The American University club equestrian team is ponying up for a makeover, making moves to alter the program including hiring a new trainer and finding a new barn to hang their horseshoes next season.
The team, which has trained in Maryland since its creation in 2003, has elected to move from its previous facility at Clay Hill Stables in Springdale to Windcrest Farms in Clarksburg, where it hopes improved training conditions and more personal attention will help raise the team's level of competition.
The move includes switching to a new trainer, Jeff Becker, a veteran on the horse training circuit, but a rookie at the intercollegiate level.
"I'm excited about having a new program," junior Emi Piez, the club president, said. "The new barn will offer more individual attention, and the horses will be in better condition."
The new barn features two outdoor rings and a covered indoor ring. The old barn at Clay Hill Stables served as training facility to six D.C.-area teams, including AU, George Washington, Catholic University and University of Maryland, all of which are members of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA). Other than American, Windcrest Farms currently has no other IHSA teams scheduled to train at their facilities.
"We were really unsatisfied at the old facility," Piez said. "It was frustrating training with five other teams [in the IHSA]."
Piez, who has been president of the club since 2005, hopes the move will be the latest in a series of positive changes for the team.
When she started out with the club, Piez estimates that only six girls competed with the team, which participated in six shows each semester. The club, which competes in English-style shows, now has 10 members and competes in eight to 10 competitions a semester.
The collegiate-style competitions operate on the concept of horse-sharing, where the team hosting the event provides the horses. The riders draw at random to determine which horses they will be competing with.
"It's exciting to compete in a collegiate league," Piez, an 11-year veteran on the "A" competition circuit, said. "You get on a horse you've never ridden before, so it's a whole new level. Even with all the experience, your heart races a little."
The team does not hold organized practices, but instead allows the riders to individually tailor their training based on their own schedule. Piez hopes that the lack of bustle at the new barn will offer the team the chance to train more as a group.
"I think the new barn will give us an opportunity to grow as a team," Piez said. "At the old barn, it was hard to get everyone together, but I think the new facility will definitely make us feel more unified."
For more information on the on the AU equestrian team, e-mail aueqteam@gmail.com.
