Last season Jim Arrigon (left, with wife Gwen) introduced the Equestrian Talent Search to do for riding what football and basketball combines do for their respective sports. A new season of Equestrian Talent Searches starts September 9th in Morrisville, New York. A press release for the Morrisville event indicates that Arrigon and colleagues will "Share the real scoop on being recruited and riding for a college team."

EQUESTRIAN TALENT SEARCH IDEAL MATCH FOR YOUTH INTERESTED IN IHSA, NCAA, IDA AND COLLEGE RIDING IN GENERAL

Once or twice a week Campus Equestrian receives an e-mail from the parent of a high school-aged rider requesting advice as to where their son or daughter should attend college. Some want to know where their children would be permitted to keep a horse on campus. Some want to know where equestrian-related majors are offerred. Others simply want to know where the best teams will be found in a specific geographic area. All are valid questions (perhaps each subject to interpretation) but seeing as Campus Equestrian is a media outlet and not a guide to the actual schools per se we often cannot provide answers to these questions.

However if you want the opportunity to ask the experts we at Campus Equestrian recommend attending an 'Equestrian Talent Search,' a series of events staged in various parts of the country throughout the season. Now in their second season, these clinics/Seminars organized by long-time Miami of Ohio and current Xavier of Ohio Head Coach Jim Arrigon attempt to answer all questions regarding options for college riding. Riders from sixth grade through high school not only learn about the IHSA, the NCAA/Varsity, the ANRC and the IDA, these individuals have the option to compete in a one-day show using the IHSA rules before several college coaches.

The first Equestrian Talent Search of the 2006-07 season will take place September 8th, 9th & 10th at Morrisville State College in Morrisville, New York (near Syracuse). As of September 5th space was still available for the Morrisville Talent Search, though if this is too short notice, the next Talent Search takes place over the September 30/October 1st weekend at the Lake Erie College Equestrian Center in Painesville, Ohio (near Cleveland), the site of the inagural Equestrian Talent Search last September.

The idea behind the Talent Search is to provide a series of educational clinics and seminars for both riders and their parents, debunking any misconceptions about college riding while enabling college coaches to meet and track the progress of young riders before they become of college age. Each Talent Search begins with a Friday night orientation seminar on the different college riding organizations (IHSA, NCAA/Varsity, ANRC and IDA), how to get recruited by a college, and what college coaches really want to see from prospects.

The Saturday session is divided into a mounted clinic during the day and a seminar run by Arrigon and other coaches in the evening. Perhaps the two most interesting topics that will be addressed in the clinic are "Problem areas that will red-flag college coaches in a tryout situation" and "Practice in specific skills for riding strange horses." The Saturday evening seminar will focus on Equestrian as a potential major, what students can realistically expect from riding scholarship programs and how to evaluate existing riding programs. There will also be a question and answer session with coaches who take part. Parents are welcomed to join their children for both the Friday and Saturday evening seminars.

Sunday is show day, with classes in hunter equitation on the flat and over fences. Participants may bring their own horse or be assigned a horse from the host school. Riders will be divided by age groups and previous show experience levels. A random horse draw will take place (similar to IHSA rules) though everyone will draw a second time so that the judge can see each rider on mulitiple horses. Riders will receive ribbons/placings as would be the case in a regular horse show.

A new feature of the 2006-07 searches will be the opportunity for riders to indicate which colleges interested them. This information will be passed on to the various college coaches, who will also have accesss to a 'bio' page which will include a rider's age, show experience, training and background info, photo and current college placement. The show results and rider evaluations (including video) will also be made available to coaches who wish to reference them after the clinic.

The cost for fall 2006 Equestrian Talent Search combines is $340.00, though that fee is reduced if you bring your own horse (though non-riding spectators may observe the clinics and show at no charge there is a $25.00 fee to attend the classroom seminars and Question and Answer sessions).

The 2005-06 Talent Searches were well received. Several top high school seniors from these searches include Kaitlin Foster (a freshman this season at Virginia Intermont College), Melissa Kowalchik (also a freshman in 2006-07, on Southern Methodists' NCAA Roster) and Arrigon's daughter Hallie, who will compete for a Vanderbilt team that came within four points of their first IHSA Zone 5, Region 1 Region Title last season.

For more information on the Morrisville event and other Equestrian Talent Searches in the near future, visit http://beckettrunriding.com/equestrian_talent_search or simply visit www.beckettrun.com and click on the Equestrian Talent Search icon found within the left-hand column.

Though we at Campus Equestrian may only have some of the answers, the people who organize and run each of the Equestrian Talent Searches have far more experience than we do. Those who take part in these Talent Searches will undoubtedly learn of many options regarding college riding directly from the experts.

--Steve Maxwell