Equestrian team info comes straight from the horse's mouth
The USC Aiken Equestrian Teams met for their first meeting last weekend to welcome riders from last season and the new riders interested in joining them.
The Equestrian teams are broken up into their respective disciplines which include Dressage, Eventing, Hunt Seat, Polo and Western. They will play both home games and travel.
For the Dressage and Eventing riders, the students who are selected will compete in both disciplines for that event and travel often to compete at different schools or different shows in the surrounding area of South Carolina.
The Hunt Seat team will welcome more riders to the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA). They finished fourth in the region out of 11 teams. This achievement also set a record for the USCA IHSA team.
Coach Megan Martin said that this year would be a great one, but she wants to encourage more competitiveness.
The Men’s Polo team became the first to represent USCA last season. This year the team will welcome a new player to their ranks who transferred from North Texas University.
To kick off the season the team will be hosting for the first time in November a team from a different college, which if successful could bring more teams to compete. The two schools that the USCA team is looking to host are from Kentucky University and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
“The team has grown since last year,” said polo coach Tiger Kneece. “And next year look for a female team, as we have secured seniors from both Alabama and North Carolina to be on the team.”
The Western team welcomed six new riders this year, which they hope will help them to compete in more events. This will be the fourth year for the Western team to promote the side of Equestrian riding not usually seen.
“It’s a growing year for the team,” said Western coach Jeff Temple, adding that he is “really excited for this season.”
Photos by Sports Editor Michael Kuras.
