IHSA

PHEW.

For the first time in the last two weeks I’ve been able to take a deep breath, relax and SLEEP. After a double-header horse show weekend, I’m pretty much ready to hibernate for the next two years.

Good news! Ivan and I are happy to report that we had a fruitful and uneventful New England finals, placing sixth in the open adult equitation, 18-22 and 11th in the Medal Final. Considering that I added a freestyle halt last year and only practiced a handful of times this year, I’m pretty psyched!


A good IHSA team needs a good support system, and TUEQ is lucky to have a fabulous one.

Dani White, the owner of August Farm in Holliston, Mass., kindly lets us use her wonderful array of school horses to practice on almost every day of the week. Even though they have the technical label of “school” horses, each one provides a unique learning experience and tries harder than most other “show” horses I’ve ridden.

Last weekend, TUEQ traveled to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire for a pre-season practice show.

I’ve been back riding at school for three days, and I already have a long-distance relationship with my stirrups.  I can barely trot three times around the ring without hearing “…aaaaaand drop your irons” (and barely trot three more times around without feeling that familiar burning pain we all know and love).  I know it’s good for me, and the end results are certainly tangible, but I can’t help feeling a pang of terror every time my boots part from my hallowed stirrups.

Executive director of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, the organization he founded in 1967 while a sophomore at Fairleigh Dickinson University (N.J.), Bob Cacchione has dedicated his life to enthusiastically supporting the development of the IHSA. The organization now encompasses 31 regions, 355 schools and more than 7,600 riders.

Name: Bob Cacchione