Throughout the run-up to and day-of for the University of Vermont Dressage Schooling Show on Saturday, April 11, the UVM Cooperative Horse Barn ran like any co-op, with everyone pitching in.

Helping out were dozens of undergrads in three groups: Dressage Club teammates, Horse Barn Co-op members and Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences students. 

 

A person stands by a grey horse's head while another person sponges the horse's withers
Otis the horse gets a pre-show bath from EQUUS student Caroline Nesci, right, and Otis' TA Katelyn Park. 

 

A person in a hate and jacket is in the foreground, hands in the mane of a horse who has little braids
After a bath, Otis the horse gets braided up by senior and TA Isha Narang. 

UVM Dressage Club was in charge of putting on the schooling show. That meant keeping track of participants, communicating the event to the public and making sure barn chores got done first thing Saturday. 

A young adult at a computer with a spreadsheet on it in front of a group of young adults in a tack room
On Friday evening, UVM Dressage Club President Hannah Marsh goes over a spreadsheet with assignments for team members for the schooling show day.

Club captains Katie Rozear and Claire Ross said their organization is really about building community. They ride and care for their horses, of course, and they go bowling and play laser tag together. 

"Riding is a pretty individual sport," Rozear said. "So it's very rare that you get the opportunity to do horseback riding with a team."

A close-up photo of a person and a horse looking at one another
UVM Dressage Club Vice President Katie Rozear finishes untacking and brushing Attie the horse on Friday, the evening before the show. 
Two people hug in a crowd of young adults all looking relaxed
UVM Dressage Club Captain Claire Ross, right, gets a hug on Friday as everyone gathers to go over the plan for the schooling show the next day. 

The team is also competitive — three riders are going to the Intercollegiate Dressage Association National Championship in St. Louis on April 22-25. Club members praise Coach Carolyn Tulumello and an approach to showing that's less about pressure and more about growth and positivity. 

"Carolyn helped me a lot," said Esther Ray, a senior who will compete at IDA nationals. "My teammates helped me a lot... It's like, a whole group effort."

Looking overhead two people with pieces of leather bridles on a table.
Cleaning tack is a big part of horse show preparation. 
One person holds a leather bridle while another person cleans it
UVM Dressage Club members Charlotte Reimanis, left, and Sally Amer work together to clean a bridle before show day. 

The UVM Horse Barn Co-op is a group effort, too. Students bring their horses to college, care for them, do chore shifts, and participate in barn-wide events, like the April 11 schooling show. EQUUS students in the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences also sign up to look after horses in the program and contribute to running the barn. 

"Many students at the end of their time here talk about how their experience in the barn had the biggest impact," said Chrissy Rohan, the faculty advisor to the UVM Horse Barn and a senior lecturer in the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences. "We work together to keep trying to make things better."

A paneled wooden background with a portrait of Star the horse
Star the horse was donated to UVM for use by the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences.

The barn's student leadership team, for example, came up with a chore shift "wheel" with all the co-op member names on it to spin in order to make each co-op member's shift assignments more fairly distributed throughout the semester. 

"It's just seamless now," Rohan said. 

A chart on a white board with horse chores and names and dates listed
The chores chart. 

She said communication is key to keeping the barn running smoothly. And it's essential for students as they work with their horses — which is where dressage, a kind of riding that follows different patterns at different levels, can help. 

"[It's] like dancing with your horse, but it's a real partnership," Rohan said. Judges, she added, are looking for accuracy, rhythm and how the horse is moving.

A person rides a horse inside a ring lined by white fencing
Think College Vermont student Katie Comerford-Joyce rides Star in a class at the schooling show on Saturday. They ended up winning the first-place blue ribbon for their class. 
A hand holds a bunch of yellow flowers next to a saddle
Riders received flowers after their classes.
A person leads a very small horse across brown grass against grey sky
UVM Senior Rowan Yuan leads Charlie the miniature horse inside on Friday, April 10, to get ready to show the next day. Rowan and Charlie, who belong to the barn co-op, did a class at the show "in-hand," meaning Rowan led Charlie at the walk, trot and canter. "Usually, I don't think people show horses in-hand cantering," they said. "I've been working on my running."

Having a horse barn on campus has offered numerous UVM students the chance to try something new, like dressage — or like showing all together.

Three people at a table that has horse show ribbons, a laptop, peppermints on it
The UVM Dressage team runs check in at the show.
A person pulls a sparkly bun cover on their head, seen from the back
UVM Dressage Club President Hannah Marsh gets ready for her class.

It's also an opportunity for some students to continue or reconnect with what they started when they were younger. Sophomore Charlotte Reimanis returned to the horse world by joining the Dressage Club this semester, after several years away.

"I've been loving it so much," she said. "I'm so grateful to have horses back in my life."

Reimanis pointed out how horses and people pick up on one another's energy, and that being with them "is a really nice way to regular your own emotions."

A person bends down under a horse and brushes something on the horse's hooves.
Attie the horse gets a final layer of hoof-shine before going to a class in the schooling show.
A hand on some leather straps on a horse's belly
The girth gets tightened, too. 

At the UVM Dressage Schooling Show, the reigning emotion was joy: joy between students helping one another, trying something new or returning to something familiar, and doing it together with horses. 

A person rides a horse through a white gate and a second person smiles up at the horse and rider
UVM Junior Lexi Spencer rides Chuck along with Chuck's TA, Isha Narang, out of the ring after finishing a class. 
Two people sit snuggled up under a blanket in front of a table with cookies, brownies and flowers on it. A horse ring is in the background.
UVM Dressage Club teammates and roommates Esther Ray, left, and Sophie Guillemette stay warm while overseeing the bake sale and tack re-sale table on Saturday. Green Mountain Pet and Tack Supply and Le Bon GoûT also acted as vendors for the show. 
A red barn against a blue sky with a couple people on horses and many people on the ground.
Dozens of people entered the schooling show on Saturday, April 11.