Blessings on the Hill

By Larissa (Strappello ’08) Ries

Houghton’s Equestrian Event Center, completed in 2018, has truly revolutionized what the Equestrian Program is able to offer to both our students and the local equine community. When I think back to how it began—with a simple email asking if we were indeed wanting to build a larger indoor riding arena and informing me that there was a potential donor to fund the project—I am astounded at what came about.

The arena project began as a dream of Program Director Emerita Jo-Anne (Olsen ’69) Young, who served at Houghton from 1986-2017. I am thankful every day that the Lord put the arena project on her heart. Without Jo-Anne’s dreaming and talking about her vision with many individuals, our anonymous donor may never have heard about the project. That short email I received got the ball rolling, so we dreamed and worked to build a facility that would be functional and beneficial for our equine students, as well as the larger equine community. It is truly a blessing to set foot in that space every day, whether the riding arena, the classroom, the Faith of a Mustard Seed Atrium or the Jo-Anne O. Young Competitor’s Wing stable. The Lord provided even more then we could have imagined!

From the perspective of teaching students, the Event Center has given us a heated warm space in the cold winter months to train and learn. No longer do students and faculty have frozen fingers and toes while teaching and riding in mounted labs. We don’t have to end classes early due to being too cold, and students are able to take full advantage of the learning process during each 15-week semester, rain, snow or shine! The classroom has allowed us to have a designated space for our lecture-based class learning that isn’t shared with the student worker time clock or the restroom!

For our local equine community here in Western New York, it has given us the ability to offer even more equine learning opportunities as we share our wonderful new space. We are able to host many shows, clinics and seminars that expand our educational and missional reach beyond our four-year university students.

I’ve had the privilege to be a part of the equine program for over 20 years, first for two years as an undergraduate transfer student (2006-2008), then returning to work full time in 2013 as herd manager and instructor, and then taking over the reins as the equine program director in 2017. It has been a blessing to the see our program change, expand, and thrive over those two decades. I have seen the Lord work through the outstanding investment of our amazing faculty and staff, our wonderful students, and the support of hundreds of donors. I am so thankful that the Lord chose me to be a part of His program during this season, and to get to see the Lord working in the lives and hearts of His people. Every time I drive onto the farm, I am reminded of the Lord’s faithfulness in my own life and in His equestrian program here on the hill in Houghton!

Larissa (Strappello ’08) Ries has served at Houghton since 2013 and is now in her ninth year as Equestrian Program Director. She holds a bachelor of science in recreation and leisure studies with an equestrian concentration from Houghton University and a master’s of education in equestrian education from William Woods University. Professor Ries is a Certified Horsemanship Association Master Instructor and Assistant Certification Instructor for Standard English/Western certifications and Equine Facility Management certifications and is a United States Dressage Federation Silver Medalist.