The sport of dressage requires intense skill and focus from both horse and rider.
Members of the Penn State University dressage team saw their hard work pay off on March 28, earning a perfect scorecard at Centenary University’s Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA) Spring Dressage Show. The victory capped a regular season that secured the team a spot in the IDA Nationals, scheduled for April 23–26 in St. Louis.
To qualify, a team must place first or second in its region based on cumulative performance at shows throughout the year and individual rider rankings within their divisions.
The team includes 2024 Franklin Regional graduate Emerson Ayres, 20, of Murrysville. Ayres spoke about the preparation required for the upcoming national championships.
“The last time Penn State qualified for nationals was in 2023. Since then, we struggled to beat competitive teams like Centenary University and Delaware Valley University, both of which are known for their equestrian programs,” Ayres said. “This year we never placed below reserve champion, and for the first time in Penn State history, we had a clean sweep at Centenary, claiming first place in all four divisions.”
This interview has been edited for length.
Q: How long have you been riding horses, and what got you interested specifically in dressage?
A: I started taking consistent lessons when I was 6 years old, but I had been interested in horses since the moment I could understand what they were. The first coach I ever took lessons with was a dressage rider, so that’s where I got my foundation. Over time I became interested in jumping so I switched to “eventing,” which was what I competed in up until I graduated high school. Eventing is a three-phase equestrian sport that consists of dressage, show jumping and cross country. When I came to Penn State there was no eventing team, but there was a dressage team and since I had prior experience in dressage, it felt like the right choice.
Q: How long does it take to establish the kind of relationship and/or trust with a horse that’s necessary in order to perform dressage?
A: It depends on the horse. Some horses are very straightforward and easy to understand whereas some horses take a little bit more time. Riders who perform at the top levels of dressage tend to have strong bonds with their horses. Working with horses sometimes feels like another language because you are constantly learning new ways to communicate with them. Especially in dressage when you are asking an animal to perform a technical movement with no talking involved.
This is what makes riding with a college dressage team so interesting. All collegiate dressage teams ride under the Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA). What comes with this is traveling to schools in your respective region and competing on their horses. The first thing we do at a show is draw our horses for the competition. Prior to riding a test each rider gets 10 minutes to meet the horse they drew and warm-up before entering the show ring. We often are riding horses we have never sat on before and are highly dependent on the training we receive from our coach, Lindsay Hafer, at Penn State.
Q: What’s the most difficult dressage maneuver to attempt, and what makes it so difficult?
A: Dressage has many maneuvers that can be difficult depending on the level you ride at. At the grand prix level you will see pairs performing movements that require the rider to have perfect body awareness, to make sure they are communicating the correct cues, and a horse that is physically capable of doing the movements.
There are 4 divisions to IDA—Intro, Lower Training, Upper Training and First Level. For accessibility reasons, we only compete through the first level in dressage to make sure that we have the appropriate horses. Since First Level is the highest we compete through, the hardestmovements are leg yields, which is where the horse and rider move laterally, and trot/canter lengthening that requires the rider to ask their horse to lengthen their stride and frame to show off suspension without speeding up their tempo. Riders who don’t know how to properly ride these movements can receive a poor score or worse — a sensitive horse could react poorly leading to a more dangerous situation.
Q: What are you looking forward to most about the national championships? Has PSU qualified in recent years?
A: Getting to be with the rest of my teammates. Last year I qualified only as an individual, but my team itself did not qualify, so I attended nationals alone. My teammates have become my biggest cheerleaders and some of my best friends, and there’s honestly nothing that means more to me than being able to do nationals with them.