The Intercollegiate Dressage Association or IDA, is an organization that began in 1995 to oversee an equestrian league in which colleges compete in Dressage. In IDA, riders participate in "catch riding," where each rider is assigned a horse at random, has ten minutes to warm up, and then performs a dressage test. This truly showcases a rider's ability to connect with an unfamiliar horse and demonstrate correct principles of Dressage. At IDA Shows, tests are broken up into four levels: Introductory, Lower Training, Upper Training, and First Level. The UC Davis Dressage Team currently competes at all four levels with riders from our IDA Show Team. Our show team consists of six members that compete at shows across Region U representing UC Davis. Our Show Team is chosen at the beginning of Fall Quarter each year by our coach, and our officers. We look for talented, hard working riders that are dedicated to the sport of Dressage and our team.
The UC Davis IDA Show Team is a member of Region U with colleges including: Cal Poly, Stanford, UC Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara. Every year we host an IDA show at the UC Davis Equestrian Center and participate in three to five shows during the season: Fall and Winter Quarters. The National Championships are in April and those who qualify can compete. In 2017, we sent a First Level rider to Nationals, and our coach was selected as the 2017 IDA Coach of the Year, and in 2019 we were IDA Region U Reserve Champions. We are extremely proud of our team!