Alfred University Equestrian Teams

The Alfred University Equestrian teams work diligently to ride precisely. They aim for technical perfection as a rule but once a year they get a little wacky and ride in costume, to music, without judges, just for fun. That happened last Sunday at the Bromeley-Daggett Equestrian Center.


There were top hats, feathers, glitter, donkey ears and a horse’s tail fighting for relief from a green Shrek costume.

First up was Kristen Kovatch in her equestrian version of Brittney Spears. Kristen rode “Docs Peppy Image” – her own horse – while Brittney’s recording of “Circus” filled the arena. There was some impressive galloping where she and the horse leaned into the turns as if she was taking a winding road full speed on a motorcycle.

Nick Munch rode “Mighty Little Lena” and Katherine Kennedy rode “Roan” with her fluffy skirt blowing to the tune of “Love Story.”


Aeryn Dougan dressed her horse, “Spring Start” as Shrek and herself as a big-bellied donkey and performed to “Bad Reputation” from the first Shrek movie.


Hanna Certis rode “Old Frank Hickory” to the sound of “I Can Sleep When I’m Dead,” one of several country western tunes that thumped along with the hooves in the area. Another was “Address in the Stars,” a song that accompanied Kayla Summerville on her glitter-speckled horse “Paulie.”

There was an impressive dressage duo drill by Rebecca Jacobson and Beth Ulbrecht. Beth is the head captain of the English varsity equestrian team which is currently in second place in the region – their best performance ranking so far.

Finally there was another freestyle western performance – a trio with Kristen Kovatch, Natalie Grow and Kate West.
The arena is a fairly large area but it seemed to shrink when filled with three speeding, skidding horses. It took guts and confidence to attempt that work with a trio but it went smoothly as one would expect because these three women are members of the Western Riding Team and are in 2nd place in the region.

There are 3 more events open to the public in the near future. All are free though there will be food for sale in the concession stand.

On January 16 & 17 Alfred U will host the Western Interscholastic Equestrian Association Show and on February 6th they will host the Western Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. Both evens generally run from 9 am to 4 pm and the arena has heated viewing areas on both floors where visitors may sit or stand and watch. All are welcome to attend.

There’s also a horse sale scheduled for December 12. The sale will feature 5 colts used in the Training Program. These colts were purchased so that students could experience training a horse and the sale is a part of that class. In addition to those 5 colts there will be about a dozen other horses for sale.
For more information visit www.alfred.edu/academics/equestrian/facilities.cfm or contact Nancy Kohler, Program Director, at 607.587.9012 and remember to “cowboy up.”