![\"martha](\"https:\/\/news.furman.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/martha-ingram-portrait.jpg\")
Ingram won the competition on a horse she hadn’t planned on riding. Photo\/Shawn McMillen Photography<\/p><\/div>\n
Ingram, a politics and international affairs major from Nashville, not only won the North American Adult Amateur Equitation Championships, she did so riding her \u201cplan B\u201d horse because the vet determined Ingram\u2019s original horse wasn\u2019t in top shape to compete.<\/p>\n
So with her stand-in mount, Airport 48\u2013a 15-year-old Holsteiner gelding\u2013she trotted, cantered and jumped for the roses, besting 26 total entries in the championship class.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a really nice surprise. I was hoping to do well, but I wasn\u2019t expecting anything. I was going in to have fun, so to come out on top is really nice,\u201d said Ingram during an interview with Jump Media.<\/p>\n
Airport 48 was initially purchased over six years ago to be Ingram\u2019s equitation mount but instead was ridden to great acclaim in the hunter ring by her father, John Ingram. So in a pinch, Airport 48 stepped up and was nevertheless able to help Ingram win the class in his first attempt.<\/p>\n
Ingram, an 11-year veteran in the riding world, said, \u201cI\u2019m really lucky that my dad let me show him. (The horse) is like a dog. He just loves people and loves his job. He\u2019s very smooth and comfortable; he really jumps nicely. He\u2019s always there for you, so I\u2019m really lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
After her Sept. 28 equitation championships win, Ingram returned to Furman for classes only to make another trip the following week to Maryland. There, she finished as a reserve champion in the Amateur-Owner 18-35 Hunter division at the Capital Challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe support I\u2019ve received from my professors and Furman has been amazing,\u201d said Ingram, whose professors permitted her to take exams early and make up work so she could travel and compete. \u201cI am so grateful and appreciative for everyone who allowed me the chance to pursue my goals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Martha Ingram \u201920 competed in the Capital Challenge Horse Show in late September \u201cjust to have a good time.\u201d But she came home a winner at the 25th anniversary edition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,32,30,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-politics-and-international-affairs","category-top-stories","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}