Equestrian Excited and Ready to Open 2022-23 Season Saturday

Saturday, September 24

Hanover, N.H. / Morton Farm

10:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Lynchburg

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Equestrian Excited and Ready to Open 2022-23 Season Saturday

9/23/2022 11:13:00 AM | Equestrian

Dartmouth opens up by hosting defending national champion Lynchburg

By: Justin Lafleur

HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth equestrian team begins its 2022-23 season on Saturday as the Big Green welcome defending national champion Lynchburg to Morton Farm. The meet will begin at 10 a.m. Dartmouth enters the season ranked fourth in the NCEA single discipline team rankings, with Lynchburg at No. 1. The Big Green feature a strong mix of veterans and younger talent; among the returners is fifth year Claire Azar after being named to the ECAC All-Tournament Flat and Fences teams last season.

"We're very excited to start the season this Saturday," said head coach Tenley Welsh, who was named ECAC Co-Head Coach of the Year last spring. "We have a young team, but this will be our first chance to see how we're going to stack up against the defending national champions, so it's a great way to see what the rest of the season is going to look like."

Dartmouth is two weeks into the semester, and it's a close-knit group of student-athletes.

"I think after COVID, the team has only grown closer together and has really appreciated the time they have on campus together even more, the time they spend practicing and even just outside of the barn, grabbing dinner or studying," said Walsh. "We're very excited to see how the freshmen are going to perform this weekend, as well as some key returning riders, and some upperclassmen who will be getting in the ring for the NCEA for the first time. All across the board, a lot of firsts this weekend."

Competing both over fences and on the flat, the Big Green have been hard at work preparing for the season. A lot of strategy, and practice, goes into execution on meet day.

"When we're jumping the horses, we spend a lot of time thinking about the course, where the jumps are set in relation to each other and how many strides we're going to put between the fences," said Walsh. "Then, when we ride that on different horses, we sometimes have to adjust our plan so we can give that horse the best possible ride."

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Being adaptable is integral in equestrian, as the student-athletes don't know which horse they'll ride until the morning of the meet. It's a random draw.

"You're thinking about giving the horse the best possible path from each jump, the best pace to make sure we get there and looking for every jump to leave the ground in a nice even stride," said Walsh.

"For the flat, it's pretty technical," Walsh continued. "Two weeks in advance, we start working on a flat pattern that has various different movements in it that the horse and rider need to perform together. It's also just a lot for the athletes to memorize. We're constantly changing our plan based on what horse they're going to ride."

This Saturday vs. Lynchburg is only the beginning.

"We're hoping the whole team can come together and rally around each other," said Walsh. "Hoping we have some good weather, that the horses are well behaved. I think we're going to have a brisk Saturday morning. Just looking to see what we can do with the flat pattern we've been practicing and that everybody can get through the movements and know exactly where they're going.

"For the jumping, we're looking for some smooth rounds and having that plan a, plan b and plan c if needed and being able to readjust and get back on track."

This fall will feature six competition dates, one of which is a scrimmage. After this weekend, Dartmouth will travel to UT Martin on Saturday, Oct. 1.