Our Crowdfunding Groups
This crowdfunding project has ended, but you can still support the Tufts Equestrian Team here. Thank you for your continued support!
The Tufts Equestrian team gives students a chance to follow their passion for horseback riding at Tufts.
Team members are asked to pay about $1000 in order to cover the cost of lessons, transportation to and from the barn, and other team-related costs. This high cost of membership has become a huge financial barrier to many students interested in learning or continuing to horseback ride while at Tufts. Many students express interest at our first general interest meeting, only to decide not to try out after seeing the price tag.
In order to expand access to the equestrian team, and horseback riding as a sport in general, we would like to create a scholarship fund to offset some of these costs for potential incoming members.
The scholarship would be awarded on a yearly basis to a couple of students depending on levels of need. We have partnered with the financial aid office to create a timeline and general procedure to award this scholarship. Current team leadership would not know who is receiving the scholarship. Once a student has been awarded a certain amount of money the student will receive that money for the rest of their time on the team. Other members of the team have voted to give up some reimbursements that are availably yearly to maintain funding for the scholarship if the fundraising goal for that year has not been reached. The scholarship would be divided among the recipients in proportion to the students’ financial need.
Our goal for this project is to raise enough funds to both start the scholarship for the incoming class of the equestrian team in fall 2018 and ensure the scholarship will be continued in the next couple of years. The scholarship would be beneficial to the Tufts wider community by allowing more students to consider joining the equestrian team, thereby exposing new and old riders to the sport at Tufts and enriching their student experience. For the Tufts Equestrian Team, this scholarship would create a more diverse set of athletes on the team, including first-time riders. Attracting students who have never ridden before coming to Tufts is a goal of the equestrian team in order to remain competitive but also to stay true to the team’s mission of connecting students with the sport of horse-back riding and a strong support group of fellow like-minded horse lovers.
Please help us increase access to the equestrian team for students who would not be able to join otherwise. Thank you for your support!
We spend a lot of time driving to practices and events, which adds up to a lot of money spent on gas. As members we all chip in to cover the costs to our drivers. This would cover the cost of one member's traveling fees for a semester.
New members must pay a fee to be a registered member of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, which allows riders to compete in our division.
New riders can pay for 4 horseback riding lessons, as opposed to the full 8 lessons per semester, to allow them to experience riding on the team and managing our practice schedule before making the commitment to riding full time during the semester.
One horseback riding lesson with our coach is $55 per lesson. Riders are expected to pay for 8 lessons per semester per year at minimum so they have the consistent practice necessary to be competitive riders. This is the biggest expense for our team members.
