The Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association’s National Championships, which take place May 4-7 at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena in Lexington, also will commemorate the IHSA’s 50th anniversary this year.
The IHSA, an Alliance Partner of US Equestrian, has a lot to celebrate, says Bob Cacchione, who founded the organization when he was a student at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Teaneck, N.J., campus in 1968.
“The first horse show was Teaneck against the Madison campus, 40 miles south,” recalled Cacchione, who started with six riders and a $200 budget for his first show.
Today, the IHSA covers 39 regions and about 350 hunt seat and 150 Western shows annually, with 10,000 riders competing. About 400 will qualify for Nationals in hunt seat, Western, and team and individual competition.
“I didn’t care what one’s financial ability was or what one’s riding ability was,” Cacchione explained. “I wanted everyone to have the possibility and the opportunity to learn how to ride, as well as the opportunity to compete.
“IHSA is open to everyone, which is so important. You could be a walk-trot rider who had been in a camp as a 10-year-old and never had another opportunity to ride, but the desire was always there. Or maybe you rode and even competed all through your childhood and are now coming to college. If you go out for the football, basketball, or swim team when you’re in college, if you haven’t done that sport all through high school and maybe even earlier, forget about making the team. But in riding that’s not the case. There are eight different levels on the hunt seat side and seven different levels on the Western side, from walk-trot to Medal Maclay riders and from walk-jog to reining riders.”
The IHSA fosters camaraderie among riders of various skills—and that’s a valuable life skill, too.
“All over the country, I see open riders who are intermediate riders,” said Cacchione. “When they’re finished with their flat and their fences, their coats come off, they roll up their sleeves, and they’re helping the walk-trot-canter riders out there. They’re wiping off those riders’ boots when the coach puts them on the horse. They’re talking to them and encouraging them. I’ve seen riders who are Medal Maclay riders, and their best friends are walk-trot riders. They make lifelong friends when they come to college and ride together on their teams.”
And because it provides horses both for riders’ lessons and shows—where riders draw their mount assignments from a hat—the IHSA helps riders start or continue riding without the expense of keeping and showing their own horse.
Cacchione credits coaches who have remained active in intercollegiate programs, even after going professional and launching their own operations, with helping give the IHSA such longevity and vibrancy. “They’re making themselves available so that all these riders can move forward,” he said. “They go to US Equestrian Federation and U.S. Hunter Jumper Association shows, too, and junior riders and their parents ask them about the intercollegiate program. All of these professionals are IHSA ambassadors.”
As part of the 2017 IHSA National Championships, Cacchione noted, students and attendees can also attend the US Equestrian job fair, featuring colleges and equine-related companies.
“It’s not just the riding,” Cacchione said. “The IHSA is also about opening doors in the industry for all these young students out there.”
A 50th anniversary celebration after the last class in the Alltech Arena on Friday, May 5, will include a parade of teams and will honor graduating seniors, followed by an anniversary party. There will also be a Memory Wall for current and past IHSA riders to share their own recollections. To contribute your stories and photos, visit www.ihsalumniassociation.com.
“I never expected it to spread across the country,” Cacchione said. “Today we have over 400 colleges and 10,000 riders. I’m very proud of that. And many more schools, over 60, now have equine studies programs, too.”
For more about the IHSA and its history, visit www.ihsainc.com.
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