IEA Team (Interscholastic Equestrian Association)

You may be more familiar with the IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association); the IEA is prep for doing the IHSA.  The idea behind the IEA and the IHSA is that it gives a fair and level playing field for all riders to show their ability whether you are only a walk trot rider or you compete in the Big Eq.  When competing in the IEA, the host team supplies the horses.  When you get to the show there is a random draw that will let you know who you are riding.  You will not ride the same horse in your flat and over fences classes unless you coincidentally draw the same horse twice.  For the flat classes you are allowed to adjust your stirrups and then you can walk into the ring to show, there is no warm up allowed.  In the over fences classes you are allowed two warm up jumps and then have to walk directly into the ring and compete.  The IEA is split into the middle school teams and the high school teams.  The middle school team is for riders in sixth through eighth grade and the high school team for ninth through twelfth graders.

We have been very lucky to have many championships over the four seasons of competing in the IEA.  We have sent numerous riders to Regionals and Zones and some have moved on to competing at Nationals.  We believe that by promoting and encouraging young riders to join the IEA Team, and by making riding a team sport, our riders are further enriched by the equestrian sport.

What we have found about having an IEA team is that it has created a team spirit among the students.  You do not have to own a horse to be on the team, so the team consists of kids from sixth grade to twelfth grade and some own their own horses, some lease horses and some just lesson with us, but it has brought all of them together.  They are a great group of kids and we could not be more proud of the way that they represent Saddle River Equestrian.  When you ride a new horse each week at practice you learn to adjust to whatever horse you have to sit on.  We make them practice like this to prepare them for the horse shows.  All in all, we have been very impressed with the horses that have been at the IEA shows.

Please contact us for more information.