Riders Compete for Spot on Iconic Team
Kristin Akin doesn't mind grabbing a horse's front leg and bending it back so she can clean the hoof. In fact that is why she is in the coveted position as a rider of one of the Hardin-Simmons University Six White Horses.
The Six White Horses team has been a Hardin-Simmons tradition since the 1930s. The horses and their riders have been featured in inaugural parades going as far back as Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The girls chosen to share the stage with the famous horse team must be skilled riders and be able to carry a flag representing one of the eight changes of sovereignty in Texas.
Each year the team of riders is selected from a tryout which is judged by some of the toughest critics around. Rancher and Taylor County Judge Dr. George Newman was on hand for the tryouts to assess which of the candidates could best handle the horses. The HSU professor emeritus knows a good rider when he sees her, and the completion is stiff.
Linda Boeshart is another judge with a critical eye of a good rider. She is responsible for several of the intercollegiate rodeo trophies you will see in the HSU horse facility trophy case.
Six White Horses program director Debbie Jones says, "I can tell how much someone knows by just watching them saddle the horse. We also watch as the girls maneuver the horses through a gauntlet of barrels and figure eights." Jones says, "Speed is also something we look for. If a candidate will only trot the horse, I know she hasn't ridden in a while."
Akin has already been a member of the team for two years. Even so, she and the other current riders must try out again. Jones says, "We have to have the best riders available, but often the current riders can be pretty hard to beat."
The confident HSU junior from Hawley says she loves what she does. She recently was one of the six riders who helped lead the West Texas Fair and rodeo parade. She is one of six returning riders.
New riders are Amanda Hollingsworth of Whitt, Texas; Jamie Lou McCarley from Gatesville; and Mandy Roloff from Spring.
Returning riders for the 2009-2010 school year are Becky Daniels of Truscott; Whitney Hicks from Hamby; Rachel Newman from Paris, Texas; Kristen Ringler of Alvarado; and Amy Turner, a Rochester native.
The next big event for the team is the Buffalo Days Parade in Snyder on October 3. The team will ride in the opening ceremonies for the Homecoming football game at Shelton Stadium on October 17. The team will also ride in the Veteran's Parade through downtown Abilene in November.
http://www.hsutx.edu/sixwhitehorses/
Photo: Kristin Aken, Dr. George Newman, White Horse Team in West Texas Fair Parade
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