There are many great sports at IU including basketball, soccer, swimming and diving and even baseball. But one club sport is flying under the radar in Bloomington.

Ten miles off campus at Big Star Stables, the IU equestrian team is hard at work.

“We have people who are experienced and have been competing high levels and we have people who have never seen a horse before, IU senior Megan Rutherford said. “And we compete at shows throughout Indiana, throughout both the fall and spring semesters.”

These riders of all different skill levels train to compete in five shows throughout the season. But really, it’s the bonding experience that is the most important part.

“The shows are really fun and they’re super social cause everyone kind of sits together on these bleachers and you watch your teammates and stuff and everyone is super supportive of each other,” Rutherford said. “We always do like a team dinner after cause the shows are Saturday and then we stay overnight and have another one on Sunday.”

The IU equestrian team is open to all students at IU. Therefore, if you’ve never ridden a horse that’s ok, because the team takes new riders every year.

“When I became captain, I really, really enjoyed developing people who have never seen a horse before,” IU junior Julia Nagle said. “Because we get some people on our team who have never seen a horse, never ridden, like only have seen horses at the county fair or something like that.”

As captains of the team, Nagle and Rutherford are in charge of assisting the riders and showing them the ropes. Since the co-captains have been riding for nearly their entire lives, they enjoy the challenge of helping new riders.

“It’s really fun to watch them learn how to brush a horse for the first time and like saddle a horse for the first time and like even just walk next to them and gain confidence,” Nagle said. “And then to eventually see them like compete and do well at competitions.”

“It’s fun to like teach them and kind of see them start to really enjoy it like as much as I do.”

The equestrian team is in the middle of their show season right now and have one more remaining this semester.