Reagan Callahan steers Lehigh Equestrian to success

As the brown haired, green eyed girl gets on her saddle, she knows her leadership isn’t just about skill. It’s also about trust, as she has to guide her horse and her team through challenges while still maintaining confidence. 

Massachusetts native Reagan Callahan, ‘25, is the captain of the Lehigh equestrian team, a student-run and student funded club sport. Members compete about 10 times each academic year between the fall and spring semesters. When in season, the team competes against other colleges and universities, including Lafayette College, Rutgers University, the University of Scranton and Delaware Valley University. 

Callahan has won numerous awards throughout her horseback riding career and has qualified for zones — where one competes against other riders at big universities with well-established equestrian programs — in two classes this season.

Reagan Callahan, ‘25, captain of the Lehigh equestrian team, has won numerous awards throughout her horseback riding career. Competing about 10 times each academic year, team members go head-to-head in events throughout the fall and spring semesters. (Courtesy of Reagan Callahan)

On March 22, the team competed at the Zone 3, Region 4 Regionals of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association at the Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show in Glenmoore, Pennsylvania. Lehigh achieved fourth place at the show overall, and Callahan earned several individual awards. 

She received the Captain of the Year award and was the second place high point rider overall. She also received first in open flat, where riders are judged on their position and collaboration with a randomly drawn horse, and she placed second in open over fences, where riders are judged on their ability to navigate a course of jumps.  

“I love riding, because it gives me a chance to escape reality,” Callahan said. “It’s a very niche thing that not a lot of people know about or understand, unless you have been around it your whole life.”

At first, horseback riding was just a hobby for Callahan when she started at 5 years old. She said her mom was interested in the sport growing up but never pursued it, so when she started to express interest, her mom jumped at the opportunity to get her involved.  

She practiced and took lessons until she was 8 years old, when she decided to compete. She said she quickly learned horseback riding was an extremely expensive sport between horses and equipment. 

For Callahan, she said she had to work to ride, picking up jobs around the barn to get time on horses. 

“A lot of the horses and opportunities I pretty much got because I shoveled horse manure, which is gross, but that is the reality of it,” she said. “You need money for this sport. But there are opportunities, and if you are willing to put in the work and do the jobs no one else wants to do, people will see that and recognize you for it.” 

She became captain of Lehigh’s team at the start of her sophomore year and has held the position since. Callahan said she didn’t really choose the role; instead, it found her, as the previous coach selected her at the end of her first-year season. 

She also said she shadowed the previous senior captains before taking the reins, and her position has taught her a lot.

Despite not choosing the role as captain, Eliza Taub, ‘27, a member of the equestrian team, said Callahan has embraced the position. Horse shows come with high stress situations, but she said Callahan works to help ease her teammates’ nerves. 

“Reagan is one of the most positive, optimistic, open-minded people I’ve met,” Taub said. “If anything gets thrown her way, she looks at it with such a positive spin. As a leader, she is an inspiration to all of us, and seeing someone who can take any situation and learn from it can benefit us all in some way.”

Callahan said the team is co-ed but only consists of 15 women this season — some of whom compete and some who are non-competing. The team’s schedule consists of one practice a week and an extra team practice the week of a horse show. But when there’s a big competition coming up, Callahan said the members practice up to four times a week to ensure they’re ready. 

Students are able to join the team at the club fair each semester by filling out a Google Form. She said many prospective riders also find the club’s Instagram account and express interest there. 

As captain, Callahan said she also deals with the administrative and financial side of the equestrian team. She takes care of all the team’s entries, ribbons, places people in their classes, and figures out who can and can’t ride. She also communicates with the higher-ups throughout the region and coordinates Lehigh’s horse show. 

Lucy Sullivan, ‘27, another member of the team, said Callahan is a hardworking, independent leader and very dedicated to the sport. 

“She knows how to do everything and can do it herself,” Sullivan said. “She never needs someone else to do anything for her.”

Callahan said the most important part of being on the equestrian team is taking care of the horses. She also said unlike most other sports, where athletes work with equipment, horseback riding involves living animals, and it’s crucial to show the horses respect and appreciation at every stage.

“When you’re going to practice, you’re not just going to ride the horse,” she said. “You are going to brush and make sure the horse is clean and help out in the barn. I try to make sure everyone is available and happy to help, because that’s just part of what goes into it all. It doesn’t just start when you get on the saddle and stop when you get off.”

Callahan said her own responsibilities also include overseeing safety concerns, as riding is a high-risk sport. She stays on top of the paperwork and ensures the team is ready for the competition to avoid safety issues, but she also said the possibility of falling off a horse is always there, even for the most experienced riders. 

Callahan said horses can get spooked from the way the wind blows, if they hear a noise they don’t like or even if the weather is off, so the team does everything to make riding as safe as possible. She said the team’s coaches are always watching so that nobody is ever left to their own devices, and Callahan mandates practices and lessons for the team to attend. 

“A horse is not something that you can just tell what to do,” she said. “As a rider, you need to have grace, understanding and compassion.” 

Callahan also qualified for regionals and zones last season. Although she didn’t make it to nationals, she said qualifying was an exciting experience, especially because Lehigh is part of a competitive region. 

She said Lehigh’s region is tough because the teams it competes against are larger and better established. For example, she said, Rutgers has about 50 girls on its team, which is much larger than Lehigh’s 15. 

“We are going up against bigger schools that have bigger fundings and bigger programs, which is not easy,” she said.

In terms of her leadership, Taub said Callahan’s personality translates to trustworthiness. 

“She’s probably one of the brightest people I have ever met,” Taub said. “I think of her as a ray of sunshine. She is always smiling and can smile through anything. She is hilarious, and I am ever not laughing with her.” 

Callahan said she prides herself on making sure the team is a tight-knit group. Whether it’s having dinner as a team, working out together or hosting movie nights, she plans events so team members can have bonding time. 

Callahan is set to compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Zones on Saturday at Centenary University, where the top two qualifiers will move on to compete at Nationals in May in Tryon, North Carolina.