Horsing around
BOZEMAN — Kayla Seaman has had a busy last few months to her college career.
The Flathead grad, a senior at Montana State University, just put the finishing touches on a double major in marketing and management with a minor in entreprenurship and small business minor with a leadership certificate. To finish off her last week as a student, she had to complete four finals in two days.
Seaman also happens to be the most successful equestrian rider in the history of Montana State’s club program and has been all over the country competing for the Bobcats.
Just in the last month, she’s competed at the Western Semifinals at St. Andrews University in North Carolina, finishing eighth overall in horsemanship. Two weeks later she was at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Zone 8 championships at Stanford University, helping MSU’s English riding team finish fourth place out of nearly 50 teams while individually placing seventh overall in both the open flat and open fences competitions.
Her success this season, from October to March, garnered enough points to qualify for the Cacchione Cup at the IHSA National Championships this weekend in Lexington, Kentucky, as the top overall open class rider in the region, which encompasses all of Montana, Idaho and Utah. There are only 38 riders in the country to qualify for the competition.
Seaman is the first rider from MSU to qualify for the Cacchione Cup.
As you can imagine, a lot of time and hard work went into the final product.
She started riding as a toddler and competed throughout her time growing up in Kalispell at every possible competition she could in the Western U.S. Once she got to college, she tried out for the equestrian team and has been the team captain for the last three years.
In that time the team has gone from a little known “pony program” to the best English team in the region, winning the region championships the last two years.
“It’s pretty cool,” Seaman said. “Our team is the best it’s ever been.
“We just keep getting better and better. Hopefully we get on the map and people will know we have an equestrian team.
“It started out where we didn’t win a team ribbon ever. Throughout the years we’ve become highly competitive. We’re the best English team in the region. We compete pretty well against the big schools. It’s one of those things where we get as much time as we can in the saddle but we have a lot of dedicated riders and a lot of knowledgable people throughout the community who help us.”
In the time between her heavy classload, she tries to get in rides whenever possible.
“I’m lucky enough to have my own horses here in Bozeman,” Seaman said. “I make time.
“Every Friday from 5 to 9 (p.m.), I ride school horses. I try to get to the barn three to five times a week to ride my own horses. I ride at least 10 horses a week.”
This is her first time competing at nationals, but not the first time she’s been. Last year, Seaman attended the event to help support a friend whose coach couldn’t make the trip. That experience helped drive her this season.
“It helped though because I got to see what nationals was like,” Seaman said. “It kind of fueled the fire to make me want to go myself.
“It definitely helps having the advantage of being there and seeing what things are like and knowing where everything is.”
The Cacchione Cup competition begins today at the Kentucky Horse Park, where just last week they held the Rolex Kentucky, one of three equestrian grand slams.
In the shadow of that competition, Seaman and the other 37 collegiate qualifiers will compete in two competitions. They will begin with a fences course, jumping over fences for a score, then will move later in the day to a flats course, where riders are judged on how well they are able to control their horse.
Each time the riders are matched up with a horse at random and given only small hints on how best to ride each one, in a practice called “catch riding.”
“With the sport you should be able to get on any horse you ride and make it look good,” Seaman said. “(They’re) seeing how good of a report you can have with all sorts of different horses.”
While in Kentucky, she said she also has tickets to go watch the Derby.
Once she gets back to Bozeman, it’s back to the question that any other graduating student must face: what’s next?
Seaman said she’ll be studying to take the GMAT and apply for an MBA program. There are also plans to attend law school and to competie for the Northwest Montana Pro Rodeo Queen.
And of course, she’s going to keep riding her horses.
“I’ll definitely continue riding,” Seaman said. “That’s something I’ve always done. It’s hard to stop once you get into it.”
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Donations to help Seaman and the MSU Equestrian Club with their trips to postseason competitions can be made at: https://www.youcaring.com/ihsaequestriansatmontanastateuniversity-777085?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_content=New-Donation&utm_campaign=Action-Based-Organizer