Over the weekend, the #1 ranked Dawg riders went on the road for the final stretch of the equestrian "regular season." It served as an opportunity for the team to prepare for the upcoming Southern and National Championship competitions. It also gave them a precious opportunity to visit one of the twenty Whataburger franchises in the Greater Dallas area. This makes me insanely jealous, though I'm partial to the Belton location. But enough about that**.
If you want the short version it's this: Georgia whipped SMU in Dallas and squeaked by TCU in Ft. Worth before falling to the Cowgirls (Cowgurls?) of Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
If you want the long version, hit the jump...
In early action on Friday, the Dawgs downed the #9 SMU Mustangs 7-3 in a hunt seat only event. Georgia went up 3-2 in Equitation on the Flat with Caitlyn Francis, Carly Anthony and Grace Rogers scoring points. The Dawgs were more dominant in Equitation Over Fences winning 4-1 based on the strong performances of Carly Anthony, Megan Southam, Olivia Dorey, and Emily van der Walde.
After beating SMU (and eager to get out of Dallas just in case Craig James was lurking around), the Dawgs headed to nearby Ft. Worth to take on the #10 TCU Horned Frogs on Friday afternoon. The Dawgs struggled to put TCU away in equitation, losing 3-2 over fences and 2-0 on the flat. However, in what has almost come to be expected, strong performances in horsemanship and reining allowed the Bulldogs to take the meet 9-8 (Paige Stawicki MVP)
In the weekend's final event, Georgia went to Stillwater on Saturday to take on the #4 Oklahoma State Cowgirls. In an effort to make my statement at the conclusion of the previous paragraph look incredibly stupid and uninformed, the Georgia riders posted a 3-3 tie in equitation on the flat and a 4-2 victory in equitation over fences before losing 4-2 and 4-1 in Horsemanship and Reining respectively. The 13-10 loss was only the Bulldogs second of the season and brought the Cowgirls record to 7-3.
The loss to Oklahoma State concludes the "regular season" for the equestrian team. The Dawgs finish the season at 11-2 and ranked #1 in the land with losses to Texas A&M and Okie State bookending what was otherwise a stellar year.
Up next for the Dawgs will be the Southern Equestrian Championship in Bishop on March 30th and 31st. Georgia will ride on Sunday the 31st against the winner of Saturday's matchup between Auburn and South Carolina. Until then...
GO DAWGS!!!
**Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... /drools
