In its last competition of the season, Dartmouth's equestrian team tied with Cornell for reserve champion at the Ivy League championships last Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y. Brown was the champion of the show, which included all of the Ancient Eight teams except Harvard.
The Big Green fell short of an Ivy championship repeat, after winning the event in 2007 at Morton Farms in Hanover.
Big Green riders were happy with the squad's efforts, however.
"I'd say it's probably the most fun I've had at a horse show in my four years," said co-captain Daisy Freund '08.
"It was great," co-captain Lily Macartney '08 said. "It was the best way possible we could have ended the season. It would have been nice had we won the whole thing, but Brown was very deserving."
The competition included regular classes as well as championship classes, which were comprised of the top six finishers in regular classes but did not count for team points.
In the regular classes, Dartmouth finished first in three events.
Freund won the open flat, Linda Cummins '10 took the walk trot canter and Lucretia Witte '10 finished in first place in the walk trot.
Second-place finishers for the Big Green included Katherine Scovner '08 and Virginia Deaton '09 in intermediate fences, Karelle Hall '08 in intermediate flat and Erica Anhalt '09 in walk trot canter.
"It was a great team effort," Macartney said. "It was really exciting to see people excel."
A quartet of Dartmouth riders earned third place in their events -- Freund and Sam Parsons '10 in open fences, Macartney in intermediate fences and Kate Wooler '08 in open flat.
Coming in fourth place were Danielle Stacy '11 in open fences, Hall and Alaina Smith '09 in novice fences, Susanna Kurnick '11 in walk trot canter and Brittany Ervin '11 in walk trot.
Freund was particularly impressed by Ervin's performance in the walk trot, considering the freshman rider's relative inexperience in equistrian competition.
"[Ervin] had literally never ridden a horse, basically, when she got on the team, and did really well in her class at all Ivies," Freund said. "She's our little prodigy."
In the championship classes, Scovner finished in second place in intermediate fences. Freund in the open flat, Cummins in walk trot canter and Witte in walk trot each took home third place within the championship class competition.
True to Big Green spirit, the equestrian team went out in force to support Dartmouth riders during the event.
"The whole team was there in the bleachers to see everyone's ride, and we had bright pink ties with orange polka-dots, so we were not to be missed," Macartney said. "I think the other schools questioned our sanity, but we were definitely the loudest team, both in noise and dress."
Freund described a prank that the team played on Cornell as a highlight of the show.
"We think maybe that we intimidated them with our last onslaught, so we just dressed head to toe as clowns and marched into the showgrounds and didn't say a word about it all day," Freund said. "It was definitely enough to make everybody stare, but also be just nervous enough about our mental state to avoid asking what was up."
The show marked the last team ride for the Big Green's seven seniors, but according to Macartney and Freund, it was a rewarding send-off.
"Everyone was very nostalgic since there are so many seniors this year," Macartney said. "It was great to have the last show be with the entire team. It was also nice that it wasn't a regular season show, so there was absolutely no pressure. It was wonderful that we were reserve for the show, but it doesn't count. I think it was a very fulfilling and strong way to end what was, for some people, four years of riding for the team."
Freund's season will continue when she will ride in two events at the national equestrian championships at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center on May 8-11.
