Horsing Around! Club Spotlight: NYU Equestrian

Unfortunately, if your dream is to gallop through Central Park, I have to let you down. Instead, every Monday, ten riders all pile into an NYU van and head out to Bergen Equestrian Center in New Jersey. This 40 minute drive offers the chance to get to know your teammates and engage in some interesting conversations. You can also bop along to whoever has the aux! Upon arriving at the barn, we receive our horse assignments and prepare to get in the saddle.

For our team, horsemanship is just as important as riding. We make sure that the horses are brushed, hooves are picked, and treats have been given. Once we hop on, our coach teaches us for about two hours. It is tiring work and you can bet your legs will be sore afterwards. However, there are plenty of walk breaks when you can hang on your horse’s neck—my personal favorite!

At lessons, depending on a rider’s skill level, we usually work on flatwork first and then jumping towards the end of the lesson. Once we finish, we have a quick photo shoot before jumping off and untacking. If it’s warm enough, we love to take the horses outside so they can graze before we return them to their stalls! 

On Sundays, you can usually find us somewhere in Brooklyn, Long Island, or Connecticut. Our team rides as part of the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA), a competitive organization where we get to ride against other schools and students. The horse shows last all day. Since we compete from October-March, they are usually pretty cold! That means lots of jackets, huddling together, and hot coffee. We enter each rider into a flat class and an optional jumping class (based on skill level). Each class lasts about 5-10 minutes. But just because we don’t ride all day doesn’t mean that we aren’t on the move. We help each other get mounted, film each other’s classes, and make sure everyone’s boots are shining.

“I was never a competitive rider growing up, but being able to ride horses was important to me when choosing colleges, so I started pursuing membership on the equestrian team shortly after committing to NYU. However, I never could have anticipated the friendships I’ve made through this team. Some of my favorite memories at NYU so far have been at Sunday horse shows, rallying with my teammates to make the 5am bus to the show grounds or celebrating their wins.”

– Anabel Giacobbi, Gallatin Class of 2026

We have two application cycles each year: one from May-August and one December-January. You must fill out an interest form and submit videos of yourself riding. We cannot hold in person tryouts, so we use these videos to make our decisions. All of our updates are posted on our Instagram (@nyuequestrian)!

While competition days are long and lessons can be tiring, this club sport is worth the hours. The team offers an incredible sense of community both on and off campus. Whether you’re bonding with fellow riders, connecting with horses, or chatting with the coach and barn staff, the team provides a welcoming, tight-knit environment. With a flexible schedule that prioritizes academics, you can easily balance schoolwork and team involvement. Joining this team is more than just an athletic decision, it is a chance to connect, grow, and find your people (and your ponies) while at NYU!