"I found my people and a true home. I'm just lucky to get to ride horses every week and be with such a great group of people."
(Contributed photo)
The UConn Equestrian Team achieved the status of being the regional high point team at the close of this year's Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) competition season.
"It's awesome," says team captain Elinor Addonizio '25 (CAHNR). "I think it gives everybody a lot of hope for the future to continue doing so well."
This year, UConn's point total was 276. The second-place team, Boston University, had 225 points.
"It really was an incredible season," coach Marilyn Bennett says. "I'm really proud of all of them. They put in a lot of hard work, and it really is a testament to that…It's a great way to represent the school."
For each show, teams choose individual riders in each event and class to be their point riders. This means those riders' points, based on where they place in the event, count toward the team's total.
"Essentially it comes down to the point riders who won the most and did the best," Addonizio says.
At their home show in October, UConn's team earned a perfect score.
"Every single point rider won their class - which is pretty much unheard of," Addonizio says. "So, that was a really big accomplishment."
One member of the UConn Team, Cara Bailey '27 (CAHNR), qualified for nationals, which will take place in May.
Currently, there are 24 showing members on the UConn Equestrian Team, and 30 members total. Riders are placed into jumping and flat event classes based on their experience and skill level.
What is unique to the IHSA competitions is that, unlike elsewhere in the equestrian world, riders do not bring horses to competitions. Instead, they are randomly assigned a horse from the hosting institution's barn.
"You have no idea until the day of what horse you're going to ride," Bennett says. "So that adds a whole other element to showing…It makes it unique and really cool."
To prepare for this challenge, the UConn team changes which horse they ride for each of their weekly practices.
This was the first year UConn competed in Region 4 with Massachusetts schools after their previous region was dissolved.
"We were pretty nervous heading into this new region because we'd never competed against these teams, and they're all very accomplished teams," Addonizio says. "So, it's really, really exciting, and honestly we didn't expect it, which made it all the more special."
Addonizio has been a member of the team since her freshman year and was captain for the past two years.
After graduating this spring with a degree in animal science with a focus on equine breeding, Addonizio is going to New Zealand to help deliver foals for the horse racing industry.
"I found my people and a true home, and I'm just lucky to get to ride horses every week and be with such a great group of people," Addonizio says. "And the leadership experience that I've gained from it as captain has been pretty life changing."
UConn recently announced a new Equine Science and Management major, launching in the fall of 2026.
