National equestrian championships held in Ocala
The World Equestrian Center hosted the National Collegiate Equestrian Association event from April 17-19.
Georgia’s Catalina Peralta celebrates aboard Rico after a clean round with no faults in the Fences division during the National Collegiate Equestrian Association Championship at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla. on Saturday, April 19, 2025. The University of Georgia equestrian team earned its eighth National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) national title Saturday afternoon, defeating SMU 12-8. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.
From April 17 thru 19, NCAA Equestrian, an emerging sport for women, held its national championship at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala. Universities from across the country support equestrian teams across NCAA Divisions I, II and III.
Before I recap the competition and let you know who was crowned the NCEA National Championship, here is some info about the competition format.
The traditional format for an NCAA equestrian team has Western and English disciplines represented, each having two competitions. The Western team has riders competing in both horsemanship and reining while the English, or Jumping Seat squad, has riders competing in equitation on the flat and equitation over fences. The top eight ranked schools in the country at year end were invited to the finals and were competing for the Dual Discipline National Championship.
Some schools only compete in the Jumping Seat discipline and thereby they are competing for the Single Discipline National Championship. The top four ranked schools with single discipline teams at year end are invited to the finals.
The competition is a bracketed single elimination format (think Final Four) so only the winning team in each meet moves forward in the bracket.
Riders do not ride their own horse. The horses are supplied by the participating schools and for each event in each meet, there is a draw of horses, of which none will come from the schools competing in that meet. In this manner, no one gets an edge for having their own horse under them and it’s a true competition of who is the better rider on a given horse on a given day. This format is critical for making the sport an even playing field and part of NCAA sport
The eight schools vying for the 2025 NCEA Dual Discipline National Championship were Auburn University, the University of Georgia, Oklahoma State University, Southern Methodist University, the University of South Carolina, Texas Christian University, Texas A&M and the University of Tennessee at Martin. The four schools vying for the 2025 NCEA Single Discipline National Championship are the College of Charleston, Dartmouth College, the University of Lynchburg and Sweet Briar College.
On April 17, in the quarterfinals, three of the top four seeds got knocked out with only the #1 seed and reigning NCEA champion SMU moving to the semi’s on April 18, alongside three powerhouse SEC teams South Carolina, Texas A&M and Georgia. The semifinals were full of top-notch riding and competitors gave it their all as they were vying to make the final round on April 19.
SMU moved on to the championship round with a strong contingent of riders from last year’s championship squad still on the team. They watched as the Georgia Bulldogs continued their strong performances across the board, defeating Texas A&M to advance. So, the stage was set, with the #1 seed SMU Mustangs going up against the #7 Georgia Bulldogs.
The championship battle on Saturday had a packed house in indoor arenas #5 and #6 at the World Equestrian Center and it was truly one for the ages…could the SMU Mustangs make it a three-peat? Or would the Georgia Bulldogs continue their post season, foot perfect riding and make it an upset?
Well, as one can expect from collegiate athletics, anything can happen, and it was no different in Ocala. You just have to play the game and forget what’s on paper and, sure enough, the Bulldogs did just that with a 12-8 win making them the 2025 NCEA Dual Discipline National Champions.
In the single discipline competition, the semifinals were underway on April 18 with Lynchburg, which won the past three championships, in again as the #1 seed. They were up against the #4 seed and the only Ivy League team at this year’s finals, Dartmouth.
On this perfect weather day outside, a perfect storm was brewing inside when Lynchburg’s goal of an unprecedented four-peat was sent packing as the Dartmouth team rode steady and took the win to advance to the finals.
In the other semifinal match up, perennial stronghold Sweet Briar was against NCEA newcomer, the College of Charleston. The athletes from Charleston upset the #2 seed Sweet Briar setting up a final on April 19 of the two lower seeds.
Saturday’s finals, Dartmouth vs Charleston, started out with a very strong 4-1 win over fences for Dartmouth. Then the two squads entered into the equitation on the flat phase and Charleston started a run, racking up point after point, with the flat phase ending in a 4-1 decision for Charleston making the combined finals score a 5- 5 tie.
You can’t get sport any more exciting for a national championship, so what, you ask, happens with a tie score? Well, the tie breaker goes to the raw scores if the points are tied at the end of the meet. In this case, that raw score tabulation went to Dartmouth, which became the 2025 NCEA Single Discipline National Champion team.
If you didn’t get a chance to see this in person, be sure to tune in to ESPNU in upcoming weeks as it will be broadcasting a two-hour condensed show covering the entire 2025 NCEA National Championships held at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala. And remember to make plans to come in person and watch next year.
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