Riding While In College

[Soaponarope]

[QUOTE=hunterjumper98;8753536]
For all of you college students, how do you juggle classes and riding and did you get to continue showing? Thoughts?[/QUOTE]

I’m not a student, but I’m a college professor for 20 years at an NCAA school and showmom of a college student. I would say that nothing is harder than being a junior and juggling showing with high school because of the 8-3 or so 5 day a week commitment. As for college riding, it is just as individual as how people handle their junior career.

I have seen incredibly disciplined kids riding NCAA, crushing their classes, and going on to fabulous grad schools. They are up at 5 for team workout, barn chores, etc., then classes, then riding, then study hall and travel on the weekend. Then, I’ve seen kids with a horse at the local barn, doing an occasional show, and yet they struggle and fail to do either well. And there’s a whole lot of others in between those extremes.

A good indication in my experience is how you did with showing and school as a junior. The advantage with college is that your time is much more yours to plan, but you do have to plan it. REad your syllabus for each class carefully. Some faculty don’t care about attendance. Others will dock your grade for absences. You could be doing B work and fail if you fail to deliver on the attendance policy.

I do think the jumper an hour a way is pretty risky for you. If he can be in full training there and you can lesson at school then meet up at shows that might work out, or not. Is your other horse a hunter? Could you do the AOs in the hunter ring or the adults?

I would say a full hour away is a lot even for the most disciplined rider. Good luck and I hope it works out!

[Wizard_of_Oz_s]

I think it really depends on your personal situation. I took my horse to college and it worked for a little while but I was never able to ride and get out there as much as I wanted and the barn I boarded at was very minimal care so I had to be the one to do all of the blanketing and everything if I wanted it. It really stressed me out to make time to get out there (about 25 minutes from my apartment) and I always felt guilty that I couldn’t get out there enough. I ended up leasing him for my last year and it was a huge relief for me, even though I would’ve loved to have him there whenever I wanted I was glad he had someone to always take care of him! That being said though, if your horse/horses are in a full care program and you have someone exercising them (or one of them) during the week, you can still probably ride them and have your jumper in the condition he needs to be in to show on the weekends. I knew a lot of people who showed consistently during college but their horses were ridden by trainers every day so they were always in shape to show. If you’re doing all the work yourself I don’t see how you could get to your jumper often enough to keep him in shape and then show, too. But college is an amazing and fun experience and hopefully it’ll be some of the best years of your life, regardless of which situation you choose for your riding life!

[mepkkg]

I’ll pretty much echo what everyone said above. I went to a big state school and very much had the whole college experience–joined a sorority, lived in the sorority house, involved on campus etc. Starting my sophomore year I half-leased a horse throughout the end of college. I would ride about 3 days a week depending on my schedule, lesson every other week or so and showed locally a little bit. For me it was the perfect situation. I loved college and all of the friends I made/the social scene but I also liked having my “me” time and my horse time. I usually had big time chunks during the day and I could commute 30 minutes to the barn and ride. Sometimes I would even ride before class and go to class in my barn clothes hah. I know everyone is different but I would say do try to get involved on campus and join an organization whether its Greek or not. I still have so many great memories from college and great friends that I talk to everyday! I was happy that I was able to keep riding and still have the total college experience too so it was the best of both worlds.

Horses will always be there in life whenever you are ready to go back to them. I’m about to move to a new city and start a new job so I have to keep reminding myself of that too, that it’s okay to take some time off. Or even scale back and ride just once a week for fun.

[LR4]

I spent probably the most hours in the tack per week during college than any other time in my life. I rode on an intercollegiate team, and was lucky enough to be coached by someone with a massive barn and tons of really nice school horses. I rode 3-4 a day, probably 4 days a week, did intercollegiate horse shows and schooling jumper shows on weekends, and did some A shows during the summers. I was also president/assistant coach for the team, sang in a band, and had a high gpa–I say all that not to toot my own horn, but just to illustrate that I was able to still have an extensive college experience while maintaining a high level of involvement at the barn. The most important thing for me was time management. I used every spare 5 minutes I had to take care of something or squeeze in some homework. I scheduled all my classes back to back with no breaks so I could be done by 3, jet off to the barn until 8, and then immediately came back and did homework until 1am. If you’re willing to stay on task and use your time wisely, I don’t think there’s any reason why you won’t be able to ride as much as you want.

It’s cliche, but it really is about priorities. You have to decide what are the non-negotiables (getting your work done, because it’s the reason you’re in college to begin with, and riding) and figure out how to fit those into your life, and then fit other things in around them. Most girls I lived with took naps or binge-watched tv shows during the afternoon and partied on weekends. Others did really valuable things, like leadership positions in different organizations, traveling abroad, etc. Again, you have to choose what is a priority to you. There are SO MANY valuable things to do in college, but riding was always most important to me, so I worked a schedule so that I could ride as much as I wanted. It was tiring, but so so worth it.

[OldLadyYoungOTTB]

I think a college student, like anyone else, can make time for something that is really important to them. However, I would hate to see someone miss out on the fun of college by working themselves into the ground riding and doing homework.

[StubbornHorse]

I think it’s doable depending on how involved you want to be with college activities vs. horse activities. I’m in kind of an opposite situation- I’m a senior in college and I decided to continue living at home while commuting to college an hour away each day so that I could continue to ride during school. The driving is the biggest part that takes time out of my day, but I make it work. In my case, I’m driving to school, and in your case, you’re driving to the barn.

Having an additional horse will definitely make it more difficult, but if you manage your time I’m sure you could ride each of them at least 3-4 times a week.

[SouthernYankee]

I think riding and showing during college is very doable. But you need to prioritize and I think one of the two horses is going to get put on the backburner, but you need to decide which one it will be.

I kept a horse on campus all 4 years of college, I was lucky enough to have parking and a vehicle close to the dorms so the self care board was doable. The barn was 5-10 minutes from campus. Having a horse that I had to take care of kept me responsible. I couldn’t go out and party all night because I had to be sober enough to drive out to feed the next morning…

I was also like LR4, where I rode and showed the most when I was in college. I spent hours every day at the barn and my part time job paid for the horse shows. Man it was nice not having to pay real bills… It was easy for me to take care of one horse, two horses would have been tough. I averaged 18 hours of class a semester, worked part time at a dairy and poultry farm, rode on the IHSA team, and had my own eventing horse to keep up with.

[tmc]

It is definitely doable if you are willing to be busy and manage your time correctly. I was taking 22 credits worth of classes, rode on the riding team (three lessons a week), had a job (two days a week), was an RA, and rode my horse 4-5 times a week when I was in college.

The biggest thing is to put your academics first because that is what you are at college for. Most colleges allow you to pick your classes, so you can try to group them together on certain days or early/late in the day to allocate the rest of the time you need for the barn. Having a nearby barn always makes it easier since the commute isn’t as long, but an hour really isn’t that bad (especially if you have a friend who wants to tag along and quiz you in the car).

[Covergirl15]

I just graduated from college in may, and I will say, it was definitely a wake up call! I went to a good college prep school for jr high and high school, made all A’s, etc., but then got to college and promptly made my first D. Not a good way to start off! I kept my horse and was able to ride 4-6x a week on average, but there were definitely weeks that he had to take the back burner. But, after I got into the swing of things, it was definitely manageable to take a full load of classes, work part time, ride my horse, and train for a marathon. But I also agree with those to maybe back off the riding a bit for your first semester to give yourself time to meet people, make friends, rush if you want to, etc. Good luck!

[KandC]

It’s definitely about priorities. I was on a pre-vet track, in a sorority, in a few clubs, had a job, and continued to ride 5-6 days a week in college, but every moment of my life was planned. I did manage to go out 1 weekend a month, and had a decent social life. I tried to schedule all my classes 8 am to 12-1 pm so I could be free to ride, then study or go to meetings. I averaged 6-7 hours of sleep a night. But it kept me happy and sane; I don’t think I would have performed as well without my horse. I only competed a handful of times though- usually during the summer. I would recommend ending the lease on your jumper unless you’re willing to miss out on weekends (which are the best times to socialize in college early on), but I think having a horse 10 minutes away is absolutely do-able.

(FWIW- also continued to ride in vet school: 3-5 days a week depending on on call schedule/test schedule/weather, but sleep 4-6 hours a night, and have an okay social life)

[HunterJumper90210]

I ride on the Lynchburg College Equestrian Team. Our team rides at Sweet Briar College which is one of the top programs and about 30 minutes away. I brought my hunter down to school and then met my trainer at Capital Challenge, WIHS, and WEF. I lessoned after class Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday/Thursday I lessoned at 7:30am which required me to leave for the barn at 6:30am. Riding in college requires you to manage not only your courses and schedule efficiently. Although it is a big commitment I would not trade riding on a team for anything.

You also need to have a good trainer at school or your position and horse can get messed up.