Local Equestrian Wins Championship

Seekonk High School senior and equestrian Abbie Hopkins recently became the RI Junior Medal Champion at the Rhode Island Equitation Finals on September 4th, at Heritage Equestrian Center in East Greenwich, RI. Junior riders from the area try to qualify for the championship throughout the year. The top 25 qualifiers compete at the final. Hopkins bested the field over two rounds of jumping to be named the 2016 Champion. She rode Arno Van Heyveld, a 6 year old European import owned by Annie Dotoli and Aster Pieters of Tibri Horses in Chepachet, RI who Hopkins is a working student for and trains with. She spent 3 months of her junior year working and competing at HITS in Ocala, FL with them, and will do so again this winter. Abbie has been riding for 14 years. She is also captain of the Seekonk High Field Hockey team.