Given Wyoming’s deep history as a route along many cattle drives, it is no wonder horsemanship is a highly valued and practiced skill across the state. This stays true at the university, which boasts its very own club equestrian team.
For those who don’t know, equestrian sports are a series of events that revolve around a competitor and their horse completing certain tasks together.
“We do Hunt Seat (English) and western horsemanship,” President of the Equestrian Club Emily Cokl said. “Hunt Seat we do a jump class and a flat class. In Western, you’ll do a flat class and a then a pattern.”
Cokl, a senior zoology major, started riding horses at the age of 13 and enjoys the comradery that being a member of the University of Wyoming club equestrian team brings.
“The friendships I’ve gained, with both the members and the horses,” Cokl said when asked what her favorite part of being a member of the club is. “We have so many great horses from community members. Some of my best friends I’ve made from riding.”
Secretary of the club Rachel Ziejka, also a senior zoology major, started riding horses at the age of five and agrees with Cokl.
“You meet a lot of new people, being on this team not only at UW, but also at the other schools you compete against,” Ziejka said
The University of Wyoming equestrian team competes all over the region.
“We compete through the IHSA, which is the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association,” Cokl said. “We compete in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and we should also compete in Utah next year.”
The equestrian team here at the University of Wyoming finished a great season. They had three girls qualify for regionals for the western competitions and five for English. Two members even qualified for zone and got to compete at Stanford, both took home fourth place. This great season lead the university to finish second in the region.
The equestrian team’s success is no surprise, given how hard they work at practice. The team practices twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays with the Monday practices consisting of western and English Jump practice and Wednesdays being English practice.
All this hard work seems worth it, especially to Cokl.
“The equestrian team is probably the best part about being at UW for me, I’ve made most of my friends through the team and it’s been a great way to spend my time,” Cokl said.
