This past year has been a whirlwind of emotion. Beating one of the hardest teams to beat at nationals, and then losing to the one that we should have easily defeated. My first semester was an adjustment period on the team. I was a fresh face, along with the rest of my freshman peers, and we were upstarts who had something to prove, if you asked any of the senior girls. 

The team did not mesh well and we had constant petty battles over small irrelevant things. We were not a team in a sport that is an individual sport outside the college arena. Last year was full of bumps, with a few bruises, some great moments and some low ones, but our inability to be a team hurt our performance. Great individual talent does not always make a great team, as I found out the hard way.  

Fast Forward a year later.  “SMU Equestrian #1” flashes in neon lights on the screen above the stage. “All I Do is Win” blares across the speakers and a group of girls is all smiles and laughter. We have figured out what it means to be a team. 

Right out of the gate, we had faced the hardest team to beat at their home. OSU has not been defeated at home since 2007. Draw time and it was a nightmare. We panicked as we saw the list. They put in their bad horses to attempt to trick us. Little did they know we had seen way worse as individuals, and now as a team we were able to sit down and come up with strategies together. We were SMU Equestrian trying to win for the team rather than a group of individuals trying to win for our own ego. 

Now we are on fire. We show up. We support each other. Rather than tearing the starters down, we lift them up. We are now 5-0 and number one in the country, a program first. “You got to want it to win it, and we want it more!”- go SMU Equestrian.