Local Rider, Sydney Shaw,
Prepares for Saddle Seat World Cup
L
ocal Scottsdale, AZ rider Sydney
Shaw was chosen for the United
States Saddle Seat 5 Gaited World
Cup Team. A video application was required to be selected to come and tryout.
Once Sydney received the information of
being selected to tryout, the hard work
really began. Sydney and her Trainer
Erin Rae Smith of Sunrae Stables spent
hours and long weekends riding and putting in extra saddle time to prepare for
a once in a lifetime opportunity. Twelve
riders in total were chosen to represent
the United States at the 2014 Saddle Seat
World Cup competition. Thirty-two aspiring equestrian athletes, twenty in the
three gaited and twelve in the five-gaited, from twenty-six states were asked to
try out at William Woods University in
Fulton, Missouri on December 7, 2013.
These riders will represent the United
States in July during the International
Saddle Seat World Cup competition in
Asheville, North Carolina.
The riders rode two phases on two different horses—each phase consisted of one
rail ride and one pattern ride. Each rider
drew a pair of the night before at a get
acquainted gathering. The riders, on the
day of try outs, only had seven minutes
to warm up before each rail phase. After
the trials were complete five riders and
one alternate for each section (3 gaited
and 5 gaited) were selected to the 2014
U