LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College equestrian team will compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) Regional Championships this Sunday, March 20^th, at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla.
 
Over the past few months, the Florida Southern equestrian team has competed in horse shows to gain enough points to qualify them for regionals. This year the team has 5 riders currently qualified for the finals, which means they have accumulated 36 points in their respective division.
 
The qualified riders include seniors Morgan Jarrett and Amy Clark, juniors Kayla Maxwell and Erin Mirabile, and freshman Kailey Fuchs.
 
The team heads into the weekend ready to compete and feeling strong coming off a season and program high, placing of 5th place at the Florida State University horse show where they competed against 13 other teams.
 
At IHSA shows, the riders are given a horse to ride at random and must perform a variety of tasks to show their ability. Riders have no previous experience on that particular horse and are given no chance to warm up, which means they have to be adaptable and figure out their ride quickly and efficiently in order to place well. There are two sections of riding in these shows which include a jumping class and a flat class.
 
"This type of riding and competing is not easy, but our riders have proven their ability and undoubtedly deserve to be competing at regionals," says equestrian team coach Shannon Morrell. "We have worked hard all season and will continue to practice hard, so we have good results at regionals this weekend."
 
The team has their final regular season show on Saturday the 19th, also at UF, where there will be the opportunity for three additional riders to qualify for the regional final.
 
IHSA region five finals includes schools from all over Florida and some of Georgia. Following the completion of the regional final this weekend, any riders placing in the top two spots of their division will advance to Zone finals on April 2^nd hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design.