Members of the tri-county OHSET team ride in their practice arena near Union on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. Seven girls from Union and Wallowa counties currently make up the new team, and the coaches are hoping to bring more athletes to the team during the first season. 

UNION COUNTY — High schoolers in Union County and the surrounding region have a new sporting opportunity — one that has been in the state of Oregon for three decades, but not in Northeastern Oregon until recently.

That fact alone is ironic, given horses seem like more of an Eastern Oregon activity.

But three Union County women — Cora Weigand, TJ Jones and Sierra Steiner — are heading up coaching a new Oregon High School Equestrian Team that is currently targeting high school students in Union, Wallowa and Baker counties.

“OHSET has actually been in Oregon for 30 years, but most of the districts are from Central Oregon and to the west,” Weigand said. “There has never actually been a district on this side of the state.”

Weigand said there have been OHSET teams in Hermiston and Pendleton in the past, and that there is currently one in Hermiston, but those teams had to compete in the central district. One of the long-term hopes is to get enough teams competing in Eastern Oregon to have it be its own district.

“Hopefully what that means is from Boardman to Ontario will be the Blue Mountain District,” Weigand said of one of the future goals.

The pioneering team is currently made up of seven high school girls, six from Union County and a seventh from Wallowa County: Olivia Coulter, Julie Dyer, Gracie Tucker, Hannah Weigand, Keelie Jones, Isabella Warg and Colbi Cunningham. Being a small team, the group can practice, travel and work together as a combo team, but in competition each athlete would represent their respective schools — which currently are Cove, La Grande, Union, Imbler and Joseph.

“Each individual…will still ride under their school color and name, and any points scored will go to that school’s team,” Cora Weigand said. “But we will travel together, we practice together, our coaches work together, and the kids all are part of that cohesive combo team.”

Many students in the region are part of activities such as 4-H, but OHSET allows even more opportunities than just the showing and some of the riding aspects that 4-H does.

“OHSET is what I would call 4-H on crack,” TJ Jones said. “There are more options. You combine it all. OHSET offers another way for the kids to stay riding all season long, keep the horses in shape, gets (them) ready for show season, but it also offers more versatility. Instead of just showmanship, Western equitation and English equitation, we have breakaway roping, cow diving, working pairs, and different events all together.”

In fact, according to a flier put together by the three coaches, there are about 25 activities athletes can be a part of — 17 individual and eight with partners or a team.

Several of the events are tied to high school rodeo, which Steiner was a part of when she was in school.

“I think rodeo or any event that you do is great for kids and keeping the busy minds busy, keeping them out of the bad stuff,” she said. “It’s a way to open up. It’s a great avenue. (It) was great for me when I was growing up.”

The versatility is part of what Steiner said is a benefit of OHSET.

“People (may) want to do roping, dressage (or) jumping,” she said. “It’s a way to let a large number of girls growing up that may not do the same events (work together because) they’re in the same equestrian type stuff. It’s great they have such a large avenue.”

And while the tri-county startup team is currently just girls, the coaches said the team is open to both genders, and they are hoping to get boys added to the team in the future. Even events like breakaway roping, that tend to be more female-based in rodeo, are open to both.

Another important key for the new team is that lacking a horse — or even horse-riding experience — doesn’t have to hinder an individual from trying out.

“The rules aren’t quite as strict. We don’t have to have lease agreements,” Jones said. “The kids can borrow a horse out of somebody’s field, which is really nice.”

Weigand noted that the trio of coaches all are capable of teaching new riders, and would work with anyone interested in trying out to find a horse that is a good fit.

“If you’re interested, and we can get you up on a horse and get you a few lessons, and you decide that is something you are really interested in, we will train you how to do this,” she said. “We will make sure you are on a broke and solid animal that is not going to scare you.”

Steiner added that OHSET is beneficial regardless of the experience level.

“We work with the most advanced rider and we work with the brand new riders. If they’re nervous, I say let’s pull the plug, get out here and work,” she said. “We’ll work with whatever level they are at.”

The coaches are certified under both OHSET and the Oregon School Activities Association, but it currently is in the same classification as archery or trap shooting locally in that it’s a club sport.

As a result, participation is solely funded by those in the club, which Jones said is a setback because it can be expensive to travel to competitions.

“That’s the downfall to this, but our community around here is so great about taking care of its kids and keeping them involved and wanting to be pro-kid,” Jones said. “We are hoping our community is going to say ‘here we go.’ So far we have had great luck.”

The team is set to compete in three events — one in late February, one in early April and one in mid-April.

The coaches are still welcoming any high school students who want to be part of the sport, and have hopes that as word gets out, more students in the region will joining and they’ll be able to see the sport take off.

“Come watch a practice, get a hold of one of the coaches — it doesn’t matter which one,” Weigand said.

For more information, contact Weigand at 541-786-8879, Jones at 541-910-5209, or Steiner at 541-605-8460.