Easthampton
Horseperson Feature
Allison Springman Coaching, Kids, and IEA
by Andrea Bugbee
R
emember the last time you rented a car? You pulled out of the lot full of confidence because, heck, you know how to drive. But then you couldn’t find the directionals, and goodness those brakes were sensitive, and where was the cruise control, anyway? Welcome to the Interscholastic Equestrian Association, or IEA. It’s the middle- and high school equestrian sport that challenges teams of riders to mount unfamiliar horses and, figuratively, find where all the “buttons” are. But, unlike rental cars, horses have minds and moods of their own, and these riders must decode each horse’s individual mien in a matter of minutes — while being judged. For equestrian coach Allison Springman, the IEA challenge fits perfectly with her passions, which are riding horses and teaching kids. As a paraprofessional at Hatfield Elementary School and a riding instructor at Heritage Farm in Easthampton, Allison (everybody calls her “Alli”) gets to do both. “During the day I get to teach kids not on horses, and then I get to come to Heritage and teach kids on horses,” says Alli, during a chat in the cool, shady aisle of Heritage’s main barn. “I love to see how kids love to learn. I love to see them grow . . . not just the growth in the rider, the growth in the person, too. And I love to see how horses have helped some of the kids. I love to see how horses have impacted their lives.”
Making Massachusetts Home A Williamstown native, Alli’s path to Heritage Farm came via a detour through New Jersey where she was an equine studies major with a concentration in teaching and training at Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey. “Horses were part of my life from the get-go,” Alli says, so it was natural for her not only to attend what her IEA kids call “horse school,” but also to join Centenary’s Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (ISHA) team. This talented equestrian qualified for nationals three of the four years she was in college, and she rode for Centenary’s 14
August/September 2017
American National Riding Commission (ANRC) team as well. After college, Alli spent a year working as a groom at Spring Hill Farm, a competitive hunter barn in Frenchtown, New Jersey. In 2005, she came home to Massachusetts after
pleasure, competition, camps, English, western, and lessons. Douglas is also an equine dentist and a USEF judge. Brother David runs an auction company. He’s the quick-talking cowboy who calls Heritage’s horse auctions. Diane manages the lesson program and
accepting a position as barn manager and riding instructor at Heritage Farm, a western Massachusetts stable in Easthampton. Once at Heritage, Alli’s horse world expanded in exactly the way that her IEA riders’ world is expanded. She had become part of a stable where variety is status quo.
much of the farm’s day-to-day business. “We paint with a pretty broad brush,” says Diane, waiting for the next of her afternoon lessons to arrive. The farm teaches both English and western riding. They have kept cows and hosted team penning clinics and events. They have buyers and boarders, lessees and lessoners. They host horse auctions and horse shows. In the quieter moments, they travel to hunter paces, to Western New England Professional Horseman’s Association shows, to trail rides, and to clinics. “That’s the thing about Heritage,” says Alli, “you get to see the western. You get to see the cows. You get to see the English. You see different horses. You see different types of riders. You see a little bit of everything. I’m not saying that we have it all, but for me and for a lot of the kids, we have quite a bit.” According to coach Alli, it’s that constant variety that gives her IEA team a boost. Let’s go back to the car analogy here. If you always drive a Ford, you learn how to drive a Ford. But if you work on a dealer’s lot and hop into dif-
Barn of All Trades If you’re a Massachusetts Horse reader, chances are you’ve either read about or attended a Heritage Farm auction at some point in your life. Semi-annual horse and tack auctions are part of the seasonal cycle there. With tides of sale horses and prospective buyers flowing in and out, the stable has no choice but to be well kept and well managed. It’s not fancy, but golly it’s active. Heritage is a second-generation horse farm run by David, Douglas, and Diane Raucher, where each sibling wears a different, um, helmet. David and Douglas buy horses from across the country, sometimes from brother Dennis in Missouri. They bring in 300 to 400 horses a year to sell or lease for