Coldwater's Uren signs with Albion College Equestrian
COLDWATER – Coldwater senior Olivia Uren is parlaying her love of all things horses into a chance to compete at the collegiate level, as Uren recently signed her commitment letter to compete with the Albion College Equestrian team.
“I chose Albion College simply because when I went to visit their place, the campus and the Held Equestrian Center, it just felt like home,” Uren said. “I’ve shown horses for eight years and they just have a super nice facility and the whole place just felt very welcoming. It is also very close to home, and I really want to stay close to my family. It was just the perfect place for me to be and I am going to go enjoy it for the next four years.”
Uren has been riding for eight years and has won numerous titles throughout her young riding career, including the Branch County Fair Equitation Queen and a variety of Best of Show and Honorable Mention awards.
For Uren, attending Albion College was an easy decision, simply because of the tremendous veterinary and equine services the college has to offer, although Adrian College was a possibility because of their equestrian program. While in college, Uren plans on majoring in pre-veterinary with the intention of becoming a veterinarian in the future.
“I hope that path continues, because I have always dreamed of being a veterinarian,” Uren said. “That’s what I hope to be pursuing in my future.”
There are several differences between showing at the fair, horse shows and high school competition, as opposed to competing in college. In horse shows, high school and at the fair, a team or individual travels to the events with their own horses and competes. At the collegiate level, the team travels to events which will have their own horses that the competitor will have to ride, truly highlighting their skill in riding as the rider themself is not completely used to the horse.
“A horse is given to you at each event, and you have to showcase your skills on many different horses,” Uren said. “You don’t just get to ride your horse the entire year. You can take your horse to college with you, but you do not get to ride them at events.”
Uren’s current horse, Wayne, is an appaloosa that she has shown for three years. Over the years, Uren has had five different horses that she has competed on, although Wayne has been her favorite because he was the first horse she actually owned.
With her eye on the future, Uren is not shy about the adjustments and challenges that await her over the next four years.
“My biggest adjustment going from youth shows, the fair and high school is just the many different horses I will have to use, I don’t get to just use one horse, which is going to be very different,” said Uren. “At college there are just so many different people, places, horses, and judges you’ll be working with, it’s just so many different things all at one time, it’ll definitely be an adjustment.”
“Usually, the biggest adjustment for any student is time management, they don’t have mom or dad anymore to kind of help them get to point A to point B,” Albion College Western Coach Adam D’Agostino said. “At Albion College we use something called the Cutler Center which is a program that helps students really get used to college life.
"I have another rider in the program that is in the same riding club as Olivia (Comancheros), and she steered me towards Olivia. I reached out to her and got some videos of her; I was able to see her compete at the 4-H State Finals, and I got to know her after that. It was after I got to know her and her family that I realized she really fits in with the values and work ethic we have here at Albion. We are excited to have her coming here.”
At the collegiate level Olivia will compete in Western Horsemanship, which is an event designed to “evaluate the rider’s ability to execute a prescribed set of maneuvers with precision and smoothness while maintaining a balanced, functional and fundamentally correct body position.”
No matter the horse, no matter the arena, Uren has proven to be up to the task, and if the past is any indication, Albion College may have just signed a star.
Get to Know Your Recruit
Name: Olivia Uren
School: Coldwater High School
Sport: Equestrian
College: Albion College
Major: Pre-Veterinary
Favorite Food: Chicken quesadilla
Favorite Dessert: Ice Cream, definitely
Favorite Movie: Flicka, I watched it about 90 different times Favorite TV Show: SpongeBob is definitely my favorite show
Favorite Book: Junie B. Jones books
Hobbies: I love to fish, hanging out with friends, and having bonfires
Best Memory- Junior year of high school the team finally made it to the state finals after many years of not qualifying. Being a part of that first team, actually being able to go to the state finals and being very competitive, there are some great memories.
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: For Coldwater's Uren, Albion College equestrian feels like home
