HORSEPLAY: PA, Sequim equestrian teams head to state meet

LET’S ALL CHEER and congratulate the Sequim and Port Angeles equestrian teams on their Washington State High School Equestrian Team (WAHSET) District 4 Small Team Championship award they received at the District 4 Meet 3 held at Grays Harbor Fairgrounds on April 7-10.

“They swept the competition in team’s events,” Sequim coach Katie Salmon-Newton said. “Girls on both teams won many team and individual medals — it was so much fun!”

Weekend highlights included Sequim’s Libby Swanberg winning the gold medal in Breakaway Roping; PA’s Sydney Hutton taking home the gold in Jumping; and Swanberg and Hutton teaming up to bring home the gold in Working Pairs.

Since both teams were small this year — just three competitors on each — WAHSET rules allowed the teams to combine for team events.

Sequim’s team is comprised of Swanberg, Joanna Seelye and Mia Kirner, and they are coached by Salmon-Newton, Bettina Hoesel and Amy Tucker-Matney

The Port Angeles team, in a co-op with Port Townsend, is made up of Haley Bishop, Sydney Hutton, Maggie Anderson and non-competing member Ava Hairell. They are coached by Shannon Bishop.

Mea culpa

Under the heading, “Oops, I Did It Again,” I apologize to Bishop for not crediting her third-place run in Pole Bending at Meet 2. I mistakenly wrote Swanberg placed third.

Mom Shannon Bishop tells me Pole Bending is Haley’s favorite event, so, again, my sincerest apologies. But I’m also giving her a giant cheer for winning the Pole Bending high-point bronze award, and for that feat, she qualifies to compete at the state finals scheduled May 19-22 in Moses Lake.

Incidentally, Sequim’s Ady Crosby still holds the state finals record in Individual Flags with a time of 7.920 while riding her mighty steed Sonny at the Appletree Arena in Wenatchee in 2006. I was there cheering her on. What an exciting race!

Salmon-Newton stated Swanberg received the Inspirational Athlete Award for Sequim, and Maggie Anderson won it for Port Angeles. I asked both to share their thoughts on what it was like for their teammates to vote them most Inspirational.

Libby Swanberg

Sequim’s Swanberg said she’s known Sequim coach Hoesel for a really long time so “joining was something I’d always wanted to do but couldn’t because I wasn’t old enough.”

After she began her freshman year, she called Hoesel and said, “I’d like to join.” Now she’s in her final months as a sophomore and finds herself inspired by all the girls because “they all have a good team spirit and work really hard as individuals and as a team.”

Swanberg said she started riding horses as a toddler and continues to ride every chance she gets. She’s been involved with Pony Club and 4-H, through which she has shown her cows and lamb at the Clallam County Fair. Her current horse-related passions include competing in rodeo events, and she hopes to someday become a veterinarian.

Her younger sister, Asha, is following in her footsteps and competes in junior rodeo. Swanberg says her parents, Bryan and Anna, ride occasionally, but mostly their roles are that of supportive parents. I’m a Facebook fan of their family’s farm, Bent Gate Farms in Agnew, best known locally for its humanely raised animals and selling grass-fed meats.

Her takeaway from Meet 3, included gold medals in Breakaway Toping and Working Pairs; silver medals in Steer Daubing, Reining, Team Sorting, Drill Team, Working 4s, Huntseat Equitation Over Fences, Idaho Stake Race, Working Rancher and Individual Flags; bronze medals in Birangle and Versatility, as well as the Grand Championship and belt buckle in Versatility.

It’s no surprise her favorite part about WAHSET is “the versatility WAHSET offers in its competitions.”

Maggie Anderson

“I felt pretty blessed that my team chose me; it’s a pretty cool experience,” Anderson, a freshman, said.

Her first year on the team almost didn’t happen until her close friend and schoolmate urged her on.

“At the beginning of the year, I actually didn’t want to do it,” she said. “But my friend Haley Bishop told me that I had to do it because otherwise we wouldn’t have a team, and I’m actually super glad I did.”

She’ll be competing at state finals in Team Versatility, Team Cow Sorting and Drill Team. She will also attend as an alternate in Figure 8, Working Rancher and Team Canadian Flags. That means she’ll compete if someone who placed above her in those categories drops out.

She almost didn’t finishing the season because the horse she usually competes on came up lame.

“It was kind of scary,” she said.

She’d worked with her horse, and it knew the events and was in top condition. She was grateful to have another horse to ride that “ended up doing really good.”

Her mom Ann, sister Alina and younger sister Josie ride, too, and are very supportive. In spite of Josie being too young to compete in high school events, Anderson said she’s become a valuable team member by grooming horses and helping everyone out.

Dad Michael Anderson and brother Ben round out her support team.

“Being on the team is definitely my most favorite thing I’ve ever done, sports wise,” she said. “And I’ve made a lot of really cool friends.”

Meet 3 Results

Breakaway Roping: Swanberg, first.

Jumping: Hutton, first; and Swanberg, third.

Reining: Bishop, second, State alternate; and Swanberg, third.

Freestyle 4 Drill Team: Swanberg, Seelye, Anderson and Hutton, first.

Working Pairs: Swanberg and Hutton, first; Kirner and Seelye, sixth, State alternate.

Team Canadian Flags: Swanberg, Seelye, Bishop, Hutton and Anderson, State alternates

Team Versatility: Swanberg, Bishop, Hutton and Anderson, sixth.

In-hand Obstacle Relay: Seelye, Swanberg, Hutton and Anderson, fourth

Two-Man Birangle: Swanberg and Seelye, third; Bishop and Anderson, place, State alternate; Hutton and Kirner, 15th.

Team Sorting: Anderson and Swanberg, second; Seelye and Kirner, 15th.

Working Rancher: Anderson, fourth, State alternate; Swanberg, fifth

Steer Daubing: Anderson, second; Swanberg, 10th.

Dressage: Hutton, fifth, State alternate; Kirner, 13th.

Huntseat Equitation over Fences: Hutton, sixth.

Figure 8: Swanberg, fourth; Anderson, fifth, State alternate; Hutton, 11th; Seelye, 22nd; Kirner, 30th.

In-Hand Trail: Kirner, 18th.

Individual Flags: Swanberg, second; Seelye, fourth, State alternate; Hutton, eighth .

Keyhole: Seelye, seventh.

Barrels: Anderson, 13th; Seelye, 18th; Kirner, 31st.

Pole Bending: Bishop, third; Anderson, 14th; Seelye, 17th

Showmanship: Kirner, 17th.

Animal waste rule

A proposed rule change in the handling and disposal of animal excreta, or animal waste, could mean having the government peek into your backyard to make sure animal owners are scooping up their animals’ poop, be it dog, chicken, livestock, etc. and disposing of it properly

Back Country Horsemen of Washington chapters are encouraging all members and all animal owners to find out more about the State Board of Health filing a CR-102, Proposed Rule, for WAC 246-203-130, Keeping of Animals, which includes a title change to Domestic Animal Waste and standards for the handling and disposal of animal waste.

Written comments are accepted through May 2 by email at WSBOHProposedA…@sboh.wa.gov or snail mail to Washington State Board of Health, PO Box 47990, ​Olympia, WA 98504-7990

Verbal comments will be accepted June 8 during the online rules hearing open to the public beginning at 1:30 p.m. Access and register for the online rules hearing at tinyurl.com/PDN-HorseplayRuleChange

For more information, visit the Board’s Keeping of Animals rulemaking webpage or email stuart…@sboh.wa.gov.

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Karen Griffiths’ column, Peninsula Horseplay, appears the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

If you have a horse event, clinic or seminar you would like listed, please email Griffiths at kbg@olympus.net at least two weeks in advance. You can also call her at 360-460-6299.