Equestrian
Equestrian
Your scholarship in the USA
Horse riding is a tradition in the USA. Not because of the cowboys, but because of the colleges. Since 1998 the sport has been registered with the organizing body of the US college sport NCAA as an “emerging sport”. That said, the sport should grow slowly until it can finally be accepted as a full member of the NCAA family. Nevertheless, the US television station NBC has even reported on the competitions. For you, all of this means one thing above all else: There are also scholarships in horse riding, with which you can perfectly combine studies with sport.
600
Equestrians studying at colleges in the USA
23
College teams in the USA
345
available full scholarships for college equestrians
Equestrian in the USA
How many scholarships are there?
There are now 23 colleges that offer this sport and award up to 15 sports scholarships per team. Horses and equipment are made available to the riders through the sports scholarship. Your own riding equipment is only required for tournaments.
How is the training in the USA structured?
Usually five riders from the university team compete against another team. On the day of the competition, pairs will be put together with one rider per university. They then have to compete against each other on the same horse drawn by lots in one of the following disciplines:
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- Dressage: As in Germany, the riders must show a precise and harmonious harmony when carrying out the lessons. However, the horse is drawn to the rider.
- Show jumping: In this discipline, riders have to overcome a course of eight to ten obstacles with their horse.
- Horsemanship: Here the horse and rider show different lessons in different gaits of the horse according to a certain pattern.
- Reining:Reining is similar to horsemanship, only there are additional tasks such as “spins” (360 degree rotations on the horse’s hindquarters) and “sliding stops” (stopping the horse from galloping and sliding the hindquarters under) added.
What does a season at college look like?
The riding season at the universities takes place between September and November and between January and March. Depending on how well your team does in both periods, the season continues with playoff-like competitions to choose the national champion. In the USA there are almost exclusively so-called “dual meets”, where two universities compete against each other.
Equestrian
Requirements for your scholarship
In order to qualify for a sports scholarship in the USA, you don’t necessarily have to be a German champion. Nevertheless, you should have already participated in German championships and show development potential. We can better forecast your chances for a sports scholarship if you fill out our non-binding assessment of opportunities.