Skylar Jones
Arts Editor
Horseback riding, homework, repeat. Junior Alana Rieg pursues her passion for horseback riding while also maintaining a rigorous academic schedule.
Rieg’s love for horseback riding began at the age of eight. Since then, she has devoted hours of her week to pursue her favorite hobby. She currently rides in competitive show jumping competitions with Alderin Sport Horses in Palos Verdes.
“I started horseback riding when I was in third grade,” Rieg said. “My friend brought me to the stables, and I [found that] I really liked it. I continued to go to the stables and I ended up falling in love with horseback riding.”
Rieg rides six days a week and arrives at the stables at 2:30 p.m. almost every day, and usually leaves around 5 p.m., depending on whether she takes extra lessons, Rieg said. Rieg averages about 15 hours per week of riding time.
“Since I always have so much going on [with horseback riding], I hardly get any time to myself,” Rieg said. “I’m able to finish a lot of my homework in class, but I wish I had more time to study.”
Since she started training, Rieg has had four horses total, but she is now currently working with her horse Contiki since September 2018.
“I’d like to think that Contiki and I have some kind of bond since I spend so much time with her every week,” Rieg said. “I get easily attached to my horses, and there’s definitely a lot of tears if you have to sell them.”
As a show jumper, Rieg often participates in competitions and races. Competitive show jumping is based on a set of patterns of jumps. Competitors try to finish with the lowest time and the least amount of pole hits. The week before a race involves intense and vigorous training, but the hard work pays off, Rieg said.
“To train for races, we do more intense training,” Rieg said. “We jump a little higher, we clean all of our materials such as our helmets, the bridle, the saddle and also get our uniforms for the competition.”
Rieg most recently won the championship in the 1.20 Junior Jumper at HITS. The competition took place from Jan. 23-28 at the Coachella Desert Circuit Horse Show.
“I was really happy to win this competition,” Rieg said. “It was really satisfying to win since I’ve never really gotten the opportunity to win before. I’ve never won a competition with as high jumps as this one, so it was really nice to have all my hard work pay off.”
Rieg will continue to compete as a showjumper for the rest of high school and hopes to improve as a horseback rider in the future.
“My immediate goal is to compete in the young rider championships, and I hope to one day compete in nations cup and grand prixes,” Rieg said. “I hope to continue to ride for the rest of my life; at least that’s the plan for now.”
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