Gianna Brocchini sure has a way of socializing with horses.

The high school sophomore earned a spot in the IEA National finals held in Syracuse, New York on April 20 and ended up placing fifth in the overall event. She talked about the show and the main objective of competing.

Every year the Interscholastic Equestrian Association hosts a series of shows in order to qualify for Nationals. She was one of 18 people in her class out of 1,870 that consisted of sixth to 12th graders who advanced after a hunt seat riding competition held in Los Angeles. The shows were trials in a camp set up that showed the teens what to expect in the competition.

“It’s basically to show how you communicate well with other horses other than your own and how you as a rider are effective with working with other horses that you’re not exactly used to,” she said.

Hundreds of students from different classes competed in the finals and according to Gianna, she did well.

“I got a really nice horse and he was not the easiest to ride but I worked through it and I was able to communicate well with him and the judges seemed to like it,” she said.

Brocchini’s prize for placing fifth was a laptop bag, custom socks, a shoe duster, and a coupon for a tax shop, which was also given to the person in fourth place. She doesn’t remember what second and third place got, but she does recall that first place received everything else that was offered as prizes as well as a personal trophy and a hunt coat they can wear for future shows.