The UK Eventing Team numbers about 100 with a ratio of roughly 70 to 30 of competing riders to social members. It’s the largest intercollegiate eventing team in the country.
Callia Englund, a marketing and management major in her senior year is the current President of the UK Team. She moved here from Washington State to attend college and has seen the team flourish in the last four years.
The equestrian teams are all self-funded. Englund oversees six other Eventing Team Officers and acts as the main point of communication for all the members and also the University which has to approve every competition. She estimates she probably spends 3 hours daily running the team, and also competes her horse alongside her regular college commitments.
The UK Eventing Team won the annual Intercollegiate Team Championships in 2021, and last year they brought the prestigious Spirit Award home to Kentucky. That’s hardly surprising as this is a strong, supportive and very special community
Grace Dilger, a sophomore studying marketing, was on that winning team last year; she’s riding her ex-racehorse Whole Nine Yards, or Niner this afternoon and would love to go back to the Championships again next May. Whole Nine Yards is by the 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo.
Grace’s horse Niner’s breeding is almost impeccable as her own; she grew up here in Lexington and in fact I interviewed Grace’s dad Gerry many years ago after Always Dreaming, a horse he bred, won the Kentucky Derby. The Eventing Team, Dilger says, definitely factored into her decision to attend UK.
It’s not just the students who are flocking to UK and Lexington. Trainer and Coach Beth Brown moved her business and her family here from California three years ago.
Brown runs a busy training and boarding facility on Russell Cave road and the majority of her clients are UK Eventing students; she’ll admit she’s still adjusting to Kentucky winters, but has no regrets
You don’t need to preach Kentucky for horses to Cathy Wieschoff – she is the OG of Kentucky Eventing, based out of Carriage Station Farm on Old Frankfort Pike. Wieschoff is a trainer, coach, course designer and local eventing legend and has watched the programme gain momentum with pleasure and pride
One of the teams competing in the gala this afternoon is made up of alumni, and all four team captains are successful professional event riders who are now based here in Lexington. Along with parents, family, sponsors, owners and fans they’ve all come together to support and cheer their Wildcats on, an enduring Kentucky tradition.
