As Cornell’s only undefeated varsity sport this season, the equestrian team could not have hoped for a better start to the year. Entering its second year in a newly-formed region, the squad has had little trouble with its unfamiliar competitors. However, in a sport in which every individual performance counts, being an undefeated team can be difficult to achieve.

“While we were in the other region, no one was ever undefeated like this,” said Red head coach Chris Mitchell. 

The reconfiguration of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association’s regions last year resulted in the removal of arch-rival Skidmore from the Red’s regular show schedule. Used to always coming second to Skidmore, the squad felt too secure in its position last year, according to senior co-captain Katie Fink. Although the team still won the regional championships, it is determined to take things even further this season.

“This year I think we really have our eye on the prize,” Fink said. 

Indeed, the team has remained strong throughout the semester. Even with six horse shows in just 28 days, the squad managed to stay on top of both its athletic and academic duties, according to Mitchell. 

“The last two horse shows were tough,” he said. “Everybody was tired and the competition season was coming to an end, but we pulled it out both days.”

With just two regular season horse shows left for the season — one of which Cornell will host — the team is gearing up for its second Tournament of Champions, which will take place at Centenary this Saturday. The Tournament of Champions is an invitational competition originally designed as a preview for nationals. Only the top teams in the country are invited to compete, and unlike a regular ISHA show each team is allowed to bring only one rider for each division. As a result, the coaches must think very carefully about who they choose to bring to the tournament. 

“There’s a lot of strategy that I wasn’t aware of,” said freshman Georgiana de Rham. De Rham will join the Red on Saturday as the team’s intermediate flat rider.

Mitchell expects Saturday’s tournament to be particularly tough. 

“We’ve been to a Tournament of Champions before, but I don’t remember one ever this tough in the last 10 years,” he said. “So it’ll be a very good test [for us].”

Cornell’s status as an undefeated team is a big confidence booster for the riders who will be competing on Saturday. 

“It feels really good … to have this background or this knowledge that we are good enough to play with the big dogs,” Fink said.

In addition to being undefeated, the Red also has four riders in the top 10 for the Cacchione Cup competition. The winner of the Cacchione Cup in each region automatically goes on to nationals at the end of the season to compete in a special class against the winners from the other regions. So far, sophomore Alexandra Cheng is in eighth place, junior Emily Webster is in sixth place, senior co-captain Katie Fink is in fourth, and senior Bronwyn Scrivens is in second. The Red has taken first place in the region thus far, but as for the Cacchione Cup, anything can happen, according to Fink. 

Nonetheless, Mitchell expects the Red to keep improving.

“I expect all those four riders to move up [in the Cacchione Cup] and I expect the team to increase its lead from 50 to 60 or 70 by the time we’re done with the season,” he said. “That’s totally reachable and there is no reason to think that we can’t do that.”