While dressage remains unknown to many, the Olympics and the equestrian club have caught on to the sport quickly.

Not only was the sport in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the club team continues to gain support at N.C. State.

In her third year of riding dressage for the Wolfpack, Kate Flanagan, a junior in psychology, said the sport is a lot tougher than it appears.

“Not many people know what dressage is, but it’s in the Olympics,” the second-year captain said. “It’s awesome — it’s an obscure sport. It’s about adapting to new horses. It’s really intense.”

Not only is the sport intense, the riders spend a lot of time practicing. Along with practice time, the team travels 30 minutes to the practice site, which is located in Holly Springs.

“There is always someone out there practicing,” Flanagan said. “We have people out there at six in the morning and sometimes we have people there until nine at night.”

After describing the sport, Bette Sumrell, a junior in agriculture education explained the history of the word “dressage.” She stated that it meant training, partially due to the hard work that is put into the sport by the riders.

She added that the sport is also all about harmony.

“Most people don’t know about it,” Sumrell said. “To someone who doesn’t understand it — we don’t jump. It’s more about harmony and balance of the horse and the rider.

Loralee Howell, who has been riding for 10 years, said the sport is nothing like it seems.

“It’s always a lot harder than it actually looks,” the junior in animal science said. “To the trained eye, you can tell they are doing so much. It’s complicated.”

This past weekend, the team took part in its second to last competition of the season.

Howell took second place at first level, Hilary Hartson, a doctoral candidate in statistics, finished second at upper training, Nikki Schweizer, a sophomore in animal science, took fourth in lower training and Dare Jones, a junior in agricultural business management, placed sixth at intro.

With only one competition remaining before finding out if the team will advance to nationals, Flanagan said staying upbeat keeps the team focused.

“We are focusing on staying positive,” Flanagan said. “We are working on mental imagery. We have been working so hard for this.”