Kelli Younker

The NMSU sophomore laughs as she explains an encounter with a basketball player who asked, “What team do you play for?” “Equestrian,” Younker answered. “Oh, so you’re a swimmer,” the basketball player replied. “No,” Younker answered. “Tennis?” the basketball player pressed. “No,” Younker answered again. “Volleyball?” he tried again. “No. I ride horses,” Younker said trying to hide her giggles.

For Younker, that type of encounter is commonplace, even at NMSU.

“You can say ‘I ride horses’ and they know what you mean, but when you say ‘equestrian,’ they don’t know at all,” Younker says.

Although it has been a club team since 1993, equestrian became the newest and 16^th varsity sport at NMSU this year.

Rather than be frustrated, Younker remains understanding and realizes that not everyone had the chance to grow up riding horses like she did. In fact, her parents first put her on a horse when she was a baby and she was riding on her own by the time she was 4.

“I’ve basically been doing this horse thing all my life,” she says. “I guess if you asked me a question about golf, I wouldn’t know anything.”

But ask her anything about horses, and you’re bound to get a mouthful from this 19-year-old rider who has not only won numerous accolades with the NMSU team, but individually as well.

As a freshman, Younker finished last season as the regional champion in the open reining event, going up against riders from several schools, including Oklahoma State University and Texas A&M. Younker also joined her team at the 2004 Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where she took home seventh place in open reining.

She also was crowned queen of the Rodeo de Santa Fe last year, a title she hopes to claim again. Younker was crowned princess of the same rodeo two times and crowned princess of the Santa Fe County 4-H numerous times, she says.

Aside from riding for the equestrian team and the rodeo, Younker also team ropes with her father and brother.

This year, Younker says she wants to improve on last year’s success.

“I’m definitely going to try to hit it hard and try to go to nationals again,” Younker says.

Younker is already off to a great start. In October, she took first place in reigning and fourth place in open horsemanship, along with the reserve high-point title in the team’s first meet at Nebraska Institute of Technical Agriculture.

Younker is studying agriculture and extension education and hopes to someday coach an equestrian team herself.