Collegiate eventing is a growing sport among college athletes, offering an alternative to the traditional hunter/jumper, saddleseat and western options typically seen in athletic programs. We recently spoke with Hannah Forte, who is a member of the University of Kentucky Dressage and Eventing team. Do you have a tip about a college team? Email [email protected].
Photo via the UK Dressage and Eventing Team Facebook page.
From Hannah:
The UK Eventing Team was founded in 2005.-The University does recognize the Eventing Team as a club, but all of our funding comes from our own fundraisers and donations. The team is constantly working on fundraisers. Currently, fundraisers include t-shirt sales, auctions, and raffles. We can often be found volunteering at horse park events as well as Rolex (a huge perk of going to UK).
We currently have 48 members on the eventing team. We do not require team members to have their own horses, and try to create events that everyone can participate in, such as team bonding experiences and opportunities to send a large amount of “grooms” to shows and clinics to help. In addition to unmounted team involvement, we work very hard to find rides so everyone can participate in clinics and Intercollegiate Eventing League (IEL) competition. Our team goes far beyond just competing; we spend a lot of time in and out of the barn together!
Our members are based all over the Lexington area. A large portion of the girls are located at Cathy Weischoff’s Carriage Station Farm. While we do not have a regular trainer, we are very involved with our local dressage expert Reese Koffler-Stanfield. We also recently held a clinic with Allie Knowles at her farm in Paris, Kentucky and we are hoping to have even more opportunities to ride with her.
Primarily the team competes at IEL competitions including the fledgling event at FENCE last April, and we competed at FENCE again this year. We also sent a team to the IEL competition at Chatt Hills, and another to the Hagyard Midsouth Team Challenge at the Kentucky Horse Park.
We don’t have any sponsors, but we do have lots of amazing support and donations. We have a great network of people backing us, and we are always looking to make new connections.
Fun fact: We are actually most notably known for our sledjoring team. Unfortunately, lack of snow has slowed our progress this season.
We can be found on Facebook! Go UK Eventing and Dressage.
