PrintSince the school began offering riding classes in the 1930s, Centenary has paved the way for equestrian education.
Centenary College’s Intercollegiate Horse Show Association hunt seat team riders had no expectations when they arrived at IHSA Nationals last April. They wanted to be successful, but their goals centered on riding well and having fun.
So it was a sweet surprise when they walked away with the school’s first Collegiate Cup championship
since 1979.
“We always go for the gold, and we always come home with yellow,” said Michael Dowling, Centenary’s head coach, with a laugh. “It was so fantastic for the program to win. We were so pleased with the team. Not only because we won but also because of the confidence they had.
“The success was reflective of our department as a whole,” he explained. “From the top to the bottom, everyone pitched in and helped. We’ve had so many successful years, and to bring it to the next level just made the school recognize how good our students are and how strong our program is.”
Dowling, who has worked for Centenary, Hackettstown, N.J., for the past nine years, took over the reins of the IHSA team from Andrea Wells just last fall. Dowling, Bedminster, N.J., has been working in the hunter/jumper industry for more than 30 years and has had students competing and winning at the top levels of hunters and equitation.
“The challenging thing was trying to step into a position where the previous coach did such a good job. The team really loved her,” said Dowling. “That challenged me. I didn’t really know what to expect, and there were a lot of responsibilities that I had to assume. There were a lot of things besides just coaching the team. I had some big shoes to fill!”
With the assistance of Heather Clark, who has also had many successful students in the equitation and hunter rings, Dowling helped guide his young team to the win through a combination of hard work and a lot of laughs.
“[The win] started at home. We had nice pool of talent to draw from, and we were really emphatic about trying to pull together the best team,” said Dowling. “We knew we had the potential to win, so we gave them as much opportunity to jump as we could.
“We also worked hard on developing them outside of the program,” he added. “When we got [to Nationals] we felt our homework was done, and we were able to make it enjoyable for them and keep it light hearted. They put enough pressure on themselves!”
The strategy, combined with Centenary’s consistency over the championships (they picked up ribbons in five
of the eight classes), enabled the young team to clinch the title.
Lindsay Clark’s winning ride in the open over fences class, in addition to Marissa Cohen’s blue in the intermediate fences, sealed the deal.
“There were a bunch of teams in the top spot, and it came down to the last class. I work well under pressure, and I was trying to put it all together to do the best I could for the team,” said Clark, New Paltz, N.Y.
“They had asked four riders to come and test for the open jump class, so when they didn’t call my number, we figured my score was high enough to win,” she recalled. “At that point, we knew we had won. We were so proud to come together as a team. It wasn’t just the effort of the people showing but of the entire Centenary program. That’s why it was so special, to be able to bring it back to them.”
Hands-On Approach
