By Bei Jia Viggiano ’28
Sports Editor
As the 2026 Spring semester comes to a close, the Mount Holyoke College hunt seat team has been preparing for the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association Nationals, held from Thursday, April 30, to Sunday, May 3, at Tryon International in Mill Spring, N.C.
The team’s talent was showcased prominently at the beginning of the academic year during the month of October. At the Williams College Show on Saturday, Oct. 4, at Bonnie Lea Farm in Williamstown, Mass., the Lyons placed first out of eight teams. Two weeks later, on Saturday, Oct. 18, Mount Holyoke secured a second first-place rank at the UMass-Smith Show, hosted at Muddy Brook Farm in Amherst, Mass. There were nine teams in attendance. For the last event of the month, on Saturday, Oct. 25, the Lyons finished first of ten teams in a home show.
“The two things that I think do the most heavy-lifting, in terms of our successes, are that we work hard and play hard,” Charlie May ’26 said in an email to Mount Holyoke News. “It’s certainly cliché, but there's absolutely some truth in the saying. Every one of our teammates put in an incredible amount of work. Between giving it their all during PEs and practices, helping put on a 150+ person event twice a semester, helping take care of the horses, or doing work around the barn, every team member gives an immense amount of their time and energy to keep it all running. And we have an incredible time while doing so.”
“Blasting music while setting up jumps, giving each other gifts before shows, having fun while on horseback — the work is hard, but the payoff is so unbelievably worth it,” May continued. “The community and joy that comes out of it is what makes us so successful and special.”
The return from winter break saw only one show in February for the hunt seat team. The Springfield College Show on Saturday, Feb. 28, was held at Light House Hill Stables in East Windsor, Connecticut. The final ranking placed Mount Holyoke at second place of the eleven teams present.
The winning streak returned in March, with the first of the month being another Williams College Show hosted at Bonnie Lea Farm in Williamstown, Mass. The Lyons secured first place among the eleven teams competing. A few days later, on Saturday, March 7, Mount Holyoke’s hunt seat team emerged triumphant in first at a home show, also out of eleven teams.
In response to how the team has been preparing for Nationals, May answered, “Practice, practice, practice!” The IHSA Nationals occur over the course of four days. This season, it is held in North Carolina, and is the hunt seat team’s final event of the season and postseason.
“[My overall experience on the team has been] incredibly positive,” May said. “From the moment that I stepped onto campus as a prospective rider, I was welcomed with open arms into one of the most supportive and wonderful communities I have ever encountered.”
“The team culture is one that has encouraged me to push myself further than I thought was possible and to be the best that I can be, both as a rider and as a person,” May added. “But even more so, the culture of the team is one that is so intrinsically based in lifting each other up and celebrating each other's successes, that never once does it feel like we are each other's competitors, only each other's supporters and friends.”
“In a sport where you quite literally compete against your own teammates in the same event,” May concluded, “a culture like ours is incredibly rare and special.”
Mount Holyoke’s hunt seat team has since competed at the IHSA Zone 1 Championships on Saturday, April 4, at the Mount Holyoke College Equestrian Center. They will next attend the IHSA Nationals from Thursday, April 30, to Sunday, May 3, at Tryon International in Mill Spring, N.C.
Angelina Godinez ’28 contributed to fact checking.