SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN — Local equestrian teams gallop a gray line in terms of being affiliated and recognized as sports at their respective high schools.

Each school’s equestrian team is operated differently. Niles High School’s Equestrian Team is considered a club sport, but participants do not receive varsity letters. Dowagiac Union High School’s Equestrian Team works with the school’s administration, but has hovered in the area of sport and club for many years. However, all teams do have one thing in common — the support of their respective communities.

Through fundraising and community donations, local equestrian teams are able to compete at meets in a sport that Judy Stilwell, the assistant coach of Dowagiac Union High School’s Equestrian Team, admits can sometimes get expensive.

Stilwell, who previously served as the District Three Chair under the Michigan Interscholastic Horsemanship Association, has witnessed the decline of the sport throughout her years of involvement. She said 10 years ago, the district, which includes 15 to 25 teams like Dowagiac, Edwardsburg, Niles, Buchanan, Berrien Springs and Cassopolis, had about 80 to 100 riders. Now, the district is down to 50 riders. More than 20 years ago, the district had 140 riders.

Stilwell said she thinks the decline is due to the cost and commitments associated with owning a horse.

“With this sport, you have to have your own horse. We don’t provide horses,” Stilwell said of Dowagiac Union High School’s equestrian team. “You kind of have to know how to ride. Our coaches do offer assistance, but it’s a big commitment. You don’t have that horse for just that season.”

This year, Dowagiac competed in the C Division with a four-girl team, but Stilwell said Dowagiac commonly has had boys participate, which is rare in the predominately female-dominated sport. Her son was part of the team for the past four years before graduating.

This year, Buchanan High School’s equestrian team was the only team in the district to compete in the A Division, meaning it had one of the largest teams of the district with 11 students. Buchanan’s head coach Denise Yoder said the team loaned out horses to students, which attracted a wide range of competitors.

“Even if they are people that haven’t rode in the past, sometimes they come and learn how to do in-hand, and it’s a great way for them to experience the horse world without them having to put the financial burden on themselves,” Yoder said. “We have several of the horses that are just loaned out to kids in high school that showed an interest.”

Both Niles and Buchanan qualified for the regional meet, hosted at the Berrien County Youth fairgrounds.

This year, the Niles High School equestrian team had a nine-person team, the most participants it has had since the team was started back up three years ago by head coach Becky Lahti. Lahti said recruiting students for the team can be challenging.

“It is hard,” Lahti said. “It’s basically just me going in and putting announcements out and trying to get it out through word of mouth. It is difficult to recruit.”

Lahti said the team receives no funding through the school and students would have to pay their own way if it was not for the community of Niles, which consistently shows support.

“Every year that I’ve been doing this, we’ve done fundraising or asked for donations for the team. They’ve had to pay for very little,” Lahti said. “We have had a very generous community reach out and help the girls. This year, they paid for team jackets and that’s it. For regionals, we went back out, and the community paid for all the girls’ entry fees’, sawdust, everything, and we had donations of lunch stuff and snacks, too.”

Yoder agreed the community went above and beyond to help the Buchanan High School equestrian team keep costs to a minimum.

“It’s all fundraising,” she said. “Our community has helped so much. The kids have raised well over the amount that is normally raised. We are super excited because within our school, we are going to be able to start offering scholarships through different things, because the community is so amazing.”

Area coaches also agree on equestrian being more of a team sport, rather than an individual one.

“It’s nothing for yourself,” Stilwell said. “When you go to the fair, you compete for your own ribbons and your own glory. We tell them when you come to my team, ‘you win points for your team.’ Your individual winnings are just as important as your team. You need to pump your team member as much as you pump up yourself. That’s what I like about MIHA. There’s sportsmanship that we really promote.”

Lahti said through her coaching experience she has seen individuals within the team grow. She has had students show in classes they have never shown in before. Lahti has also had to throw teammates into a class last minute because something happened to another person on the team.

“I have a really good group of girls,” Lahti said. “Pretty much anything I throw at them, as long as they have the gear to do it, they’ll do it.”

Equestrian itself is unique, as competitors have more than just their own performance to perfect, but also the performance of their hooved companion.

“If I have a freshman who I think is going to continue on, we try to pair them with the right horse in their first year,” Yoder said. “We try to get it so they can build a partnership with that horse. If we can do that, we try to keep them with it for as long as possible.”