Author: SSMDTA

Year End Prize Link is Live

SSMDTA

The moment you’ve all waited for is finally here! The link to the 2023 prize choices is now live! You can click here or go to the 2023 Awards link at the top of the website to see all the choices.

Coupon codes for each rider with the amount of points they earned throughout the year has been sent to your coach/main point of contact for each team. When you place your order, use that coupon code to redeem your points. You are allowed to get more items than your points allow, just use the coupon code to redeem your points and you’ll have to pay the difference for the item you want.

We’ll be in touch regarding any customized items if we need additional information from you once the orders start to come in.

Please complete your orders by December 12th so we can get all the items ordered for all the teams. Items will be brought to the February qualifier and handed out to each team.

Congratulations to all the riders on their wins this show year! If you have any questions, please email us.

Year-End Prize Update

SSMDTA

Hey Teams!

I know you’re all eagerly awaiting the opportunity to order your year-end prizes, so I just wanted to give a quick update.

All your points have been totaled and I’m working on getting them uploaded to the website as coupons for each of you.

I’m still adding products for you to order. Had to double check inventory with one vendor and am getting some revised quotes from a couple of others so we can provide you with a great variety of products. I’m trying really hard to get it done this week, but it is a holiday weekend.

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving holiday and I’ll get the information published just as soon as I can.

Thanks!

2023 State Championship Scores

SSMDTA

Here are the numerical scores for all the classes at the 2023 State Championships.

Remember as you are looking at these that every judge uses a different system for scoring, so look for consistency between how that judge scored you vs. other teams. Don’t try to compare the 55 from one judge to the 85 from the other in the same category.

2023 High Point Winners

SSMDTA

Teams compete throughout the year at qualifiers and the State Championships and get scores from the judges. These scores are tallied and the team with the most points at the end of the year is the High Point winner for each class.

Here are the 2023 High Point winners for each class.

  • Compulsory • The Renegades • 6,216 points
  • Novice Freestyle • Hearts For Horses • 5,704 points
  • Rodeo • The Outsiders • 7,141 points
  • Youth Freestyle • The Gypsy Rebels • 4,791 points
  • Novice Quad • The Outlaws • 6,130 points
  • Open Quad • The Renegades • 6,835 points
  • Open Theme • The Renegades • 6,910 points
  • Short Program • The Renegades • 6,027 points
  • Youth Theme • Hearts For Horses • 6,250 points
  • Open Freestyle • The Renegades • 6,834 points
  • Novice Theme • Swamp Donkeys • 6,508 points
  • Youth Quad • The Outsiders • 6,263 points

Congratulations to all teams for all their hard work throughout the year.

2023 State Championship Results

SSMDTA

Sunshine State Mounted Drill Team Association had a fabulous weekend of great competition as the 2023 season came to a conclusion. It was a celebration of 10 years of SSMDTA under the current management and it was great to see how much the association has grown that we had 10 teams competing and 47 rides over the 2 days.

Here are the results from the State Championships.

Compulsory

  • State Champion • The Renegades • 1,915 points
  • Reserve Champion • The Outsiders • 1,832 points
  • Third Place • Silk & Sable • 1,329 points

Novice Freestyle

  • State Champion • Hearts For Horses • 1,810 points
  • Reserve Champion • The Outlaws • 1,809 points
  • Third Place • Swamp Donkeys • 1,773 points
  • Fourth Place • The Gypsy Rebels • 1,857 points **
  • Fifth Place • Aftershock • 1,757 points **

Rodeo

  • State Champion • The Outsiders • 2,308 points
  • Reserve Champion • The Renegades • 2,181 points

Youth Freestyle

  • State Champion • The Gypsy Rebels • 1,874 points

Novice Quad

  • State Champion • The Outlaws • 1,955 points
  • Reserve Champion • The Gypsy Rebels • 1,852 points
  • Third Place • Swamp Donkeys • 1,829 points
  • Fourth Place • Aftershock • 1,758 points

Open Quad

  • State Champion • The Renegades • 2,290 points
  • Reserve Champion • The Outsiders • 2,251 points
  • Third Place • Hearts For Horses • 2,128 points
  • Fourth Place • Silk & Sable • 2,120 points

Open Theme

  • State Champion • The Renegades • 2,226 points
  • Reserve Champion • Hearts For Horses – Quad • 2,038 points
  • Third Place • The Outsiders • 2,020 points
  • Fourth Place • Hearts For Horses • 1,992 points
  • Fifth Place • Silk & Sable • 1,751 points
  • Sixth Place • The Gospel Riders • 1,706 points
  • Seventh Place • Ring N Spurz • 1,635 points **

Short Program

  • State Champion • The Renegades • 1,872 points
  • Reserve Champion • The Outsiders • 1,807 points
  • Third Place • The Gospel Riders • 1,768 points
  • Fourth Place • Silk & Sable • 1,565 points

Youth Theme

  • State Champion • The Gypsy Rebels • 2,148 points
  • Reserve Champion • Hearts For Horses • 2,002 points
  • Third Place • Swamp Donkeys • 1,570 points

Open Freestyle

  • State Champion • The Renegades • 2,409 points
  • Reserve Champion • Hearts For Horses • 2,324 points
  • Third Place • The Outsiders • 2,312 points
  • Fourth Place • Ring N Spurz • 1,955 points **
  • Fifth Place • The Gospel Riders • 1,714 points **

Novice Theme

  • State Champion • Swamp Donkeys • 2,051 points
  • Reserve Champion • The Outlaws • 1,982 points
  • Third Place • Hearts For Horses • 1,930 points
  • Fourth Place • Aftershock • 1,872 points

Youth Quad

  • State Champion • The Outsiders • 2,202 points
  • Reserve Champion • The Gypsy Rebels • 2,027 points
  • Third Place • Hearts For Horses • 1,992 points
  • Fourth Place • Swamp Donkeys • 1,937 points
  • Fifth Place • Ring N Spurz • 1,890 points **

** These teams did not qualify for this class by competing in at least 2 of the qualifiers. Teams were allowed to compete but could not place above qualified teams.

Judge’s Choice Awards

  • Kayla Williams • Hearts For Horses (Awarded by Mary Frances Crowe)
  • Bella Ross • Ring N Spurz (Awarded by Debbie Dunphy)
  • Enoch • The Gospel Riders (Awarded by Mark Plowman)

Best Music

  • The Renegades • Pirates from Open Theme

Best Costume

  • Silk & Sable • Wizards

Highest Score of the Weekend

  • The Renegades • 2,409 points • Open Freestyle

Golden Shovel

  • The Gypsy Rebels

2024 Short Program Moves

SSMDTA

Here are the 6 moves selected to be part of the 2024 SSMDTA Short Program drills. These moves are required to be incorporated into a 3-5 minute drill. They can be done in any order and any additional moves can be added. Maneuvers can be performed in a variety of ways to allow for originality. There are no gait requirements for this class and this class doesn’t have to stand for inspection.

2024 Required Maneuvers:

Peel the Apple • Fish Hook • Hourglass • Figure Eight • 
Break the Chevron – Side • Single File Pole Bend

Descriptions of the moves can be found in the Move Glossary. Please let us know if you have any questions about the descriptions and we’ll get them clarified and updated.

Peel the Apple
Fish Hook
Hourglass
Break the Chevron – Side
Figure Eight
Single File Pole Bend

2024 Compulsory Routine

SSMDTA

The Compulsory drill for the 2024 season is complete and now available for all teams to view. This drill was written by Judge Mark Plowman, who is one of our judges at the State Championships. He will also be performing the drill with the teams during our Stick Horse Presentation on Saturday evening.

Check out the drill here. It has a diagram and written instructions under each box. This should make it easy for teams to learn. The drawing also breaks the columns down into red and blue, which should make learning it easier.

2024 Compulsory Diagram

For the Stick Horse presentation of the drill on Saturday night at the State Championships we will be walking it right before awards. I encourage the rep from each team that’s participating to review this diagram and get a feel for where you will be going.

The Red side will be led by SSMDTA – Valerie followed by Gospel Riders, Gypsy Rebels, Silk & Sable, Outlaws, and Outsiders.

The Blue side will be led by SSMDTA – Mark Plowman followed by Hearts For Horses, Ring N Spurz, Aftershock, Swamp Donkeys and Renegades.

Meet your steeds for the event!
(there are a couple more, but they were being camera shy)

Photography at the State Championship

SSMDTA

We are excited to have a photographer at the State Championships. Information has been posted on the Coaches WhatApp Chat, but I wanted to put all the information out here as well in case there’s another team member in charge of this aspect of the show for your team. 🙂

Tyler Ingersoll will be on site photographing the show. He has done numerous horse events before, but this will be his first drill team event and his first event in a covered arena. Below are examples of some of his barrel racing photos.

Teams must pre-pay by November 1 if they want their runs photographed so Tyler can schedule his days accordingly. Two packages are being offered. Here are the details on each.

Package A – $125Package B – $250
1 Day (Sat or Sun) Photos of your team’s runs.All of your team’s runs both Saturday and Sunday.
Photos will be edited/color corrected and will be available for download by early-December.Photos will be edited/color corrected and will be available for download by early-December.
Team Photo Shoot – will be scheduled once we know what teams are participating.

Please contact Tyler directly to order your team’s photos. Deadline is November 1 so we can work on scheduling the Team Photo Shoots.

Here are some examples of Tyler’s photography from a speed event.

Order of Go for State Championships

SSMDTA

Here is the document you’ve all been waiting for … the Order of Go! As discussed at the Annual Meeting, there are more classes on Saturday and it’s a longer day. This will help get us out earlier on Sunday. We have done the best we can with scheduling your runs and allowing adequate time for you to change costumes. Some are an hour, so please plan accordingly and have your tack change items at the ready. This way we can keep on schedule. 

We are doing awards both days and we request that you attend on horseback – no costumes, but we will be taking photographs. Please no bareback or double riding for the awards ceremony. Neck ribbons will be given out for Champion and Reserve Champion teams.

Just prior to the Awards Ceremony on Friday we will do our Stick Horse presentation of the 2024 Compulsory Drill. More information on that will be sent out this week.

Let me know if you have any questions. We are looking forward to a fantastic weekend!

2024 Show Schedule

SSMDTA

The 2024 SSMDTA Show Schedule was announced at the Annual Meeting in August. The website has now been updated with the 2024 dates and locations. Judges will be added as their contracts are signed and returned.

We look forward to seeing you at our shows next year!