Big Red Elite Equestrian Team

11/04/2024

Good job team! These girls have dedicated tons and tons of time to becoming better riders and it showed. Now the prep for Nationals in Fort Worth begins!

09/04/2024

We are Nationals Bound! The Big Red Elite girls rode their heart out at regionals on Saturday!

🔥Congrats to these riders! 🔥

Taylor Root- Open Horsemanship

Elly Spracklen- Intermediate Reining and Intermediate Horsemanship

Lyra Krutak- Novice Horsemanship

Gianna LaPlante- Beginner Horsemanshp

Bri Hill- Novice Ranch Riding

Faith Elkins- Future Intermediate Reining

They will compete in Fort Worth, Texas June 23-25! We are so proud of you!

06/04/2024

Best of Luck to our regional qualifiers at the Region 6 finals tomorrow in Winterset, IA!

We have 21 individual qualifiers and both middle school and high school teams competing for a chance to show at the National Finals in Fort Worth, TX!

Regional Qualifiers:
Caraline Higgins
Taylor Root
Charli Wells
Gianna LaPlante
Lilee Chevalier
Maria LaPlante
Taeva Taylor
Kayla Isaacs
Lexi Buckley
Bri Hill
Lena Barnes
Lyra Krutak
Elly Spracklen
Reagan Dearth
Katelyn Turek
Faith Elkins
Sky Buneta
Evelynn Smith
Fiona Brokering
Meg LaPlante
Grace Rued

Coached by:
Kelsey Ebke & Emily Keiser

Go Big Red!

22/03/2024

A few of our Seniors having fun at practice! We will miss our class of ‘24 with 5 amazing riders and leaders!

12/03/2024

Congrats, Caraline! Cloud County is so lucky to have you!

Congratulations Caraline Higgins on signing to go Cloud County next fall. Way to go and Good Luck!!

04/03/2024

HUGE thank you to Evan Knapp of Knapp Performance Horses for spending the weekend with us in Nebraska to help our Big Red Elite riders polish their horsemanship skills in preparation for Regional competition!

Your positivity, knowledge, and ability to see the strengths and weaknesses of each individual rider helped everyone improve and feel more confident in their horsemanship skills!

Thank you also to our 25 🙌🏻 riders that participated and are committed to learning and improving! Thanks also to the horse providers! Go Big Red!

06/02/2024

Regional practices have began, these two Open riders had a great reining practice tonight! Go Big Red!

14/12/2023

We wanted to take some time to thank our sponsors for the 2023-2024 show season! We couldn’t do this without your support!!

R/EAL Accounting, LLC
Thrivent
Green Quest Recycling
Ebke Performance Horses, LLC

Adamz K9 Inc.
Turek Cattle Company
Horner Performance Horses
Morrissey Fencing
P Double Bar Ranch Feed
White Glove Treatment
Quality Case Management, Inc.
Jason and Wendy Timmerman
Pro SWPP Solutions
Cochrane Family Farm
Dirt Road Ranch
Ahrens Properties, LLC
Apex Shooting, LLC
Culligan of Grand Island
Hill Show Lambs

Hillcrest Animal Clinic
Vic & Deb Kesse
Shear Bliss Salon
Century Auto Repair & Towing

14/12/2023

We ❤️ our Big Red Elite seniors!! All 5 of them qualified for regionals, so it was their last home show, but not goodbye!

14/12/2023

Congratulations to our Upper and Future Teams for a great home show, the Big Red Classic!!

We hauled 26 horses, 29 kids, and 2 coaches to Central City, NE. A HUGE thank you to all of our horse providers, and especially the UNL Equestrian Team for the use of 11 horses and Colby Community College for the use of 4 horses. We couldn’t have done it without your help!!

Here are the results:
Saturday AM:
High School- High point Team
Futures- Reserve High Point Team
Caraline Higgins- Reserve High Point Rider
Skylar Buneta- Reserve High Point Rider
Maria LaPlante- Sportsmanship Winner
Horse of the Show- Jerry Lee

Saturday PM:
High School- High Point Team
Futures- Reserve High Point Team
Caraline Higgins- Reserve High Point Rider
Katelyn Turek- Reserve High Point Rider
Horse of the Show- Ally

Sunday AM:
High School- Reserve High Point Team
Futures- Reserve High Point Team
Caraline Higgins- Reserve High Point Rider

Next up is Regionals! Congrats to our regional qualifiers!!

04/12/2023

We are less than a week away from hosting our home horse show, the Big Red Classic, in Central City, NE! Best of luck to all of our riders, they have been working really hard!

14/11/2023

Our team is looking for sponsorships for our 2023-2024 season! See the details below on how to sponsor!

Reach out to Kelsey at 308-627-3403, or any team member for details!

06/11/2023

Our Big Red Team horses, Boom and Brooks, helped out at the UNL Equestrian Team show this weekend! Great job Huskers!

23/10/2023

Nebraska came in force to Iowa for our first 3 Regular Season IEA shows. We had 29 riders between High School and Futures that competed in Reining, Ranch Riding, and Horsemanship. Thank you to the Central Iowa Equestrians for hosting!

Saturday AM Results:
High School- Reserve High Point Team
Futures- Reserve High Point Team
Reserve High Point Futures Rider-Faith Elkins

Saturday PM Results:
High School- Reserve High Point Team
Futures- High Point Team
High Point High School Rider- Caraline Higgins
Reserve High Point High School Rider- Taylor Root
High Point Futures- Faith Elkins

Sunday Results:
High School- Reserve High Point Team
Futures- Reserve High Point Team
High Point High School Rider- Caraline Higgins
Reserve High Point Futures Rider- Katelyn Turek

Coached by Kelsey Ebke & Emily Keiser

Great job everyone! We look forward to our next show December 9th- 10th in Nebraska!

19/10/2023

We head to Iowa for our first 3 regular season shows this weekend! To say this group has been working hard to prepare would be an understatement. We can’t wait to see you show! Best of Luck & Go Big Red!

10/09/2023

Introducing the 2023-2024 Big Red Elite Equestrian Team! We kicked off our season with a team camp yesterday. We are looking forward to a great IEA season!

21/08/2023

It was so good to see and hear from all of you that were interested in the team! If you would like to join, please fill out this Google Form. If you send me a message, I can also send you our informational presentation. Looking forward to a great year!

16/08/2023

We are looking forward to our informational meeting at Ebke Performance Horses tomorrow, 8/16 at 6:30 to kick off our 2023-2024 IEA season.

This is for new and current members. There is a zoom link if you can’t make it in person, email Kelsey at [email protected] or text 308-627-3403 if you would like the link. See you all tomorrow!

09/08/2023

Are you interested in joining the team? Come learn more about IEA, Big Red Elite and the details for our upcoming season!

When: Wednesday, August 16th @ 6:30
Where: Ebke Performance Horses, 17000 SW 42nd St. Martell, NE 68404
Who: Returning members and interested future members

Can’t make it? No problem! Just reach out to Coach Kelsey Ebke, 308-627-3403 or [email protected] for a Zoom link or to get the information sent to you! We are excited to get the 2023-2024 season started!

19/07/2023

Are you in grades 4-12 and looking to improve your riding skills and get more opportunities to show? We are gearing up for next season and have limited spots available for new middle school and high school riders to join! Open to any riders in Nebraska! More information will be coming soon.

Want proof that it works? At the Nebraska State 4H Horse Expo TEN of the Horsemanship finalists between the 3 divisions have been members of Big Red Elite.

Huge congratulations to members Gretchen and Lauren on your State Championships! And congrats to all of the other riders as well!

26/06/2023

Way to go Josie on your 7th place finish in team reining and for being a finalist in team horsemanship! You had two great rides and represented our team so well!

26/06/2023

Congratulations to Paige on her 5th place finish in Team Novice Horsemanship! You had a beautiful ride on Sophie and kicked off the morning for our team!

25/06/2023

It’s TEAM day! Here is our Futures team lineup:

Intermediate Horsemanship- Josie
Intermediate Reining- Josie
Novice Ranch Riding- Kayla
Novice Horsemanship- Paige
Beginner Horsemanship- Avery

Best of luck to you all!

25/06/2023

Congratulations, Charli, on being a finalist at Nationals!!

25/06/2023

Great job, Avery, on your 8th place finish at nationals in Beginner Horsemanship! Making it into the top 8 is no easy task, and you have become quite the rider! Congratulations!

02/05/2022

Congratulations to our high school team for their top 10 finish at the IEA national finals!!

Congrats to each one of these talented ladies:

Helene Keiser for her 4th place finish in team open horsemanship!

Taylor Root for her 4th place finish in team int reining!

Vyvian Alstrom for her 5th place finish in Team beginner horsemanship!

Caraline Higgins for her 7th place finish in Team Ranch Riding!

Helene Keiser for her 8th place finish in Team Open Reining!

Liz Funk for being a finalist in Team Int Horsemanship!

Harper Rosenstiel for being a finalist in Team Novice Horsemanship!

The competition was tough, the horses were cranky by day 4, and they were showing until 10:00 last night. These talented ladies kept a positive attitude, had the best cheering section, and persevered through some tough draws. Thanks for representing Nebraska so well at the IEA national finals ladies!

01/05/2022

Nationals Day 3! High school individual day!

01/05/2022

It’s high school team day!!!

We kick off around 2:00 Eastern time with the team competition. Here is today’s lineup:

Open Reining- Helene Keiser
Intermediate Reining- Taylor Root
Ranch Riding- Caraline Higgins
Beginner Horsemanship- Vyvian Alstrom
Novice Horsemanship- Harper Rosenstiel
Intermediate Horsemanship- Liz Funk
Open Horsemanship- Helene Keiser

Time to leave it all out in the arena! Go Big Red!

30/04/2022

Awards still happening.. but you are looking at our RESERVE NATIONAL REINING CHAMPION!!!!!! 141.5 for Helene Keiser!!!

30/04/2022

Nationals Days 1 & 2!