TCU’s equestrian team plans to “ride smart” at the 2012 National Collegiate Equestrian Association National Championship Thursday through Saturday at the Extraco Events Center in Waco.

The hunt seat team will attend the championship seeded eighth, while the western team will be a No. 10 seed.

“This team has all of the ability in the world and is very prepared to take on the challenge,” hunt seat head coach Logan Fiorentino said in a press release.

No. 9 seed Kansas State will compete against TCU’s hunt seat team in the first round in equitation on the flat.

The Frogs competed against Kansas State in October but lost 11-9. TCU has prepared for two weeks to face the Wildcats again, Fiorentino said in the release.

Junior hunt seat rider Haley Jacobi said the riders prepared mentally by visualizing how the competition should go.

“The mental aspect is so important in our sport, especially when we won’t necessarily be riding our own horses,” Jacobi said.

Fiorentino said in the release that challenges throughout each competition arose for the team over the course of the season but the team continued to improve throughout the year.

The western team will compete in reining against No. 7 Baylor. The Frogs and Bears have not competed against each other this season.

According to the TCU Athletics website, the team will ride in its sixth consecutive national championship competition.

In 2008, the western team won the Western National Championship but fell to Texas A&M in 2009 to earn a Reserve Western National Championship.

The hunt seat team placed sixth in the 2010 national championship, its highest finish in hunt seat team history.

The Horned Frogs’ highest combined team finish came in 2010 when the team earned fourth place overall.