When one hears the term “varsity letter”, the sports that immediately come to mind are standard ones like football, soccer, basketball, and lacrosse.  However, a new and upcoming sport capable of earning a varsity letter is equestrian.

Kassie Reeves, junior, has been riding horses for seven years.  She is one of the few students at North Harford that has earned herself a varsity letter through competing in horse shows.

“For horse shows, most of your shows are through a program called USEF, and through that program they send you emails.  I found an email saying that you could go and get a varsity letter for that [equestrian] and schools look for it,” says Reeves.  The program USEF stands for the United States Equestrian Federation.  It is a national program that overlooks almost every equestrian event in the United States. The varsity letter that Reeves has received was awarded through this program.

Equestrian shows encompass a large quantity of events.  “So, basically there are different disciplines in it, and you can go like “cowboy-up” and go in a western saddle and do rodeos and barrel race, and then more english is what mainly the program is for.  You can jump in hunters, and equitation is how you look, kind of like a beauty contest, and then eventing is dressage, cross country, and show jumping.”

Reeves competes in shows in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. She rides at her house, where she has two horses and a pony.

Equestrian is also a sport one can compete in at the collegiate level. For Reeves, one of her most important college requirements is an equestrian team.  She is currently looking into two colleges where she could compete.

Midway University, which is located in Midway, Kentucky, has two equine teams.  Both of the teams compete within the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association.  Wilson University, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, has five equine teams, in addition to an equine facilitated therapeutics club.

There are a few other hawks that compete in equestrian events, including senior Anna Fitzhugh and junior Diana Woosley.  Fitzhugh is very excited to have earned her varsity letter for her senior year.