Pepperdine Saddles Up!

By Paula Parisi July 26, 2011

Pepperdine University is reigniting its equestrian program and has named as coach Erin Rorabaugh of Fairview Farms. The team is expected to be competing in Intercollegiate Horse Show Assn. events by October. It will be based at Rorabaugh’s Pegasus Equestrian Center in Agoura, just minutes from Pepperdine, off Kanan Dume Road.

It becomes one of 14 squads in Zone 8, Region 2, which covers Southern California and Arizona. Incoming freshman Kali Jelen, who had been training with Silver Gate Farms’ Julie VanLoo in Santa Clarita, got the ball rolling to restart the team.

“There are quite a few students who have their horses in training in the Malibu area. I started talking to a few of them, and we said, ‘Let’s bring this back.’ So I did my research and made my list of 10 trainers to visit. Of those, Erin was by far my favorite. She is an amazing trainer and the facility is beautiful and it’s only 10 minutes from campus.”

Although some of the students are already competing on the A circuit, “the Pepperdine Equestrian Club will be in addition to, rather than in place of that,” Jelen said. “For me, this is a way that’s a little less expensive and a little less demanding of my time, so I’m still able to ride while pursuing my academic goals. And for incoming freshmen, they won’t have to run around interviewing trainers like I did. Pepperdine now has a plan for them.”

In 1971 Pepperdine launched an equestrian program that was based on-campus. In 2001, that program was shuttered and a handful of students established a club based at the Foxfield Riding School in Lake Sherwood. But without a dedicated coach, the initiative struggled. “Basically, you showed up and jumped in with a pony lesson. The trainers really didn’t know the team members by name,” said Evanne Lindley, now entering her senior year.

By 2009 the club was inactive and Evanne and her twin sister Alanna had their own horses in training with Rorabaugh. “When I was in high school looking at colleges, it was always my dream to compete as part of a team, so I was very disappointed at Pepperdine to see the program unravel before my very eyes.”

The Lindleys’ sister, Caroline, enters Pepperdine as a freshman this year, and their mother Kim volunteered to lead the Equestrian Team Parent Booster Club. Because it does not have varsity status the riding club will not be supported by the school’s athletic budget and will rely exclusively on independent fundraising.

“I’m bracing myself to see them raise more money in a few months than we do all year,” said University of Southern California equestrian team Karen Perlow, who runs her program out of The Paddock Riding Club in Atwater Village. Perlow – whose ability to turn USC into Region 2 Hunter Seat Champions for the past three years has earned her the reputation of David in the battle against Goliath – surmised that while there is probably a greater concentration of wealth at USC, the level of parental commitment at Pepperdine will give it an edge.

She welcomed the new rivals and predicted they will be good for Region 2. “It’s great to have Erin be a part of this, and exciting to see Pepperdine competing again,” Perlow said. In addition to gaining another quality venue in Pegasus, the reemergence of Pepperdine also expands the string of available horses, which Southern California schools pool and share at competitions. (The catch-riding nature of IHSA requires that riders draw their horses at random.)

Steve Maxwell, the editor of CampusEquestrian.com, said the Zone 8, Region 2 horse shortage is a handicap for the students, particularly those seeking to earn points that will enable them to compete for individual honors.
“At a college show, the host school provides the horses, and in theory you could get as many horses as you want and multiple sections of open flat, open over fences. So if you had 16 riders you could create two classes of eight – an A section and a B section – and the top six in each class would earn points,” Maxwell said. “But in this region, because they’ve been limited as to their supply of horses, they usually only have one class. Having more horses would help the students advance more rapidly.”

Rorabaugh confessed that in seeking equine donations, she has her work cut out for her. “We’re trying to get a good string of horses,” she said, noting wryly that on the West Coast, “We don’t have a lot of those $100,000 donated horses that they actually have in the East, where there’s old money and people just don’t want to be bothered” trying to sell the animals once the kids grow up, or when they are left as part of an estate.

Rorabaugh said the team will launch with “five or six” dedicated mounts, but that the number should be three times that. “At Brown, they have about 15 horses,” she said, adding that the donation initiative is just gearing up. “I have a lesson program here at Pegasus, and I can use those horses too.”

Because of the way the IHSA competitions are structured, “you have to have to have riders at every level for the team to do well,” Lindley said. “There are total beginner classes, so this is not just for people at the top of their discipline; it’s for people just getting into the sport, too.” The training emphasis, she said, will be “to be able to get on any horse and start jumping around.”

Jelen said that because the team is in start-up mode, “we’re looking for monetary donations as well as new or gently used tack and show clothes. Rorabaugh said team’s first fundraiser will be held in August in Beverly Hills, with details announced shortly.

For more information about the IHSA, visit www.ihsainc.com.
For more information about Pepperdine visit www.pepperdine.edu

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