March 10, 2007

Complete Results (PDF)

Auburn - The Auburn equestrian team (7-5) defeated New Mexico State 10-7 Saturday at the Auburn Equestrian Center, defeating the Aggies in three categories and winning the western title 6-3 and the hunt seat title 694.5-676.

"The horsemanship girls did a pretty fair job today," said Auburn head coach Greg Williams. "I didn't know that they would have to step up quite so much. New Mexico State did a fabulous job. I think one of our past strengths in over fences was disappointing. We almost gave them everything because of that. We put way too much pressure on the flat riders to pull out a win. Had the flat riders not done so well and the western side done well, we could have ended up with a loss. Western did a great job. I think our only real down today was over fences."

The hunt seat team earned their fifth straight victory winning the flat 4-1, but losing over fences 3-0. Tying 4-4, the win came down to raw scores. Auburn dropped a 38 while New Mexico State dropped a 55 to give the Tigers the win. Earning MVP honors for Auburn on the flat was freshman Chelsea Anheuser who scored an 89.5 for the high ride of the meet.

"I knew that I needed to have a good ride," said Anheuser. "I felt confident throughout my ride and I was happy with it. We had a long week last week, so we were just trying to relax and ride well. Some of our horses were a little hotter than usual, but I think we did really well. It is a nice feeling to win five straight. All of the hard work we've been doing all year is starting to pay off, we just need to keep it going."

Coming off of a tough weekend in Texas, the western team defeated the Aggies 3-2 in horsemanship and 3-1 in reining. Junior Kimberly Tidwell earned MVP honors for her 74.5 ride in horsemanship. Tidwell and her opponent, Rachel Krause, had the first reride of the season in reining.

"One of our top reining horses decided to be an absolute terror today," said Williams. "He took out both girls. We decided to have a reride to give both of the girls a better shot."

"We decided that we weren't going to get beat this weekend," said Tidwell. "The reride is just one of those things that happens when you get a horse that can be testy. I am glad I got to ride again because I was able to redeem myself. I am really happy that I got MVP in horsemanship. It is really nice to have a good ride. I think that we picked ourselves back up and rode like we knew that we could."

There were an unprecedented three ties, four before the reride, in the outcome of the meet. Two came from hunt seat over fences while the others were in western reining.

"I didn't think that there would be so many ties," said Williams. "New Mexico State rode well, and they wanted to win really badly. They are worrying about where they are going to be seeded at Nationals and we were trying to get a first round bye. I think that they were hungrier than we were today."

Auburn returns to action on Mar. 17 to host Delaware State for the last meet of the season. The meet begins at 10 am at the Auburn Equestrian Center.