Abby Googel ’12 was recently featured in Equestrian Quarterly for her work in establishing an equestrian team at Loomis Chaffee School, a renowned boarding school in Windsor, Conn.
Shortly after beginning her new job there, Googel recognized a desire among the student body for a competitive riding program. However, no team existed at Loomis Chaffee to support the students. One year after she started working at Loomis Chaffee School, Googel created the varsity program and now coaches 10 students, with hopes of bringing the team to the Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) nationals.
Googel graduated from Hamilton College in 2012 with a B.A. in English and creative writing. She spent four years on the Equestrian Team, with three years as captain, and entered into an internship with Equestrian Quarterly shortly after graduating. She has ridden competitively from a young age, but it was not until her experience at Hamilton that she had a chance to ride on a team.
Of her team at Loomis Chaffee, Googel wrote in Equestrian Quarterly (p.72), “We truly have a broad range of abilities, disciplines, and backgrounds, but they all come together to form a cohesive team. This is one of my favourite things.” Having the chance to ride competitively on Hamilton’s team changed Googel as a rider, and it is this same environment that she wants to bring to her team at Loomis Chaffee.
