Barrington Hill is pleased to announce the Interscholastic Equestrian Team for Dade City and the surrounding areas. The Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) concept was drawn from the highly successful Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) in order to prepare high school and middle schoolstudents for college level riding. The IEA prides itself on introducing students to the equestrian industry and therefore provides competitive riding for the novice level rider (walk, trot, canter) all the way up to the more advanced open divisions. Through the IEA, students also have the opportunity to winscholarships towards their college education. In addition, the IEA provides students the opportunity to be recognized by college coaches and recruiters. Last year's IEA riders were offered over $125,000 in college scholarships.
This year, Barrington Hill will be participating as a farm team. This allows each individual rider to represent her school as an individual, but the Dade City/North Tampa area will compete as a team under the farm name for the opportunity to go to the National Horse Show in the Spring. This also gives us the advantage of drawing many talented riders from any of our area schools, including the Tampa area. A rider may choose to compete with any farm team throughout the year, but can only compete for one team per year. This also allows any rider from any barn or school to travel and compete with us. Riders can stay with their regular trainers and still compete with us at IEA and be part of our team.
The IEA was founded on the principle that any middle school or high school student should be able to participate in horse shows, regardless of their financial status or riding level. The IEA attempts to eliminate the expenses of students owning horses and allows more students to compete. Students ride horses that are furnished by the host barn and chosen by drawing lots. The use of personal tack is not allowed and limited schooling is permitted. The theory behind this structure is to equalize variables of the competition and test the horsemanship of the contestants. Classes range from walk/trot/canter for first year students to the Open Division for the more experienced riders.
In Dade City/Tampa, we are part of Zone 4 which is host to 63 high school and middle school teams throughout the Southeast. Zone 4 is then broken into regions, putting Tampa into Region 5. At the beginning of the school year, each team starts with the goal of accumulating enough points to make it to the regional playoff. Winning teams at regionals then move on to the zone playoffs. Each horse show also offers individual classes so that an individual rider may make it all the way to the national finals even if their team does not.
If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please visit the zone 4 link at www.ridezone4.com. If you or your student would like to participate this year, please contact us at barringtonhillfarm@gmail.com
