November 2020 Issue

The News East Coast Horse Owners Need To Know OUR TH YEAR 1993 - PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT 280 LANC., PA 17604 Vol. 27 No. 10 November 2020 Inside... (Continued on page 6) By Suzanne Bush Twenty-four United States colleges and universities have equestrian teams. Seventeen of those teams are in Division I schools. Only one represents one of the country’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs): Delaware State Uni- versity in Dover, DE. That fact is both a challenge and an opportu- nity, according to Jennifer Ridge- ly, the team’s head coach. Ridgely’s story will be familiar to anyone who has ever been obsessed with horses. “I showed as a small child, on the quarter horse circuit,” she says. From western riding to all around, her life revolved around horses. “Then I went to college and started the first ever eques- trian team at McDaniel (College, in Westminster, MD).” While in college, she started competing in rodeos and eventually became a professional barrel racer. Then came marriage and kids and a business called Wicked R West- ern Productions, in Camden, DE. At Wicked R, other horse-crazy people can enjoy trail rides, overnight dude ranch camps, hayrides, etc. Opportunity Knocks Delaware State University established the women’s eques- trian team in 2005, as part of a settlement with the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), to bring the University into compliance with Title IX. In addition to mandating equal access to educational resources, Title IX requires colleges and universities to provide both males and females equal oppor- tunities to compete in college athletics. “The history is we had an athletics director who was brought in to solve the problem of Title IX,” Ridgely explains. Are Historically Black Colleges and Universities Ready for Horses? “He is the one who said, ‘let’s start an equestrian team’. Lucky for me I was a professional in the area and had a business in the area and was able to get involved.” Ridgely was part of the search committee created to recruit a coach for the team. The first coach lasted only a couple of months. It was then the Univer- sity hired Ridgely for what was a daunting task. “No riders, no tack, no horses,” she says. “We had to start something from nothing.” She has been leading the Lady Hornets team in Dover for 14 years, and marvels at how the program has grown. By any mea- sure, it’s extraordinary. From five riders and horses to 40 student athletes and 40 horses, along with two coaches—one a western and one an English coach—Ridgely says they recruit across the US and even internationally. “We have twins coming from Spain next year,” she says. Challenges Abound, Too “Most people are shocked that an HBCU has an equestrian team,” Ridgely says. “I love knocking down those kinds of barriers.” But it turns out those barriers are stubborn, not easily broken and demand innovative solutions. Consider the numbers. The University’s website lists 40 women on the equestrian team. Of those, three are Black. Ridgely says that efforts to recruit Black equestrians to the school have been thwarted by several factors, not the least of which is the dearth of applicants, compounded by the reality that opportunities for Black girls to start riding in their pre-teens and throughout high school are tenuous at best. “We have to do more about getting young girls to start at a young age,” Ridgely says. “This is a more difficult sport, but that doesn’t mean it has to be impossible.” Inviting children to learn tennis or soccer is signifi- cantly less resource-dependent than inviting them to learn to ride horses. “It’s not necessarily that we as head coaches are not recruiting. They’re (the potential recruits) not out there.” She sees this as an opportunity—and a demand—to radically shift the paradigm. Ridgely has been reaching out to other HBCUs, encour- aging them to create equestrian teams. “We try constantly, but the numbers are just not there. Trying to find AA riders who want to come to Delaware State is difficult.” At other HBCUs, struggling with other priorities, she says, “I don’t even think equestrian sports are on the table.” She says part of her mis- sion is to persuade other athletic directors to think differently about collegiate sports. She has been inviting diverse equestri- an groups to join virtual panel discussions about ways to get more girls involved in equestrian sports and the kinds of infra- structure and support systems necessary to support an emerg- ing cohort of equestrians. Money Changes Everything In April 2010, Delaware State University tried to elim- inate the school’s equestrian team as a means of cutting costs. The team filed for a preliminary injunction to compel the school to preserve the team. Delaware Jennifer Ridgely (left) and Kamerra Brown, one of the first five riders on the Delaware State University Equestrian team. After graduation, and subsequently earning her Masters Degree, Brown returned to coach the Lady Hornets’ Jump- ing Seat Team for several years. Ridgely is the head coach of the Delaware State equestrian team. Photo (left) by Carlos Holmes; photo (right) by Monica Ellis Jousting’s knights and fair maids become champions in MD … pg. 8 Horses seized from rescue, trail riding across PA, Morgan Grand National results and much much more! Get ready for winter with advice from the experts! Pgs. 11-21