Women Riders Take Top Honors at Cornell Show

While most Cornell students were still warm in their beds on Sunday morning, the ladies of the equestrian team were already well on their way to taking the blue ribbon at their first horse show of the spring season.
The Cornell Show, hosted at the Oxley Equestrian Center, drew teams from Skidmore, Hartwick, Colgate and 10 other New York teams. The Red finished the day with 47 points, with Skidmore, Cornell’s closest competitor, finishing the day with 42 points.
“It was exciting to win on our home turf, it hasn’t happened in awhile,” said junior Zoe Samuel. “And we beat Skidmore, our biggest competitor, by 5 points, which doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but it is in intercollegiate equestrian.”
The equestrian women reported to Oxley at 6 a.m. to prepare for the show, and all of the team members worked to coordinate the logistics of the event, regardless of whether they were riding in the show.
“It’s a really, really hard day, but coming out with a win is especially exciting because every single team member is working hard throughout the day to support the team,” Samuel said.
[img_assist|nid=35489|title=Jump around|desc=Junior Brooke Cagwin rides to a first-place finish in Intermediate Fences on Feb. 21.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
The show began with the Open Fences class. Senior co-captain Dana Kendrick took first. Next, junior Brooke Cagwin rode her way to first in Intermediate Fences, with senior Candace Berne taking second. Samuel took first in Novice Fences.
The Red finished the jumping classes with a perfect score of 21.
In Open Flat, senior co-captain Caroline Shulman took first, with Kendrick riding to a second-place finish. Junior co-caption Heather Sherman placed third in Intermediate Flat. In Novice Flat, sophomore Kelsey Craig earned a blue ribbon. Sophomore Rachel Klion also earned a first-place finish.
Seniors Marie Ceranowicz and Lauren Lavo each took first in Advanced Walk-Trot-Canter. Sophomore Scotty Weber won her Walk-Trot class, while freshman Carolyn Tsai made her collegiate equestrian debut with a second-place finish.
Craig was named High Point Rider of the Day at the conclusion of the show.
The Red will take on Skidmore again this upcoming weekend on the Thoroughbreds’ home turf in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.