The Dartmouth equestrian team will send two riders to the Zone I Championships this Saturday after Katherine Lindzey '13 and Natalie Colaneri '12 turned in strong performances at the Region 2 Championships on Sunday. The team finished its regular season in fourth place in Region 2 after finishing fifth out of 12 and third out of 12 in its final two respective shows.
Lindzey was the champion in the Novice Flat class, and Colaneri was reserve champion, or the runner-up, in the Walk-Trot. Only the top two riders in each class qualified for the Zone Championships.
"I'm really excited," Colaneri said. "I haven't been riding very long."
Colaneri is a contributing columnist for The Dartmouth.
Two other Big Green riders finished just one place shy of moving on. Cristina Herren '12 and Helena Witte '13 took third in Intermediate Fences and Walk-Trot-Canter, respectively.
Samantha Parsons '10 who competed at Nationals last year finished sixth in the Open Flat. Liz Wilkerson '11 competed in the Novice Flat, finishing sixth.
Parsons also finished fourth in the standings to represent the region at Nationals in the competition for the Cacchione Cup awarded annually to the best open seat hunter rider in the nation.
"I would have liked to have done better, but having that great season last year made this one less disappointing," Parsons said.
The top two riders in each class at Zones continue on to the National Championships.
The team competed in its first spring show on March 6 in Lewiston, Maine, finishing fifth out of 12 teams, its lowest place of the season.
"It wasn't a great day for us," head coach Sally Batton said.
She attributed the sub-par finish to the team's unfamiliarity with the horses used in the competition.
"We haven't been to that horse show in about six years," Batton said. "When you go to a show every year you get to know the horses better."
Equestrian teams use whatever horses are stabled at each competition site, making the ability to handle a variety of horses crucial.
"We switch off a lot [in practice] because it's important to get used to slower and more difficult types of horses," Colaneri said. "It helps make you better as a rider."
The final regular season show was held on March 13 at the University of New Hampshire. Dartmouth finished in third place out of 12.
The Big Green swept the Walk, Trot and Canter classes, with Abby Franklin '13, Witte and Anne Peale '11 contributing in the Advanced Walk-Trot-Canter and Colaneri turning in a first-place finish in the Beginner section.
Dartmouth finished the season in fourth place in Zone I Region 2, trailing regional champion University of Vermont, the University of New Hampshire and Mount Ida College. The Catamounts have won the region eight out of the past 11 years in Region 2 competition.
The Big Green is in the process of rebuilding after losing six seniors last season. It is currently a bottom-heavy squad, with many new riders and second-year competitors.
"We obviously would have liked to have done better, but we had a really young team this year," Parsons said. "Everyone did a really good job, so I think everyone should be really satisfied with that."
Since equestrian is a two-season sport, with shows held in the fall and the spring, staying in form over the winter months is a top priority for the team.
Even though the team has an indoor riding facility only eight miles away from campus, its high altitude makes the drive difficult in colder months and impossible for the team to practice until mid-February, according to Batton.
"We had them do a lot of riding on their own," she said. "I just tried to snap them back into riding shape before the early shows."
Following Zones, the team will compete at the Dartmouth Classic on April 10 and the All Ivy Show on April 17, both held in Hanover. The All Ivy competition is the only show of the year in which Dartmouth faces off against Ivy League schools.
The Zone I Championships will be held all day this Saturday at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass.
