Wellington, FL - February 23, 2010 - Varsity Equestrian is pleased to announce the inaugural Collegiate Equitation Challenge to be held at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL on Friday, February 26, 2010 at 7 p.m. in the International Arena. 

The tournament will be run in the Varsity Equestrian head to head format. Equitation and Sale horses will be on loan from local professionals. Sixteen riders, 14 from NCAA schools and two from Florida schools, were invited to compete with selections based upon individual national rankings from the Fall 2009 season. The event will consist of eight head to head brackets with single elimination leading to an exciting head to head final. The course will be set at 3'6" with the riders competing on unfamiliar horses. Riders will have four minutes to school, two on the flat and two over fences with a maximum of four warm up jumps. The 16 riders will compete on eight horses with the highest score of each match up proceeding to the next round. Tournament will be single elimination.

This tournament will lead to some exciting match ups. Last year, the University of Georgia had both the leading Individual Over Fences Rider and won the Overall Varsity Equestrian National Championships. However, Maggie McAlary who will be competing on behalf of Auburn again, was determined by the judges to be the Most Valuable Rider of the Competition in April of 2009. Many riders, some new to their teams and some seasoned veterans, will be making their way to south Florida for this exciting tournament, each looking for a chance to be crowned as the first WEF Collegiate Invitational Equitation Challenge Champion.

In true Collegiate Spirit, bracket sheets will be available in the horse show office and at Exhibitor Services on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Week VII, WEF Fidelity Investments Week. See if you can predict the winner!

Special thanks to Jill Townsend, Bobby Murphy, Patrick Duncan, David Burton, Michael Stone and Katherine Bellissimo.

Participating Schools

Auburn University

Baylor University

Delaware State University

Florida State University

Kansas State University

New Mexico State University

Oklahoma State University

Sacred Heart University

South Dakota State University

Southern Methodist University

Texas A&M University

Texas Christian University

University of Georgia

University of Miami

University of South Carolina

University of Tennessee Martin