ATHENS - Unlike the University of Georgia's football team, which will play before a sellout crowd Saturday, there won't be much of a following when Lindsey Finn and her equestrian teammates open the season in Columbia, South Carolina. <br>
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But, just like the football team, the equestrians at Georgia are competing in a varsity sport this season. <br>
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And that has made all the difference, according to Meghan Boenig, Georgia's second-year equestrian coach. <br>
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She says, ``It's been an incredible jump from last year to this year.'' <br>
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Last year, the equestrians were part of an unfunded club sport, where riders had to pay all their expenses. <br>
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Now they have varsity status -- the 21st varsity team at UGA -- with a $350,000 budget from the Georgia Athletic Association to pay for horse maintenance, operating and travel costs, two assistant coaches and scholarships -- five this year, ten next year and 15 in 2004. <br>
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It's the reason Boenig, who rode competitively at Berry College, left her job at Texas A&M last October to become Georgia's first full-time, salaried equestrian coach. <br>
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It's why Kristen Lee, a freshman from Miami, is at Georgia. <br>
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Lee said, ``Without financial aid, I wouldn't have been able to pay out-of-state tuition.'' Her partial scholarship includes tuition. <br>
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Georgia's team has 77 members, 51 who competed on the club team last season and 26 who made the team during an August tryout. They compete in two disciplines: English, or hunt seat, and Western. They ride in a large oval ring on the flat and over jumps and are scored by judges for their ability to ride and show the horse. <br>
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Georgia is one of 12 Division one schools, including Auburn and South Carolina, that fund equestrian competition as a varsity sport. Eight Division Two schools do so.
