SCAD equestrian team rider Olivia Gaddy struggles with the cancellation of the season
Written by Anna Webster, Photos by Anna Webster
Olivia Gaddy is a fourth year writing major and creative writing minor at SCAD. She has been riding equestrian western style since she was 11 and has been on the SCAD equestrian team for three years. She says the cancellation of the season was extremely hard for her. “I expected to go into senior year showing, with a chance to go to nationals,” Gaddy said, “When [the season] ended, I felt a huge sense of loss and defeat. I had worked so hard for the past two years just for it to be ripped from my hands. It took a while for me to realize it was not showing that proved how strong a rider I had become, it was me and my determination.”
She later depended on her lessons and free rides to keep her stress level down from school. Gaddy said she really saw an increase in the amount of stress she felt when she couldn’t be around horses as often anymore. “Since I can’t run due to a hurt knee, I couldn’t do much besides home workouts,” she said, “Once gyms opened up I got a membership since SCAD gyms were still closed. A month before school [started], I began to ride at a barn in Pembrooke, Ga., but it did not feel the same. It wasn’t until I was able to ride at SCAD again that I finally felt like I had come home.”
