Caitlin Morgan riding. Photo courtesy of Angela Fowler.
There is actually an equestrian team at Western, and they are sending one of their own to the national competition.
Caitlin Morgan, one of the more seasoned riders on the team, will be competing in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) National Championship in Springfield, Mass, April 30 through May 3.
The WCU Equestrian team has been riding for the university for fourteen years.
The reason you’ve probably never heard of them is because they’re not a recognized sport on campus like basketball of football. The equestrian team is a club team which means that they are organized by students and receive money strictly from the school or from whatever money they can raise themselves.
According to club advisor, Nory Prochakka, the team receives an allocation of $2800 a year. This allocation covers traveling, motel costs, entry fees and coaching fees.
There are nine members on the equestrian team: Zoie Franklin, Ginsey Temple, Jessica Palermo, Christa Cloud, Caitlin Morgan, Jasmine Fowler, Nicole Dahrouge, Lindsey Good and Ashley Allan.
Morgan had a successful year and is looking forward to going to the nationals. In order to make it to the national finals, Morgan had to place well in many different events.
She was crowned champion at the regional competition in early 2015, then later on won her division at the zone semi-finals in Maryland later on in the year. Winning these two events qualified her for nationals.
Morgan has been riding horses for 10 years and this is a big opportunity for her. In the clip below, Morgan explains how she feels going into the competition.
To be on the team, you don’t have to want to ride, you can just have a love of horses and want to get involved with the team.
The WCU equestrian club team meets every other week throughout the semester. The president of the team is Jasmine Fowler and she can be reached at jefowler2@catamount.wcu.edu.
