The Founding Students (left to right): Cagla Gungormous, Emily Oldenquist, and Megan Harris
How It All Began
Various Pratt students had asked at various times during the years to form a Pratt Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Team. Approval for an IHSA team came in Summer 2017, but that approval was preceded by many years of student commitment to the Seaside 4 Therapeutic Riding program and, then, approval in Fall 2016 for a Pratt Equestrian Club. In approving the Club, Pratt Institute and its Student Government Association permitted members to take weekly group riding lessons and to participate as individuals in non-IHSA horse shows. Perhaps most importantly, though, the Pratt Equestrian Club was also viewed as a way to explore whether sufficient student commitment existed to make the proposed IHSA team a successful and truly sustainable one.
During that Pratt Equestrian Club year, students soundly demonstrated their commitment and desire to become a team, and those who had not yet graduated became inaugural members of the Pratt's varsity IHSA Equestrian Team the following year. There is one person, though, to whom Pratt's Equestrian Team owes a very special measure of thanks for her selfless hard work, incredible commitment, and generosity: Megan Harris.
Megan worked tirelessly throughout the academic year of 2016-2017 to earn approval for the Equestrian Club. She then served as the Club's Treasurer and Outreach Officer during the 2017-2018 "demonstration" year, helping to both document Club activities and to make the necessary formal presentations to those at the school who were considering our transition from Club to Team, all the while knowing that she would graduate before any possible approval. Arielle Morgan, who graduated during the Club year, was hired as a junior instructor by Jamaica Bay Riding Academy and was able to serve as an assistant coach during our first varsity-team year. Other original Club riders became members of the varsity equestrian team, and they're able to continue representing Pratt and the team as Alumni Riders for the rest of their riding lives. Megan, though--as she knew would be the case--graduated and returned to Texas without having the opportunity to be any part of equestrian team she'd worked so hard to help establish, She has truly left a legacy for our Team, and she has all the thanks a grateful group of equestrians can possibly give.
Thank you, Megan.
Sincerely,
The Pratt Equestrian Team
