Athlete of the Week: Merle Beach

Name: Merle Beach 

Year: Senior / Class of 2020

Hometown: Ferrisburg, VT 

Team: St. Lawrence University Riding Team 

Position: A Class / Open

How did riding at SLU start for you? 

St. Lawrence is widely known for having a great riding program, which is one of the reasons I looked at the school to begin with. We are lucky to have a great facility and nice horses to work with. I tried out and made the team my freshman year and have been on it ever since.

What part of riding drew you into the sport?

I have been riding since I was 4 or 5 years old, so continuing to compete in college was important to me. It is usually an individual sport, so adding the team aspect is unique to collegiate riding. It is great to be able to contribute to the team’s success, either by riding, or helping around the barn.

How is this sport different from other collegiate level sports?

The sport is different in many aspects. There is a huge amount of time and effort that goes in behind the scenes to keep the horses happy and healthy. Additionally, in competition, we often ride horses from other schools which we are unfamiliar with. Every horse is different, so a large part of a rider’s success or failure is adapting quickly to learn what will make that individual horse most rideable. Overall, working together with animals adds a huge amount of variability to every aspect of the sport.

Over this past weekend, you won your open fences and open flat classes on the season opener. What do you think went into pulling this off? 

There is a definite learning curve to intercollegiate riding, so I think my experience in years past has helped me to be successful so far this season. Mary, the head coach, likes to start the season strong so we have been working hard as a team to continue our success.

How are you do you intend to keep this momentum going the rest of the season? 

I hope to maintain consistency for the rest of the season, both in my own riding and for the team as a whole.

Is there anything you want to share to your fans reading Inside Saints Nation? 

Follow @sluriding on Instagram!