Photo credit Terry Young.
Patrick McMurtie of Orefield, PA has completed his junior years as a rider by earning top awards in Saddle Seat Equitation. A UPHA National Challenge Cup top 10 finalist in 2022 and 2023, he was the World Champion for his age group at 16. Now 18, Patrick topped off his equitation honors with a Reserve Championship in the 2023 Good Hands and Silver Medal in the USEF National Medal Finals.
“He has been a highly successful show rider for the last several years, earning state championships and top awards nationally. He is also an absolutely wonderful and smart young man,” Patrick’s trainer Tara Wentz-Goosley said.
Patrick began riding at the age of seven, when he saw a flyer for a riding camp and wanted to give it a try. He and his twin brother Benjamin both went to the camp, but after two weeks, Benjamin decided riding was not his favorite thing. He went back to soccer, basketball and track for sports, but Patrick was finding a passion for riding.
“I’ve always loved animals,” Patrick said. “After that first week I got hooked. I moved up into the riding program and the lesson program. That’s where it all started.”
From the beginning, Patrick was riding saddle seat on American Saddlebreds. “I’ve clearly fallen in love with the Saddlebred breed for their intelligence and personality. They’re just a super smart breed,” he said.
For a time, Patrick was showing his horse in the country pleasure division. When Tara asked him what he wanted to do as his next step, Patrick had a ready answer.
“I said equitation for something to challenge myself and get new skills with my riding,” Patrick said. “When we first started gearing up for equitation I was 12 years old. I really needed to hone in on my position skills, especially my leg positions. I needed to check all my boxes with my leg position, my upper body position, and then we could start pattern practice.”
In saddle seat equitation, the pattern work becomes more and more challenging as you progress.
“Not every horse is going to do patterns in the exact same way. It’s a matter of feeling out your horse,” Patrick said. “It’s a whole different feeling than the rail work. The pattern work is kind of like a whole new realm. You really have to listen to what your horse needs and fill in the gaps your horse is missing.”
Patrick’s mount for the finals was Nirvana’s Queen of the Night, a seven-year-old Saddlebred mare owned by Michelle Rivard.
“I was lucky enough to start showing her in 2021 in the 3-gaited division. She was young at that point, she was 5 years old. At the world championships in 2022 I showed a different horse in the 16-year-old equitation qualifier and ended up reserve champion,” Patric said. “Tara had the idea after Louisville that year to slowly start introducing Queenie to that division. She took to it super well. She’s a really smart mare.”
Patrick explained that equitation has been hard work, but it has made him a better rider.
“Showing in the division and competing in equitation really instilled discipline in me with always staying on top of my leg position and practicing patterns whenever I could. It really is a division the requires a lot of discipline,” Patrick said. “I worked at it especially hard this past 2023 season.”
To qualify for the championships Patrick had to travel to find shows that held the equitation classes and drew enough entrants to count toward qualifying.
The USEF Saddle Seat Medal Final is held at the UPHA American Royal National Championship Horse Show in Kansas City, MO. This year, sixteen riders competed in the final which was held in two phases on a single day.
The judges evaluated riders with two different equitation patterns in the two phases, The challenging patterns tested riders’ control in circles, diagonal lines and transitions, plus one workout included a posting trot on the rail without stirrups.
“With the patterns I filled in whenever Queeny needed guidance because she was new to the division. I think my ability to read what my horse needs and give my horse what it needs, that really helped me,” Patrick said.
All the time he was traveling for horse shows, Patrick was keeping up with his schoolwork, taking honors level courses. Patrick attends Allentown Central Catholic School, where he runs on the varsity track and cross-country teams. He hopes to attend Cornell or perhaps Purdue and prepare to possibly become an equine veterinarian.
“As a rider I hope to continue to grow my skills and keep getting stronger,” Patrick said.