The gray horse floats across the arena in a series of graceful but unnatural movements, seeming to slide sideways and skip; he even trots in place. Atop him, the slight rider directs his every movement. Her cues are subtle, almost unnoticeable.
The sport is called dressage, and 21-year-old transfer student Jocelyn Wiese is the athlete. Her only teammate: a gelding – a castrated male horse – named Lamborghini. Her playing field: the national equestrian arena. And unlike most student-athletes at the university, Wiese made a name in her sport before enrolling in a single college course.
She graduated high school early to ride and work with horses full time in Florida, moving north when one of the top breeding stables in the state, Hilltop Farm, offered her a position as an instructor.
Wiese got her biggest break yet when she and Lamborghini won the United States Equestrian Federation’s National Brentina Cup Championship in June. The Brentina Cup is one of the most prestigious amateur dressage competitions in the nation, created to help propel emerging 20- to 28- year olds into the world of professional horseback riding.
With a steady job as a riding instructor at Hilltop, Wiese could have chosen to continue working and competing full time. Most riders at her level do not complete college uninterrupted, and some never receive their degrees, instead pursuing the life of a career rider and trainer.
This fall, Wiese will enroll as a full-time student at the university, her first semester at a four-year institution in two years.
“I was going to community college and I thought, I’m about to be a junior,” Wiese said. “Time to get serious.”
Wiese began riding at just 3 years old, and by age 14, she was competing in international dressage tests. She said she was home-schooled for eighth grade so she could work under her dressage instructor.
During high school, she regularly flew from her home in New Hampshire to Florida to continue competing throughout the winter months. Most recently, she has competed across the country, from New Jersey to Chicago. But her mother, Molly Lane, never worried about Wiese’s ability to juggle her academics with her riding schedule.
“I never once had to tell her to study or get her work done,” Lane wrote in an e-mail. “She is very self-disciplined. … Certainly, there were times when I felt she was missing out on the ‘normal’ activities of a teenager, but she was also experiencing so many things most teenagers do not get the opportunity to.”
Wiese’s trainer, Pamela Goodrich, agreed: “Jocelyn was always very motivated. With her, I always put the bar high.”
Despite the time and effort she has put into her riding career, Wiese doesn’t like to think too far ahead.
“I haven’t decided yet whether I want to do the horse thing or the ‘real world’ thing,” she said.
This fall, she plans to pursue a degree in government and politics and is tentatively considering law school afterward. Wiese’s family said she made the decision to go back to school on her own.
“We have always wanted Jocelyn to get a college degree and think it is extremely important, but we were totally understanding [of that fact] that there was no point in going to college just to be in college,” Lane said.
Working at Hilltop gave Wiese valuable insight into one possible career path, putting her in a better position to make decisions about her future than many college students without such work experience.
For her part, Wiese hopes attending the university will be a break from her riding career, which she said had started to feel a little too much like work.
While she still plans to ride six days a week and compete in several shows, Wiese’s biggest concern as she enters a new school is just meeting new people.
“Riding is my passion,” she said. “I want to keep it that way.”
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