United States Eventing Association

Collegiate Rider Kani Schram Takes the Lead for the Florida State University Eventing Team

Freshman year of college is a time of transition. Between being away from home and learning how to take care of yourself, there’s a lot on your plate. More so for Florida State University student Kani Schram, who found herself with a burgeoning eventing team hoisted upon her when the previous team captain needed to step down. Together with co-captain Gianna Leto, Schram decided to take on the challenge.

“We were both freshmen at the time, so we were kind of like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Schram said. “At that time, the team was fairly spread out, and there weren't a lot of us. It's still a very small team. I think our roster has maybe six or seven people on it, so we're a very small group, but we’re growing.”

Now juniors, Schram and Leto are still co-captains of the Florida State University Intercollegiate Eventing Team. Their goal hasn’t changed. They want to field a team for this year’s USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship, held on May 2-4 in Aiken, South Carolina.

“A lot of what Gianna and I have been trying to do is just getting the name of the team out there, like showing up at shows with logos,” Schram said.

In 2024, the team didn’t have enough members to field a squad for the Championship. Not one to let that get her down, Schram decided to go by herself. Luckily, she had the support of the University of Florida eventing team, captained by her hometown best friend, Lucy Walter.

“My best friend is actually the captain of the UF Eventing Team. We grew up riding together, so we're both from Sarasota. And when I told her that I was gonna go and either get on a scramble team or just figure something out, she was like, ‘Well, you know, I have seven going, so I'll just put you on one of my teams,’” Schram said.

Far from viewing each other as competitors, Schram and Walter work together to achieve similar goals—to grow their teams and create a lasting legacy of intercollegiate eventing in Florida.

“We're both Florida schools, and we work really closely together trying to promote eventing in Florida and trying to grow both of our teams. There's no reason both of our teams shouldn’t be some of the biggest eventing teams around, because we're so close to Ocala,” Schram said. “I'm very passionate about eventing. I love it so much, and when you have a team, you just want to promote the sport and promote that, no matter where you go to school, there's going to be an eventing team for you. Even when I graduate, my goal is that there will still be a community for those event riders who do come to Florida State.”

While she was working on growing the FSU Eventing Team, Schram has also spent her college years working on another challenge—her Off the Track Thoroughbred, Keen On Diamonds. Before college, Schram had purchased “Daisy” to be her event horse, but the mare’s difficult and nervous nature pushed that dream onto the back burner for several years.

“She was supposed to be my next event horse, but it became evident at the time that that may not happen. We had gone through a lot of trainers, and no one really had a lot of faith in us. And so that was kind of hard,” Schram said. “The difficulty with Daisy was just that she's super high strung. She continues to be very much afraid of her own shadow. I literally could not get this horse to walk over a pole on the ground. I fell off so many times because there was a hose on the ground, and we had to walk over it. I don't know much about her past, but there were a lot of things that I think were indicative that maybe her life growing up wasn’t super fantastic.”

Daisy was so difficult that Schram purchased Oliver, a steady horse who could help her accomplish her goals more quickly. But when it came time to go to college, Schram could only bring one horse with her. Knowing it would be easier to find Oliver a temporary spot, due to his Steady Eddy personality, she sent him to the University of Florida Eventing Team and brought Daisy with her to college, determined to work through her issues.

“That’s where my arrangement with the University of Florida eventing coach Michelle Mercier came in. She said that she would take Oliver and use him as part of her lesson program,” Schram said. “Literally, everyone was so confused by this. There are still people confused by this, because I had this perfect angel baby horse who could do no wrong. He took care of us on cross-country. He was great on the flat. But instead, I decided to take this psychotic little Thoroughbred to college.”

Schram remembers meeting with her current trainer, Maisie Wagner, and telling her not to have high hopes. "And later on, she told me, ‘I really had to decrease my expectations, because I think we spent the whole first lesson trying to go over a single white wooden pole on the ground and it just wasn't happening,’” she recalled.

Daisy came to Schram later on in life, when the mare was already 14 years old. When Schram took her to college, the mare was 16 years old and still extremely green with little formal training. Despite all of the obstacles that stood in their way, Schram never lost faith in her.

“She was something worth fighting for. I felt that this horse had obviously not been given the chance to truly see what she could do. And I felt like I owed her that opportunity,” Schram said. “As an owner, I think that's kind of your responsibility—to ensure that you're helping your horse in some way. I owed her the chance to see what she could really do and to see what she had going on underneath all of her crazy nervous energy. She has always held a special place in my heart, because she had not had her shot yet, and I was determined to be the one to give her that opportunity.”

Schram quickly learned that she had to throw out any sort of timeline. “Daisy doesn't do things on anyone else's schedule. Daisy does things as she likes to. We did a lot of repetition. We stayed really committed to lessons and to making sure we continued on the right path,” Schram said.

Her perseverance and patience paid off. In 2024, Schram competed Daisy in the Novice division at the Intercollegiate Eventing Championship. “It may not seem like that big of a deal, but it was really special. It’s been a really uphill battle, and we’ve had so many people doubt us or express concerns or be really sketched out by the whole situation. It’s required a lot of hard work for both of us, and I think that’s what made it so special,” Schram said.

Often, the hardest horses are the ones who teach their riders the most. Daisy is one special horse who fits perfectly into that category. In spite of, or perhaps because of, all of the battles Schram and Daisy fought through together, their relationship has grown stronger than ever.

“The biggest thing she's taught me is perseverance. I've had this horse for six or seven years now, but really only the last two or three years have we had a real partnership,” Schram said. “Every bit of the last three years has been quite a battle. I think she's taught me a lot about just sticking with it and keeping my eyes on the bigger picture, on the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Unfortunately, the pair may not be able to achieve everything Schram hoped and dreamed of. Now 19 years old, Daisy is starting to show her age. Always dedicated to her horse, Schram refuses to push the mare beyond her limits and is instead prioritizing her health and happiness.

“I'm being very conservative about what I push her to do, because she is so special to me and I never want to make her do more than I think her body is able to handle,” Schram said, disappointed but committed to her decision. “We had finally gotten to a point where we were able to show, and things were going fairly well. So definitely the thought of taking a step back is not my favorite part of our journey. But in the end, the fact that we were able to accomplish all that we did is a big deal in itself. I never had many expectations going into it, so I'm just thankful for the time and all the cross-country runs that we did get to have.”

“I think it's definitely made me appreciate the journey and how my relationship with her in general has gotten stronger,” Schram added.

Looking ahead to the Intercollegiate Eventing Championship this spring, Schram still plans to have a strong presence at the event.

“All these girls who work so hard during the school year, I just want them to be able to go to this event because it is so fun. My goal is just to get a team there and make sure that everyone has fun and gets to see what it's all about,” Schram said.

Whether or not Daisy will be by her side at the 2025 event is another story. “For Daisy, she’s just coming back from an injury, and I haven't gotten her out or anything yet this season,” Schram said. “I would love for her to go run around the novice at Stable View, but we're just going to be patient and see what happens in the next few months and see how she's feeling.”

About the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program

The USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program was established in 2014 to provide a framework within which eventing teams and individual competitors could flourish at universities and colleges across the country. Many events across the country offer Intercollegiate Team Challenges where collegiate eventers can compete individually or in teams with their fellow students. In Intercollegiate Team Challenges, each rider’s score is multiplied by a coefficient appropriate for their level to account for differences in level difficulty, and then the individual scores are added together to determine the team score. The USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship is a capstone event for the program, which is held annually in the spring. The 2025 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship will be held at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, on May 2-4. Click here to learn more about the Intercollegiate Eventing Program.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, Horse & Country, Kerrits, Nunn Finer, Sidelines, U.S. Equestrian, WeRideTogether, World Equestrian Brands and Young Rider for sponsoring the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program.