The Red equestrian team returns to action next Saturday when it hosts the Cornell Invitational at the Oxley Equestrian Center.

The Invitational, which will start at 8:30 a.m. and extend until late in the afternoon, will feature events such as equitation over fences, flat equitation, walk-trot-canter and walk-trot.

The Red is going to compete against 14 other teams, including Albany, Colgate Elmira, Skidmore, Morrisville, Siena and Ithaca College.

The team’s last result was a 31-point performance (fourth place out of 15 teams) two weeks ago at the Hartwick Invitational in Oneonta, N.Y. But even though the team’s position in the final standings was strong, the Red is expecting better results at home.

“That fourth-place finish did not leave a good taste in our mouth. We were not happy with the last result, but we were happy with our performance,” said head coach Chris Mitchell. “For the next event, I expect to win. We are working very hard to organize the event and to make the most of our performance.”

Just like Mitchell, the members of the team are looking forward to Saturday’s event with high expectations.

“We feel very well going into Saturday. If we keep riding and practicing hard like we are doing, we will do very well,” said senior captain Heather Sherman.

The team also expects that competing at home will help to improve overall performance. They will try to build on last year’s result at the Cornell Invitational, a third-place finish behind Skidmore and Colgate.

“It is going to help [being at home] because we are going to have our own horses and we are going to be in our environment,” said Sherman.

Fluid motion: The equestrian team will host the Cornell Invitational next weekend and is expected to perform well against the field of 14 teams. The Invitational will test riders in many different disciplines.

Another important factor for Cornell’s victory is going to be the results that the new members of the team obtain.

“We lost some starters last year and the new drivers in the Open division are doing really well and I’m really happy,” Mitchell said. “They can get valuable points for our team.”

The Red is making some final adjustments these days order to be fully prepared for Saturday’s event.

“We are using the results at Hartwick as a motivating factor for our team. We have two more practice days that we will use to prepare ourselves for the Invitational. The girls are really excited to compete,” Mitchell said.