Ten minutes away from the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, the UMass Dressage Team practices at Muddy Brook Farm.
The UMass Dressage Team is a club sport and one of four equine teams at UMass. It’s a co-ed intercollegiate team that connects students of all majors together. The team, coached by Kathy Roberts, offers opportunities to compete and ride recreationally.
The sport of dressage differs from other horseback riding disciplines. It focuses on the movement of the horse. Rather than having the horse go over jumps or fences, the rider and horse perform a certain routine and test in the ring. The UMass Dressage Team is a part of the Intercollegiate Dressage Association (IDA). The team requires no experience to join.
According to the IDA website, it is a “national organization [that] offers organized competitions and the opportunity for students to make dressage part of their college experience.”
The members of the UMass Dressage Team vary at all levels. Some have been practicing the sport for a while, others joined when they came to college in the fall.
“I did dressage in high school, which is the case for a lot of people on the team,” Katie Robertson, co-captain and a senior history major, said. She is one of fourteen members on the team.
“When I came to UMass, I knew I was going to search for ‘UMass Dressage Team’,” Robertson said. “I think that’s why a lot of people don’t know about it too because maybe they have been jumping forever and they didn’t know it was an option. But that’s how I found out, I kind of knew I wanted to do it.”
“I knew nothing about the dressage team here, I didn’t know it existed,” Treasurer Danielle Spadafora, a sophomore animal science major said. “I went to the club fair and found all the teams and was like this is awesome. I saw the dressage team and thought this sounds like a great group of people and a really fun experience and so here I am.”
The club sport offers two ways for students to practice the art of dressage: a competition and a recreational team. As a part of the IDA, the team competes against other schools in the region. This year they competed against the University of Connecticut, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire, Mount Holyoke College and Johnson and Wales University.
Competitions are usually held in the fall due to the colder weather in the spring. According to Robertson, there are typically five horse shows in the fall and three or four in the spring.
“We hosted our home show and we placed sixth as a team. One of the highlights is that one of our freshmen placed second in her division which is exciting,” junior co-captain Lily Georgopoulos, a pre-veterinary science major said.
On a typical competition day, the team has to wake up early to arrive at the university they are competing at. Team members can wake up as early as 5:30 a.m. to arrive for an 8 a.m. competition.
“Dressage riders do their own test so it’s kind of like one person in the ring for maybe three minutes,” Robertson said. In IDA, there are four levels where riders can compete: an introduction level, lower training, upper training and first level.
“There are different tests, so if you think about it as a routine, the intro, which is the lowest level, they do a more simple routine and test and they don’t do some of the movements that you would see in higher-level classes,” Georgopoulos said.
At competitions, the day tends to end around 3 p.m. Awards wrap up the competition day and are “usually the best part of the day,” Robertson said.
The UMass Dressage Team does more than just practice the sport. The team has been able to create a tight-knit community through a shared love of dressage.
“I’ve met some really cool people,” secretary Allie Shreeve, a sophomore animal science major said. “They all took me under their wing, they were like ‘We’re going to show you what we’re doing and how we do it, it doesn’t matter that you’ve barely sat on a horse before.’ They were just amazing.”
The team offers opportunities to obtain leadership positions. Currently, the executive board includes positions such as two co-captains, a secretary and a treasurer.
“We’ve had some of our e-board roles change throughout the years so we’re just trying to see what makes sense so that everyone can be involved and not have any one person be overwhelmed with having a lot of responsibilities on them,” Georgopoulos said.
“My favorite part about it is hanging out with everyone on the team, it’s a really great group of people and it’s kind of like a second family for us here,” Spadafora said.
Sydney Warren can be reached at [email protected]
