Former Olympic equestrian gives clinic for Earlham’s riders
by Simon Levine
The equestrian team and the barn co-op capped off their year last Sunday with a clinic from former Olympic competitor Jurgen Gohler of Stuttgart, Germany. Gohler instructed several students from both the team and the co-op during the day-long clinic.
Gohler originally began training horses in North America after he was brought over by Ron Southern, owner of the famous Spruce Meadows equestrian facility. This, his first visit to Earlham, was the effort of local Midge Overtoom and members of the Barn Co-op including equestrian team senior co-convenors Ann Quirk and Sydney Sogol.
Sogol was ecstatic about the clinic.
“I rode earlier today and it was really good, he was really knowledgeable. It was really very helpful,” she said, adding, “I would love for him to come back.”
Gohler echoed these sentiments, stating his desire to return.
This clinic comes after a season that was both trying and rewarding for the Equestrian Team. Former Coach Joan Clark, 80, retired and returned to her home country of Canada. Clark was replaced by newcomer Kelly Riggott, a trainer from the region who had never before coached a team under Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) rules. The adjustment has been a challenge for some older members.
This year’s team also featured several riders who were returning to the sport after a long hiatus.
“The season has been good. We have a lot of younger members who have just come into riding again after taking several years off and so a lot of them are relearning re-establishing themselves as equestrian riders,” Sogol said, adding that four of the girls had taken from two to five years off.
In spite of this, the Equestrian team has had a great season. “We’ve done really well this season.” Sogol said.
“We had a lot of girls who placed first in their classes.” Sogol also added that there has been a lot of improvement and a great effort from the whole team.
The equestrian team is affiliated with and derives all of their membership from the barn co-op organization run by students and funded by the students, donors and the college. The barn was donated by alumna Suzanne Hoerner Jackson whose family also gave their name to Hoerner Hall.
The barn has twenty-five stalls, twenty-one horses and two mousers, Marvin and Pharoah. One of the main reasons the barn is not filled to capacity is that the four empty stalls are built for ponies and not full size horses. There are plans for them to be remodeled over the summer.
Sophomore barn employee Clara Lippert said the barn was one of the reasons she chose to attend Earlham,
“The student run nature of the co-op makes it really unique. It’s a big part of why I came here,” she said.
The barn is completely student operated. Half of the horses belong to students, who pay a monthly fee to board their horses in the barn and half are given to the co-op by the school.
The co-op can’t afford to keep the barn operating unless there are an equal number of boarders willing to bring their horses from home.
“We have horses from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana,” said Sogol.
Students interested in riding don’t have to own a horse. Horse-back riding is available as an athletics, wellness and physical education credit, and membership in the co-op is currently available to all students who are willing to put in four hours of work at the barn every week. To the members of the co-op that’s a small price to pay to keep this unique program thriving.
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