Thirty-five members of the Dartmouth equestrian team mounted up, rode the ring and roped in third place -- out of 11 teams -- at its home show Saturday.
Dartmouth, which collectively received 31 points, placed behind Colby-Sawyer College (with 39 points) and Mount Ida College (with 33 points). The 11 regional schools that competed at Morton Farm over the weekend also include Boston and Tufts Universities.
Dartmouth has moved up consistently in the placing throughout its first three shows of the season. The team came in fifth at its first outing at Colby two weeks ago and co-captain Christine Sandvik '97 said she is looking for further improvement in the team's final two shows this term.
"We come back so late and we only had one practice before our first show," she said. "Since then, we've had time to get back in the saddle again, so to speak."
Sandvik also said the team is young and, for more than half the riders, this is their first term of intercollegiate riding experience.
Unlike typical showing where riders are familiar with their own horses, students on the collegiate circuit pick horses' names from a hat at the beginning of the day and have no chance to warm up before entering the show ring.
"I think we're working our way up and will stay there," Sandvik said.
The team's placing is determined by the scores of eight competitors who are selected before the show begins as "point riders," making it possible for many of the riders to excel individually without affecting the team's placing.
Blue ribbons were handed out Saturday to Jodi Gesten '98 in Open Fences, Courtney Mottinger '95 in Intermediate Fences, Allison Padavan '95 in Intermediate Flat and Jean Shein '97 in Walk-Trot.
Second prizes were given to Laura Bennett '96 in Walk-Trot-Canter, Gillian Fraser '95 in Novice Flat, Kristine Harvey '95 in Novice Fences, Akiko Kawaguchi '97 in Novice Flat and Fences and Sandvik in Open Flat.
Third places went to Della Bennett '96 in Walk-Trot-Canter, Helen Burnham '96 in Open Flat, Lanea Eschmeyer '96 in Walt-Trot-Canter and Virginia Freego '95 in Novice Flat.
The team has this weekend off, but will return to the showing trail next weekend at the University of New Hampshire. The fall season will conclude the following weekend at Boston University.
