The University of Louisville is known for its basketball and football teams but being located in the city where Churchill Downs is located and where the Kentucky Derby is ran also means horses. With the University’s Equine Industry Program it just makes sense that they should have equestrian teams. These teams are not well known in the community but they are holding their own.
There are three equestrian teams that operate within the Riding and Racing Club - Hunt Seat, Western, and Saddle Seat. The University of Louisville Hunt Seat and Western Equestrian Teams are members of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association and compete in Zone 6, Region 3. The schools that the U of L Equestrian Teams compete with are: Marshall, Midway, Morehead State, Northern Kentucky, University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, and Xavier.
The Saddle Seat Team is a member of the Intercollegiate Saddle Seat Riding Association. The Saddle Seat Team just held a horse show at Zubrod Stables on February 4 with the team taking home the Reserve Champion Team award.
The Western Team competed at Morehead State University on February 11 and were just four points from first place in their district prior to this show. We have not received the results from this show at the time of the writing of this article. However, on the last weekend in January show at Lakeside Arena the Western Team’s Kate Foy was high point rider of Saturday and the team was Reserve High Point Team. Britta Jackson was Reserve High Point Rider on Sunday’s show.
The Hunt Seat Team also showed on the last weekend in January at Lakeside Arena with too many placings to mention here but ended up with a Team fourth place overall. The Hunt Seat Team will be competing at Morehead State University on February 18 and 19.
The U of L equestrian team coaches are as follows: Hunt Seat Team - Sarah Younger, Western Team - Rusty Rea, Saddle Seat Team - Deveau Zubrod. To find out more about the team coaches you can go here.
The University’s Riding & Racing Club visited millions of dollars of the world’s finest stallions on January 27, 2012. Three well known Lexington, Kentucky thoroughbred farms opened their doors to the club - Lane’s End, Gainesway, and Darley at Jonabell. The group of about twenty students visited some pretty famous stallions at these farms including A.P. Indy, Curlin, Tapit, Afleet Alex, Hat Trick, Bernardini, Street Cry, Medgalia d’ Oro, Street Sense, and Hard Spun are among the top stallions the students visited. At the Darly farm stallion complex the students were given a tour by U of L Equine Program graduate Dean Roethemeir. On March 2 the Riding and Racing Club has plans to visit Lexington, Kentucky again to tour Jockey Club Headquarters, the USEF testing laboratory, and The Blood-Horse magazine offices.
For more information on these U of L Equestrian teams and the Riding and Racing Club visit their website here.
Photos: Zubrod Show photos courtesy of: Nate Spicer
Equestrian Team/R&R Club Photos Courtesy of: U of L Riding & Racing Club
