By Deirdre Pedersen

While most high school athletes spend their afternoon hours participating in typical team sports such as soccer, field hockey, and track, WHS junior, Abby McGinn spends a good portion of her free time practicing a lesser known sport to the area, Western Equestrian Riding. Western Riding is a style of riding originating from the working needs of the cowboys and cattle ranchers of the American West. McGinn, a Westborough High School junior, is currently logging several hours a week preparing for the upcoming Interscholastic Equine Association’s (IEA) Regional Competition, or ‘Zones’ as it is commonly referred, on March 20 in Rutland, Vermont. Her team, based out of Hillside Equestrian Center in Grafton, is one of a number of teams from all over New England vying for the regional title as well as a chance to qualify for Nationals this April in Kentucky.

“We’ve gone to regionals the past three years and we usually have a couple of people who make it to Nationals” says McGinn, who hopes to qualify for Nationals for the third time.

When asked how she has become so passionate about the sport, McGinn refers to her lifelong love of horses as well as the bonds formed with her teammates; “I’ve just always loved horses when I was little and I was getting tired of the sports I was playing, so I wanted to try something different. Plus, it’s really fun and I love my teammates”.

For successful western riding, a strong command of posture, timing, subtle cues, and soft hands is essential. In western equitation competitions, riders are evaluated on a number of different techniques such as reining, horsemanship as well as the ability to perform a series of patterns with stops and circles in order to determine the rider’s control of the horse.

“You’re not relying on just how well you do personally, but you have to rely on your horse as well. Also, since you’re riding a horse you’ve never ridden before, you need to figure out that horse right when you’re on it and that’s the intimidating part about it,” comments Mcginn. In preparation for competition, she rides several different horses in order to become accustomed to the unpredictability of riding an unfamiliar horse in competition. However, when free riding, McGinn rides her horse, Levi, that she leased for the last two years.

In addition to mastering the technical aspects of her sport, McGinn also works on overcoming the anxiety that understandably comes up before a big competition, “ I try to stay relaxed and not stress out and remember it’s just another show.”

Going forward, Mcginn hopes to attend a college that offers western riding. In the New England area that can be a little challenging as many more colleges offer English riding (another more familiar style consisting of equitation and jumps) than Western. Beyond that, McGinn sees riding in her future; “ I haven’t decided yet if I want to go into riding after college, but I’m leaning toward doing something riding wise”.