The Barrie School Equestrian Team claims top spot at the 2005-2006 Championships

The Barrie Equestrian Team. Top Row (L-R): Coach Paige Dunn, Julie Bigham, Grace Bigham, Michelle Gilbert, Team Captain, Devora McCoy, Jessica Gumbo, Assistant Coach. Bottom Row (L-R) Kristen Peterson, Erica Peterson, Jacob Oleshansky and Garrett Jaso.

What an emotional ending to the 2005-2006 Inter School Horse Series for Barrie Coach and Equestrian Director, Paige Dunn, her team and The Barrie School at large, After years of competing, the Barrie team finally claimed the coveted title of ISHS Champion!

The equestrian spirit has been alive at the Barrie School in some form since 1956, when Frances Seldin, the Barrie’s founder, first moved the school to the Layhill Road campus in Silver Spring, Maryland, from its original location in Washington DC. However, the more formal equestrian program took shape in 1995, when Robin Wyman, the school’s former Equestrian Director, and Barrie student, Rachel Saltz entered the Inter School Horse Series (ISHS) to compete against other area schools—for the first time ever!

At that time, the newly created ISHS had only a few schools from the surrounding county competing, and The Barrie School team had just one member. This year, the Barrie team consisted of eight riders ranging from 6th through 12th grade, and claimed the top spot after facing off with students from 36 other highly competitive area schools located in Montgomery, Prince George’s and Howard Counties, Washington DC, Annapolis and Urbana!

This was a tremendous achievement, according to Coach Paige Dunn, whose best hopes at the beginning of the school year had been that this would be a re-building year for the team, They were a very young team with three kids who had never shown before and who had no experience whatsoever,” said Dunn, “but boy, was I wrong!

“No one person carried us this season—every single rider was consistent throughout the competition and did their part to earn this title,” she added.

The ISHS has a total of eight shows that make up the series; out of those, the Barrie Equestrian team was named Reserve Champion at four of the shows and Champion at one of them. The most consistent team wins the overall championship and this year, that team was the Barrie School.

With the exception of three students on the team, all others started their riding careers at The Barrie School and the Barrie Camp which both have riding programs available for children as young as three. In fact, this year’s Team Captain and graduating Senior, Devora McCoy, started riding at Barrie at age three and now plans to try out for the University of Maryland team when she starts college in the fall.

When asked about their expectations for team in the coming year, the remaining students were unanimous in their determination to have a repeat performance.

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