ISSRA Teams

Form an ISSRA Team at Your College/University

1. Contact your Student Affairs office for information and for an application to establish a new club at your college/university.
2. Speak to your Dean/Director of Student Affairs about the club you intend to form, its purpose, requirements of the college/university, costs, insurance needed, need for permission and approval from President and/or appropriate college/university officials
3. Distribute an email to all full-time students at your college/university through your student affairs office explaining the new club and asking students interested in obtaining information to email you or the student affairs office.
4. Prepare information to send the interested students and call a meeting for those interested.
5. Ask those interested to join the new club, elect officers, determine club membership fee
6. Ask a faculty member to advise your club. Advisors serve as liaisons between the team, university, coach and ISSRA office. The Team Advisor should assist you in making decisions regarding fundraising, travel to practices and horse shows and other issues pertaining to your club.
7. Have each individual team member fill out the Individual Team Member Form and Team Membership Form. Contact Dr. Sally Haydon at the ISSRA office (859) 519-0949 if you have questions; also ask the ISSRA office to help select a coach for your team.
8. Check to make sure your college, coach and the ISSRA office has added your team as an “additional insured” on their liability insurance policies; Obtain proof of Insurance.

Eligibility to join ISSRA

Any undergraduate or graduate student with in good academic standing at their university who is enrolled as a full-time student is eligible to join the ISSRA as an individual member. Any college or university may form an ISSRA team. An ISSRA team should consist of at least six (6) members. Individuals attending colleges and universities not having six members may form an independent team consisting of full-time students from several universities. Although it is not a requirement, independent teams should have at least six members to participate.

Find a Coach

• Upon initial development of an ISSRA team, a team representative should contact the ISSRA office to make arrangements for selecting a home base at a local riding school/academy.
• ISSRA makes arrangements with a riding academy to teach lessons and organize ISSRA horse shows for the ISSRA team.

ISSRA Independent Teams

An Independent Team is an ISSRA Team usually consisting of at least six (6) individual members from two (2) or more colleges or universities in the same region. (go to the listing of states within each region). Each team member is instructed and coached at horse shows by an approved ISSRA Coach. Although two (2) or more students may be instructed by the same coach at their home base riding school, another coach from the Independent Team’s group may coach riders at an ISSRA horse show. Instructors of Independent Teams determine which coach accompanies their Independent Team to a given horse show at the beginning of the show season.

The members of an Independent Team meet at horse shows in their region and show as regular university teams. These teams accumulate individual points and team points counting toward high point awards and team awards at each horse show. Individuals on the Independent Team or the entire Independent Team may qualify just as regular university teams for post season horse shows such as the national ISSRA Horse Show. Members of Independent Teams pay $30 per lesson and a $50 coaching fee for each show just as a regular team member would pay. Members of Independent Teams do not represent their university at ISSRA Horse Shows. Each Independent Team selects a name for its team to be formalized on the ISSRA Team Application. The coach of an individual team may serve as the team’s advisor.

ISSRA Team Practices and Coaching

Once an ISSRA team has been established and the team has been paired with a local riding school/academy, the team begins team practices. There is usually one team practice each week during the semester. Fall and spring semester practices should begin by the second or third week of each semester. The day of the week and time of each practice should be arranged between the team and the riding instructor/coach.

Each ISSRA team should elect or appoint a team captain (or team captains). The team captain(s) coordinate team practices and travel arrangements to horse shows with the riding school/academy and other team activities such as fundraisers, completion and submission of team and individual membership forms to the ISSRA, etc.

• ISSRA team members may choose to participate in and pay for ten (10) or fourteen (14) lessons/team practices at their assigned riding school/academy during a given semester. Lessons are $30 each and payment for lessons should be made directly to the stable or coach (unless the team’s university has a saddle seat riding program and members will be riding at their university). If the team is coached by a private stable, then each team member pays a $50 coaching fee for each horse show s/he participates.
• Individual members of ISSRA and ISSRA teams pay a semesterly ISSRA membership fee.
• Each ISSRA team is assigned to a show region and shows at horse shows within the region.
• The riding school/academy of the ISSRA team hosting the horse show supplies the horses utilized for the horse show.
• At each horse show, the rider draws a name of a horse out of a hat, mounts and goes into his/her class with essentially no warm up. Points are awarded for 1st through 6th place. Points accumulate and are carried over from semester to semester. When the rider accumulates a set number of points, he/she is eligible to show in the next higher class/division and qualifies for the Regional ISSRA Championship Horse Show and/or the National ISSRA Horse Show.

Forms

Individual Membership Form

Each student on an ISSRA team must submit an Individual Membership Form (pdf) to the ISSRA office electronically or via the postal service prior to their first horse show. The Individual Membership Form must be accompanied by the semesterly membership fee of $50. The fee may be paid online through pay pal or by check.

Team Membership Form

Each Team must submit an ISSRA Team Membership Form by September 10th of the fall semester and by January 25th during the spring semester. The ISSRA Team Membership Form (pdf) must include the name of the team’s coach and advisor and contact information for each. ISSRA Team Membership Form must be mailed to the ISSRA office along with the $150/semester team membership fee. Also accompanying the ISSRA Team Membership Form must be a list of all members on the team with their cumulative GPAs and number of credit hours taken the current semester by each student. The list must be stamped by the official registrar’s office.

The Rider Placement Form

1. At the beginning of the first semester of membership in ISSRA, each student will have be placed by his/her riding instructor/coach in the class(es) most appropriate to his/her skill level according the rider placement form and the class descriptions.
2. Once assigned to a class, riders may not compete in a lower level class. Coaches may petition this rule in unusual circumstances (i.e. diminished riding ability). Petitions shall be sent in writing to the ISSRA Regional President and copied to the ISSRA President. The decision will be determined by these two individuals and a letter regarding the decision will be send to the coach by the ISSRA President.
3. If a rider qualifies for the Regional or National Horse Show, he/she must show in the division he/she pointed out of during the current year. He/She is not eligible to show in a higher level class at the Regional or National Horse Show.
4. When the class designation of a rider is questioned, the stewards of the horse show will review the rider’s ability and during the Coaches meeting at the same horse show or the following horse show the matter will be discussed and together the stewards and coach will make a decision regarding the student’s most appropriate class placement.

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