Will Hoogendyk IV, Campus Carrier sports editor

Equestrianism is arguably the most successful sport in Berry’s athletic history. With three national championships in the Western discipline as well as five individual national titles, they have brought home plenty of bling to the Viking’s trophy case. The team is comprised of 24 riders who participate in either the Hunt Seat or Western discipline. The team competes throughout the school year starting in October and going until May, provided the team qualifies for post-season championships.

Because equestrianism is not sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) nor the Southern Athletic Association (SAA), the team’s competitions look different than other sports. Among the 28 schools with varsity equestrian programs across the United States, 23 are members of the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA). The NCAA recognized equestrianism as an emerging sport in 1998, and since then, the NCEA has held national championships and competitions for the schools with NCEA membership.

The Berry equestrian team competes in both NCEA and Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) competitions, depending on if they are riding in the Western or Hunt Seat discipline. Senior Brooke Backlund explained how schools go about preparing to host these competitions.

“Usually, what happens when we compete is that we will go to a different school and they will provide the horses,” Backlund said. “If they don’t have enough horses, they will find horses from nearby to haul in and supplement the competition. That will be the same when we host; if we don’t have enough horses we will find horses from Adairsville or wherever to come and supplement to be able to host a show.”

This past weekend, Berry hosted two NCEA sanctioned competitions. On Saturday, the Vikings hosted Bridgewater College and on Sunday, Berry welcomed Sewanee. Meaghan Kursman, a junior at Berry, is one of the riders on the Hunt Seat team and competed in both the fence and flat events. Kursman enjoys the home advantages that Berry gives her when they host.

“I like that we know our horses,” Kursman said. “It makes it easier to not have to go and get on a totally strange horse and strange arena. It feels a lot more familiar in that sense.”

Because Backlund is a Western rider, she did not participate in the meets this past weekend but enjoyed being there to cheer on her teammates as they rode. Backlund has been riding horses since she was four years old and has been very involved with the team in the last three years. She is one of the captains on the team and also serves as the equestrian representative for the Student Athletic Counsel (SAC) which serves as a connection point between student athletes and administrators. On top of that, Backlund has lived at the Gunby Equine Center since her sophomore year and is responsible for maintaining the team horses.

Backlund is from Minnesota and remembers the equestrian team being a huge draw in her decision to come to Berry. 

“I knew I wanted to keep competing in Equestrian because college is basically the only place in horse riding where you can be a team,” Backlund said. “It’s almost always an individual sport and so you’re just participating with you and your horse. Here, my points go towards [the] team qualifying.” 

Kursman has also been riding from a very young age and was drawn to Berry because of the Equine Center, which the team uses to train. 

“I liked how the barn was on campus and it wasn’t far,” Kursman said. “[Berry was] starting the NCEA team which I knew I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure how strong I would be or if I would get to ride on other teams because a lot of people don’t get to compete, but the coach made it clear that I would be on the team.”

Located on Mountain Campus, Gunby offers 180 acres of pasture space for the team to ride on as well as a competition arena that can seat 400 people. The barn also houses the team’s 25 horses, which were used this past weekend.

Even though Berry provided horses for the competition, there is a random draw to determine which rider gets what horse on the day of the meet. This affects Berry’s training as they prepare for upcoming events.

“It’s a different horse every time I practice, so that I’m constantly stretching my ability to adjust and adapt,” Backlund said. “We do a lot of different exercises to make sure that we’re used to feeling the different horses. When I go home over winter break and the summer, I’m trying to ride as many horses as I can to keep it up.”

The weekly training schedule for each rider on the team is quite rigorous as it involves individual and team workouts as well as lessons and free rides. While Kursman and Backlund both have their own horses at home, they enjoy riding around on the horses at Berry because of how it improves their skill as riders. For Kursman, her weekly riding sessions help her hone her riding ability.

“I have two of my own horses here, so I’m always riding anyway,” Kursman said. “I focus more on going over the jumps the week before [the meet] and outside of that, I work more on developing my horses.”

The team’s last meet of the fall season is on Dec. 6 when they will travel to the University of the South for another NCEA competition. The team competes in various NCEA and IHSA events to try and qualify for the end of season tournaments. If they qualify, the NCEA Championships would be held April 17-19, and the IHSA Championships would be held May 2-4.