FRESNO, Calif. - The 2024-25 equestrian season is right around the corner as the Bulldogs open their season this weekend with the annual Red vs Blue Scrimmage at the Student Horse Center to dust off the saddles and get things going.
For one rider, the 2024-25 season is full of potential. Senior reiner Shelby Robinette has progressively moved herself forward over the years and looks to do the same this season. With three years in the program under her belt, but just two in the lineup, Robinette enters 2024-25 with a goal that isn't necessarily a tangible or a quantitative one.
"Personally this year, something I have told myself I really need to work on is my mental game going into it. Practice, workouts, and all of it, we work so much on our physical aspects of things and how we are going to physically get better, physically ride, and all of that stuff," said Robinette. "I feel like sometimes my mental game isn't as strong as it should be going into matches, especially when I don't feel as confident on a horse or I am not as confident in a pattern. This year, I want to just focus on my mental game and being confident in that, having a good game plan going in and not so much focus on the physical aspect of things."
In equestrian, riders are judged on a variety of different things throughout their pattern including the physical appearance of the ride among other judgment points. Going head-to-head against another rider isn't the easiest thing to do mentally, and that is what Robinette is focused on prioritizing this season.
"Sometimes when my points don't go my way, it is because of my mental game and I didn't go in as strong as I probably should have," said Robinette on her mental game ahead of a ride. "If I can walk into that pen and know that if all else fails, I have a good mental game plan and I feel confident in my abilities, I know I am here for a reason and can ride this horse, I will be in a good place. If I can work on my mental game, that will help my confidence a lot."
One would think that confidence is naturally there for a rider who, in her first collegiate ride, set the program's reining record with a score of 79 in the 2022-23 season. Robinette was also an All-Big 12 reining selection last season, finishing the year with a 7-6-0 record with one MOP. Even when things are going as good as they possibly can, the sport is unique in the sense that no ride is ever the same. The pattern is different, the horse is different, the opponent is different, so no two rides will be comparable even if they are just a day apart.
"Being able to have a sport where every single day is different, it really keeps you locked in and makes you ride every single time," said Robinette on the reality of the sport.
In the last few years, the sport of equestrian at the collegiate level has introduced more style-specific coaches to rosters around the country, meaning each style of riding has a dedicated coach to its group. Fresno State has just three coaches on its staff with Sierra Swaffar leading both jumping seat groups, Mary Brown as a western assistant coach that works with the horsemanship group and head coach Eric Hubbard who coaches the reiners.
"I think it is good that equestrian as a collegiate sport as a whole has diversified into getting specific coaches," said Robinette on the NCEA growing its coaching branches. "That is growing the horses, the riders and the programs so much and making the meets more competitive and realistic to what they are in the real world."
As a reiner, Robinette uniquely gets her head coach as her riding coach.
"He is great in the sense that we get to see him in the head coach position, but we also get to see him in practice," Robinette said on Hubbard coaching her style group. "We always have something different to work on. He comes from different riding backgrounds himself - he did some english, he did some all around and he has a reining background. So to have all of that within one person has been cool to get to learn from over the years."
Robinette moved to Fresno from a small town in Colorado. She graduated with a class of just 11 people, and joined an equestrian team here that is more than three-times the size of her graduating class. Her freshman year had a group of western upperclassmen that had been around the program for many years including reiners Lexee Padrick and Bailey Alexander, two of the most decorated reiners in program history.
As a young Bulldog, Robinette took the time to learn from the older girls on the team.
"They were the first to teach you how to do things the right way or the way that we do it here. They were respected, and everyone listened to what they had to tell us," Robinette had to say on the seniors from her freshman year.
It has paid off, now being a senior herself with a group of younger girls looking up to her. The team boasts a handful of new faces this season, and even some returners who will be new to the lineup across the board this season.
"We are all energetic and excited. We have our things that we are going to focus on as a team this year. If we can stick to that, then as long as we are a united group it will show a lot."
Robinette was able to earn her undergraduate degree in three years, graduating last spring with a degree in agriculture business, all while being a dedicated and decorated student-athlete. She is working towards her master's degree in sports administration, and still has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
For somebody who has never been to a collegiate equestrian meet, the energy is through the roof. Both teams are constantly cheering their teammates on throughout the rides, and specific to the Student Horse Center, the cheers from the Bulldogs can be heard from the parking lots across the street.
"It is incredible. Our sport is one where in the real world, people cheer, but when you get to college it is a different world. We scream and we cheer, and the energy gets loud. I think that is what makes our rides so good sometimes. We feed off of that energy. We feed off of everybody cheering for us. For somebody that has never been, it is something that you would never guess it to be."
Fans have their first chance to catch the Bulldog equestrian team in action this Saturday at the Student Horse Center beginning at 11 a.m. with free parking and admission. The full 2024-25 Fresno State equestrian schedule can be found here.
"Competition is always the best part of the season. Our sport is fun because we get to do it all year long. To start the scrimmage, I think everybody is super excited. It is a chance to get all the nerves out and see what the horses and the girls look like. Everybody gets to participate in the scrimmage, so it is a great opportunity to show how cool competition gets to be and this is how much work it takes to put on a competition."