Time to Train Some Champions
The Liberty University Equestrian Team Growth
At 5-feet-6-inches, the new Executive Director of Liberty’s Equestrian Center Jim Arrigon may not be the tallest in stature but his goals for the Liberty Flames equestrian team are anything but small.
To be one of the top 10 teams in the country may seem like a “big goal” but Arrigon believes it can be done.
An equestrian coach formerly based in Ohio, Arrigon coached NCAA, Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) and Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) equestrian teams to national success, according to his biography on liberty.edu. Additionally, Arrigon is the national secretary of the IHSA and was awarded the 2005 IHSA lifetime achievement award.
Arrigon first met Liberty’s hunt seat coach Lori Matthews during a recruiting trip Matthews took to IEA nationals April 2015, said co-captain of the equestrian team, Elizabeth Chenelle. Prior to the meeting, Arrigon heard about Liberty through Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Director of Equestrian Studies Eddie Federwisch.
“My friend Eddie at (SCAD) kept telling me ‘the one you’re watching is Liberty,’” Arrigon said, “The reason (I chose) Liberty is because I knew that everything they did, they did correctly and they (did not) do anything halfway.”
The Liberty Equestrian team started three years ago and has worked hard to improve the school’s entire equestrian program, related Senior Vice President for Auxiliary Services Lee Beaumont.
“When we first envisioned (the equestrian center), we had an eight stall barn and a couple fields,” Beaumont said. “Now, we’re actually finishing the designs of (an indoor riding arena) … and we wanted to add (academic) classes to the program. Jim has a wide background in building successful (equestrian programs) so he was just a really good fit.”
There were a “surprising amount” of applicants for the position that Arrigon now holds, said Beaumont. However, Arrigon was chosen based on his expertise and alignment with Liberty’s mission of training Champions for Christ.
“He is a big name,” Beaumont said. “Like Dot Richardson is to softball, Jim Arrigon is to equestrian. … But we were also looking for a certain type of fit with our Christian mission.”
Initially, Arrigon was not looking to coach another collegiate team after his previous successes in the industry.
“After I left Miami (University) I thought that I was done with the college thing,” Arrigon said.” (But), every year I’d go to IHSA nationals and I’d plan nationals (…) and I would just start missing the college thing more.”
Though Arrigon is excited to be working with collegiate equestrians again, the move from Ohio still posed problems.
“We’re still trying to sell the farm in Ohio,” Arrigon said. “But, we’re getting close to the place where my wife (Gwen Arrigon) will just leave the place with the realtor and… we’ll rent a place before we can afford to buy something.“
However, the move does put Arrigon closer to his son, Matt Arrigon, who coaches the St. Andrews University hunter seat equestrian team in North Carolina.
“Well, we’re old enough that my wife didn’t necessarily want to make a life change,” Arrigon said. “But, she thinks it’s an exciting change and it gets us closer to our son that we’re very close with.”
Arrigon’s vision for quality equestrian teams started before he applied for the job at Liberty, according to Arrigon. But, his ongoing goals for riders drew him to Liberty.
“When I looked at Liberty’s website and the first thing I saw was “Training Champions for Christ,” I said to myself, ‘It’s time to train some champions,’” Arrigon related. “That really (was) a sign from God.”
Being one of the top teams in the south and eventually in the nation are some of the goals that Arrigon has for the team.
“The first step is to make everybody good technicians,” Arrigon said. “But, it’s not just the rider’s technique but (also) the rider’s attitude towards the horse and their attitude towards the facilities.”
Though Arrigon believed the goals he has for the team were high, he admired the attitude Liberty equestrians showed.
“We have a bunch of students that are very ambitious and that’s a good start,” Arrigon said. “Some schools have people that are perfectly comfortable being mediocre. … I think our students are ambitious and want to be the best.”
The ambitions of Liberty’s club sports members are well documented. They have won multiple national championships in hockey, archery, taekwondo and more. Beaumont and Senior Director of Campus Recreation Kirk Handy believe that top ten in the nation is a goal that lines up with Liberty’s mission and record.
“Winning is not everything for club sports,” Beaumont said. “A lot of it is the experience. But, if we’re going to compete, we want to go out and put our best foot forward.”
In order to attain these aspirations, new facilities are planned for the equestrian center. Though the contractor for the construction has not been chosen yet, the 2 million dollar project has been planned extensively, according to Handy.
“(Arrigon) knows what material he wants, the size and the amount,” Handy said. “He has competed at all these big venues so he knows where we want to be … He’s very well versed in (the industry).”
Arrigon’s expertise has helped smooth the process of planning and aided where Beaumont and Handy might not have experience, Beaumont stated. In addition to IHSA horse shows, the facilities will be used to host the equestrian portion of the 2016 Virginia Commonwealth games, which will be held at Liberty, said Beaumont.
“We’re going to have two twin arenas, one inside, one outside and at the end of the school year we should have (about) 60 stalls to work with,” Arrigon said.
The new facilities and other additions have Chenelle, who has been on the equestrian team since it began in 2013, excited for the upcoming season.
“I just want everyone to have fun and really love this year,” Chenelle said. “I think (Arrigon’s) goals are completely attainable.”
Chenelle believes the athletic goals for Liberty’s Equestrian team align with Liberty’s motto as a school.
“We come at (competitions) from a different perspective,” Chenelle said. “Our goal isn’t to win for ourselves. Our goal is to win in Christ’s name and all the glory goes to him.”
Though Arrigon is a new addition to the Liberty staff, the team members are already adjusting to his style of teaching and approaching riding.
“I love working with Jim,” Chenelle said. “I think he knows how to approach people our age in a professional yet effective manner.”
In addition to Arrigon, Liberty hired Minnesota native Lauren Eagles as the Western team coach. Her previous experience as a collegiate rider and knowledgeable horsewoman made her ideal for the job.
“I grew up on a horse farm in southwest Missouri,” Eagles said. “I think there’s a picture showing the first time I was on a horse when I was two weeks old. I’ve shown paint horses my whole life, done a little quarter horses and then when I went to college I started riding some reining (horses) … and I worked for a reining trainer for a while.”
Though she was well qualified, the job was not something she was expecting to work out.
“My college coach (Gary Webb) called me one evening and said ‘hey there’s this really awesome job that you need to take, I think it’s at Virginia Tech or University of Virginia or something,’” Eagles said.
Though Webb got the state correct, the incorrect school and lack of other information led Eagles to believe it was an old offer or perhaps already filled. But when she called, Arrigon was eager to interview her.
“I was thinking, whoa the fake job is actually real?,” Eagles said. “I didn’t even know what I was going to say. … I just called about a pretend job and then (I was) going to Virginia for an interview.”
After realizing her ”dream job” might become a reality, Eagles had to move almost 800 miles away from her hometown to begin as coach at Liberty.
“Honestly, moving here was kind of a daunting thing,” Eagles said. “But, everyone was very welcoming from a personal standpoint as well as a coaching standpoint. It made the transition much smoother.”
This welcome encouraged Eagles as she began her first professional coaching job. Eagles said Arrigon’s leadership and experience helped as she jumped into leading the two-year-old Western team.
“It’s really great (working with Arrigon) in my first coaching position at the IHSA level because he basically knows how everything works,” Eagles said. “I feel like the best way to start coaching is to have someone who is such a great mentor. … I don’t feel like a newbie because we have all of his experience.”
Even at her first show with the team, which took place five days after she arrived in Virginia, the Western team scored a team high. And the team’s accomplishments only grew as the year progressed.
“At our last show, we were the reserve high-point team one day and I had open riders win horsemanship both days and a high-point open rider which is the first time that’s ever happened in LU history,” Eagles said. “The day we were the reserve high-point team we scored the highest score we’d ever scored in school history between either English or Western so that was really just a really great weekend.”
Even with these successes, Eagles has aspirations for semi finals and nationals that match Arrigon’s high goals. With the two riders that progressed to semi finals, Eagles hopes to take at least one of the riders to nationals.
“I love it,” Eagles said “I get to do what I love everyday and everyday I’m excited to go to work.”
Co-captain of the Western team Kayla Sims appreciates Eagles’ hard work and expertise in improving the equestrians as riders as well as a team.
“(Eagles) has taught me and all of the team a lot of new styles of riding, a lot of new tricks that we can use not only in our equestrian life but in our everyday life as well,” Sims said. “She’s just been a really good inspiration to all the young riders and all the girls to look up to.”
With 11 Western team members and 23 hunt seat members, unity and teamwork are key for the Flames to succeed. Arrigon and Eagles want Liberty’s team to be one of the best in the nation but not at the expense of teamwork and excellence.
“College riding has shown me how to develop people with skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives and team build in a way that will serve them for the rest of their lives,” Arrigon said. “We’re not just developing riders for the horse show. We’re developing members that are going to be good people.”
Eagles also has specific strategies for the Western team. As they prepare for semi finals and nationals, Eagles hopes to focus on fine-tuning riders’ technique but also encourages building relationships and communicating with her athletes.
“I think a huge thing that helps me be the most relatable is going to Bible studies and being around the team outside a team environment,” Eagles said. “Spending a lot of time outside of the arena has helped me bond with the team. I see girls outside of school and we talk about something other than riding horses.”
The coaches enjoy seeing their riders grow as equestrians and in character. At their most recent hunter show, the Liberty team scored a school high of 34 points and won six first place ribbons. Arrigon addressed the team after the competition with a smile on his face.
“It’s so great to see you all putting everything together,” Arrigon said. “If we get one percent better every time, we will eventually be 100 percent.”
But for Arrigon, coaching collegiate riding goes far beyond the fences and arenas of competitions. With that mindset, Chenelle thinks that a top 10 program in the nation does not seem so far away for the Liberty Flames Equestrian team.
