By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

WILMINGTON, Ohio — Most high school students study a discipline long before ever gaining experience in a particular field. But the Wilmington College Equine Studies program allows junior high and high school students the chance to experience the intercollegiate ring long before graduating from high school.

“For starters we’re having the kids perform in the ring just as if they were on the college equine team,” said Jennifer Southworth, assistant professor of equine studies at Wilmington College. “Just as with collegiate competition, the students ride a horse they’ve never ridden. This gives them a taste of what to expect should they enter equine studies and participate with our equestrian team.”

Last month, Wilmington College invited riders in grades 8-12 to participate in a mini horsemanship clinic and Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) style horse show. Students arrived from a seven county area. And true to form the students drew numbers from a hat and the number corresponded to a horse in a stall, a horse they’ve never ridden before.

The pre-ride clinic was provided by Equine Center manager Lisa Kiley. Judging the riders were members of the Wilmington College horse judge team members. But just as important as the competition, all riders had many questions of their collegiate counterparts.

“A vast marjority of those who attended were already familiar with horse show competition, but half were unsure if they wanted to compete in college or even study equine in college,” Southworth said. “This one-day clinic and IHSA show gave them a taste of what to expect.”

The younger students bombarded horse team members with questions and experienced Western horsemanship, English equitation and equitation over fences during this daylong orientation held in a 24-stall arena.

“The equine studies minor is offered to students with majors outside of the field of agriculture,” Southworth said. “This option, when combined with various majors such as business, communication or education, provides the student with the scientific and technical knowledge as well as the hands-on practices of horsemanship.

“With a major in agriculture and a concentration in equine studies, students are prepared for a career in the equine industry in areas such as management, marketing, reproduction nutrition, sale and instruction. Students completing these courses may also further pursue a graduate degree in related scientific fields or apply to veterinary school.”

Amber Sexton, a senior at Blanchester High School, is teetering between playing tennis in college and studying equine.

“She’s been involved with horses since she was nine and has always been in 4-H,” said Amber’s mother, Donna. “She wants to study equine as long as the courses don’t overlap with the tennis season.”

Melanie Trimble and her daughter, Megan, attended the show but Megan couldn’t participate. Megan is only in the fifth grade.
“She’s too young and it’s too early for my daughter to even think about college at this time, but she’s nuts about horses and wanted to check this out,” Melanie said. “Being able to talk with the college students who are already involved in the studies is a wonderful way of answering a lot of questions about the program.”

Wilmington College offers an equestrian club and the IHSA Equestrian Team. The club offers fundraising, educational and social events throughout the semester. To participate on the equestrian team, students must be a member of the club. The team actively competes in IHSA Zone 6 Region 2 with other colleges such as Miami University, Midway College and Morehead State University in both English and Western divisions.