Ohio Ag Connection - Otterbein Eventing Team Brings Home National Championships

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Otterbein Eventing Team Brings Home National Championships
Ohio Ag Connection - 12/02/2016

The Otterbein Equestrian Eventing Team sent three riders to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington to compete at their final competition of the season. All three laid down dominating performances, coming out on top in their respective divisions to each win first place.

Eventing is one of three Olympic Equestrian sports -- one which hearkens back to military cavalry training. Eventing is similar to a triathlon in that it consists of three different phases, each to test a specific set of skills and training that is required of the horse and rider.

Sophomore transfer student Noa Crowley and her horse, P.S. Irish Treasure (A.K.A. Murphy), led from start to finish to win her division of 25 competitors at Novice level.

Seniors Sharlee Lowe and Michael Willham also placed first in each of their divisions. Lowe and her horse, Jjamaica (A.K.A. Nox), won the 20-competitor CCI1 Junior/Young Riders Division, also claiming the Harry T. Peters trophy for the USEF One-Star National Championships.

Willham and his horse, Fernhill Cayenne (A.K.A. Cayenne), also led from start to finish in their Long Format Preliminary Three-Day division of 10 competitors. The Long Format is an extended version of the regular divisions where horse and rider must also ride in three additional phases. Their win earned them the title of Concours Complet National One-Star (CCN) National Champion at the only Long Format Preliminary competition in the country.

All three students have their horses and train out of Otterbein's Austin E. Knowlton Center for Equine Science.

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