NCEA Championship Seeds Are Announced

On April 12-14, the nation’s top collegiate equestrian teams will meet in Waco, Texas, for the 2012 National Collegiate Equestrian Championship.

In January 2012, in effort to further advance equestrian to a NCAA championship sport, the entity formally known as Varsity Equestrian has established an association to become the voice for the sport of equestrian within college athletics. The National Collegiate Equestrian Association was founded to be the catalyst for growth of varsity level equestrian competition.

2012 National Collegiate Equestrian Championship Seeding

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Western

1. Texas A&M University
2. Oklahoma State University
3. University of Georgia
4. Auburn University
5. University of South Carolina
6. Kansas State University
7. Baylor University
8. Fresno State University
9. New Mexico State University
10. Texas Christian University
11. South Dakota State University
12. University of Tennessee-Martin

Hunt Seat

1. Auburn University
2. University of South Carolina
3. University of Georgia
4. Baylor University
5. Southern Methodist University
6. New Mexico State University
7. Texas A&M University
8. Texas Christian University
9. Kansas State University
10. Fresno State University
11. Oklahoma State University
12. University of Tennessee-Martin

Journal Backstory

“In Varsity (National Collegiate Equestrian Association), the athletes have four minutes to ride the horse before the competition. The most important thing for our competitors to remember is that you can’t train a horse in four minutes. You can make one mad in four minutes, but you can’t train a horse to your specifications in four minutes. The rider must adapt to the horse; the horse isn’t going to adapt to the rider.” – Beth Bass, horsemanship coach for the Texas A&M University Women’s Equestrian Team, in “Championship Pattern” on Page 190 of the January Journal, which walks readers through the 2011 NCEA finals horsemanship pattern.

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It’s anyone’s game at the 2012 NCEA Championships. Auburn and Georgia both enter the championships with byes in the first round of competition, which a top-four seed will earn any team. Georgia has walked away with overall national championships in 2009 and 2010, and Auburn clinched the overall title in 2011, in addition to the hunt seat championship. The No. 1 Western seed, Texas A&M, has entered the championships with that seed for the last four years and has claimed the western national championship for the past three. Will this year make their fourth in a row?

The American Quarter Horse Journal will be on the road to cover the National Collegiate Equestrian Championships. Stay tuned to www.aqha.com/showing for more updates on the NCEA Championships.

2011 Coverage

• April 15 – For one competitor, the 2011 Varsity Equestrian National Championships was a bittersweet weekend.
• April 16 – Two Auburn University riders are double All Americans.
• April 17 – Auburn University claims national championship; Texas A&M is western champ.