Sisters riders grab the gold

Sisters High School equestrians brought home two state championship gold medals from the Oregon State High School Equestrian Teams (OHSET) State Meet. The meet was held at Central Point, in southern Oregon, on May 19-21.

Jennifer Friend beat out 35 competitors to take the gold in dressage and the six-rider drill team came out ahead of 25 other teams to capture the gold in that event. Drill team members were Shayna Forbes, Jennifer Friend, Aubyn Geser, Christina Holler, Rachel Pilliod and Leslee Zenich.

Other top-ten finishes for Sisters went to Rachel Pilliod, fourth Driving; Danielle Elder, sixth Hunt Seat over Fences; Shayna Forbes, Jennifer Friend, Christina Holler and Cassidy Keeton, fourth Team Canadian Flags.

Sisters took 13 of their 17 members to the state meet. To get an idea of the scope of the OHSET competition, there are 1,200 athletes from 125 schools competing in 23 events at each district’s three spring meets. Of those, the top ten percent in each event qualify for state. But athletes can qualify for up to five events, with the result being lots of horses and riders converging on Central Point for the state meet.

Friend is a junior who rides two horses at OHSET meets. Her mainstay is 20-year-old Travis, a chestnut quarter horse. He carried her to the gold in dressage. Her other horse, Brick, scampered around the gaming course of Team Canadian Flags and galloped in sync with five other horses in the drill team.

Friend had set a goal of taking the gold in dressage at both the district and state meets. “I knew I had a good test (at state), but when I looked at the results, I couldn’t believe it. My friend, Danielle (Elder) came up and saw the results and said it was the first time she’d seen me speechless,” she said.

“This has been a great year,” Friend said. “Our team really came together.”

The victory in drill was especially sweet, said Karen Friend, team advisor.

Sisters previously had four-rider teams, putting together a six-rider team for the first time this year. The team competed against teams with anywhere from six to 12 riders in them. There are certain drill maneuvers that must be incorporated into the performance and Coach Amanda Dinsmore did a wonderful job choreographing the final product, said Friend. Dinsmore is a member of the Silver Edge Drill Team.

The drill, set to fast music, was performed at a full gallop, and the riders were carrying black and silver flags. Horses were glittered up, with hardly a plain hair on their bodies. Friend said the girls had stenciled the Outlaw horse head onto their horse’s rumps with the silver glitter.

At the end of all the performances, the judges called all 25 teams back into the arena to announce placings. Starting from 10th place, they worked back toward first. When the Sisters team wasn’t announced by the time second place came around, Friend said supporters thought that the small mistakes they’d noticed must have cost the team a place. The announcement of Sisters’ win caused the full grandstand to erupt in wild cheers. Friend said that at the state meet, districts come together to support their teams, so Sisters had team members from all 18 Central District schools cheering for them.

In a feat of skilled riding, Leslee Zenich rode a borrowed horse in the drill at the state meet. Her horse was unable to compete for her, so Zenich’s first ride on the borrowed horse was at the practice run prior to the performance.

In the driving event, Rachel Pilliod piloted her horse through a pattern to capture her placing. Her five-year-old paint is home bred and Pilliod has done all his training.

Danielle Elder, on her warmblood gelding, Cisco, showed good style in hunt seat over fences. In that class, riders are judged on their form as they navigate a course with jumps not over 2-feet-9-inches.

The Team Canadian Flags team of Shayna Forbes, Jennifer Friend, Christina Holler, and Cassidy Keeton continued the good teamwork that had garnered them the district title.

In this gaming event, the four team members all start behind the timer’s line. One at a time, they gallop to the other end of the arena, lean down to pick up a flag that is stuck in the ground, and race back to the line. In the instant one rider crosses, the next one leaps away.

The secret, said team advisor Karen Friend, is the timing of the lean. Too early and the horse ducks to the other side of the flag. Too late and the flag is missed.

The students are back at school and the horses are taking a well-deserved rest.