The Connecticut College Equestrian Team is a member of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA). Members of our team ride once or twice a week at Mystic Valley Hunt Club, about 15 minutes from campus. We compete in the Fall and Spring (though those late February and March shows are more like winter) against the other teams in our zone in Hunt Seat Equitation over fences and on flat. The way the IHSA shows work is that, each week, we go to a different school's barn and everyone rides a horse they're not used to riding. Connecticut College is in Region 1 of Zone 1, which means we compete against 10 other schools in our area: UCONN, Teikyo Post, Wesleyan, URI, Brown, Salve Regina, Johnson & Wales, Roger Williams, and Trinity. The draw for shows is completely random, so it levels the playing field. IHSA is designed to give everyone an equal chance at having a good ride because everyone rides horses that they are not familiar with. And because we all ride horses we are not familiar with, it’s a new experience every time.
Our team members come from a variety of different backgrounds: Hunter/Jumper,
Dressage, Saddle Seat, Western, Icelandic, and just plain trail riding,
so it doesn’t matter what your previous riding experience is. As
long as you know how to ride you can learn to compete and do well. Each
rider on our team must have (for competition): an approved show helmet,
English field boots, show breeches (a light color), English show shirt
with collar, Hunt Seat coat, and black show gloves. At the beginning of
each year we take a team trip to a tack shop, The Paddock, in Ledyard, CT to get show
clothes and boots for new team members who need them.
• Below are links for the IHSA and Connecticut College
This page maintained by the CC Equestrian Team equest@conncoll.edu