CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M equestrian will compete for the first time in 2020 when they make the trip down Interstate 27 for a pair of western competitions on Feb. 1-2 at Texas Tech at the TTU Equestrian Center.

During the fall semester, the Lady Buffs competed in four western events winning high point team each time. In the season opener at North Texas, Rayleigh Rowell and Kendall Woellmer led WT to victory as they earned High Point Rider honors. 

At their lone home meet at the WTAMU Horse Center, the Lady Buffs once again won High Point Team honors behind a strong performance from Woellmer. The senior and two-time National Champion was named the High Point Rider after inning open reining and open horsemanship on Saturday and Sunday. 

Equestrian competes in both Western Horsemanship and Reining during Western competitions. Equestrian offers five levels of Western Horsemanship and riders are placed in a specific level based on their accomplishments in their youth show career. Horsemanship is judged on the riders' ability to show and negotiate a patter on an unfamiliar mount. Riders draw their horses at random, mount and are allowed no warm-up. A rider is expected to ride the horse to the best of the animal's ability and show it as if it was their own. They are judged on correctness of pattern as well as overall horsemanship position. 

In Reining, the pattern is more complicated and faster paced to involve sliding stops, spins and circles at the lope, showing a speed transition. Teams are awarded points based on placement of individual riders. The team with the most points at the end of the show wins.