BLAZING SADDLES

O ccasionally, strange figures appear in the Yard, perhaps carrying a jockey hat under one arm, or sporting tight black jodhpur pants and wearing tall shiny boots. No, these mysterious folk are not on their way to a Marquis de Sade costume party: they are members of the Harvard equestrian team. "I always get weird looks when I stride across the Yard in my riding outfit," complains the team's coordinating co-captain Sia Shin `99. "It's a good thing we leave the whips in the barn." Many of these weird looks may be due to the large percent of the student body who have never heard of Harvard's equestrian team, and to the only slightly smaller percent who cannot quite remember what `equestrian' means.

The equestrian team is Harvard's own co-ed riding team, coached by Alice McNeill at Verrill Farm in Concord, Massachusetts, which competes as part of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. According to Michael K. Haynie `00, the team's co-captain, the show team has done well this season. Haynie and Langdon Fielding `98 will both be attending the regional competition at Dartmouth in April, and nearly all the other riders have won ribbons.

These ribbons mark a rider's ability in any of several areas. The lowest level of competition includes only walking and trotting (also known as `bumping and jiggling' to novices). Other classes judge the form of the rider down to the position of their toes and their sitting posture. For the more adventurous, there is show jumping, an event in which the riders literally hurl themselves and their horses over a given set of jumps.

The riders spend a great deal of time training their horses to perform these stunts-Shin comments, "All of that romantic stuff about galloping a glistening steed in the wind is nonsense. Horse riding is more about dripping with sweat--both you and your mount--and avoiding manure piles."

But shows aren't the only focus of the Equestrian Team. There are about ten riders who compete on the team, and another ten who practice with the team but don't go to the shows. Haynie explains that the team's show riders get more recognition, but other riders are still encouraged to practice with the team.

Even the riders who do ride in shows find the team rewarding for other reasons as well. Some find it teaches them how to communicate better. Sia's co-captain Eric A. Reitman `99, explains the difficulty of getting the horses to know what you want them to do. He says that, "direct communication is, for the most part, impossible. We fall back on a vocabulary of reaction, we cajole, cater, condemn, threaten, punish, forgive, reward, take `face' and deal with egos and attitudes, just as one has to in a social situation with humans."

On the other hand, Haynie says that she views riding as a stress relief--a rare commodity at Harvard. She has done very well this fall in the shows: she attributes her success to her relaxed attitude towards the horses. "I like to think of the horses as my friends, they are like people. They have personalities, and they have good days and bad days. You can't just hop on and push a button and go." So people who like steering wheels, smooth throttles or an easy ride should probably stick to a different sort of mustang and leave the rough riding to the team.