Things I learned...as I did a little googling after your comment I learned that while there are a lot of geldings out there, it is very rare to spay a female horse. It is apparently risky, in part because their abdomen is not suited for such an operation. Somewhere there must be a struggling energetic lawyer who will take on this equal (equine) protection case on behalf of male horses everywhere. (Just saw “On the Basis of Sex” this weekend.)
Equestrian team just posted its roster. 19 on the team. 3 out of state. It looks like many of them were able to transition from the club team to the ICA team without a problem. So that adds potentially 19 new scholarships to the overall woman’s ICA program (don’t know how many are actually awarded or are partial). But I believe it was pointed out previously that its the “opportunity to participate” that TIX looks at, not equality of scholarships. However, I doubt we could have hired our coach away from TAM without guaranteeing at least some significant scholarships support. First match Jan. 31 vs. Delaware State at home. Go Ags!
This is a good example of not Googling before you post. NCAA only allows for 15 full scholarships for an equestrian team; but they can be split up as needed. As a side note, Texas A&M has 60 riders on its team, so we do have a lot of work to build up this program.
It looks like it, with the feasibility study and all. Student body size isn't a tremendous factor if they have the money.
Of course, for football there's always a chance of independent, or Big Sky associate membership. Doesn't necessarily imply a conference realignment like discussed in this thread.