If you are looking for a small group of people who are hard-working and passionate about their sport, the Plainwell Equestrian team is where you might find yourself. You could often find them at the Barry County Fairgrounds where they compete at. 

The equestrian team is a team sport involving showing horses that was just recently added to our school again in 2017. There are only two riders on the team:  Megan Gernaat ‘21 who has been on the e- team all four years of high school and Kadence Jennett ‘23 who is new to the team this year. They are coached by both Jenny Gernaat and Payton Deyoung. Both girls on the team have been riding horses for most of their lives. The e-teams show usually take place on Saturday and last all day.

Each rider has their own ways of getting ready for a show. Gernaat  spends her nights before the show washing and banding her horse. She typically spends three to four hours the night before the show packing her trailer with all of the things she´ll need for her horse, Zeb.

After packing the trailer she shampoos and conditions her horse to make him look nice and clean. Next, she spends time putting her horse’s mane (the long strip of hair on the horses neck) into multiple little pony tails. 

After the horse is bathed and banded he gets put into what Gernaat calls his ¨PJs¨ which is like a giant blanket that is tied to try and make sure he doesn’t get himself all dirty the night before the show. The next morning when it’s the day of the show Gernaat  wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to load her horse and do the final touches of getting around.