04/23/2026
In IEA, children watch horses warm up, then they're randomly assigned a horse to compete on with basically no warm up. I can be found saying, a little more often than is savvy for someone in my position, that IEA is make believe. It's usually in the context of a child drawing a horse and then not clicking with that horse in the three to eight minutes they're riding it...in front of a judge, for points and ribbons, with their peers and families watching, and often with the added pressure of wanting to score points for their team placing. Sometimes, the riders do well because the judge missed some glaring error, and sometimes they do badly despite having ridden beautifully. Karmically, those types of incidents usually work out through the course of the season.
Knowing all that, it makes it all the more impressive when a student does compete well, and get noticed for it, time and time again. Walnut Grove has been proud to send two students to Nationals in our seven years of IEA. Olivia Gmerek even won her class the year she competed. Today, Camryn Brown is competing at IEA Nationals for her second time! Paraphrasing her words, Nationals is less nerve-wracking than Zones, because you've already made it and now you just get to ride a great, new-to-you horse, in a big show venue, with all the best IEA riders in the US.
Good Luck, today, Camryn! May your enemies perish like the dew in the sun! I mean...have fun. Let's go, wildcats.
Thanks to Abby Scott for coaching her while I attend my kids' school circus.
