Rider and horse work well in competition
BY PATRICIA YOCZIS Correspondent

Sabrina Krowicki and Gold Digger competed at the East Coast National Reserved Barrel Racing Championships in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and brought home the title.

PLUMSTED — Sabrina Krowicki, a senior at New Egypt High School, has earned more than 400 medals and trophies in recognition of her equestrian abilities. In October she added the East Coast National Reserved Barrel Racing Champion in the Third Youth Division to her list of accomplishments.

The competition was sponsored by the International Barrel Racing Association (IBRA) and was held in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Sabrina and her horse, Gold Digger, participated in a barrel racing rodeo event that requires rider and horse to weave in and out of a set pattern of barrels in the shortest time possible.

"It's my first out-of-state win," said Sabrina, 17, who has been barrel racing for two years. "It was a 16-hour ride to Tennessee with my father, Denis, and Gold Digger, but it was worth the trip."

Sabrina has owned Gold Digger, a 15- year-old quarter horse who stands 14.1 hands high, for about one year. Gold Digger did have barrel racing experience before she owned him, she said.

"Both the rider and the horse have to want to compete," said Sabrina, who has been riding English and Western style since she was 9 years old. "Horses are smart. They know if you are in it to win it or just a casual rider."

She said she worked and rode Gold Digger every day to get him in shape for the barrel racing season that runs from March to early November. But it wasn't all work, all the time.

"You have to show the horse some fun days and let him run if he is going to win," Sabrina said. "You want the horse to want to race, and you can't have him working all the time. They are like humans. If it's work, you don't like to do it."

Sabrina said she became interested in barrel racing when she attended a show at the Reindancer Therapeutic Riding Center in New Egypt.

Since then she has participated in a horse show that benefited the Special People United to Ride organization at this year's Monmouth County Fair. She also trains ponies that children can ride.

In October 2007, Sabrina and her English pony, Dream Date, won the Junior Bronze Medal Class event for the high score pleasure horse or pony that was held in Morris County. It was sponsored by the New Jersey Professional Horsemen Association and won her the James Jones Lemmerman Memorial Trophy.

Sabrina lives in New Egypt on a 30-acre ranch that has seven horses. For her senior year in high school, she is participating in a veterinary program affiliated with the Walnridge Equine Clinic, Cream Ridge.

"I get to shadow a veterinarian around as exams, treatment and even surgeries are performed on horses," she said. "It's really great."

When not studying for school or helping out on the farm, Sabrina said she likes to go horse trail riding with her friends.

After graduation, Sabrina said, she plans to go to college and perhaps study for a medical career. For right now, she intends to continue barrel racing.

"I may get a new horse," she said. "I love horses, and horses take a lot of time."

Sabrina's father, Denis, and her mother, Janice, who did barrel racing, too, farm about 900 acres of leased or rented land. She has a brother, Justin, 29, and a sister, Christina, 27.