Archive for the ‘Equestrian College Recriting’ Category

The difference between the IHSA and The NCAA riding programs.

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Thinking about riding in college? Take a few minutes now to learn the differences between the two largest college riding organizations, the IHSA and the NCAA
The IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association) is the oldest and largest nationally competitive college riding program in the United States.
Founded in 1967 by Bob Cacchione, the IHSA was the first to make equestrian sports part of the college experience for male and female students in a manner that is fun, affordable, educational and competitive. Numerous Olympic riders, including Greg Best and Beezie Madden are alumni of IHSA. Each year over 8,000 IHSA riders of all skill levels from over 360 colleges compete individually and as teams at regional, zone, and national championship levels.
There are no recruiting guidelines in the IHSA regarding amateur status. You can be a professional, earn prize money at horse shows, give lessons, sell horses for profit and still ride on an IHSA team. The IHSA coaches and prospective riders have no limits placed on them with regards to contacting each other and prospective riders can visit schools without restriction. Prospective athletes that are hoping for a scholarship need to realize that good grades and good SAT/ACT scores are just as important as your riding ability.

Eliminating the expense of shipping or even owning horses puts IHSA competitions within reach of many who would otherwise miss the equestrian experience while in college. This is an all inclusive program open to riders of all skill levels and socio/economic backgrounds. Competitions offer classes for beginning to advanced riders; in Hunter Seat Equitation there are eight levels of Hunter Seat riding – beginner walk-trot through open where Medal /Maclay riders are sought and in Western Horsemanship and Reining there are six levels of Western Riding – beginner through open/Reining. Teams may be student run “club “teams or be a part of a college’s athletic program the difference between the two usually breaks down to how much the college financially supports the team. Club sport teams are entitled to compete at all IHSA competitions but in most cases the riders receive little or no financial assistance from the school. There are some colleges however who help with lesson expense and many of the teams hold fundraisers to help offset expenses. Many of the colleges with degreed programs in equine-related fields have school supported IHSA teams and offer athletic and academic scholarships for riding. The IHSA allows and encourages alumni participation all the way to the national championship.
The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has been around for a very long time and is the governing body for all varsity athletics in the United States. In 1998, equestrian was classified as an NCAA emerging sport. Many people within the horse industry have united together to help advance the sport to full NCAA championship status. In order to attain this goal and hold a NCAA Equestrian Championship, there must be 40 Division I/II schools that sponsor equestrian as a varsity level program. Currently 23 colleges and universities offer equestrian as a varsity sport and more continue to add the program each year.
The NCAA schools decided to make Equestrian riding a woman’s sport; this helps the colleges satisfy the mandates set forth in Title IX in which the courts ruled that colleges must spend an equal amount of money on scholarships for female athletes as they do the male athletes. For this reason the NCAA schools only have female riders on their teams. The NCAA schools have both English and Western teams and they tend to look for the more advanced riders who have a great deal of show experience. All NCAA equestrian programs offer up to 15 scholarships that they can award either as full rides or partial rides paired up with academic scholarships and or financial aid.
The NCAA has a very strict set of rules to follow; some of these are listed below, however for a full understanding you should go the NCAA web site and familiarize yourself with all the rules. One thing you might notice is that NCAA schools do not advertise their riding programs; this is one of the NCAA rules. Another major rule you should be aware of is; if you are interested in qualifying for an NCAA scholarship you must first register with the NCAA clearing house. This is done by having your high school guidance counselor fill out form 48H and send it to the NCAA, you must also have your SAT and ACT scores sent directly to the NCAA Clearinghouse, test scores on an official high school transcript are no longer accepted.
Riders must be considered and amateur in order to be considered for recruitment The NCAA also has very strict amateur rules; they are actually stricter than most equestrian governing bodies. One question you may ask is; will my winnings affect my amateur status? The answer is YES! It is recommended that prospective students keep a record of expenses and winnings for all shows. Prior to enrollment at a university, winnings can not exceed the dollar value of your actual expenses related to that competition, during college no prize money is allowed to be received. Strangely enough according to the NCAA varsity equestrian web site, teaching lessons does not affect your amateur status with the NCAA as long as payment was comparable to the going rate. It is important to note that amateur status for the NCAA differs from that of the AQHA and USEF. For more information you may call the NCAA Clearing house directly by calling 1-877-262-1492 or visit the NCAA web site
There are also very strict rules concerning contacts by the college coaches, school visits etc., you, as a prospective student, should familiarize yourself with these rules since breaking them will effect your eligibility. There are NCAA equestrian teams in both Division 1 and 2 schools and their recruiting guidelines must be followed to the letter… I can not stress enough that the NCAA and IHSA teams are also looking for very strong academics as well as good riding ability. It is very important to have good SAT or ACT scores and a respectable GPA.
In both organizations the host colleges provide horses and tack. Horses are chosen by random draw and riders do not have the opportunity to warm up or test a horse over a jump before entering the show ring. Riders are judged in accordance with USEF/USHJA/AQHA/NRHA rules.
If you would like to read more about each organization you can visit the NCAA Varsity Equestrian website at http://www.varsityequestrian.com/ or the IHSA website at http://www.ihsainc.com/. You can also visit www.equestriancollegerecruiter and read about the equestrian college recruiting process in detail.
Michael Imparato
EquestrianCollegeRecruiter.com

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What is the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association?

Monday, May 11th, 2009

The IHSA is the oldest and largest nationally competitive college riding program in the United States.
Founded in 1967 by Bob Caccione, the IHSA was the first to make equestrian sports part of the college experience for male and female students in a manner that is fun, affordable, educational and competitive. Each year over 6,500 IHSA riders of all skill levels compete individually and as teams at regional, zone, and national championship levels.
The IHSA offers opportunities for riders who are just beginning in the sport as well as for students with show experience. Eliminating the expense of shipping or even owning horses puts IHSA competitions within reach of many who would otherwise miss the equestrian experience while in college. Numerous Olympic riders, including Greg Best and Beezie Madden are alumni of IHSA.
What disciplines do the IHSA riders compete in?
There are classes designed on specific experience levels, from Beginner Walk-Trot to Open, in four disciplines
– hunter equitation, equitation over fences, western horsemanship and reining. College horse shows are like “meets”, with all teams from the region invited to compete against each other simultaneously. The national average region includes about eleven colleges, 225 total riders, and competes in 8.6 horse shows per year. Only about two-thirds of the regions offer competition in western horsemanship. There are now 30 regions and 9 zones, encompassing 48 states, 7000+ riders and over 300 teams!

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What you should know about Equestrian College Recruiting

Monday, May 11th, 2009

As my wife and I found out first hand the world of Equestrian College Recruiting can be very confusing and a bit intimidating. I will try and make some sense of the process in the space allowed. There are many different college riding organizations ranging from the NCAA ( National Collegiate Athletic Association), the IHSA ( Intercollegiate Horse Show Association), the IDA ( Intercollegiate Dressage Association), the ANRC ( American National Riding Commission) as well as the NIRA ( National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association).
First we will cover a little about the NCAA. The NCAA only allows female riders to be recruited and this is a result of Title 9 which covers gender equity. I personally believe this to be unfair as Equestrian is one of a very few sports where men and women compete against each other in the Olympics. The recruiting guidelines are very strict and must be followed to the letter. The NCAA allows each University 15 scholarships and then the schools may do as they wish. Some give partial riding scholarships/part academic so they can recruit more riders. Riders MUST register with the NCAA clearing house before they are eligible to be recruited. A new rule which went into affect this past year also dictates that your SAT or ACT results must be sent directly to the NCAA clearinghouse by the testing agency. No exceptions. Riders must also keep good financial records of any prize money/expenses for any given competition as winning money may deem you ineligible for NCAA. Remember your travel, food, groom, entry fees etc count against your earnings so keep your receipts. There are too many other requirements to list in this article such as contacts with coaches, college visits etc. You can read more at www.equestriancollegrecruiter.com
The IHSA is the oldest and largest nationally competitive college riding program in the United States. Founded in 1967, the IHSA was the first to make equestrian sports part of the college experience for male and female students in a manner that is fun, affordable, educational and competitive. Each year over 6,500 IHSA riders of all skill levels compete individually and as teams at regional, zone, and national championship levels. The IHSA offers opportunities for riders who are just beginning in the sport as well as for students with show experience. Eliminating the expense of shipping or even owning horses puts IHSA competitions within reach of many who would otherwise miss the equestrian experience while in college.
Numerous Olympic riders, including Greg Best and Beezie Madden are alumni of IHSA.
The Walk Trot rider is just as important to an IHSA team as their medal and Maclay riders. There are no recruiting guidelines in IHSA, and riders are allowed to win money and not be considered a professional but riders should keep a record of their ribbons won at different levels of showing and fence heights as this may affect your novice status.
The IDA provides a series of dressage competitions affiliated with the US Dressage Federation for member colleges and universities.
At each show, individual and team points are earned, which count toward regional
standings and qualification for national finals. Levels include Introductory, Lower Training Level, Upper Training Level, First Level and Open. Riders move up levels based on points earned.
Horses and tack are provided by the host school and assigned by draw. Riders have 10-15
minutes of warm- up time and may be assisted by coaches. There are over 47 colleges that compete at the IDA horse shows.
The American National Riding Commission, Inc. (ANRC) was established in 2006 to continue the goals and activities of the Affiliated National Riding Commission, which existed as part of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD) for more that 60 years. The original purpose was to initiate a standardized method to educate riders in hunt seat equitation and to create a “Rider Certification” system to assess riding ability and knowledge of riding theory. ANRC continues to support these goals with competitions, clinics, and distribution of educational materials.
ANRC’s educational system is based on the teachings of Captain Vladimir Littauer, a Russian who came to the United States in the thirties and established a riding school. His progressive riding system has influenced many professional riders and trainers, including Jane Dillon, George Morris, Joe Fargis, Lendon Gray, Pam Baker and Bernie Traurig.
The NIRA has 147 member colleges and offer scholarships to both males and females in a variety of rodeo competitions and is unique to the other programs in that the riders bring their own horse to college to compete with.
All of the above organizations emphasize that the potential recruit should have good grades, good test scores and a good work ethic. Be as “riding fit” and as in shape as you can be, and make a good impression at your tryout by having your shirt tucked into your clean breeches, wearing a belt, polishing your boots, and have your hair neatly contained in a hair net for the females and be well groomed with hair 1 inch above the collar for the males.
There are several methods of being recruited. Miss Denna Johnson holds a College Bound Horse Show at the end of July in Florida each year which is held in a college horse show format. The weekend is very informative and is attended by many college coaches looking for new talent. The Equestrian Talent Search is an educational clinic and rider rating combine, designed to educate riders and parents about all the options available in collegiate and high school riding, and to rate and track talented young riders for collegiate teams and coaches. Equestrian Talent Search is produced by Beckett Run Inc, the same management company that produces the Tournament of Champions collegiate invitational horse show series. The newest tool for being recruited is the website we built because of the difficulties we faced learning about equestrian college recruiting. EquestrianCollegeRecruiter.com allows riders to post an academic/riding resume along with photos and full video. This allows coaches to peruse the site at their leisure. The site has information about all of the college riding organizations in one convenient spot and you can also learn about all of the colleges without going to multiple websites. If you have any specific questions about college recruiting please send them to Mike@equestriancollegerecruiter.com

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