In a move that left many bewildered, a university in California abruptly terminated its leading equestrian program right after clinching its third consecutive conference championship in March. This decision has left student-athletes without both a team and an institution to call home.
The unexpected decision by UC Davis to discontinue equestrian as a college sport was announced this January. The choice was based on an external evaluation conducted by Collegiate Consulting, which weighed the program’s expenses to rationalize the decision, according to a report by The Chronicle.
Many parents voiced the deep disappointment felt by the team following this announcement. The timing was particularly painful as it came after the deadline for athletes to transfer to other institutions had passed, leaving them in uncertainty.
Additionally, several students who had recently been recruited to join the team were subsequently denied regular admission to UC Davis, adding to the upheaval.
The university primarily attributed the program’s closure to funding issues. However, emails and documents procured by parents and shared with The Chronicle indicate a contradiction. The records showed that the administration continued recruiting athletes and soliciting donations until just a month prior to the announcement, despite having internally contemplated the termination for over a year.
An independent audit of the university’s report is also coming under fire for allegedly misrepresenting the true cost of the equestrian program, which supporters argue would actually net the university up to $700,000 annually.
Rosemary Fritsch, whose daughter Rayna was recruited back in October 2024 — when schools officials behind the scenes had already planned on cutting the program — said she was devastated when she received the news over email.
“She knew she would have been overlooked” at other colleges, the mother told the Chronicle, “because she didn’t have fancy clothes or the most expensive horse.”
While Fritsch said he daughter was offered a chance to still attend the university, other parents told the outlet their student-athletes were either wait-listed or denied.
The timeline of the events and the financial audit used to justify the decision are now under scrutiny.
In February 2025, UC-Davis Chancellor Gary May told all university administration to plan for a 10 percent budget cut, a month later the equestrian team was on the chopping block as it would reportedly save just over a million dollars annually.
By early April, it seemed the decision was set in stone and other possibilities no longer needed to be considered “due to elimination of the equestrian program moving forward,” the Chronicle reported citing and an internal spreadsheet.
The was seemingly confirmed in August, when an athletic budget spreadsheet said axing the program was approved pending an external review, according to the outlet.
But that third-party analysis was completed after the university announced its decision to end the equestrian program sparking outrage from parents and student-athletes.
Supporters of the team are now pushing back, telling the Chronicle that UC-Davis athletics director Rocko DeLuca was merely looking for an excuse to frame the program as too expensive.
“I don’t understand why they’re not reinstating the team,” said Sigrid Elschot, a parent of an equestrian athlete. “We don’t even have a locker room.”
Supporters are suing De Luca and other school officials, alleging the athletics director “fraudulently inflated the Equestrian program’s budget” and misled recruits when they knew for months the team was being cut.
The University’s police department is also investigating potential wire fraud as school leadership effectively decided to end the program while still soliciting donations, the Chronicle reported.
Andy Schwarz, one economist who was hired by supporters to conduct an independent audit, told the Chronicle the numbers from the external review don’t add up when determining the actual cost of the program.
The biggest error was a $665,000 price tag to purchase the horses, despite the animals being donated to the University, Schwarz told the outlet.
Schwarz also said the report didn’t take into account that many of the students pay out-of-state tuition, and estimated the university could bring in up to $700,000 annually.
UC-Davis issued a statement back in April, defending its decision to cut the program.
“We believe that all policies and practices were followed and that decisions regarding the Equestrian program were made appropriately and with the best interests of the UC Davis community in mind,” the university said in a statement.
The school is conducting its own review to determine the reliability of the financial information that was used to evaluate the program and the fundraising practices — but its findings won’t be released until June 30, the equestrian team’s final day, the Chronicle noted.