Equestrian
Contact Information:
Website: www.columbia.edu/cu/equest/
Officers:
| President: | Laura McGarry |
| Vice Pres: | Diana Greenwald |
| Treasurer: | Elizabeth Whitman |
| Secretary: | Jill Ross |
Meeting Times and Location
For all practices, meet at the 116th Street and Broadway Gates
| Tues - Thurs | 7 - 11 am | Bergen Equestrian Center, Leonia NJ | Lesson / Practice |
| Friday | 9:30 - 12:30 pm | Bergen Equestrian Center, Leonia NJ | Lesson / Practice |
| Friday | 12:30 - 3:00 pm | Bergen Equestrian Center, Leonia NJ | Lesson / Practice |
Description:
Columbia University’s Equestrian Club strives to make horseback riding accessible to all members of the Columbia community. We welcome riders of all levels, even those who have never ridden a horse before. The Club has both a recreational team for beginning riders and riders not wishing to compete as well as a show team that competes in the IHSA. Recreational team riders ride once a week, while show team riders ride at least twice a week. Lessons are held at Bergen Equestrian Center in Leonia, NJ. We train with Penny Kinnally, the head riding instructor of the facility. Lessons are held Tuesday through Thursday mornings and Friday throughout the day. For those competing, horseshows are an all day event usually held on Sundays. We compete in the IHSA in Zone 2 Region 4. The IHSA horseshows have divisions from walk-trot to 3’ fences so riders of all abilities contribute to the team’s success. The show team also competes at the Ivy League Equestrian Championship Horseshow every Spring. We welcome anyone interested in the Equestrian to contact co-captains Laura or Kylie for more information.
Equestrian Club Accomplishments in the 2007-2008 Season:
Our show team finished fourth out of twelve teams in our region, which is a great accomplishment considering our team is only about half as big as many of the other teams and we were competing against several varsity teams. Our club won the high-point team award, meaning that our riders placed the highest overall in the show out of the twelve teams competing, at both the shows we hosted this year and at the Yale University show. In addition, riders from our club won individual high-point rider awards at three of the ten shows this season. Eight of our twelve show team riders qualified for Regionals, which is at least one person per division in six out of eight divisions. Of the five riders who competed at Regionals, three advanced to Zones. At Zones, our intermediate flat rider placed fifth out of the fifty riders who competed in that division this year. At the Ivy League Championships, we placed third out of seven teams; the only teams that beat us were varsity teams.