Help UA Western Equestrian Club Stay a Club

Hi, my name is Abigayle and I'm the Vice President of the University of Alabama Western Equestrian Club. Up until last year, we were a part of the University of Alabama Equestrian Team but the University decided to stop supporting us and pulled our funding in May of 2020 with only a few months of warning. I created a petition in the middle of that semester in hopes to show the University just how important the team was to its students and the equestrian community but was unsuccessful despite garnering over 20,000 signatures.

 

Unfortunately due to COVID, we were very restricted on the amount and methods of fundraising during the 2020-2021 school year. As such we were unable to fundraise enough money to offset costs for new and returning members. The cost of being a member of the Western Club team has increased greatly and we have received very little funding to help with costs associated with running an equestrian club. Currently, members of the club are responsible for the cost of lessons, horse care, including regular vet and farrier bills, board, and feed. Other subsequent costs are equipment maintenance, team fees, and individual registration fees for IHSA, show entry fees, training at shows, and transportation to and from shows.

 

Out of the 7 team horses we were only able to keep 3, which came under our care this past spring. One of which was retired earlier this year. We currently only have the 2 remaining team horses, Vinnie and JJ, for the entire club to practice on. Our horses’ wellbeing is extremely important to us and it is vital that we do not overwork them, so our competing members are only able to practice once a week maximum, which is very little in the horse world. Because of this, we are hoping to raise enough money so that we can bring another horse onto the team, so our members are able to ride more. Our most immediate goal, however, is to raise enough money to keep the club afloat. Unfortunately, our future is still very tenuous, despite fighting continuously for the past 2 years to keep the team going.

Our goal in this fundraiser is in no way our entire yearly budget, so we will be doing multiple fundraisers throughout the year to help us compete.