UT Martin has an equestrian team? Yes, yes we do. UT Martin is one of only 17 schools in the entire country to have a Division I Equestrian Team.

For those of you who don't know, equestrian is the sport of riding horses. UT Martin has a team of 19 of the most-talented girls in the country who have been chosen for their skills as riders, students, and leaders.

1. Throughout the season we travel to multiple states and host several competitions at home.

So far this year our team has been to Texas, South Dakota, and South Carolina for competitions and we have plans to travel to New Mexico

2. We don't really have an off-season.

Baseball is a spring sport, Basketball is during the winter, and we all remember football in the fall. We had our first competition Sept. 18th and our last competition will be March 16th, and that's not including Nationals which will be April 12th-16th.

3. Our girls travel to UTM from across the country.

Between the 19 riders we represent nine different states, from Oregon to Wisconsin to Florida to New Hampshire.

4. When we compete we have no idea what horse we are going to ride until the morning of the competition.

We get four minutes to warm-up the horse and then we compete in a head-to-head format. So not only do we have to be able to navigate a course or pattern, but we need to be able to do it on a horse we've never seen or ridden before.

5. Our GPA from the Fall 2015 semester was a 3.2, with four students obtaining a 4.0 GPA.

6. We have been to Nationals 10 years in a row and have had seven All-American Riders.

7. We have 15 different majors.

Business, Nursing, Management, Special Education, Psychology, History, Political Science, Chemistry, Finance, Secondary Education, Animal Science, Agricultural Business, Pre-med, English and Marketing

8. The riders don't bring their own horses with them to school.

Our herd of approximately 30 horses have all been donated to the school and live on site at Graves Stables.

9. Between our 19 riders we have approximately 250 years of riding experience plus our coaches have over 35 years of combined experience.

10. Despite what you may have heard, we are fighting to keep our amazing sport here at UT Martin and we plan to be here representing this school for many years to come.

www.utmforever.com/equestrian