Brewster Equestrian Team Rides to National Finals

Sunday, March 25, Buffalo, NY –   When The Crossroads Equestrian Center’s Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) middle school team entered the arena at the historic Buffalo Equestrian Center for IEA Zone 2 Finals, they were filled with excitement and nerves. Just two weeks earlier they had come off a big win as champion team of their regional finals, but now they were facing the top 17 teams from 3 states, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Over three days of intense competition they channeled their energy towards the goal of making it to National Finals. After hundreds of rides, the team won the Zone 2 Reserve Champion title and are now headed to IEA National Finals in Lexington, VA.

The current IEA season began last September with 1,405 hunt seat teams nationwide, all hoping to be one of the final 44 teams to make it to Virginia to vie for the title of IEA National Champion. With each post season show the funnel got tighter, and this young equestrian team feels very privileged to have made it to the highest level of IEA competition. Team members representing The Crossroads at National Finals are Jaclyn Crea and Maggie Lawrence of Mahopac, NY and Baylee McKeever and Violet Tarquinio of Brewster, NY.

Jan Golash, head coach and owner of The Crossroads Equestrian Center, said “Both our high school and middle school teams had an exceptional year. Four riders are going to National Finals, but it was absolutely a team effort that got us here. Every rider added points to our score and we wouldn’t be here without a total team effort.” The Crossroads Equestrian Center’s high school and middle school teams participated in IEA shows and scrimmages throughout the year and in the current show season they have won 5 Championships, 6 Reserve Championships and 6 high point rider awards.

Team manager, Pam Lawrence, remembers waiting for the results at Zone 2 Finals. “We knew that going into the final day we were one point behind the second place team. We were just hoping we could hold on to third place. There were so many strong riders on all of the teams, I just couldn’t keep track of the points. We were sure that we had placed, but we had no idea we were the Reserve Champion team until they called us into the ring.”

Now in its 15th anniversary year, IEA is the largest youth equestrian association in the United States. The uniqueness of the IEA, and primary reason for the organization’s growth, is the fact no rider needs to own a horse to participate. The IEA provides a mount and tack to each competitor at every event — from local shows to the National Finals. This approach makes the IEA an affordable format and a level playing field for each participant. In every competition, there is a blind-draw for horses, and each rider will compete on an unfamiliar horse and supplied tack.

The Crossroads Equestrian Center is a full service riding facility offering boarding, training and lessons year round in their 2 outdoor sand rings and and 180’ x 80’ indoor ring. In addition to competing at IEA shows, our riders and coaches can been found competing at recognized hunter and jumper shows throughout the Northeast. The Crossroads is currently accepting new members to their IEA team for the 2017-2018 competition season.

For more information on The Crossroads Equestrian Center, call Jan Golash at 845 279-4953, go to www.xroadsfarm.com.

For more information on IEA, please view the IEA website at: www.rideiea.org.