Spring Break
Equestrian Club making strides
Alex Falk
Issue date: 5/8/09 Section: Sports
|
"We ride English, equitation specifically," freshman Katie McMaster said. "It's completely judged on your position and how you navigate the horse; how well you and the horse fit together, work together."
The team recruited and members received recognition and funding from the University in 2008 and started competing in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association in 2009.
"We have had to move barns a few times since starting the team as it continued to grow and needed larger facilities, and now are based out of Great Scott Farm with assistant coach Wendy Meyers," Cutler said.
The competitions are held through the IHSA, and the schools that Drexel competes against consist of local and regional universities.
"You compete against your regions, and if you acquire enough points you go to "zones" and if you're first or second in the zones you go to nationals," sophomore Samantha Hodge said.
Hodge added that the team is divided up into different sections starting with the low levels for the inexperienced riders.
"We have girls on the team who've never sat on a horse before next to girls like Katie [McMaster] and I, who have traveled the country and have done tons of stuff," Hodge said.
Aside from riding horses and competing, there are also opportunities for members to compete at local horse shows and to volunteer at the barn in their spare time, Cutler said. The team organizes fundraising events, social events and volunteer activities each term.
The team holds practices or "lessons" once a week and it is not mandatory for riders to attend the horse shows which are the IHSA competitions.
"We are a relatively small team," McMaster said. "The University of Delaware has around 115 to 120 members; we have 25. We're a new team, we're only four years old but we're doing really well."
This season, the team finished third in the region, with seven, two and one riders qualifying for regionals, zones and nationals, respectively, according to Cutler. Hodge was the national-qualified rider.
Be the first to comment on this story