ETS does for high school riders what football and basketball coaches camps have done for those sports for years. “Combines” allow young athletes to be taught, evaluated and recruited by college coaches in intensive weekend instructional / competition clinics.  Equestrian Talent Search is the clearing house for young riders and their parents to get reliable and actionable information to help them understand exactly what college equestrian is about, how to become involved, and…

…how to find a program that is a good fit. 

The ETS Boot Camp is a clinic that is typically two days, and usually held at a well known college equestrian center.  It is actually two clinics in two days – riders can do Saturday or Sunday, or most students do both!  Riders are divided into riding groups at 2’ and 2’6” – be sure to specify what height you normally compete.   Everyone rides college owned horses and uses college tack. 

Please contact me at BeckettRunRiding@gmail.com so I can add you to our email list and then you’ll get info on upcoming events.

We have the best teachers from the top college riding programs, hosted at many of the nicest collegiate equestrian centers. Instructors in the past year included Kathryn Kraft from 2025 IHSA National Champion Purdue, Eddie Federwisch and Ashley Henry from SCAD, Mount Holyoke’s CJ Law, Jenn Smith of Goucher College, Cory Kieschnick from Delaware Valley University, Sherri West from Hollins, Beth Sheely of Virginia Tech, and more. ETS Director Jim Arrigon teaches at all clinics.

We’re different from the program in Florida in that we include parents in all activities and have seminars aimed specifically at parents. We get host colleges involved, including campus tours and Q&A with Admissions people, and over two days we get to know each kid personally.

We take the following three-pillar approach to help each individual rider in the ways they need help...

INSTRUCTION

Riders have mounted instruction ech day with some of the best teachers in collegiate riding, approached from the viewpoint of a college team tryout - strengths and weaknesses and what needs to improve to make the team? We talk a lot about “catch riding,” or the skills involved in competing on a strange horse. All students spend about half the clinic in flat work, and half over jumps.

Saturday in “Recruiting Clinic” day, so worked into the schedule around the riding clinics are classroom seminars for riders and parents with topics like collegiate recruiting, college choice, admissions and financial aid, etc. Riders and parents can request a copy of the PowerPoint slides, with invaluable information involving many of the same topics and more, all from the perspective of including a riding element in college choice.

Sunday is “Equitation Clinic” day, so riders do another riding clinic with coaches, then the classroom seminar is a PowerPoint “Judge’s Perspective” slideshow, including nearly a hundred educational pics and videos of collegiate National Champion rides.

EVALUATION

Throughout the event one of the coaches is making notes for a “report card” that will be emailed afterward. Students are graded against an expected standard for college recruits, in a variety of categories evaluated in team tryouts. Each category is graded and comments posted, then an overall score is recorded. Specific commentary indicates strengths and weaknesses, and coaches usually spell out particular drills or exercises designed specifically for each student.

Evaluation is for the benefit of students but also may be shared with coaches of college teams that show an interest in the student. Keep in mind that our goal is not necessarily to evaluate skill level this weekend, but as a tool to ultimately evaluate each student’s potential for success as a collegiate rider.

Report cards stay in the student’s file and are updated with each subsequent ETS clinic attended. At the conclusion of each clinic, one of the most important awards is “Most Improved Returning Rider” - the student who shows that she has taken instruction well and can work hard toward new approach. ETS coaches love to see the improvement achieved when students take to heart the critique and the followup suggested in report cards.

ETS Director: Jim Arrigon, Gibson, North Carolina.  USEF Hunter/ Equitation judge, ETS Founder and Director. Beckett Run Riding LLC, North Carolina.  He coached at 41 National Team Championships (28 IHSA, 10 IEA, and 3 NCAA), is credited with more than 30 National Champion blue ribbons and 19 IHSA Regional Champion Teams with Murray State University, Miami University of Ohio, Ohio State, and Liberty University.  His Beckett Run team was 2009 IEA National Champs, the first “barn” team to beat the prep schools.  He is the only person to coach National Champion teams in NCAA, IHSA, and IEA, and was also team captain of two-time IHSA National Champion team in college.  More recently, coached Liberty University to Regional Champion Team and Holiday Tournament Champion team in 2017, and Ohio University to 4th Place at 2019 Tournament Series.  His Miami University team was Top 6 at IHSA Nationals 11 times in a 15 year stretch, won 3 Tournament of Champions and Series Champion, and won NCAA National Invitational Championship twice.  IHSA’s National Secretary for 25 years, honored with IHSA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, and actively judges IHSA and IEA horse shows, including Regionals and Zones, as well as regular hunter shows, including having judged the 2023 National Snaffle Bit Association World Championship.  BS, University of Kentucky, and MS in Equine Nutrition from Murray State University, Kentucky.   His son was a Team Captain for Miami and coached National Champs of his own at University of Lynchburg and St. Andrews University, and daughter was a Team Captain for Vanderbilt University.  His wife was a longtime IEA Director and former Mayor of Gibson, North Carolina, and runs a show management company.

ETS RIDER PROFILES

ETS Alumnus and Cornell Team Captain Emily Kowalchik of Cincinnati is currently a top amateur rider, like this time when she won the 2023 Ariat Adult Medal National Championship at the National Horse Show in Kentucky.

ETS alum Maeve McLoughlin, Ohio State University alumnus, from Dix Hills, New York, was Top Ten in the Cacchione Cup Championship in 2019, the main event of the collegiate Nationals. She then pursued graduate work in Public Health at Ohio State. Maive still rides with Ohio State Coach Allison, now that she works at the OSU Wexler Medical Center.

recruiting and consulting

At the same time we are teaching and evaluating, we are helping teams recruit riders who are interested and appropriate for their programs. We know all the major coaches personally - their philosophies and teaching styles, and the vibe of their organizations. We’ve sent riders to pretty much every team in IHSA and NCEA, and many with scholarships. We open doors for riders to coaches on all the top teams.

We help riders and parents understand all the options involved with collegiate riding and help guide ETS students through the process of finding the right fit academically and socially in addition to finding a riding fit. Our philosophy is two-fold:

1. Riders want a team where they can compete as a meaningful part of the team. Students choose how hard they want to work by choosing the competitiveness of their team. Some teams are extremely competitive just to get a chance to go to shows, while others are more relaxed and accepting of all.

2. The right college choice is one at which the student would be happy to be a student even if riding were not an option. Our approach is to find several of those, then help the families compare the riding options of each.

We encourage riders and parents to share ideas with us so we can help make meaningful comparisons. We know all the programs - their competitiveness, strength of teaching and coaching, and social vibe of the teams. Sometimes we can even suggest similar colleges you’ve not considered. Our consulting continues after the ETS weekend by email, and at each subsequent ETS clinic.

We help college coaches find riders,

and riders find the right colleges.

Customer Reviews: 

"I am so looking forward to taking her to another ETS clinic...  we did CPI this year and your clinic BLOWS it away exponentially! I have told the other moms in the barn this is a MUST attend event! The takeaway info you provided was bar none exactly what I needed as a parent to understand all of this college riding stuff. I can't thank you enough for breaking that down for me."   Amy Dvorak, Chicago 

 "It was an amazing experience and I am really fortunate that I got to be a part of that. I am really going to continue to work on everything that you taught me. Thanks again for letting me be apart of such an amazing clinic." Raquel Bunche, Greenville, South Carolina 

"We have been able to call on Jim for information and he has proved to be an invaluable resource.  We truly believe Jim took a personal interest in Alex, as he does with probably hundreds of other kids who attend his clinics each year."Williard Famiily, Pittstown, New Jersey 

 ."For a year I've been pounding my head against a wall trying to get info on college riding. So glad I found YOU! Trust me - I spread the word about your program all the time! Keep up the great work." - Cheryl Cintolo, Boston, Massachusetts

 "With the help of ETS, my daughter is loving where she is and what she is doing.  The journey so far has been the reward and you and the ETS program were the vehicle to get it started." - Brendon Hynes, Maine

  “What a weekend!.....organized, exciting, enlightening, eventful, welcoming........thank you.  You are providing a great service through the ETS.  We appreciate all that you put into the weekend at Lake Erie.  We met many wonderful people, learned a lot, and had fun at the same time. Definitely worthwhile.”  -  Monica, Cathy and Fred Scarsella, Ohio

“Thank you again for providing her with such a great experience.  We attended the clinic thinking it would be a great experience for her to ride college horses and get instruction from college level coaches.  And you delivered!” - Jan Lord, Colorado

 “After I signed (my daughter) up, I had a moment of "buyer's remorse" because she had done a similar, rather expensive clinic last year that she got essentially nothing out of.   ETS couldn't have been more different!   You, CJ, and the admissions rep from Mt. Holyoke were all so skilled at what you do!  The jumping course and teaching… was dialed up a notch compared to… the other event.”  -  Janet Smith, Newton Massachusetts

 “…the clinic portion of your event made ETS much more informative and useful than CPI, and we all thought your program was a much better value.  My daughter definitely learned more about riding in college -  and riding in general -  from ETS than from either College Bound or CPI.”  -  Bruce Moser, Virginia

 “We learned far more than we imagined possible!  The clinic exceeded our expectations by leaps and bounds, and we look forward to attending others.  Carly had a simply spectacular time!” – Vicki and Carly O’Hara, Ohio.

 “For a year I’ve been pounding my head against a wall trying to get info on college riding. So glad I found YOU!  Trust me -  I spread the word about your program all the time! Keep up the great work.”  - Cheryl Cintolo, Boston, Massachusetts

 “I would like to say how tremendously helpful your ETS clinics have been, not only for Cory but for me and my husband. We learned more about selecting a college and about collegiate riding through your classroom sessions than through any other source. The Q and A time with the college coaches, the presentations by Directors of Admissions.. are wonderful. Your years of experience as a collegiate coach really show through.  Thank you for what you do.”     - Amy McLaughlin, Atlanta, Georgia

CLICK to download the SCHEDULE of upcoming ETS Events.