College student's love of horses takes her to national competition

After her beloved horse, Four Square, died, Allison Cornman didn't ride for a year.

But the Bloomingdale college student was back in the saddle in a ride that took her all the way to national competition after joining the intercollegiate riding team at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale this past fall.

Cornman represented SIU at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association's national competition held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, Calif. in May. She didn't win, but getting to the show was itself an accomplishment. She was the only one on the SUI team who qualified, and the other team members raised money for her to go.

"Going to the nationals for the intercollegiate probably was my proudest moment," she said.

A horse rider since was 4 years old, Cornman wasn't a stranger to national competition. But intercollegiate shows offer a challenging twist, she said. Rather than ride their own horses, competitors ride horses provided by the schools hosting the event. Cornman didn't know until minutes before her turn to perform which horse she would have. Like the other competitors, she had watched all the horses warm up in the ring and took notes to prepare for whatever steed she drew.

Cornman received Jax, a 15-hand sports horse who already was very tired when her turn came. She simply was not able to get his best from him, she said.

Her coach at SIU, Jill O'Donoghue, said the intercollegiate competition puts the spotlight on the rider, rather than the horse.

"It's a true test of your abilities," she said.

Although Cornman didn't place at the event, O'Donoghue said she is confident that the college junior will qualify to return to nationals next year and do better the next time around.

"She's been instrumental in the team being successful this year." O'Donoghue said. "She's been an absolute delight to have on the team. She's a fabulous rider,"

Cornman, 21, came to SIU with more than a decade of competitive riding experience under her saddle. Her love affair with horses began when she was a little girl.

"I took my Barbies and made them ride horses," she recalled.

Cornman started taking riding lessons when she was 4 and entered competition after she became more skilled, at her coach's suggestion. Soon she was ready for the A circuit and needed her own horse. She already had ridden Four Square, but the Dutch warmblood had not yet showed his promise.

"We bought him as a challenge, hoping we could turn him into something," she said.

Four Square proved his worth as they competed in events of the Illinois Hunter Jumper Association and national horse show finals for two years in Pennsylvania.

"Four Square and I were quite the pair," she said. "He was priceless to me."

Cornman had Four Square only about three years while she was in high school before he died of colic. Heartbroken, Cornman stopped riding for awhile. After high school, she attended community college.

Arriving at SIU for her junior year got her fully involved with horses again. Competitive riders like herself aim to ride at least three times a week if not every day, she said.

"If I don't get my horse time in, I'm not a happy person," she said. "It's my therapy, it's my everything."

Horses and equestrian competition helped build her confidence in herself, Cornman said.

"I was a very shy person. It brought me out of my shell," she said.

Cornman's mother, Jill Muschong, said her daughter's involvement with horses also gave her a strong work ethic. She maintained good grades while working at the stable to be able to afford riding lessons.

"Anytime you participate with an animal, it's a lot of work," Muschong said.

Muschong and her husband, Cornman's stepfather, sister and boyfriend attended the nationals in California, as Muschong and her husband had attended all of Cornman's competitions over the years. But her daughter's love of horses was inborn and not inspired by family, Muschong said. The only other horse in the family was one Muschong's father had sold long ago to pay for her mother's engagement ring.

"I think it's God-given, this love of horses," Muschong said. "I recognized it early on. She was able to communicate and just be a team with a horse."

With three semesters of college still before her, Cornman is studying plant and soil science with plans to go into horticulture. She doesn't aim to ride professionally and it may be awhile before she can afford to own a horse again, but horses will always be part of her life, she said.

"Horses. It's my passion," she said.