Have some long-time family friends that compete against my children in equestrian and their child is being recruited by A&M. The father mentioned to me last night that the NCAA is threatening to do away with the sport at the NCAA level if at least 40 teams are not in existence in the near future. He said that there are currently less than 30 teams and that Kansas State announced recently that they are eliminating the sport at their school.

I've never given too much thought to collegiate equestrian because both my children that compete are males. He asked me if I knew anything about this. I told him"no" but that I might be able to find something out on Texags. Does anyone have any insight they can share with me? Thanks in advance.

Here is a link to the announcement by K State on Monday:

http://www.kstatesports.com/sports/w-equest/spec-rel/101314aab.html

Pertinent quotes:

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In a letter to the equestrian community last month, the Committee on Women's Athletics detailed its decision regarding equestrian based on a lack of sponsorship in all three NCAA divisions, including a 10-year period in which the sport failed to reach the 40-program target set by the NCAA as well as the significant costs of maintaining such programs. K-State is just one of 19 Division I equestrian programs in the nation, and according to a recent NCAA publication, only 719 student-athletes currently compete in Division I equestrian.

"While this was an extremely difficult and complex decision, we are proud of the effort of our equestrian coaches and student-athletes and the first class way they have represented K-State since the program's inception in 2000," Currie said. "Unfortunately with equestrian no longer projected to count toward the minimum NCAA requirement of 16 sponsored varsity programs as detailed in NCAA Bylaw 20.9.6, we must move our resources to another sport to continue our ability to operate as a Division I FBS member of the NCAA."

Although the NCAA's recognition of equestrian may not end until August 1, 2017, allowing schools which sponsor the sport time to make adjustments, Currie believes a more immediate transition is in the best interest of K-State.

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That would be a bad thing in light of our investment in new facilities.

There is a lengthy discussion on this topic at the Ok State board (mostly about what will they add to their program):

http://www.orangepower.com/threads/ncaa-to-drop-equestrian-kstate-will-replace-with-v-ball.194453/

I read this like it's a done deal. What am I missing?

Definitely sounds like NCAA has made the decision and it's a done deal. Wow.....too bad.

Growth has been pretty much stagnant for a little over a decade. There was a spike in schools picking up the sport in the late 90's and very early 00's but that leveled off and there are very little signs of true forward progress. It's unfortunate but the NCAA has given the sport plenty of time to grow and it simply hasn't. There's no one to really be mad at other than schools who refused to sponsor the sport. There definitely were efforts made to try to grow it by sponsoring schools.

I hate it for us because it's such a natural fit and we have been so good at it for so long. I'm curious to see what will happen here. I'd assume, and hope, that we'd hold on to the bitter end. Perhaps we could even still sponsor it and revert back to the IHSA like in the early days. If it does indeed go away some day, alternative plans will have to be made from an athletics standpoint to stay in compliance with Title IX.

Our coach tells us that though the NCAA Women's committee voted to recommend dropping EQ as an NCAA sport, the decision will not come for more than a year! In the meantime, the horse industry is rallying behind the sport and working to bring aboard some schools on the cusp (we scrimmaged with Bama earlier this year.). TAMU AD is committed to EQ and we can still use it as Title IX, even if NCAA drops it.

Feel bad for K-State for sure. Have known their head coach since she was 14.

The OK state link is full of bad info. NCAA has not DECIDED. Committee recommended. No decision for a year!

K -State has already announced they are adding soccer, not volleyball.

I quit reading that thread because from the very first sentence it was flawed.

Thanks range lady....very helpful.

If they did decide to drop Equestrian what would we replace it with?

It seems like gymnastics might be our only real choice since we already sponsor all the other SEC women's sports and something like field hockey or lacrosse would require us to join another conference that actually sponsors it and fly thousands of miles to the closest competition.

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That would be a bad thing in light of our investment in new facilities.

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The program will likely become the most capital-intensive club sport on the planet. Equestrian has brought the university much positive notoriety over the years. It was a good run.

If NCAA dropped equestrian, we would still have it according to our AD. We can still count it toward Title IX needs. Many schools compete under a non NCAA format. We did so before the sport was NCAA sanctioned.

https://www.change.org/p/mark-emmert-vote-to-continue-ncaa-equestrian

Sign this petition, please. It has garnered over 5000 signatures in 24 hours.

This article from APHA outlines some salient points. Although, I believe the way they stated the Title IX issue is not quite right. A school could keep non NCAA equestrian and still meet Title IX. Dropping EQ altogether, like K-state probably leaves them needing to add something.

http://apha.com/news-landing/news-details/apha-outlines-8-talking-points-for-ncaa-equestrian-supporters

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Many schools compete under a non NCAA format. We did so before the sport was NCAA sanctioned.

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The sport was labeled as emerging in 1998. We started competing as an athletic dept- sponsored sport in 1999. When we only competed in IHSA back in the athletic dept. sponsored beginning days, the sport was just as NCAA sanctioned as it is right now. The only things that have really changed were the creation of the VENC, which turned into the NCEA, and us leaving the IHSA to only compete in the VENC/NCEA format exclusively.

It is good to hear that we would still keep it even if the NCAA strips equestrian of its' emerging sport status.

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The plot thickens.....

http://www.aqha.com/Showing/News-Articles/10172014-Parents-of-KState-Equestrian-Athletes-Work-to-Save-Team.aspx

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If they did decide to drop Equestrian what would we replace it with?

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That is part of why Equestrian was such an awesome choice for us. It really fits the history and culture of the school and there are lots of regional participation for it. There really isn't much other options.

Gymnastics would make sense just be in the SEC and we would have a great talent pool from the state, but from what I can gather it is really expensive. I haven't heard of anybody adding it and plenty of talk of programs cutting it. I just don't see us adding it, although it seems like it would be the best fit.

The other best options aren't good regionally. Women's lacrosse or water polo seem to be doing the best nationally, but aren't sponsored in this region. Rifle makes sense for our history and we could compete with the military academies, but I think TCU is the only one close to us that is sponsoring it. Cold weather sports like skiing and ice hockey don't make sense here. Except for Nebraska and Vanderbilt, I don't think you could describe any of the universities that sponsor bowling as our peers. That leaves affiliate membership in the big xii for rowing?

Hopefully equestrian continues to stick around.