Oct. 5, 2005

WACO, Texas - The University of Georgia will host the first-ever Big 8 English equestrian tournament this weekend, Oct. 7-8. Head equestrian coach Ellen White travels with five of her riders, four English and one Western, to Athens to compete in the program's first official show. Fresno State, Georgia, New Mexico State, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, South Dakota State, and Texas A&M are also sending riders to compete in this inaugural show.

To represent Baylor's English team, White has elected to take senior Nicole Brown, freshman Susie Foster, sophomore Atlee Johnston, and freshman Shelby White. One of the team's co-captains, senior Brenna Burris, will be the sole rider representing the Western squad.

The tournament consists of both English and Western competitions though a greater emphasis will be on the Western events. The English events this weekend are Equitation on the Flat and Equitation over Fences. The first consists of riders performing nine maneuvers through a rectangular arena marked by letters. The Equitation over Fences requires that the rider guides her horse through a predetermined course of eight to 10 jumps approximately 3 ft. in height.

For the Western riders, girls will compete in both Horsemanship and Reining. Horsemanship judges the rider's effectiveness and position in the saddle while she directs her horse through nine pre-determined moves. The reining portion requires the riders to complete a course from memory while being judged on quality and correctness of the moves and also the overall quality of the pattern.

According to the scoring system, a team will advance to the next round by defeating only the school with which they are matched, not all the riders competing during the same time frame.

English rounds are scheduled to begin Friday (Oct. 7) at 8 a.m., and the Western events will begin that afternoon at 5 p.m.

Baylor's results will be posted at www.BaylorBears.com.