Wranglers, Tony Llamas and boot shining parties. These three words can tell a lot about the Mississippi State University equestrian team, but by no means can they tell everything. 
One can find a group of students practicing relentlessly into the late afternoon at MSU’s south farm off of Hail State Boulevard. In their own equestrian facility, complete with an arena filled with enough red dirt to make any rodeo fan blush, MSU’s equestrian team practices Western and European competition riding, the two styles that the team competes in. 
On any given day, a team member will be given one of about 25 competition horses to ride and practice on. These animals are either donated or leased to the university through the Animal and Dairy Sciences department and are looked after by the hundreds of ADS students and professors. Every need is met, and in the words of team head coach Ashley Glenn, the horses get as much enjoyment out of the practices as the girls themselves. 
Glen takes care of the horses, the girls and travels with the team to their numerous competitions around the country. 
This year, though, there is a lot more at stake. Several members of the team are slated to compete at nationals in just a few short weeks, and the practice schedule has ramped up to reflect that. 
Hannah Blalock, an ADS major from Olive Branch, Mississippi, is one of such members. Blalock, along with her teammates, is grateful for such a fortuitous season. The team is patiently waiting with bated breath for the next competition. 
“[The practices] are kind of exhausting, but it’s super rewarding because I feel like even just from semi’s, I’ve improved so much already. So I can see the pay off, and I’m grateful for that,” Blalock said. 
The focus of the team’s practices differ day to day, with some days focusing on riding posture and others focusing on things like horse control and endurance. 
Aside from the daily practices, the team must work out in the Sanderson Center twice a week and hold a single team run or vice versa. Make no mistake of it, these are collegiate athletes. Just ask Alyssa Davis, a biology pre-vet major from Murrieta, California. 
“I don’t think people fully understand it. When you tell them you’re on the equestrian team they’re like ‘oh, that’s so cool. You get to ride horses’, but they don’t actually see how much time and effort goes into being a team and everything,” Davis said. 
This was also the first season for the team that was held under normal operations after COVID-19. The squad was happy to be back to normal, and junior ADS major Emily Curran shared the difference it made to her and the rest of the team. 
“I know personally that I was really disappointed when we came back from COVID and we didn’t get to have a show season and travel with the team,” Curran said. “It kind of gave us less opportunities to be around each other, and I’m thankful that we’re back to normal and get to all hang out together.”
As it just so happens, hanging out is every member of the team’s favorite part of the entire operation. Whether that means team runs, passenger van karaoke or, you heard it right the first time, boot shining parties. 
All team members are required to wear a uniform during competitions. As part of this uniform, they all wear sleek, well shined, knee-high boots that have to be pristinely taken care of. 
Medina, Tennessee, native Hannah Brasher is an ADS major, as well as a national competitor. Brasher stated that these parties are her favorite perk of being a member of the team. 
“We have these boot cleaning parties every once in a while, just before shows to get everybody’s morale up, get everybody pumped up for the show season,” Brasher said. “I enjoy them, because you just get to kind of mesh with everybody and connect, and we have some pretty good laughs and stuff during that time, if you can imagine that.”
As great as the team’s success has been this season, it does not come easy for the coaching staff, either. Complete with a lot of volunteer work and generosity from the Animal and Dairy Science program, Glenn said that there is still lots of work to do to get the program where she wants it. 
The main issue the team faces is that they are not registered as a National Collegiate Athletic Association team. This should be an accomplishable goal, as the Southeastern Conference does sponsor equestrian as a registered sport.
Currently, only four schools (Auburn University, the University of Georgia, the University of South Carolina and Texas A&M University) have equestrian teams sponsored by the SEC, which makes them eligible to compete at the NCAA level.
Being registered as an NCAA team would open the door to more funding, more competition and more opportunity for the members of the team that already commit so much to being a member. For some, like junior ADS major and Canadian native Abby Fox, it would mean everything. 
“What I think about is our funding, specifically,” Fox said. “… the way that I view it, if we were an NCAA team, I can’t even imagine what we would do with all of that help.”
Tylertown, Mississippi, native Cameron Johnson, another ADS major, echoed Fox’s sentiments, and said that the funding would go a long way not just for the team, but also for the academics of the members. 
“It’s kind of frustrating when you’re putting in a lot of work and not getting any scholarship benefits off of that work out here and having to get everything for yourself,” Johnson said. 
The bottom line is if MSU announced that they were sponsoring a new sport tomorrow, the MSU equestrian team would have their pitch ready to go. There is an established program already in place. Nothing would have to be built from the ground up, and coach Glenn made sure to highlight one of the biggest factors of importance when it comes to being student athletes. 
“We tend to draw really good students, too,” Glenn said. “I think if you looked at the overall GPA of the equestrian team riders, they tend to have some of the higher GPA’s, and so that’s a positive for the athletic department.”
For more information on the MSU equestrian team, the coaching staff encourages students to visit their website to learn more about their operations at www.ads.msstate.edu/eteam.