Young riders milled around the schooling ring early one Saturday morning at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL, checking name tags on the horses’ saddle pads to figure out who they would ride for the first time in the show ring. Volunteers couldn’t offer any advice on the horses; riders would have to go on instinct and experience once judging started. With their horses found, riders mounted, adjusted their stirrups and headed into the ring.
The Open Equitation flat class kicked off the inaugural three-day College Preparatory Invitational Horse Show at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, Florida, in mid-January. The College Preparatory Invitational Horse Show and an awards banquet were held Saturday, with educational seminars book-ending the event Friday and Sunday. The goal was to expose the nearly 120 riders from grades 6-12 and their families to collegiate riding and the colleges and universities that have equestrian pro-grams. In addition to the riders, representatives from 16 colleges and universities attended the College Preparatory Invitational Horse Show? at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL.
“The three-day event provided invaluable information about college riding programs by top equestrian collegiate coaches from all over the country,” said CPI co-organizer Jeanne Rouco-Conesa. “Families learned about the life a rider will have in college and noted that their collegiate experience will vary depending on the organization that governs the school’s riding program.”
Download a PDF of the full article: A Taste of Collegiate Riding | Practical Horseman
