When Maia Kubick ‘21 arrived in Florida on January 9, 2020 for the US Equestrian Awards Banquet, the spectacular, end-of-the-year celebration held two main attractions. The first was a chance to meet her idols, including Olympic gold medalist rider Beezie Madden. While this was a thrilling experience and of itself, the main reason for Maia’s excitement was the two Welsh Section B Hunter awards that she had received from the US Equestrian, which recognized her outstanding performance as a rider on a national level. This was the largest award possible in the entirety of the Welsh community’s junior age group, a goal that Maia had been working towards since she began riding seven years ago.
The Kelviden Equestrian Center in Enfield, where Maia rides, is located less than twenty minutes from IHS. Even so, the sport of riding remains somewhat of a mystery to most of the student body. As someone without any former knowledge of Welsh riding, the experience of sitting down and listening to Maia patiently unravel the complexities of her sport was an enlightening experience.
What exactly was Maia’s path to the gold? The answer is a familiar one to anyone who has participated in a sport: countless hours of practice over a period of several years. For most days of the week during the riding season, Maia spent three or more hours a day at the Kelviden Equestrian Center, either spending time with Cookie (the Welsh pony that she rode this year) or at a lesson with her trainer.
These lessons were focused almost solely on the two primary competition events for Welsh riding: flatwork and hunters (more commonly called jumping). In both events, the judges watch for clean and precise technique and form. As a result, most of the many hours that Maia spent with Cookie were one-on-one with her trainer in preparation for the many shows throughout the season.
For the hunter event, the jump is based on consistency and speed, distance to the jump at liftoff, and the form of the horse over the jump. The height of the jump depends on the size of the horse, which largely depends on its Section.
During the pleasure event, the horse moves through the different gates (walk, trot, and canter), turns around, and then does the same in the other direction. The judges gauge their score based on the horse’s movement in each gate as well as the pony’s build.
In addition to performance events, there are halter events as well called “in hand”. For these events, judges evaluate how the rider handles the horse and how the horse moves, as well as its physique.
At each competition, points are awarded by the judge based on evaluation of the three competition events. Over time, these points accumulate towards potential annual awards in each event for the rider with the highest points.
Riding is a year long-sport with competitions in both the summer and winter and restarts annually on December first. Some riders choose to compete year-round in Florida, but Maia’s performance season is from March to October. However, the Kelviden Equestrian Center has an indoor ring, which allows riders to practice even when the weather is cold and snowy. During the winter months, Maia uses this ring to continue practicing throughout the year. When the weather is warmer, the outdoor ring is also used in order to accustom the horses to different environments.
Cookie is a Section B Welsh pony. Although this label may seem confusing at first, the classification of Welsh ponies is actually relatively simple. Welsh ponies come in four types. Section A and Section B differ mainly in size. Cobs, Sections C and D, have a larger build and can be identified by their “feathers”, which creates a “bootcut” effect on the area surrounding the pony’s lower leg. Cobs are also stronger, which makes them more difficult to handle. For this reason, Maia prefers to ride mainly Section A and B. Cookie, a Section B, is a sweet and friendly Welsh pony that Maia loved riding during their year together.
However, not everything about the commitment to riding was smooth and easy. Managing a full schedule of riding practice as well as staying on top of schoolwork presented a challenge that oftentimes involved doing homework between classes or at a hotel room. At a competition, Maia recalled, “During a lunch break, I sat by Cookies stall and did homework near him. He was not very interested in US history and took a nap.”
But there were memorable moments too. During an October competition, all the horses, trainers, and riders dressed up in costumes to get into the Halloween spirit. Cookie was dressed up in a dollar bill costume, truly living up to one of his nicknames, “Cookie Buckey.”
Looking back to experiences throughout the year, Maia recounted the amount of time and effort spent in pursuit of her goal— all of the weekends and after school hours spent focused at practices and competitions. After achieving such a successful outcome, Maia’s riding metals are clearly the product of many years of determination and hard work.