OklahomaHorses Magazine July 2022

July / August 2022 • OklahomaHorses 23 president, as they enter their senior year. Both are studying agricultural communications, but Newlon is also majoring in animal science, and Walter is minoring in agribusiness. “There are lots of individuals who worked on this for a long time, but it took us almost two years to get to a national compe- tition,” Walter said. “It wasn’t on a whim, it took a lot of commit- ment. I never doubted that it would work out. I looked up to Megan as our leader, and I knew we were good because she had it all under control.” At the first official meeting, everyone was surprised by the turnout. The strong interest in the young team gave Newlon and Walter confidence that they could get a group ready to compete at nationals. “That was going to be a huge deal because it was our first year, but it was canceled,” Walter said. In March 2020, OSU leader- ship announced that the remain- der of the semester would be completed online. Students were on spring break at the time — many students didn’t return to campus after that. Round Two Coming back in fall 2020, the team grew, and so did the group’s organizational skills. It took more than just hosting meetings. Team practices were added to the calendar, and an executive committee was formed to handle sponsorship, finances, and other membership logistics. As the senior herd manager of the OSU Cline Equine Center, Chapa was a natural fit as the team coach. But it’s not her first time leading a team for the Cowboys. “I used to coach the horse judging team, but I haven’t done that since 2019,” Chapa explained. “I missed the coaching and men- toring outside of the classroom. It’s been fun for me to be there in that capacity for those students.” Chapa’s favorite part of the job usually comes during practice when she can see students connect the dots. The excitement in their eyes when they start to progress with their equine partners makes the extra work worth the effort. “I know a lot about the event from a judging perspective, but other than the working cow horse, it all got started after I was out of the show pen and onto college,” Chapa said. “Since I’ve never competed in ranch horse myself, it’s been a learning pro- cess for me, and I’ve had to seek guidance from industry professionals so I can coach this team well.” The team had high hopes for competing at nationals in spring 2021, but the ongo- ing pandemic prompted the university to keep the athletic teams home from national competition. Despite their disappointment, Walter and Newlon were optimistic that 2022 would finally be their year. “When we had practices, people came every week because they wanted to get bet- ter and be competitive,” Walter said. “That fueled the fire and gave us momentum.” Nationals or Bust Competing on a team is not the norm in the horse-show industry. Collegiate teams and the Olympics are the most likely places people will ever get that unique experience. “My favorite part about nationals was seeing the sense of community and cama- raderie within our team,” Newlon said. “A motto we chose as a group is ‘Ride for the Ranch,’ and that was quite apparent at nationals. Everyone worked extremely hard, cheered one another on, and had an absolute blast.” Although Newlon didn’t show at nationals, she still accom- panied the team members to support them in any way she could. Walter, however, entered the show pen in Amarillo on the horse she had competed on in high school. “My horse and I had some good and bad runs at nationals, but my favorite part was the team atmosphere and coaching my teammates,” Walter said. “It was fun to see some of those girls in the novice division whom we had coached through the year have some good runs.” Of nine teams, OSU came in fifth overall. It was a respectable showing for the team’s first year at nationals against stiff competi- tion. One student, Amy D’Epag- nier, placed sixth in her division, but it was the freshman award that got the team wildly excited. “Each university nominated a freshman to be considered for the Outstanding Freshman Scholarship sponsored by the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo,” Chapa said. “It wasn’t based on their performances at nationals, it was judged from interviews and how the stu- dents handled themselves at the show.” A special mark on the back number helped the judges keep tabs on those freshman throughout the three-day event. The OSU team members lost their marbles when freshman JT Danielecki won the $6,000 scholarship. “We were pretty confident JT had a chance,” Walter said. “It was about who had good horsemanship coupled with sportsmanship and good speaking skills and who was a good leader. We were proud that JT won that award.” Simply competing was reward enough for the OSU Ranch Horse Team members, who had worked for almost two solid years to reach that point. “Seeing what we brought to the table at our first nationals only makes me more excited to get back to work in the fall,” Newlon said. Even though Megan Newlon (in gray T-shirt) was a founding member of the OSU Ranch Horse Team, she served in more of a coaching capacity in 2021–2022 instead of competing. She is working with a younger horse now and plans to compete in the coming year.