Vixens Put Best Feet Forward at IHSA's

Sweet Briar's late coach honored during championship

SWEET BRIAR, Va. --- In November, Sweet Briar's Intercollegiate Horse Show Association team mourned the loss of their beloved head coach Jon Conyers. Four days before his death from cancer, with Conyers unable to attend, the team won the last show before the winter break and began a run that culminated in their appearance at the IHSA National Championship held April 23-25 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Led by Emily Casali, who stepped up to the head coach position, the Vixens first took the regional championship, then earlier this month beat Virginia Intermont College and Mary Washington University to win the Zone 4 Collegiate Cup and a berth in the nationals. There, two Sweet Briar riders won ribbons and the Vixens tied for 10th place overall, but one Vixen distinguished himself above the entire field of hunters at the competition.

"Himself" isn't a typo. Sweet Briar's own Saki was voted "Horse of the Show" among the hunters. Besides Saki, Sweet Briar brought Ladino, Taz and Mel to Murfreesboro. In IHSA competition, riders and mounts are randomly paired from the available pool so that everyone has an equal chance of drawing an unfamiliar horse. Schooling is not allowed, so no one has a competitive advantage.

Saki got a workout in the Cacchione Cup Competition, which pits the top Open riders - Open is the most advanced riding level - from each region against each other. Two of his riders made it into the top 10, Casali said.

Among the two-legged Vixens, Paige Kaylor '10 was third in Intermediate Equitation Over Fences and Heather McPheeters '10 won a sixth-place ribbon in the Intermediate Equitation on the Flat. Alison Sims placed seventh in Open Over Fences.

In an e-mail, Kaylor wrote that the championship did not feel much different from regional IHSA events with one exception. "The only difference was that we were showing in the company of 18 of the best teams in the country," she said. "It was an honor to be able to ride for Sweet Briar at that level."

McPheeters agreed, noting, "There were great college riders from all over the country who had to jump through the same hoops we did to get to nationals."

They seemed to have absorbed Casali's pre-show wisdom. She had told them winning would be amazing, she said, but as long as they "rode every step to the best of their abilities, I couldn't be any happier."

Against the competition she knew they faced, she said, "You can have an outstanding ride and still not get a ribbon. I am happy to say that the team did just that. Many of the riders showcased their best riding of the season. Ribbons or not, that's all we can hope for."

It was a satisfying but bittersweet end to the season for Casali, who after rallying the team to reach the finals, was coaching her riders for that last time.  She plans to marry in August and return to Pennsylvania and her alma mater, Delaware Valley College, where she'll teach and coach part time in the equine department.

McPheeters attributes much of the Vixens' success this year to hard work and coming together as a group under Casali's leadership. "Emily worked hard and wanted us to do well and I think this really rubbed off on the team," she said.

She thinks her teammates kept Conyers in the back of their minds, too. He was there for her, she said. "Everything I did this season I felt like Jon was right there with me, helping along the way."

There were some poignant moments for the Vixens, who'd been underdogs to win their zone and advance to the championship. That win meant they could compete on a day when Conyers was honored by former students and fellow coaches with the IHSA, to which he had devoted much of his professional career. Just last year, he received a lifetime achievement award from the association.

In a tribute to him on Saturday morning, his friend and voice teacher at Sweet Briar, Marcia Thom, sang the national anthem. Standing with Thom were his family, Sweet Briar riding coaches and IHSA representatives.

The association also presented the first Jon Conyers Memorial Scholarship, a $1,000 award from the Intercollegiate Equestrian Foundation that went to Sarah Long from Sewanee, The University of the South. The new scholarship will be awarded annually to a full-time first-year or sophomore who has competed in the Walk-Trot or Walk-Trot-Canter divisions during the year and who has displayed a passion for horses and a desire to better him or herself on or off the horse.

According to the award criteria, "Jon believed in the 'basics' and worked tirelessly with his riders to help them develop a working partnership with their horse. A rider that demonstrates Jon's ideals would first have a passion and respect for the horse."

This release is courtesy of the Sweet Briar College media relations department.