C’mon UK, it’s absurd to say students aren’t interested in equestrian sport | Opinion

The women’s equestrian teams at the University of Kentucky are not varsity sports. In a front page article on Aug. 11 about the Title IX lawsuit against UK, officials said there was insufficient interest on campus for equestrian and several other sports. But the interest level in equestrian at UK is much more than required to raise equestrian to varsity level.

UK has a list of teams competing in multiple equestrian sports and winning national championships, which are unfortunately ignored. On April 10, 2010, the UK women’s polo team won the US Polo Association National Intercollegiate Championships, beating top-seeded Cornell 18-12 and Texas A&M 15-14.

The largest number of UK students in equestrian is eventing, the sport in which the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event is one of the seven top-level (five star) international competitions, with just two in the USA (Fair Hill, Maryland, and Lexington). In the U.S. Eventing Association Intercollegiate Championships in 2023, UK had several teams participating, one of which finished fifth. In 2021, UK won the Championship. In the largest equestrian competition group below the NCAA, the Intercollegiate Hunt Seat Association (IHSA), UK won the national championship in 2008. Information about the existing club and team equestrian sports can be found at https://equine.ca.uky.edu/clubs-and-teams.

Many state universities that are comparable to UK compete in equestrian sports. At the highest level, NCAA Division 1, there are 19 universities, including several Southern universities and universities comparable to UK: Auburn, Baylor, Georgia, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, SMU, TCU, and Texas A&M. Southern universities won the eventing championship recently. The University of South Carolina won first place in 2023. Auburn won in 2018, 2019, and 2022.

Raising equestrian to a varsity sport requires interest. Claims that there is insufficient interest among students are absurd. I am a horseback rider at Champagne Run Farm, Inc., where the coach of the UK IHSA team is an instructor. I have been a faculty member at UK since 2003 and I have personally known UK student-riders for 20 years. I estimate 100 UK students are currently interested in participating in eventing in particular.

Raising equestrian to a varsity sport also requires money. While some competitors in intercollegiate equestrian have their own horses, most universities provide horses for training or competition. Donations of horses to universities are common and provide careers for off the track thoroughbreds, horses that can no longer compete at the highest professional level or have had high level young riders who changed life objectives. Realistically, assume a cost of maintaining a horse of $1,000 per month, or $12,000 per year. A string of 30 such horses would cost $360,000 per year. Remember that some athletes bring their own horses. Equestrian coaches must also be paid, but not at the rates of football, basketball, or baseball. Suppose the equestrian team cost $1,000,000 per year. That is 1% of a $100,000,000 annual sports budget. That is a reasonable cost for a varsity team in a sport in which Lexington is said to be the world capital.

Equestrian sports are expensive for participants and team organizers. I do not have access to the specific data needed to budget precisely a varsity equestrian team. However, Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas A&M have varsity equestrian. An honest discussion of the cost issues in having an equestrian team, and how do it, would be useful. Denying interest in equestrian sports in Lexington is not true or useful.

I support raising the equestrian sports at UK to varsity level.

J.S. Butler is a UK professor and an equestrian.