Members of the ISU Equestrian Club have brought their love for horses and horse-riding with them to Iowa State.

Many members have been around horses most of their lives. Katie Kotz, sophomore in agricultural business, joined the club to stay around horses while she was at school.

Another club member, Amber Bullock, said riding horses is like a little road trip to forget about problems and just relax.

“Horses seem to have a way to make people feel good about themselves and raise people’s spirits,” Bullock said.

“Riding allows me to take my friends and family with me on trail rides and spend time together,” she said.

The ISU Equestrian Club competes through the Inter-Collegiate Horse Show Association. It takes part in two different events within the association: stock (Western) team and the hunt (English) team. The competitions are similar, but have some variations.

“The hunt competitions are an English way of riding. Either you compete in the flat or you can jump over fences,” said Laurel Bodkin, treasurer of the club. “The Western competitions are mainly just on a flat course; there’s no jumping.”

Kotz said the way to win either event is based on horsemanship skills.

“The hunt team goes through a walk, trot and a cantor,” Kotz said. “In the stock team, you have to show horsemanship patterns on the rails. The pattern varies. It’s what the judge wants. The judge makes up a pattern and you have to follow it.”

The members travel to competitions in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri and are judged by the host schools. They judge the way the competitors handle their horses, which can be kind of a hit-or-miss deal.

“We don’t ride our own horses. That is something the host college provides,” Bodkin said. “They tell you the horse’s name, you get on and adjust your stroke. You just show up and ride.”

The competitions are not just hard work for the riders. Klotz said some of the horses can get irritated with new riders trying to do different things than they are used to.

Bullock agreed, saying horses get tired from competing.

“Every competitive horse needs to have some recreational riding, just like athletes that need time away from training,” Bullock said.

Bodkin, who has been riding since she was seven, said that around 99 percent of the members are female.

“We had a man on the hunt team, but he just graduated,” she said. “And another of the males doesn’t do competitions anymore. He is a senior and has a lot to do.”

The weekend of Feb. 19 and 20, nine club members went to a hunt show in St. Louis.

Bodkin earned a second-place finish in fence jumping, and fellow member Alex Novotny received first-place honors in the same event.

Amanda Beyer, sophomore in animal ecology, competed in the fences earlier in the season and qualified for the regional meet at Kansas State University.

Beyer said there will be other members who will qualify for the regional meet on March 20.

The day before the regional meet, the club competes in the Hunt and Stock show in Manhattan, Kan.

If the members achieve high points in the regional meet, they can advance to nationals, which will take place in Ohio on May 5 to 8.