11/04/2026
🐴🖤💛❤️The Eleva Strum Equestrian Team scored 8th statewide!
Maha Hashlamoun, Brooklyn Ausen, and Addison Hofeldt headed down to Madison, WI, for the 2026 Wisconsin Interscholastic Horsemanship Association's 2026 state championship finals this past weekend. We proudly showed the Cardinal spirit this year, with colors of red, gold and black. October 30th, marked the first day of competition, which was all in-hand classes. This requires the exhibitors to not actually ride the horse, rather they show it from the ground. Using an intricate pattern, they must execute a specific set of maneuvers in front of a judge, where they are scored based on how well the horse is handled and how well they replicated the pattern. Maha Hashlamoun scored 3rd statewide for in-hand trail!
Saturday, October 31st, marked the second day of competition with all pleasure classes. Unlike in-hand, the pleasure classes are shown with the exhibitor riding the horse, performing a specific set of maneuvers in the arena and trying to replicate a pattern given by the judge. This can include circles at various speeds, stopping at a certain point, backing up, spinning in a circle, and plenty more. Addison Hofeldt placed 7th in both English Equitation and English Versatility! For Western Horsemanship, Maha Hashlamoun placed 6th and Addison Hofeldt placed 8th! For Western Versatility, Brooklyn Ausen scored us 9th!
🐎To wrap up the competition on November 1st were Speed Events. These are to be executed to showcase the horse's speed and maneuverability, while going around objects like poles, barrels, or into a narrow keyhole, where you have to stop, spin, and come back through. There is also a two-person relay, where rider 1 carries a baton to rider 2, who waits inside a box. They then hand off the baton, and rider two runs back home. For speed, we placed amazingly well, with Brooklyn taking 2nd in poles, and Addison taking 7th in poles. Brooklyn also grabbed the team a 2nd place barrel run! She also placed 6th in LT Special. Maha scored 2nd place in keyhole, and with the help of Addison, 2nd in two-person.
The girls had an amazing finish to the season, made some awesome memories, and had a great time. They worked so hard this season, and with each of them facing their own battles, they pulled through and managed to place in almost everything statewide!
🤗We would like to recognize and thank our sponsors this year, including Apex Engineering, Blains Farm and Fleet, CCU Bank, Dale and Julie Ausen, Broiler Fest, HyVee, Julson Auto, Carol and Gary Mooney, TCC, and Water Street Deli. We could not have gone to state without your generous donations. Once again, please congratulate these three girls on their amazing accomplishments and for representing our school in such a unique sport.
