Deirdre Newman They don’t have rallies whipping...

Deirdre Newman

They don’t have rallies whipping students into a frenzy over their

competitions. They don’t have a stadium full of people watching them

strut their stuff every week. They don’t even have a place on campus

to hone their skills.

But they have racked up an impressive number of awards over the

past few years, and all they’re asking for is a little respect.

They are members of the Corona del Mar High School equestrian

team. They can be found trotting, cantering and jumping with their

horses almost every day after school at various stables throughout

the area.

While their accolades speak for themselves -- last year the

equestrians won the varsity team championship of the seven-show

season -- team members say they wouldn’t mind having a higher profile

on campus.

“Our team is very underappreciated,” said sophomore Laura Peck,

14. “Everyone is obsessed with our football team, but it’s not very

successful. Our team has been successful but hasn’t gotten a lot of

recognition.”

The team has its first show of the season 8 a.m. today at The Oaks

in San Juan Capistrano. The equestrian team started at the school in

1989, when riders had to trek all the way to Los Angeles County to

compete. It wasn’t until 1992 that an Interscholastic Equestrian

League started in Orange County, said Ron Howard, the team’s staff

advisor.

Corona del Mar is not the only school in Newport-Mesa to host an

equestrian team. Last year, Newport Harbor High School and Sage Hill

had teams. This year at least one rider from each school plans to

compete.

Corona del Mar High School offers four groups -- novice, freshman,

junior varsity and varsity -- to compete in the league of about 40

schools. The Corona del Mar team came in third in the league last

year.

Many of the riders compete outside the league as well.

While the sport finally gained physical education credit in 1996,

students can join the team whether or not they take it for P.E.,

Howard said.

All of the nine team members are female, though the team is not

limited to girls. Many of them recount the same reasons for wanting

to ride -- an affinity for horses that has overshadowed attachments

to any other sport.

“I always really liked horses and I played a lot of sports,” said

junior Anne Schroeder, 17, the president of the team. “But riding was

so much different and when I won something for riding, the feeling of

achievement was so much greater than winning a soccer game.”

There are two divisions in the equestrian league -- English and

Western. This year’s team will compete in the English division, in

which the horse is judged on style, grace and movement; equitation,

in which the rider is judged; and jumpers, which is judged on time

and how many rails are knocked down.

Anne practices on her horse, Tricky, six days a week at Huntington

Central Park Equestrian Center in Huntington Beach. Some days she

rides for half an hour. Some days she rides for “who knows how long.”

She competes in the equitation and jumpers categories. Tricky, she

says, prefers to jump.

“You usually want a horse that’s fast and kind of awake,” Anne

said. “He’s not really crazy, but he’s quick.”

And like the athletes that practice on the football field, being

physically fit and having a lot of stamina is a requirement, said

Anne, who has won freshman and junior varsity medals and last year

placed second overall in the league.

“The thing with riding is you fall off a lot,” Anne said. “If

you’re in shape, you bounce right back up. Shows take a lot of

endurance. You have to have energy to last throughout the day.”

One of the most challenging aspects of the sport is jumping, in

which the horse and rider blend together in mid-air.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, as the sun was beginning its

descent, freshman Katie Jones practiced jumping with her horse,

Bonnie Doone, in Huntington Beach.

“The moment before the jump, you feel suspended in the air,” said

Katie, 14. “It’s the closest thing you can really get to flying. The

moment before the jump, you have to speed them up or slow them down

to find the right distance. Distance is everything.”

Unlike any other sport, though, no matter how good a shape the

riders are in -- mentally as well as physically -- they also have to

be in tune with their horses to compete successfully.

“Horses are really special because they can feel how you’re

feeling,” Laura said. “They’re supersensitive animals. If you’re

calm, they’re calm. If you’re uptight, they’re uptight. Shows are

exciting for them to be around other horses.”

And because of the sometimes uncontrollable animal element, riding

poses serious risks to the equestrians.

“It scares me,” said Pattie Jones, Katie’s mom. “Horses are very

unpredictable. I believe the trainers, for the most part, do not have

girls compete above what they’re capable off.”

One of the team members recently fell victim to an impetuous

horse.

Jessica Cardelucci was “catch riding,” which means showing someone

else’s horse at a competition, when the horse got spooked and threw

her off headfirst.

“He stepped all over her, but she didn’t break any bones,” her

mom, Cathie, said. “It was really frightening, but she was a total

trooper.”

In fact, Jessica, 14, was back on a horse a mere two days later, a

testament to the addictive nature of the sport.

“No matter how much pain I was in, I just wanted to keep riding,

because it’s something you can never really stop me from doing,”

Jessica said. “I was pretty sore. I was bruised practically

everywhere, and had horseshoe marks all over me.”

The resiliency of the riders illustrates that the equestrian team

can overcome many hurdles in pursuit of their passion, including

flying under the radar on campus.

“In the past few years, there are [championship] awards in the

office and more people know,” said junior Julia Koetting, 16, who was

named overall varsity points champion last year.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].