During the first week of the semester when I have to introduce myself and say an interesting fact, I always say I am a member of the equestrian team here on campus. Usually, the response is, “The equestrian team? I didn’t know West Chester even had an equestrian team!”. You probably have seen some of us walking around on campus before wearing, what some people think, is a crazy outfit. We usually sport tan or dark colored pants that look like leggings, until you see the knee patch on the inside. For shoes, we truck through the quad wearing leather, knee high, form-fitting boots that more than likely have mud or manure on the bottom. When it gets colder, a team jacket is worn that specifies on the back what organization we are a part of. If you walk next to us, you might notice a scent on us that may smell bad to you, but smells like home to us. I myself, along with thirty other students are proud members of the team and would I like to take this opportunity to tell you more about the team and what it is all about. I want more people on campus to know who we are and that West Chester University does, in fact, have a team!
Our team is a club sport at West Chester. It is made up of about thirty members total and we compete in what is known as hunt seat. We belong to and compete within The Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, also known as IHSA. Being a part of this association, we are placed in a zone and then a region. During our normal season, we compete against schools within just our region. Then, if the team or individual makes it to the post-season shows, competing against schools in our zone and possibly even the nation, comes into play! For the regular season, there are a total of nine schools that we compete against at every horse show. Over the past several years, West Chester has steadily remained placed second in the region! Individually, the team has also had many riders place in the post season shows which include regionals, zones, and nationals. We work very hard to achieve these accomplishments and are very dedicated to achieving our goals each season!
Once the season begins, each rider must lesson with our coach, Wendy Myers, at least once a week. Since we are such a large team, we all ride sporadically throughout the week instead of all at once. However, on Monday evenings we come together as a full team and have a meeting to discuss upcoming events, important information, and fundraising events. During the fall semester, we compete in a horse show majority of the weekends until mid-November. The process of competing is very unique. Instead of each school bringing their own horses to compete on, all of the schools use the horses of the barn that is hosting the show. To compete on an equal level with the other riders, each rider must draw a horse from a hat and then ride the horse they are given without any warm up time. Considering that each horse is different and unique in their own way, it can be challenging for a rider to have to learn the ins and outs of how their horse works all while they are in the arena competing and being judged on their form and riding abilities.
What I believe to be a unique aspect of our team though is that we have formed a team within a sport that is usually individualized. On the weekends of horse shows, we are all there from the early morning when we carpool to events, until the very end of the show when the last rider on our team has finished. They are typically twelve hour days and usually not the best weather wise. Through it all, though, we are a team and we stand by one another. We are dedicated and give a lot of our time to be on the team. When a member of the team wins ribbons, the allocated points help an individual to move up to the next level and qualify for post season shows, while also contributing to the team’s standing. Therefore we get to ride for ourselves and our team which does not typically happen at horse shows outside of the collegiate level.
Being at horse shows every weekend, we have become a tight-knit group. Friendships and memories have certainly been made. We get to be our crazy horse lover selves around one another and it is amazing to have so many people who share the same passion. When no one else gets why we ride and why we get up at 6 A.M. to freeze outside all day, the team always does. Aside from horse shows we get together as a team to have fun and have begun doing more community service activities together to give back! I hope this has enlightened many of you on who the West Chester University Equestrian Team is, how hard we work, and how much goes into being a part of the team. We can be found on social media as well if you would like to remain updated throughout the season on our accomplishments at shows! Please also keep an eye out for fundraisers we will be having to raise money for our team throughout the year so we can have the funding necessary to keep competing! I thank you in advance for your support and let’s go Rams!!
