# Any Collegiate Equestrians Out There?



## Ray MacDonald (Dec 27, 2009)

Well, I'm still in high school but I am going to a college that has a riding team, as well as I am taking my own horse with me. It's a agricultural college that I will be doing the equine business program.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

Berry College - Experience it Firsthand

My alma mater and a great equestrian program!


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## GeminiJumper (Jun 12, 2008)

Yep!

I went to Black Hawk College Black Hawk College | Campuses located in the city of Moline and near Kewanee, Illinois. and rode on their equestrian team. While I was there, they only offered a western team but were pretty good. The whole experience was great and I loved all the practicing but if you're going to be a broke college student like I was/am, be prepared for a starting fee to join IHSA and then all the eating out that comes with traveling to different shows.

I'm going to ISU in the fall and hoping to get on their hunt seat or dressage show team!

Good luck! What schools are you looking at?


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## Oxer (Jul 9, 2010)

there's a couple things to look for when looking to do intercollegiate riding. do you wanna bring your own horse? because some colleges offer riding teams, but they do not allow you to bring your horse. What kind of riding do you want to do, is the college super competitive in their riding, or is it simply just a fun extra thing to have on your college resume.

Centenary College in Jersey is one of my faves... however i didn't end up going there because i chose to go into the medical field and stay closer to home instead (here in California).


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## thesilverspear (Aug 20, 2009)

I was never on the teams but if you're into that sort of thing, they are very good.

Mount Holyoke College Athletics


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Welcome to the Forum! 

My former school (Univ. of MD) has Equestrian team based in one of the quite respected show/lesson barns in area. From what I know you pay a fee (like $500 or so), and you have "practice" days in that barn. They do show quite a lot too (I believe jumping or eventing). There are horses on campus as well to practice BUT you gotta be in Animal Science program to be qualified to ride on campus horse.


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## Horsesdontlie (Mar 11, 2011)

At my college they have an equestrian team that is under IHSA. 

I honestly lasted 3 weeks before I quit. At my school it was cheep to join and lessons about 3 days a week. BUT there were so many girls (50-70?)on the team and with only 10 english horses and 7 western horses you got to ride for a total of 10-15 minutes and that was it. Owning my own horse off campus I found no way to benefit from the program. If you don't have your own horse its great. If you do.....depends on the campus I hear a lot have better programs because they have less people to compete with.

My school also had an arabian breeding farm, and I liked working with that better. I groomed, exercised and bathed many many horses on the facility and got to ride for about 40 minutes twice a week, with a better instructor. 

Calpoly Pomona Equine Activities


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

Berry Vikings Athletics - Women's Equestrian

I really like this school!


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## Opus (Jan 3, 2011)

NCAA programs are pretty darn hard to get into. And I've heard that at some of the top competitive schools, IHSA is hard to get into as well. 

I rode IHSA at Wesleyan College in Ga. (Hi, Berry College!) about 12 years ago, when we had about 15-20 riders on the team, both English and Western and would routinely send riders to Nationals. It was a LOT of fun, but we also had a fantastic trainer at the time. Our college was somewhat unique in that we had a barn and horses on campus, and our trainer was actually on the college staff, and not just based out of a local facility. The college paid for our hotel and food while on the road competing. We had to pay our class fees and our IHSA/USHJA membership fees. The college pretty much treated us like any other sports team on campus.

There was also the semester fee to ride. Everyone on the team took an equestrian class (college credit) and it cost an additional $1500/semester. (I don't think that's the case now, though.) In that fee, we got 2 or 3 lessons a week, equestrian team practice, and we were able to go out to the barn and hack or trail ride whenever we wanted, assuming there was a horse available. And there usually was, as we had probably 15-20 horses at the time. So, it was more than just a one lesson a week deal. We also had some girls bring their horses from home, paying a boarding fee for them.

Unfortunately, I'm under the impression that Wesleyan's team has been in a steady decline since my old trainer left back in 2004 or so. Fewer riders, and not as competitive in huntseat anymore, although they seem to have some good Western riders. 

I also have to say that I've heard some negative stories coming from people who rode IHSA at other schools across the U.S. 

Do you have an idea of what you want to major in? Do you have a state/region preference? The Southeast has plenty of good schools with solid IHSA teams if that's an option.


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## ridingthrulife (Jul 11, 2011)

Thanks for your responses everyone! Let me try to answer some of those questions...

My current list is UVA, Princeton, Vanderbilt, Emory, UNC, Duke, Richmond, UC Berkeley, and Maryland. With a few exceptions, I am mostly looking towards the south.

I don't have a horse of my own, so that wouldn't need to be a consideration.

I am most likely looking for a program that is not super-competitive when it comes to showing. I currently only ride in local shows and while I wouldn't mind traveling, showing isn't really my priority at the moment. 

I have absolutely no idea what I want to major in. I am thinking about going pre-med, but I know with that path I may not have a ton of excess time to devote to riding.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

You mean she has to take classes? 
Well that's not fun......
(Just kidding)


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

I may be missed that, but what state are you in? Depending on your financial situation (if it's tight, since education is definitely not cheap in this country) you may also consider something local (as in-state tuition usually lower than out-of-state, at least it's a case in MD). Not trying to talk you off, just pointing it out.


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## ridingthrulife (Jul 11, 2011)

I actually live in Maryland... I have that on my list as kind of a safety, since I really want to go out of state! A lot of the schools I'm looking at guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need. Some, like Princeton, even go farther and gift all aid in grants, eliminating loans, and therefore post-grad debt, entirely.


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## manca (Feb 23, 2011)

That is so unfair! :evil:

We have no such things here! College riding teams, having your horse with you on college, etc... I can just dream about it 

We have no schools that would be conected with horses. If I want to be an equine vet I have to finish college for vets (or whatever it's called, I don't know the difference between academy, college and similiar) and then go out of country to study more... No other possibilities if I want to do something related to horses.

That's it. I'm moving to USA :lol:


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## chevaliernr (May 24, 2009)

I was about to ask what caliber of a school you were looking for academic-wise, but you answered that question with your list. I tried out for and made the team at my school, but chose not to pursue it. The girls on the team seem to have a great time and able to handle academics on top of competing, but the time and money commitment was something I didn't feel I would handle well, especially freshman year. 

The fee would have been over $1200 a year, not including show clothes and all that extraneous stuff. The time commitment was practice 2 to 3 days a week from about 6 to 9 in the morning, with many weekends spent at shows, gym workouts 3 days a week, and once a week barn chores. 

Right now, I'm content just taking weekly lessons as my PE at the barn. I would have preferred a club team that was more laid back with less time commitment. And since it sounds like academics is your priority and showing is a bonus, I would look into that.


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## ridingthrulife (Jul 11, 2011)

Since now I know that there are people out there who rode in college... did you guys have to try out for the team or club? What were the tryouts like, and were they merely to evaluate your ability or did they determine whether you "made it" or not?


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## thesilverspear (Aug 20, 2009)

As I said, I was never on the teams at Mount Holyoke. I just kept my horse at the barn and was around enough to know at some level what went on. Because the teams were very competitive and highly rated (they tended to win, a lot), tryouts were SCARY and very much determined whether you got on the riding team. 

If you were in the lesson program (and any student at the uni could be) but not on the teams, there were no tryouts. Again, I'm not sure because I did my own thing and only did private lessons on my own horse, but I believe they may have evaluated people's ability at the beginning of the semester so they could get everyone in an appropriate class. There was everything offered from complete novice lessons to jumping daftly huge fence lessons. It was a big lesson program -- 60 school horses, from the fugliest of plugs to ex-Intermediaire II dressage horses who had been donated to us.


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## GeminiJumper (Jun 12, 2008)

Depending on how many people come to apply for the team, the try outs are basically for the instructors to determine what level of rider you are. Then they'll know what section to put you in. Usually everyone makes it to the team but if there is very large amount, I assume they still let everyone try out and then the look at all the different levels of riders they have before them and then make a choice.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

My mom was the Dean of Students for Lake Erie College, and they had a great equestrian team. One of her students won the Cacchione Cup.


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## thesilverspear (Aug 20, 2009)

To qualify GeminiJumper's post, that probably depends what college (it's fine to say that word to Americans in this context) or university you are at. If you're trying out for a team where they have a lot of good riders trying out and they are a ridiculously competitive team, many people would not have made the team. 

I, for one, would not have made the team. The way the dressage (and possibly eq but I don't know) worked was that the team had three levels corresponding to the USDF dressage tests, Intro, Training, and First, and which one you were allowed to ride on depended on your previous record at USDF shows. If you had shown at Second Level or above, you HAD to be on the First Level team. If you had shown First Level, you had to be on the Training Level Team. And if you didn't exist anywhere on USDF's records, you could be on Intro. That was fantastic for the team, as we had some Intro riders who were amazing and experienced riders, but hadn't done any recognised shows. Win. Anyway, I had shown Second Level and done fairly appallingly, as neither me nor my horse had a strong enough grasp of some basic things, like impulsion, in those days to not suck royally at Second Level. Whoops. But as far as IDA (is that the right acronym?) is concerned, it doesn't matter. I existed in USDF records as showing Second Level, so in the IDA's view, me and my fantastically consistent 53%'s on Second Level Test 1 were on par with people who were breezing the 60%'s at Prix St. George. Ridiculous? Maybe. After all, there's a world of difference between even solid Second Level and PSG. But it is how things work on competitive and successful collegiate equestrian teams due to the rules constructed by the governing body. 

Luckily for my ego, I never touched the try-outs and teams with a bargepole, thus I was spared the pain.


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## countercanter (May 18, 2011)

I am a rising Senior at the University of Kentucky. I could not imagine myself at any other school. We have an IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association), we are a club sport opposed to a varsity sport (NCAA). We have to pay dues every semester, you are required to take at least one lesson a week, help with fundraising, etc. We are a pretty competitive team. in 2008 we were National Champions, 2009 Reserve National Champion, 2010 3rd Overall and this past year we were 5th. We operate out of a local Hunter/Jumper barn. The farm owner is nice enough to let us ride, use the facilities, and the horses for all of our needs. UK doesn't have their own farm for the team to ride out of. We are allowed to have our own horses and you can board wherever you want. Many of the riders take lessons with other trainers in the area as well. You are allowed to show outside of the team and are free to do your own thing as long as you keep within the rules. It is a really good expereince both socially and to improve your riding skills. Many top equestrians competing at the olympic level were once IHSA or NCAA equestrians in college.


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## countercanter (May 18, 2011)

countercanter said:


> I am a rising Senior at the University of Kentucky. I could not imagine myself at any other school. We have an IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association), we are a club sport opposed to a varsity sport (NCAA). We have to pay dues every semester, you are required to take at least one lesson a week, help with fundraising, etc. We are a pretty competitive team. in 2008 we were National Champions, 2009 Reserve National Champion, 2010 3rd Overall and this past year we were 5th. We operate out of a local Hunter/Jumper barn. The farm owner is nice enough to let us ride, use the facilities, and the horses for all of our needs. UK doesn't have their own farm for the team to ride out of. We are allowed to have our own horses and you can board wherever you want. Many of the riders take lessons with other trainers in the area as well. You are allowed to show outside of the team and are free to do your own thing as long as you keep within the rules. It is a really good expereince both socially and to improve your riding skills. Many top equestrians competing at the olympic level were once IHSA or NCAA equestrians in college.


While we are a competitive team, we give everyone a chance. We have "tryouts" but they are really more for our coach to evaluate your ability and determine which division to put you in. Everyone that wants to be on the team gets to be on it. We have a range of people from people that have only ridden a horse once or twice and just really enjoyed it all the way to people that show very competitively on the A circuit and have been raised in "horse show families." You aren't garunteed to show however. We have a lare number of people on the team (close to 60 at the begining of a semester, but usually dwindles to 40ish).


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## chevaliernr (May 24, 2009)

I tried out for the team. The IHSA has, I believe, 8 levels of huntseat riding from walk/trot up. My school's team is fairly competitive. We had to fill out a pretty extensive form of our show history. Your show history and placings helped determine which level to try out for, and our tryouts were grouped as such. 

We rode for about 15-20 minutes with our group, w/t/c and jumping for the higher levels and were videotaped. We were given "callbacks," which basically meant we were on the team. The callback was sort of a social evaluation - I guess they had girls in the past that didn't fit in with the team. I'd say maybe 15% of the girls who tried out made the team, maybe less. Our team is fairly small - somewhere between 20-30 girls, and not everyone shows every week. I have a friend at another school whose equestrian team takes basically everyone who tries out, though. Really depends on the school.


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## speedy da fish (May 7, 2009)

Hi, I live in the UK and have just finished my first year at University. I have my horse at Uni with me (I will hopefully be able to keep him there in my 2nd year too) and I am on the university riding team. I'm sure that there will be plenty of opportunity for you to ride wherever you go and I bet you there will a riding club or society that you could join.


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## Opus (Jan 3, 2011)

Yes and no. If you're a lower level rider going into IHSA (walk-trot, WTC) then probably not. And if you're an upper level rider (Open/Medals) probably not. But if you are somewhere in between, there could be some competition. It all depends on the size of the program.

Our team did not have any competitions for spots that I'm aware. Of course, I was a beginner rider they pulled out of their equestrian class.


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