MANE EVENT

In equestrian competition, nothing is more important than the bond between horse and rider.

So junior Megan Carraway of Agoura High was understandably concerned when her horse of six years, Long Cold Winter, developed an abscess on his right front leg two weeks ago.

It was serious enough that Long Cold Winter wouldn’t be able to compete in the fourth and final Interscholastic Equestrian League horse show of the season Saturday at Atlasta Ranch.

Carraway, who needed to compete in order to defend her overall title in varsity show jumping, had to scramble to make arrangements for another horse.

She came up with a jumper named Eclipse last week and they bonded almost immediately.

Despite working with Eclipse for less than a week, Carraway was able to finish fifth in the jumper division with only one fault at the horse show.

That was more than enough for Carraway to capture the jumper title for the season.

“She’s an amazing horse,” Carraway said. “I’m extremely happy with her.

“I think if I had a little more practice with her I could have won [the show].”

In the case of her Agoura teammate, senior Andrea Morillas, sometimes a horse can be overly prepared for a competition.

Morillas competes in dressage, a demanding event in which participants must complete a series of technical movements in the arena, and said her horse Angelino knows his routine too well.

“I think he knows what’s coming next,” Morillas said. “He starts to anticipate and do it on his own. That’s not really good.”

Fortunately for Morillas, that hasn’t hurt her in competition. She tied for first with Leah Braverman of La Canada High in dressage with 28 points.

That clinched the season title in dressage for Morillas and enabled her to finish second overall behind Katie Gardner of La Reina in all varsity events for the season.

More than 30 schools and 250 riders from Los Angeles and Ventura counties competed in the league this season.

Gardner, who rides Amadeus, finished second at Saturday’s show in the hunter division and fourth in the equitation division.

Gardner’s performance helped La Reina take the team title Saturday with 309 points, finishing well ahead of La Canada (224) and Agoura (203). The Regents also finished ahead of Agoura for the team championship for the season.

Another leader for La Reina was Emily Cohen, who was the medal winner for the season.

Among winners at Saturday’s show were Whitney Brewster of Camarillo in jumpers, Kathryn Burdett of Flintridge Prep in hunters and Heather Lake of Calabasas in equitation.

In junior varsity, Brittany Kahan of Agoura was champion in the equitation and jumper divisions to lead the Chargers to the team title with 106 points.

In the freshman division, Cameron Bradley of La Reina finished second in equitation and sixth in dressage as the Regents won the team title with 134 points.

La Canada was the novice championship with 119 points behind Danielle Gerbracht, who finished first in equitation and hunters.

* Results from Saturday’s show and a list of overall season champions on Page 11