YSU senior ranked among top college equestrians in nation

Sarah Newman, Youngstown State University senior and a member of YSU’s Equestrian Team, is ranked among the top 12 collegiate equestrians nationwide.

A Nursing major from Sacramento, Calif., Newman has qualified to compete in the National Intercollegiate Horse Show Association show in Lexington, Ky., the weekend of May 4 to 7. She is among 12 college equestrians around the country who placed in the top four at three regional IHSA shows March 24 and 25.

“My mother is ecstatic. She’s a serious equestrian and has always wanted me to show horses,” Newman said of her riding successes. “For me, just being around the horses has been a nice stress release from school.”

YSU’s Equestrian Team also had a successful 2016-17 season, finishing as Reserve Champion – second in its region – under the leadership of coach Amy Watkins, an American Quarter Horse Association judge and owner of Watkins Quarter Horses in Canfield.

Now finishing its third season, the YSU Equestrian Team was organized in 2014 as a club sport at the university. The team is student-run, with seven members now on the roster – though co-ed, only women have joined so far, Watkins said.

A graduate of the University of Findlay’s Equine Science program, Watkins initiated YSU’s equestrian club with the help of two students, Kara Klem and Toni Varrecchia. “They are the glue that kept this thing together,” she said.

The team is part of a growing trend. Watkins said more than 400 universities across United States and Canada now have equestrian club sports, with more 9,000 participants.

The YSU team competes in five shows per season, members commit to taking one riding lesson per week, and no prior riding experience is required. They provide their own riding attire ­– western-style hats, chaps and boots are appropriate for quarter horse riding – but they are not required to own a horse.

“That’s part of what makes us such good riders,” Newman explained. “Most equestrians ride the same horse, and they learn to ride very well on that horse. We ride a different horse every time, and it helps us to become better.”

Watkins also coaches a younger equestrian team made up of middle school and high school students and based at her Canfield stables. For some, YSU’s Equestrian Team has been a deciding factor in making their college choice.

She hopes to work with YSU on creating an elective equestrian class as a physical education option for students. “It would be a great way to expose students to horses and horseback riding, for the first time in some cases,” she said. “Horses are such good therapy, mentally and physically, and it might also serve as a feeder for the equestrian team.”