As a school with the Broncos as the mascot along with a campus long associated with the Arabian horse, the CPP Horsemanship club is a perfect fit.
The CPP Horsemanship club is an organization that focuses on equestrian activities and learning about horses.
Over the years, starting with the W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center, this club came to life.
The center has hosted Sunday Horse Shows (focusing on the Arabian horse breed) every first Sunday of the month, and students receive free entry.
Skylar Martin, a senior biology and premed student, started as the coordinator for the Sunday shows. Her great passion for the community led her to start the Horsemanship Club and she also holds the president position.
“When I first came here five years ago there was not really a great culture around the horse center and there was only a small amount of students that were able to participate,” Martin said. “I just really wanted to bring the wonderful healing and creative and amazing aspect of being part of the horse center here to everybody.”
Martin grew up in the equestrian community and wanted to make sure this club opened its doors to people of all backgrounds and majors.
One of the goals was to make it affordable to students, so they had the opportunity to join, educate themselves about horses and learn to ride them.
Fees for the club are $35 a semester.
The Horsemanship Club makes sure to add an educational and hardworking aspect into the club, while having fun.
Throughout the semesters, the club aims to have three to four educational events, as well as three social events.
In meetings, announcements are made and they feature appearances by guest speakers of various positions and educational backgrounds throughout the equestrian field.
A unique characteristic of the club is through hard work, members can get horse lessons and the club offers about 14 lessons a week.
A goal of the club is to instill a solid work ethic by encouraging members to earn 10 points to be eligible to ride horses. Points can be earned through volunteering with different chores around the stables.
A common social event held in the past which will be continued is movie nights in the barn with all the horses, which members seem to enjoy.
Members look forward to the annual Honky Tonk dance in the spring semester.
Members get dolled up and join together to learn different western country dances by an instructor.
Taylor Kyse is a fourth-year agribusiness student and club member. She is also a trainer for the club and began riding Arabian horses since she was 9 years old.
“My favorite thing is the people,” Kyse said. “I love seeing everyone so excited to be here to learn about the horses. It’s a lot of fun … even if you aren’t passionate about horses it’s another learning opportunity.”
Last year the club had about 15 members and currently has around 70, but they hope for more students to join the club and learn all there is to learn about horses.
