Just noticed that the SEC does not have Women's Equestrian as a team sport. Does this mean that we drop this sport as a women's sport and pick up something new? Like Gymnastics?

Well, did some more research and while Equestrian is not listed on the SEC website as a Sport, there are several SEC teams with Equestrian teams. Guess we will keep competing for a National Championship, just not a conference championship!?!?!

Equestrian only recently became a Big 12 conference sport, so it's not like the team will be in an unfamiliar position

I was working at Freebirds last year when the Auburn equestrian team came in. Bunch of hotties, and every one of them was from Kansas, Colorado, or Texas except one girl from Florida. So they definitely have a team.

I think Carolina and Georgia both have horse teams also. In addition, I think a few SEC schools have men's soccer programs, even though they all play in other conferences.

Carolina and Kentucky both have men's soccer programs, but they dont play SEC ball. Vany has a rifle team I think.

UGA, South Carolina, and Auburn all have varsity teams. Us joining the SEC in this sport makes the conference BY FAR the most dominant.

Equestrian isn't going anywhere unless the Title IX rules changes or football starts cutting numbers (yeah right). That said, an NCAA Championship doesn't seem on the horizon any time soon either. It's just kind of in a semi-permanent limbo -- which is too bad because it would give us a huge shot in the arm in the Director's Cup were it ever to count.

Is equestrian in danger of losing their "emerging sport" status with the NCAA? They need 40 schools (all divisions) to compete to be granted full championship sport status. There are only 23 schools currently competing. They have been an emerging sport since 1998. Isn't there a time limit within which an emerging sport needs to fulfill the requirements to become a full championship sport?

The Ladies are going for a NC in both Hunter Seat and Western tomorrow.

Both Western and English teams are advancing to the finals tomorrow, but they've already won an Overall National Championship today and became the first-ever university to have both teams advance to the Western and English finals in Varsity/NCEA history.

Really excited for them. :-) I hope they sweep all three titles!

Just and FYI... there are 2 collegiate equestrian programs. The NCEA (National Collegiate Equestrian Association) is the program that Texas A&M competes in. It was formed to equalize the competative nature of showing, where riders compete heads up on one horse. This format also invites only "Open" level riders for the most part. In the Big 12 that includes Baylor, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. In the SEC, you have Georgia, Auburn and South Carolina. This was the competition format that Texas A&M elected to follow. TCU also competes in the NCEA format, so there will still be 4 teams in the Big 12, when A&M moves to the SEC.

There are over 370 universities that compete in IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association). This format has its downfall, but adds a nice feature that NCEA does not promote. In the IHSA format, each rider competes on a horse, which is not competed on by another rider in that level of competition. If you draw a bad horse, then there is no heads up for another rider to have that same bad horse. This does not allow for the judges to completely judge the rider's abilities. The nice thing about the IHSA format, is that there are levels of competition. Back when my wife was on the team, there was a Beginner, Intermediate I, Intermediate II, Novice, Advanced and Open level. This allowed different skill level of riders to compete. Some other SEC schools that compete in IHSA are LSU, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Florida and Kentucky.

With Texas A&M moving to the SEC, this will most likely open up the SEC to holding an SEC Championship match comparatively to what they do in the Big 12 a few weeks before the National Championships. It really needs to have 4 schools to hold a good Conference Championship.

The hope is that many more of the IHSA schools will move to the NCEA format and clear the way for a more defined national presence in collegiate athletics.

I could swear South Carolina made finals in both many years ago but I could be wrong.

They've been hoping for almost 10 years for folks to make the IHSA to varsity switch. Unfortunately, it's been stagnant for nearly 10 years with the economy in the crapper. If anything it's gotten worse with some schools trying to move their teams from varsity back to club -- some successfully (SFA), some unsuccessfully (Delaware State).

All that said, congrats to the girls. They've been wanting that overall win for a while now. Nice to see them finally get it.

Congratulations to our equestrian athletes on winning the national championship! It is another in a long, proud succession of victories for them.

Look Out Below, I was actually corrected by a USC alum and i looked it up on the NCEA website to confirm. South Carolina did make the finals in both Western and Hunter in 2007. A&M beat them in Western for that title though. :-)