United States Eventing Association

Sewanee Eventing Team Thriving in Tennessee

Founded in 2016, the Sewanee Eventing Team is comprised of nine members and lead by coach Karine Gordy. Located on a 13,000 acre campus, Sewanee's equestrian facility is equipped with outdoor and indoor arenas, a 32-stall school barn and a 16-stall boarder barn with heated wash racks, laundry facilities, and tack rooms, as well as sizable paddocks and extensive trails.

It is Gordy's third season as the Director of Sewanee's Equestrian Program. Originally from the United Kingdom, Gordy began her career at Churchill Stables in the U.K. After moving to the United States, she served as Head Trainer for Walnut Trace Farms in Nashville, Tennessee. Her extensive background in eventing has allowed the Sewanee team to thrive.

Our team is made up of riders coming from all across the country, from California and New York to Wisconsin and Mississippi. The team also comes from vastly different riding backgrounds, ranging from lifelong eventers to hunter-jumpers making their eventing debut. Members compete from the Beginner Novice to one-star level.

Recently, the Sewanee Eventing Team hosted Daniel Stewart for a clinic. Over the summer, members are planning on attending Stewart’s Olympic Training Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. They hope to continue their education by getting other clinicians in before the end of the season.

From last year, The team also participates in weekly workouts with Sewanee’s IHSA team. The Sewanee Equestrian Team is not yet funded by the University, but they are currently in the application process to receive funding and club recognition. The program has tripled since Sean Heffron, Aelin Hill, Charlotte Holden, and Alexa Sinha competed in Sewanee’s inaugural event at Chattahoochee Hills in 2016. They hope to continue to grow the program over the next few years.

You can find out more information by following the Sewanee Eventing Team on Instagram @sewanee.eventing!

All photos courtesy of the Sewanee Eventing Team.

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. The USEA offers a discount of $25 on annual USEA memberships for current students of universities and colleges registered as Affiliates with the USEA and many events across the country now offer Intercollegiate Team Challenges throughout the year, where collegiate eventers can compete individually as well as on 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. Only the best three individual scores will count towards the team score, so teams of four will have one “drop” score. Click here to learn more about the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program

The USEA wants to feature your collegiate eventing team in our Intercollegiate Eventing Spotlight series! Please send your story and photos to Jessica Duffy to be featured.