DALLAS (SMU) – When the SMU equestrian program opened the 2025-26 season in September, Sara Beth Filiatreau and her teammates knew there would be opportunities for growth and development.
The Mustangs graduated a significant number of riders from last year, leaving quite a few vacancies up and down the lineup. New faces, even some freshmen, were likely to see themselves in big roles.
What unfolded was a few tough outcomes early with a lot of valuable learning, followed by some positive results to build on. The Mustangs plan to carry all of that over as the spring portion of the schedule gets rolling this week.
"From the beginning, I think we knew we were a younger team," Filiatreau, a sophomore captain, said. "I think we learned that we're a younger team and we needed to build up the younger people just so that we could be prepared. I think at the end we finally just got our momentum. We got in the groove and knew what to expect more, so that definitely helped."
No. 6 SMU (2-3) restarts its schedule with a pair of home contests this week as No. 7 UC Davis (4-4) visits the Dallas Equestrian Center on Wednesday, followed by No. 3 South Carolina (5-2) on Saturday. Wednesday's meeting with UC Davis has been delayed to a noon start because of winter weather and frigid temperatures in the region, while Saturday's matchup with the Gamecocks is still slated for 10 a.m.
The Mustangs opened the year with narrow losses at South Carolina (10-9) and Oklahoma State (12-8) before coming home to face Auburn. The two teams each won 10 rides but the Tigers took the victory thanks to a 1.37-point advantage in raw scoring.
From there, SMU got back on track, taking down Texas A&M (14-6) and Baylor (11-6) to close out the first half of the season.
Wins and losses aside, the early competition served as a litmus test for coach Brad Kearns' team. The Mustangs got the insights they needed to get better by facing high level competition, something that has helped them prepare for the second half of the season.
"You have to play against people who are highly ranked so you can see where you stack up and make adjustments to your training schedule and your practice schedule," Kearns said. "I feel like we were at a really good spot."
Now, they return to the arena focused on continuing to build while also facing a bit of adversity. The winter weather moving through the country canceled class on Monday, meaning the team could not practice. That leaves a narrow window to prepare for Wednesday's meet with the Aggies.
Emotions could also be a factor in each matchup as UC Davis recently announced this would be the last season the program would compete at the NCEA Division I level. Since this will be the program's first competition following that announcement, Kearns and his team are hoping to give the Aggies a positive experience during their visit to Dallas.
The duel with the Gamecocks will also be a homecoming of sorts as former SMU coach Carol Gwin makes her return to Metroplex for the first time since guiding the program to the 2024 NCEA Dual Discipline National Title. Additionally, current SMU western coach Cathy Woosley Luse previously coached in Columbia before joining the staff at SMU, so both coaches have familiarity with riders on the other roster.
The competition, while tough, presents the Mustangs an opportunity to keep building. That's something they're certainly looking forward to.
"I think we're in a good place. I think doing well on those last few meets has helped our confidence, we'll be going into this a little more confident," Filiatreau said. "I'm happy where we're at right now. Our practice has been going really well and everybody is putting in the extra work."
