MEDALIST TRIES NEW DISCIPLINE.Byline: Tom Meade Providence Journal BulletinAfter her first taste of international competition - and a gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize - equestrienne e·ques·tri·enne n. A woman who rides a horse or performs on horseback. [equestr(ian) + -ienne, feminine suff. (from French).] Georgia Hunter is heading for the University of Virginia and an entirely new riding discipline that could carry her to the Olympics. The 17-year-old graduate of Moses Brown Not to be confused with Moses Brown School. Moses Brown (1738–1836), was a New England abolitionist and industrialist, who designed and built the first factory houses for spinning machines during the American industrial revolution (Slater Mill). School in Providence, R.I., won the individual gold medal at the inaugural World Cup Saddle Seat Equitation equitation the art of horsemanship. Championships in Louisville, Ky., last month. Her individual victory clinched the team gold medal for the American team. More than the medals, the flavor of international competition was so satisfying, said Hunter, that she plans to study equestrian disciplines that could get her into more international events - even the Olympics. Saddle seat equitation is not an Olympic sport, although the World Cup competition may be an early step toward having the sport recognized by the international equestrian community. In all equitation competition, riders are judged on their form and imperceptible control over their horses as they execute precise patterns. Together, the horse and its rider must paint a perfectly complete picture. In the Olympics, dressage dressage (French; “training”) Equestrian sport involving the execution of precision movements by a trained horse in response to barely perceptible signals from its rider. evolved from the military discipline soldiers needed to do battle on horseback. Cross-country and jumping also have roots in warfare as well as in hunting. Warmbloods and thoroughbreds used in the Olympics are bold jumpers. Saddle seat horses, like the ones Hunter rides, don't jump. They hold their heads high, chins tucked in tight and low, and they are high steppers in the walk and the trot. Their canter is dance-like. Saddle seat horses are eye-catching. A resident of Plainville, Mass., Hunter is accustomed to riding Morgans. Last year, she rode her 15-year-old Morgan gelding gelding castrated male horse. , Olympus On The Way, to win two world championships at the 1995 Grand National and World Championship Morgan Horse Morgan horse, breed of American light horse descended from a single progenitor—the famous Justin Morgan. Morgans are used as all-purpose light horses and are very popular on cattle ranches. Their average height is just under 15 hands (60 in. Show in Oklahoma City, Okla. At the World Cup last month, competitors drew horses they had never ridden before. Hunter was pleased with the Morgan she got. During a practice round, however, the horse threw a shoe, and the rider had to switch to a big, saddlebred gelding named Dallas. ``He was a huge chestnut, probably the biggest horse I had ever ridden,'' she recalled, ``very-big, very up-headed.'' In the final phase, Hunter and her horse Dallas surged to beat Andrus. |
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