Varsity IHSA Teams?

[MicaelaM]

@vxf111

$25,000x4=a whole lot of debt coming out of undergrad (unless you have someone who can pay cash for your education).

Which is not to say that it might not make sense for some people (depends on the school, the major, job prospects coming out with just the undergraduate degree, other options, etc.)

But I think when most people are talking about a “value” in undergraduate education, they’re talking about a less than 6 figure debt load/price tag. Certainly there are more expensive schools, but they are also significantly less expensive schools.

I would not choose a school based on the riding program. I would choose it based on economics/educational quality/job outcomes and then figure out how to work riding in. IHSA was fun but it’s not the only path to riding while in college.

I certainly agree it’s expensive, but as a current college student with friends that go to school all over the US, I know that of my friends, I have one of the cheapest annual degree costs. This is a somewhat unrelated discussion for this post, but realistically today, finding a tution and room/board price tag for roughly $20k a year is a good deal. I applied at 14 schools some in state public and all other options as well, and $25,000 was the lowest cost I had of those 14. I agree that value should be under $100k for 4 years, but it is potentially difficult to find if you have certain qualities you’re looking for.

And I agree, IHSA is definitely not the only option for riding in college. But, the OP was looking for varsity program suggestions, and I was giving my input on my regions programs. One of the best parts of this region of Virginia is that I’m not limited to just IHSA, we also do the SWVHJA shows,VHSA, and local medal finals on school horses for the cheapest I’ve ever competed in my riding history! Since we don’t pay to lease the horses, we pay no training fee, we just paying entries and for the transportation and stall for the horse (split with another student sharing the horse). My first semester I wasn’t even on the IHSA team, but I had so many riding opportunities. Finding other barns in the area to get some extra rides in is also very easy. It’s a great area to be in!

[lizzysch5]

@RockstarPony

I’d be surprised if anyone has a master list, but I ride in the same region as Cornell and Alfred (upstate NY area) and I know we have a weirdly high number of varsity teams. I think my school’s team might be one of the only ones that doesn’t get much school funding. Nazareth College is also in our region and is also varsity, and from what I’ve heard, a lot of the club teams in our area get at least partial school funding.

My understanding is that the amount of funding that a club team gets really varies from school to school. I would honestly just make a list of all the schools you think you’re interested in, and just go through and try to contact each set of captains and coaches about how much you’d expect to spend for a season of showing.

Another thing to think about is the time commitment for a varsity team. A lot of the varsity teams will have quite a few mandatory practices every week, which can be really difficult to handle when your classwork ramps up. Our club team has discussed applying for varsity status quite a few times, but honestly it just isn’t realistic for a lot of our current riders to do both a varsity team and their required classes at the same time. It does get frustrating trying to scrape the money together, but I’ve found that I really love being on a club team and having that flexibility to take a step back from team stuff when I need to just focus on academics for a little bit.

Thank You! I mainly wanted to find a school with a good competitive varsity equestrian program as its something I really want to put my determination and time into

[Tackpud]

@lizzysch5

Thank You! I mainly wanted to find a school with a good competitive varsity equestrian program as its something I really want to put my determination and time into

What area of the country do you want to be in? That makes a difference as well.

[PonyDiva]

Something that we found as we are in the process of starting to look at colleges for my daughter (My philosophy is school first, riding team second - Great Riding team - Bonus) is something called Equestrian Talent Search. We did one this past summer to see what it was like.

In addition to an 1+ hour riding clinic at the college and a “show” the next day (all on the colleges horses), we received a lot of information about riding programs at schools in general, what riding coaches look for, what to provide to the different coaches, etc… Plus we received a “Report Card” with comments of my daughter’s rides both during the clinic and show. They will also take a few minutes to talk to you one on one. They could suggest different schools that you may not have originally looked at that they may thought you would be a good fit for. Additionally, if requested, they will send your report card along with some personal comments to the Riding coach at the College at your request.

It is a little on the pricey side but my daughter and I felt it was worth it at least once and will probably go back another time or two. The clinicians seems to have a good network in the IHSA teams and can probably answer a lot of questions about the various programs. It also gave us a good list of different colleges to look at that we might not have considered.

Additionally, many colleges do have “camps” where you use the school horses. You might want to see if a program you are interested in has something along those lines.

[GoneAway]

@lizzysch5

Thank You! I mainly wanted to find a school with a good competitive varsity equestrian program as its something I really want to put my determination and time into

Is varsity IHSA something you’re determined to do just for college fun/experience, or are you thinking that will lead you into a professional career with horses?

Asking because back when I was doing IHSA on a varsity team (Cazenovia College), the reaction received from most established pros was “…that’s nice.” They didn’t care and it basically didn’t matter, as they still wanted proven A circuit mileage. I knew a lot of folks (who didn’t have the money to play big leagues) that were hoping it was a spring board into A circuit success. It wasn’t. I don’t know if IHSA involvement has become any more useful on a resume in the last 12 years. It was challenging, you meet a lot of people, ride a lot of different horses, work hard, and gain a confidence with catchriding, but please be realistic about your end goals and how it fits in.

If you’re married to the idea of varsity just because it brings a certain “status” or importance to your college days…meh. College is such a short period in your life and I think after some time you’ll look back and realize that varsity status isn’t the end-all-be-all.

I recommend Caz (depending what you’re majoring in), the equine stuff there is good. If you want to know more, PM me. I also agree your choice of school needs to be based on the strength of the academics in your chosen program, not riding. As Texarkana stated, don’t rule out clubs. Some of them beat the pants of varsity programs. Once you narrow down some schools, I’d recommend you examine the quality of instruction you could receive and put emphasis on that, not necessarily varsity status.

[SMRaven]

Tulane in New Orleans, LA.