By Abby Drake
Staff Writer
At age 8, senior Kayla Briel attended a summer camp and cried on her last day when she thought the horse would miss her. To console her, Briel’s parents bought her a horse and the next 10 years are history.
Briel has been equestrian riding for 10 years with her two horses, Scout and Sky. She has shown much dedication to the sport, spending most of her time practicing at the stable or traveling to competitions.
Briel sacrifices the free time a typical high school student has and has missed several days of school to be involved with riding.
“Kayla spends all of her spare time at the barn and working to get even better at riding,” said senior Elizabeth Roach, Briel’s friend. “If it is the weekend and we want to see her, we have to drive an hour to her barn so that we can find her.”
Recently, she had her horses moved to a stable in Houston so she would be less tempted to spend her time practicing and more of her time with her family and friends during her last year at home.
Despite what Briel has given up, her hard work and time spent is paying off as she has committed with Texas A&M University Equestrian team. Four other universities, the University of Georgia, Auburn University, Baylor University and the University of South Carolina, gave her offers to ride for their school, but the Aggies were the best fit for her.
“I am excited to go A&M because of how good the team is and that they are number one in the country right now,” Briel said.
The A&M team is made up of 80 girls; 40 of who are involved in English riding and the remaining 40 are western riders. Briel has been riding western for her whole life but has been required to switch to English, the riding style that includes deep saddles and the horses jump over bars, now that she is performing collegiately.
The current team consists of many freshman and the new recruits coming in are expected to be highly talented, so the team should be successful for the next four years.
Along with the riding scholarships, the Texas A&M Equestrian coaching staff seems to be another positive addition to Briel’s choice in school.
“I like Coach Linzy Woolf the best,” Briel said. “I like her outlook, her style, and the way she runs her team.”
Riding in college has been a goal of Briel for quite some time but it seems that this is were her advanced riding career will end.
“It is not a dream for me to ride professionally because there are a lot of limitations to what a professional rider can do and they usually end up as trainers, and I do not want to train,” Briel said.
Briel’s love and dedication for riding has helped her to capture great experiences and to uncover great opportunities. Even though she has to leave Sky at home, sell scout and switch to a new and am familiar riding style Briel is ready to ride through her college years.
“She is an amazing rider that I have had a chance to watch compete and I know she will lead the A&M riding team to many victories,” senior McKinley Hendrix, Briel’s friend said.
