TCU’s new equestrian team debuts September, but what exactly is an equestrian team, and what do they do?According to varsityequestrian.com, the sport of horseback riding was classified as an emerging sport by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1998. For the sport to reach full NCAA championship status, 40 Division I/II schools must adopt the sport.

As of 2005, only 21 universities had adopted the sport, according to the Web site.

Equestrian competitions involve four events in which riders are judged on western horsemanship, reigning, general horseback riding, and jumping over fences, said head equestrian coach Gary Reynolds.

The way equestrian competitions work is pretty easy to understand, even if you don’t know anything about horse riding, Reynolds said.

“The competitions basically run on a tennis-style format,” Reynolds said. “Whichever rider wins an event is awarded a point, and the team with the most points at the end wins the competition.”

The riders have to ride the host school’s horses, rather than their own, which can be difficult and really shows the true skill in the sport, Reynolds said.

Before an event, the riders draw at random for the horse they will ride. Then, the riders are given a five minute warm-up period where the riders familiarize themselves with the horses, Reynolds said.

“It’s a unique challenge that is not like other equestrian events,” Reynolds said. “On the college level, the riders don’t get to ride their own horses, which makes it a lot tougher.”

Carrie von Uhlit is a rider on the team and agrees that riding the host school’s horses can pose a bit of a challenge.

“It’s a different feeling,” von Uhlit said. “You have to raise yourself to a new competitive level. Usually in this sport it is strongly about the horse/rider relationship, but on the college level, it’s more about the skill of the rider.”

“I think the team is coming along great,” von Uhlit said. “I know that the University of South Carolina and Texas A&M University have good teams, and I think we’ll be on their competitive level.”

Reynolds agrees.

“I’m excited about what we have here,” Reynolds said. “We already have several students with championships on the team. There are good quality athletes in this area and we’re happy to have them on the team.”

Reynolds also said there are a couple of scholarship athletes on the team this year.

Reynolds came to become the equestrian coach because of his involvement in a local horse team and he is familiar with several members of the Equestrian Board.

The team is still very much in its building stage, with no set roster or schedule as of yet, Reynolds said. The equestrian team’s first competition is tentatively set for Sept. 27 at Baylor University.