Photo courtesy of Molly Brame
The Berthoud Equestrians @ Gargot Farms’ middle school team placed 8th in the national Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) riding competition in late April. Left to right: Makayla Millsap, Elizabeth Jones, team instructor Molly Brame, Claire Kouba and Cleary Berlin.

By Terry Georgia

The Surveyor

Berthoud Equestrians @ Gargot Farms, a team of four middle school students who train under Molly Brame at Gargot Farms Equestrian Center in Berthoud, recently placed 8th in the national Interscholastic Equestrian Association’s (IEA) riding competition. They were the first team from Gargot Farms to go to a national competition.

Held the weekend of April 29-30 in Tryon, North Carolina, the four girls who make up the middle school team entered the competition, each representing a different level of hunt seat riding. Hunt seat is a form of forward seat riding common in North American horse shows. It is one of the two classic forms of English riding. The other is dressage.
Elizabeth Jones of Ft. Collins entered as a Future Intermediate rider; Cleary Berlin, also of Ft. Collins, entered as a Novice Future (jumps) rider; Claire Kouba of Berthoud entered as a Future Novice (flat) rider; and Makayla Millsap of Loveland entered as a Future Beginner rider.

“This competition is really a big deal,” said trainer Molly Brame, “it’s a very challenging competition,” Brame explained that the ISEA format is different from most equestrian competitions because the students don’t get to ride their own horses or horses they’re accustomed to riding. Instead, they ride horses provided by the hosting venue. “The girls only got to watch the horses practice the day before and only got two practice jumps on their horse before they competed,” said Brame, “which makes it even more challenging.”

“I’m so proud of these girls,” Brame said, “we worked so hard, not only training but doing team-building exercises. It was cool to see how they became a team in the end. They’re still close, in fact, they’re having a sleepover together tonight!”

Both Brame’s high school and middle school teams made it to the regional competitions (called Zones in the IEA world), but only the middle school team made it all the way to nationals.

Next year’s competition will be in California, although the team won’t be the same. As eighth graders this year, three of Brame’s four middle school team members will be moving to the high school team next year. Only 6th grader Makayla Millsap will be staying on the middle school team. Even so, they are all excited to continue training and are looking forward to more competitions.

Gargot Farms also offers riding lessons for all ages and week-long ‘pony camps’ for anyone with equine interests. For more information or if you are interested in the equestrian team check out www.gargotfarms.com or call (303) 818-3524.