Brianna Peppers coaches athletes who don’t have the luxury of just worrying about packing sufficient snacks and sports drinks for their competitions.

Peppers’ team has to worry about hay.

And trailers.

And saddles.

Peppers is the coach, along with Tricia Tucker of Cove, for the Baker-Cove high school equestrian team.

Five team members will travel this week to Redmond to compete in the four-day Oregon High School Equestrian Team state meet at the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center. The event runs from May 8-11.

Baker members are sophomore Payton Peppers (Brianna’s daughter) and freshman James Bottger.

Cove members are Brittany Shepard, Avi Allen and Harper McIntire.

Brianna Peppers said the team started practicing for the season in November 2024. The first meet was in February.

“They enjoy this so much, having a bond with a horse,” she said. “If it trusts you, that horse will do anything for you.”

The Baker-Cove team is one of seven teams, representing 12 schools, in the Blue Mountain District, which was formed last year and is the first in Eastern Oregon, Peppers said.

She said the district follows Oregon School Activities Association guidelines, but the sport is not sanctioned by that organization, which oversees many other high school sports.

Nor does the Baker-Cove team receive any financial assistance from schools.

Each athlete pays a $300 district registration fee. They’re also responsible for equipment, which is a significant expense considering they have to take care of their horses as well as themselves.

“We always take care of the horses first,” Peppers said.

The Baker-Cove team practices both in Baker and in an indoor arena in Union.

The indoor arena is vital, Peppers said, because winter weather can be too cold for the riders and their horses.

Meets include a variety of events, some of which require riders to jump their horses over obstacles. Payton Peppers competes in the driving event, with her horse pulling a buggy.

There are individual as well as team events that require two riders, and their horses, to work precisely in tandem as a judge watches, Peppers said.

The team has a Facebook page — Baker Cove Oregon High School Equestrian Team.