By Drew Granthum
Picking up a new sport is an extremely difficult task at any level, especially the older one gets. By the time you reach college, your days of competing are over, not beginning, right?
Wrong, if you ask Jemison natives Jana Davenport and Kayla Brasher.
The duo both joined the Judson College equestrian team, albeit two years apart, although neither had ever shown, or presented a horse for judging in a show, before.
Despite the fact western riding (or controlling a horse mostly from using seat, weight and neck-reigning as opposed to direct contact with the horse’s mouth, according to an article on Equisearch.com) was new to them, both had an advantage on many starting out by having experience with horses in their past.
“I started riding around the time I could walk,” Davenport said. “I wanted to be involved with the equine studies program, and I decided to give it a shot.”
Brasher said she took a very similar path.
“I’ve been riding since I was probably 6,” she said. “My family owned horses, and me and Jana grew up together [riding].”
Davenport graduated from Jemison High School in 2010 and has been on the team since the fall of that year. In two years’ time, she has gone from beginner to accomplished competitor.
“She’s a co-captain,” said head coach Jennifer Hoggle. “She’s definitely one of the team leaders, and she helps with getting everything ready. Being a former cheerleader, she knows about showing, and she helps the other girls get ready.”
Davenport’s leadership came to the forefront as she earned enough points to represent Judson at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Assocation’s Western Semis in March of 2012, the final step before competing for a national championship.
“You have to place in first or second at regionals to make it to semis,” Hoggle said. “Judson’s the smallest school in the IHSA, and there are over 300 schools and 8,000 individual members.”
“It took two years to accumulate the points to do it,” Davenport said. “I felt so blessed. To go from a beginner to [making semis], I gained a lot of experience and confidence.”
While Davenport hopes to continue her improvement this new season, Brasher, who graduated from JHS in 2011, is learning the art of showing horses.
“This is my first year showing, period,” Brasher said. “There’s a lot of basics to learn. When you’re younger you ride for pleasure. [With showing] you have to learn the body language of the horse; how to connect to it.”
Hoggle said it is Brasher’s eagerness to learn that will help her improve on a great foundation in a tough sport to learn.
“Kayla brings the desire to do well,” she said. “[She has] the want to continue to improve. We don’t take our own horses to shows; we ride whatever they bring. We don’t get to know our animals at the shows.”
Davenport stressed how difficult showing could be.
“IHSA is a bit different,” she said. “You draw horses. You’re on an unfamiliar horse, and you’re judged on how well you work with that horse.”
After college, both said they intend to continue involvement with horses in some fashion.
“I don’t know if I’ll show after college,” Davenport said. “I could continue as a Judson alumni. I think this is an experience for college. I want to be [an equine] therapist.”
If Davenport’s goal of using horses to help those with special needs doesn’t pan out, there’s a backup plan already in place.
Brasher, a business major, said she and Jana, an equine studies major, tossed around the idea of working together.
“Jana and I have always joked that I would open and run a stable, and she would take care of the horses,” Brasher said.