Ripon College Equestrian Team

The First Ripon College Equestrian Team in 2009

Will, Kate Hamm, Tom Avery (coach), Noah, Jess Solverud, Mary Avery (coach), Joe, Steph Nuttall, Jazz, & Rachel Geary

The Ripon College Equestrian Team was started in 2009 by Jessica Solverud (left), class of 2010, and, the head of the Ripon College Business Department, Professor Mary Avery. The Equestrian Team is a branch of the Ripon College Equestrian Club (also started by Jessica and Mary), for those college students who just love horses but do not wish to compete.

                                                                                    (Katie Tredinnick, Class of 2016)

Our Equestrian Team began as solely a Hunt Seat team consisting of Kate Hamm, class of 2012, Jessica Solverud, class of 2010, and Rachel Geary, class of 2013. Coached by Mary & Tom Avery and Karen DePue, we traveled as far as South Dakota, Crookston, Minnesota (Canada, essentially) and as close as Madison and River Falls, Wisconsin to compete. Our first show season ended with founder Jessica Solverud making it to Regionals for our zone.

Ever since the first team was created in 2009, we have grown substantially. As of 2012, we now compete with a Hunt Seat team of eight students as well as a Western team of eight students. Both of our teams are primarily coached by Carissa Rivara Sorensen (pictured above with Kari Brown, 2016), the trainer at Cedar Ridge. Each team has it's own student captains as well. Emily Kiessling (2014) is currently the Hunt Seat captain and Sara Frost (2015) is currently our Western captain           

      (Kay Luling 2016)                                                         (Kari Brown 2016)

The teams compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA), which provides riders the opportunity to show in three disciplines: Hunt Seat Equitation, Western Horsemanship, and Reining. IHSA currently hosts 376 teams competing in the above three disciplines all across the United States. Our Hunt Seat team currently competes in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana, and the Western team currently competes in Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Minnesota (which is determined by the zone each college is located in).

Here is a link to the IHSA website to learn more!

http://www.ihsainc.com/

Here are our current Ripon College Hunt Seat & Western Teams!

From left front to Right front: Kay Luling (2016), McKala Kiessling (2016), Maggie Wolf (2015), Amber Sotemann (2014), Katie Tredinnick (2016), JaneMarie Erickson (2016), Emily Kiessling (Captain, 2014), Elly Davis (2015).
Back Two: Left Mary Avery (Advisor) and Carissa Rivara Sorensen (Coach).

From left (Back) - Katie Warczak 2016, Sara Frost 2015, Erin Hying 2012, Ricky Nogal 2014, Rae Brixius (Captain) 2016, Kari Brown 2016,
(Middle) - Jill Cline 2016 and Ali LaPidus 2015,
(Front) - Carissa Rivara Sorensen (Coach).

If you have any questions or are an incoming, or current, Ripon College student and are interested in our Equestrian Team and how you could be apart, feel free to contact:

 Rae Brixius, Western Captain - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it          Emily Kiessling, Hunt Captain - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mary Avery, founder & coach - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Katie and Mary at our first show of the season!                                  Maggie Wolf

          Katie Warczak, getting ready to show                                        Rae Brixius, winning smile!

We even have fun abroad! Elly Davis and Amber Sotemann are currently abroad in Scotland, but had a get-a-way trip to Ireland! (Pictured below)