Equestrian Team Saddles Up for Fifth Season

MC equestrian team members (from left) Carris Case, Bailey Fleming, and Steph Brislin

Mississippi College’s equestrian team enters its 5^th season with a great deal of confidence after its talented team of riders finished its fourth campaign by winning first-place honors at a Kentucky horse show.

Sophomore Courteney Evans of Ridgeland will never forget her dazzling performance at the final day of competition hosted by Murray State University in early March.

“I got to experience the feeling of riding out of the ring with a blue ribbon on a horse I’d never ridden before,” Evans said.

Now a biology/pre-med major on the Clinton campus, Evans took first in the novice flat division that Sunday in the Bluegrass State. On that day at Murray State, Mississippi College scored 27 points to edge second-place finishers Vanderbilt and Sewanee by two points.

“I’m sure it was a confidence booster for the girls on the team,” said MC coach Becky Baumel, a former star rider during her undergraduate days in Ohio. “They should get better.”

Evans and other MC teammates are getting used to riding horses they don’t know. Riding unfamiliar horses selected from a hat is part of the rules for all Intercollegiate Horse Show Association competitors.

Active in hunter/jumper horse shows as a student at Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Evans is among at least 18 MC Lady Choctaws signing up for the equestrian team with the new season set to begin in September.

Members of the MC squad include residents of metro Jackson and other Mississippi communities, but they’re also coming from states like South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Louisiana. Jessie Kilic, a sophomore from England, is returning to the squad this fall.

Evans can’t wait to make the 20-minute drive from the Clinton campus to the team’s headquarters at Providence Hill Farm to kick off the new season. “It’s a nice break from my day and gives me the chance to relax and do something I love - riding. The shows are tons of fun, too.”

Addie Case of Brookhaven, who spends long hours hitting the books as a biology/pre-med major at Mississippi College, also relishes her time with horses.

“I started riding when I was six and have been doing it ever since,” said the Brookhaven High graduate. Addie grew up showing palominos and quarter horses at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson and at equine centers around the state.

Her predictions for the upcoming season? “We have a lot of stronger riders that are always going to do well,” Case said. “I have a lot of faith in our team for the next few years. My coaches are awesome and have taught us so much from the very beginning.”

Freshman Katherine Mooney, a Jackson Academy graduate planning to be a biology major at MC, is no stranger to the Christian university’s equestrian team. A rider for nine years, she’s been a student worker at Providence Hill Farm since 2006. “I’ve always had a love for animals,” says Mooney, who’s eyeing a career in veterinary medicine.

Mississippi College is among more than 380 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada that belong to the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. Over 8,300 students participate in the association.

MC’s riders participate in the first IHSA show of the season on September 24-25 at Sewanee – the University of the South - in Tennessee. The team travels to Maryville October 22-23 in Friendsville, Tennessee for the association’s second show. Among other dates on the schedule, the Lady Choctaws will be in Murfreesboro, Tennessee for IHSA competition against such teams as Middle Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt on February 12 and on March 3-4 will visit Murray State with the regionals set for March 10-12 at Sewanee.

With 2,000 acres of riding trails, a Grand Prix jumping field, a 36-stall heated barn, lakes, a covered arena, Providence Hill Farm has been a tremendous asset for the Lady Choctaws to practice and learn to care for horses.

Although MC’s team is relatively new, the students have placed at the IHSA National Finals and won many blue ribbons and championships at local and regional horse shows.

“We are really excited about this new year,” says Providence Hill Farm owner Jamie Planck Martin, the team’s advisor.

Boosting the equestrian program again this season will be key sponsors like Nutrena and Boots & More, the western clothing and boots shop on High Street in Jackson. Also giving the equestrian team a nice lift, MC leaders say they want to see the program expand, Martin said. Thanks to donations, there are now a dozen horses associated with the equestrian team.

Still, there’s always more to do, with equestrian team supporters trying to line up additional sponsors, and step up student recruitment, added Martin, a Jackson attorney. “It’s full steam ahead.”

For additional information, contact Providence Hill Farm at 601.925.0557 or the MC Athletic Department at 601.925.3341 or go to www.gochoctaws.com/ProvidenceHillFarm.com.