Ross ended up placing in multiple events and won the Flag relay with her teammate Bowerman.

Barrels is a race in which a rider starts out at the end of the arena and runs their horse up to a laser timer and begins by crossing the laser. The ride may ride towards either of the first two barrels, which are placed at an equal distance from the sides of the arena. After riding around one barrel, a rider must direct their horse to the next barrel and ride around in the opposite direction. Then the rider must proceed to the top barrel and circle in an opposite direction of the previous barrel resulting in either of the two runs: left, right, and left or right, left, and right. When the rider completes the barrel patterns they must ride as fast as they can back across the laser for the completion of the run. 

Rebecca Ross was excited by her first high school equestrian meet Ross Stated, “I was really excited and nervous because I had never shown on midland because I was worried that my horse would freak, but she ended up doing really well.” Unlike many other sports, equestrian athletes are unable to qualify as individuals for the state meet. This was quite saddening for the horse riding duo as both athletes would have gone to states if top contestants for an individual event could qualify for the state meet. Fortunately, both riders are freshmen and are looking forward to riding again next year.