United States Eventing Association

When Sarah Lawrence announced in late-January that she was launching an Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) team in the Tryon, North Carolina, area, she hoped three riders might raise their hands. Two weeks later—just in time to submit her roster—she had a dozen. Sponsors stepped up to outfit the group, parents volunteered to haul coolers and banners, and riders from multiple barns and even multiple states compared calendars to figure out where they could meet, compete, and cheer. They called themselves Tryon Collective for a reason.

“We didn’t build this as an extension of a single program,” Lawrence said. “You didn’t have to ride with a specific trainer or even live nearby. If you loved eventing and wanted a team atmosphere, you were in.” That simple, inclusive premise turned out to be the club’s superpower in its debut season. Members drove in from as far as Statesville, North Carolina, or Travelers Rest, South Carolina; some trained with Lawrence, many rode with their home coaches, and a few floated between. The result was a true collective that met up at shows, shared course walks and cross-country nerves, and made an individual sport feel like Friday-night lights.

Lawrence, who grew up in Area VII and moved east in 2023, knew firsthand how access and logistics could shape a young rider’s journey. As a teen she split time between western and eastern Washington to reach trainers and competitions, and later gravitated to jumpers while staying close to eventing’s community ethos. When she arrived in the Tryon region—rich in horse activity but with eventers spread across many barns—she saw how IEL could stitch the geography together.

“Riders didn’t have to give up their own trainers, commit to every competition, or attend a fixed number of practices,” she explained. “That flexibility was exactly why we could form a real team across distances and schedules. Riders kept their home base—and gained a second home in the Collective.”

That structure invited a broader mix of athletes: a collection of middle school and high school riders. It also unlocked organic mentorship. When Mary Hampton Cottingham joined the team that spring, she was a high school senior. Younger teammates suddenly had a living blueprint for balancing school and sport—and a glimpse of what intercollegiate riding could look like down the road. That fall, Cottingham received a grant from the Tryon Riding & Hunt Club and took the next step herself, joining the intercollegiate eventing team at Auburn University.

“I first heard about the IEL team through my trainer, who had seen a post, maybe on Facebook,” Cottingham said. “As soon as I heard about it, I wanted to be involved. I had planned on joining an eventing team in college, so being able to participate on an IEL team beforehand felt like the perfect opportunity. I also really wanted to be part of the team environment. Riding is such an individual sport, but that changes when you’re part of a team; it makes the experience even more meaningful.”

“Peer-to-peer support is different,” Lawrence said. “Parents can encourage all day, but when an older teammate is the one walking you through studs or sending you back to the barn with a plan, it sticks.”

The Collective’s first official outing came at Stable View (Aiken, South Carolina) in January, where 13-year-old Lila Apple and her Thoroughbred Toujours Prêt (Mysterious Peintre x Hot Like Me) represented the brand-new team as its sole rider. “Sarah had just submitted all the paperwork, and there was an opening at the event,” recalled Apple’s mother, Brandi Apple. “She was like, ‘Great, I’ve got a rider!’ ”

By March, the full roster was on the scene at Southern Pines in North Carolina—“our first true all-squad moment,” as Lawrence put it. For Cottingham, it was also her debut with the team. “It was the first time I met Sarah and the younger girls on the team,” she remembered. “I was a little concerned about working with a new trainer for the first time at a show, but Sarah was so respectful and tactful. Instead of trying to change everything, she focused on small corrections that really helped us improve. That made a huge difference.”

From there the team rolled to FENCE in nearby Tryon, North Carolina, then continued into a busy spring and early summer of events across Areas II and III.

The IEL Championships at Stable View in May were a whirlwind. Lameness and late-season hiccups forced two riders to scratch, leaving the Collective to fill into a mixed team. Even so, they finished fifth of 18—a result that mattered less than the lesson behind it. “First year, first Championships, and we still got our name out there,” Lawrence said. “The energy was incredible. It lit a fire for next year.”

For riders like Georgia O’Connell of Travelers Rest, South Carolina, the event was more than just a competition. “All the college teams were there with their tents and info—it was so inviting,” said the 12-year-old C-1 Pony Clubber. “Seeing that pathway made me think, ‘Yeah, I want to do this in college.’ ”

That sense of connection was echoed by Bailey Gulledge, 13, who started eventing this spring with Guns and Roses (“Gunner”), her 24-year-old former Western Pleasure partner who discovered he loved cross-country. After a brief setback—“I broke my arm falling off my scooter two shows in!”—she returned to Starter with a goal of moving up to Beginner Novice. “Sarah is calm and supportive and knows the right way to bring out the best in me,” Gulledge said. “She’s a great leader because she’s inclusive, helpful, and fun.”

O’Connell, who partners with her Thoroughbred Dexter (Doneraile Court x Let’s Toast), said IEL strengthened a bond that had taken patience. “When we first got him he was a little bit of a mess,” she said with a laugh. “This year we really connected.” They competed Starter last season and were pointing to Beginner Novice, with regular coaching from Janna Bankston, a national Pony Club examiner. O’Connell’s family manages a small co-op farm “with four other people who are like family,” she said. “IEL added another family on top of that.”

And for Apple, IEL was just as much about people as performance. “For me, it was all about the team experience,” she said. “After leaving my old barn, I didn’t have many friends, so being part of a team again—bonding, traveling, and experiencing it all together—made it so much more exciting.”

Parents, too, found their place in the Collective. Debbie Gulledge, Bailey’s mother and a former eventer herself, said IEL delivered the thing that hooked her on the sport in the first place: barn-aisle camaraderie. “Age or experience didn’t matter—the girls all supported each other and became friends,” she said. Her favorite memory of the year was seared in sound and color: Bailey cantering around her first-ever cross-country while teammates lined the ropes, whooping and cheering her home.

“Hold on and enjoy the ride,” was Debbie’s advice to new IEL parents. “Let them learn from each other. The older girls on this team were so generous with their friendship and experience. I hoped Bailey would grow as a person and a horsewoman—and one day get to be that mentor for someone younger.”

That supportive culture extended to the parents themselves. At FENCE, the Collective’s community took the form of a long table full of barbecue and potluck sides. Lawrence lived nearby, so the entire roster decamped to her place after cross-country for a sprawling team dinner. “We hung out from 6 to 10,” she recalled. “Kids telling stories, parents trading tips but not hovering—just a big, easy bonding night.” At shows, the parents mobilized and then melted into the background: a banner hung in the stabling, a snack station kept stocked, the occasional dash for a forgotten glove. “It felt like a team effort from the parent side without getting overly involved,” Lawrence said. “That was a hard balance to strike. This group nailed it.”

For Lawrence, IEL also filled a long-standing gap between Pony Club, USEF/USEA Young Rider programs, and Intercollegiate Eventing—especially for riders who don’t have the horse power or the finances to chase qualifying scores. “In Young Riders I loved the team environment, but the resource load could be heavy,” she said. “IEL said, ‘Bring the horse you have. Bring your school schedule. Bring your real life.’ You could be competitive and have fun without feeling like your whole world was on the line.” That message resonated with Tryon Collective’s wide-ranging crew. Only a couple came from Pony Club; for the rest, the IEL shows themselves became a classroom. Course walks with older teammates doubled as mini-seminars in studs, warm-up etiquette, and horse management. At Championships, seeing intercollegiate athletes at Novice, Training, even Preliminary levels underscored a crucial reality: there wasn’t one “right” level you had to reach to enjoy a college team experience.

Lawrence positioned herself as a resource, not a gatekeeper. Two or three Collective riders trained with her full-time at her jumper-oriented facility south of the Tryon International Equestrian Center. Others kept standing lessons with their home coaches and tapped Lawrence for show coaching, tune-ups, or the occasional schooling day when calendars aligned. The team met in the middle—sometimes literally—at competitions. “We’ll build more of the ‘go-to-each-other’s-facilities’ piece next year,” she said. “Part of the fun was getting to see how other barns did it.”

Although Cottingham only had one season with the Collective, she said it gave her exactly what she was looking for. “I really loved competing at Southern Pines with everyone, and I’m so excited to hopefully see the team at some of the same competitions as the college teams.” Now a freshman at Auburn University studying biomedical sciences, she competes with her 14-year-old Thoroughbred Benjamin Button (Arch x Destroy) as part of Auburn’s intercollegiate eventing team. “The barn I’m at now in Auburn truly feels like a dream place to board,” she said. “I’m so excited for the next four years competing with Auburn’s team.”

Looking ahead, the goals are as individual as the riders. For Bailey and Gunner, the focus is to finish the season strong and move up to Beginner Novice. O’Connell and Dexter are also looking ahead to Beginner Novice while keeping Pony Club milestones in sight. “I really hope to get my C-2 and HB,” she said with a grin. Apple, meanwhile, continues her partnership with Beau, with an eye on bigger challenges down the road.

As for the Collective itself, the team is heading toward a busy fall schedule throughout North and South Carolina that includes Stable View in September and IEL Challenges in Aiken later in the year, along with individual outings at The Fork, Windridge, and Jumping Branch. They hope to appear together at more IEL shows and to raise the interscholastic “tent-row energy” to match the Intercollegiate vibe that had so inspired them at Championships.

From day 1, local and personal sponsors helped Tryon Collective “look and feel like a team,” Lawrence said—providing apparel and show-day help. “From some sponsors’ perspectives, IEL wasn’t an ‘elite’ thing—it was a meaningful, accessible pathway they could help grow,” she said. “That mattered.”

“That’s the Collective,” Lawrence said. “We met you where you were. We helped you get where you were going. And we made sure the getting-there was the fun part.”

About the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL)

In August 2020, the USEA Board of Governors approved the creation of the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) as an official program of the USEA. The mission of IEL is to unite junior riders who are in the 5th—12th grade and provide a supportive community through which students can continue to pursue their riding interests. A group of junior members in the 5th—12th grade who share a common bond, such as the same barn, school, Pony Club, or other connection, can register with the USEA as an IEL Club. Click here to learn more about the Interscholastic Eventing League.

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 Interscholastic Eventing League.