Sequoyah Equestrian Wins National Titles

A Sequoyah High School student has won two national championship titles at a national horse show.

Rising junior Ashley Bates, who is also the president of the school's newly-formed Equestrian Club, participated in the Riders Interscholastic Federation of North America (RIFNA) National Horse Show at In Your Dreams Farm in Alpharetta on May 18-19 and brought home national titles in the Hunter Over Fences and Hunter on the Flat events.

She was joined at the competition by fellow team member and rising junior Brooke Redfern.

Both equestrians advanced to the national competition due to their excellent horsemanship.

At the RIFNA state finals, Bates took home first place in the Hunter Over Fences team event, and won second place in the Three Person Dressage Individual, Three Person Dressage Team, Hunter Flat Team, and Hunter Over Fences Individual events. She also earned third place honors in the Hunter Flat Individual event.

Redfern, not to be outdone, won a state title in Dressage, second place in Hunter Flat, and third place in Western Horsemanship and Hunter Over Fences.

The Equestrian Club's school sponsors are  Dr. Wendy Roberts, Emily Helf and Meriam Freeman.

In horse showing, "Hunter" events are judged on the horse's manners, juming style, and overall performance. Hunters are meant to emulate their fox hunting ancestors, hence the name. Fences events require horses to jump over fences, while Flat events do not have any jumping and are a general display of the horse.

Dressage, sometimes called "horse ballet," requires horse and rider to act as one through a list of pre-determined motions. Any rider that earns scores of 6 out of 10 in a dressage event is considered to have had a good run.