While equestrian may not be the most renowned sport at Tufts, junior Hally Phillips has been making national and international headlines in the past few years for her dominance in the sport. Aside from leading the Tufts equestrian club team to a first-place regional finish last fall, Phillips also won the Collegiate National competition last May. Featured on ESPN for her performance, Phillips distinguished herself as the premier female rider in the nation.
Phillips' illustrious riding career began at the tender age of eight, when she first began riding horses with a friend. What began as a fun hobby soon took on more importance in her life, as Phillips started entering competitions at the junior level. Eventually she was regarded as one of the better junior riders in the country and was offered a spot in the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in November of 1997. Just having graduated high school, Phillips was faced with the dilemma of pursuing a horseback riding dream, or enrolling into college.
"It would have been too difficult to be an engineer and practice for this competition, so I decided to take a year off," Phillips said.
After a year of horseback riding and guiding whitewater rafting trips in Colorado, the Vermont native entered Tufts, unsure which direction her riding career would take.
"I didn't even know that there was an equestrian team here," Phillips said.
It did not take long for Philips to adjust to the collegiate level of competition, as she finished first in the region during her sophomore year. The breakthrough performance was enough to earn her a trip to Atlanta to compete at the national level with the 25 best English-style riders in the country at the Cacchione Cup.
After the first round, which consisted of a fence course, Phillips found herself in sixth place overall. In the second round, which tested the riders' skills and ability to control the course, Phillips moved up to second place. In the final round, the four remaining riders competed in a flat phase event and Phillips emerged atop the leader board.
"It was the biggest event I ever won, just a great feeling," Phillips said.
The feeling got even better, when Phillips realized all of the prizes she had won, including a saddle, custom-made boots, a Super Bowl-like ring, a trophy, and $1,500 towards a competition in Switzerland. By taking the top spot at the collegiate level, Phillips earned a spot to represent the United States and the World Championships in Switzerland in July.
"It was cool to see all of the international riders," Phillips said. "They use different styles than us Americans." The three American riders competed in Switzerland for a week and came home with a respectable 13th place finish out of 26 teams.
Now a junior at Tufts, Phillips continues to compete both at the collegiate level and at the top amateur events in the country. During the fall, she has been practicing at Holly Hill Farm in Cape Cod three days a week.
On Monday, Phillips and her horse, named "Copperfield", will travel to Washington D.C. to compete in the Adult Hunters competition, which features the top 25 riders in the nation. While professionals are simply judged on time and number of faults, the amateurs are judged mostly on style.
"We are judged on our style, making the riding look easy while getting the job done, being aggressive, yet stylish," Phillips said. "All of those things that your coach is telling you like having a nice position, heels back and elbows in are all important."
At 21, Phillips has already established herself as one of the best riders at both the collegiate and amateur levels and should only improve, although she says the Olympics are not in her immediate future.
"Of course it [competing in the Olympics] is a goal of mine," Phillips said, "but you need to have an Olympic level horse, which is very expensive. You also have to mature as a rider. Most of the riders in the Olympics are in their 30's."
For now Phillips will focus on more tenable goals, and as co-captain of Tufts' equestrian team, will try to lead them to a repeat regional championship performance and a possible appearance at the National Championships.
