MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE DRESSAGE TEAM
REPEATS AS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

Four-member riding club team defeats largest field yet
at Intercollegiate-Interscholastic Dressage Association Nationals

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass.—For the second consecutive year, Mount Holyoke riders have defeated the best collegiate dressage teams from around the country, defending their national championship at the 2003 Intercollegiate-Interscholastic Dressage Association (IDA) Nationals, held April 24-27 at Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Virginia.

In the team competition, captain Amelia Chappelle, a senior from Mercer Island, Washington; Rachel Leah Kraus, a junior from Baltimore, Maryland; Nicole Mazzeo, a sophomore from Commack, New York; and Cathrine Elizabeth Tauscher, a first-year student from Clinton, Washington, defeated the strongest field ever for an Intercollegiate-Interscholastic Dressage Association championship event. Competition included teams representing Centenary, Oberlin, Lake Erie, Virginia Intermont, and St. Andrews Presbyterian Colleges; California Polytechnic State, Johnson and Wales, and North Carolina State Universities; the University of California at Davis, the University of Findlay, and the University of New Hampshire.

Mount Holyoke riders scored several more victories during the individual competition. For the third straight year, Chappelle finished first in first level, while sophomore Katy D'Ambly of Raynham, Massachusetts, placed third in the upper training level. At the lower training level, Tauscher was third and junior Nikki Eula of Norwalk, Connecticut sixth.

"We worked so hard for this, and it's the icing on the cake that we won," said Chappelle, the team's captain for the past two years. Challenged by some disappointing performances and bad luck during the fall semester, the team made some adjustments and "really pulled it out in the end. We've always pulled through when it counts," she said.

"They all rode to the very best of their abilities and were able to maximize the potential in themselves and in the horses that they rode," said Becky Schurink, the team's coach since 1997 and newly-elected chair of the IDA's Rules and Standards Committee. "My riders really started to rise to the occasion these last few months and their skill level and confidence were remarkably high. It's exciting for me to work with such self-motivated, determined, bright individuals who have the capacity to focus on the task at hand."

This is the second year the IDA has held a national championship. Of the nine Northeastern championships the IDA has held, Mount Holyoke riders have won eight times. The IDA is experiencing rapid growth in response to the sharply rising interest in dressage, the fastest-growing equine sport in the United States. Established by a half-dozen schools seven years ago, the IDA now has 33 member schools and 350 rider members – and continues to grow. The IDA is affiliated with the United States Dressage Federation, which comprises colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Dressage has been likened to figure skating and ballet. Points in dressage are awarded for the execution of precision movements by a horse in response to barely perceptible signals from its rider. Dressage is considered "classical training," because it uses gymnastic exercises—a series of movements and figures—which have been studied and developed for centuries.The Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, with its white Lipizzan stallions, is perhaps the most familiar institution dedicated exclusively to the classical art of riding. Once an activity of royalty, today dressage has evolved into a discipline and competitive sport accessible to all horses and riders.

Interscholastic competitions pose a particular challenge: Riders do not bring their own horses. Rather, the horses are provided by the host institution, with teams choosing their horses by lot. Each rider has just ten minutes to become familiar with her horse before competition begins.

Michelle Hoffman, a 1998 graduate of Mount Holyoke, was instrumental in the creation of the Intercollegiate-Interscholastic Dressage Association.

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