May 16, 2025 
Walking down that shoot into the show ring can be stressful enough on a horse you know well and just jumped in the warm-up ring—let alone one you’ve never met before. But it’s a premise Alexander Alston has grown comfortable with.
Since signing on to ride on the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) team at Savannah College of Arts and Design (SCAD) in Georgia three years ago, Alston knew the equitation warm-up—or, more accurately, lack thereof—would be challenging.
Just maybe not how challenging.
“We don’t get any jumps in IHSA. We can’t even pick up the trot until we get in the ring,” Alston says. “I was talking to a few of my friends who are on NCAA equestrian teams, and I didn’t realize that they got four minutes and four [practice] jumps.
“They were like, you don’t get anything?”
Practice jumps or no, Alston doesn’t seem to be struggling.
In May, he won the coveted Cacchione Cup, considered the highest individual honor awarded in hunter seat competition in IHSA. In doing so, he also earned a clean sweep of his division, taking the Individual National Championships in Individual Open Equitation Over Fences, the Individual Open Equitation on the Flat, and the Team Open Equitation on the Flat.
All of it puts him in elite company, given that previous Cacchione Cup winners have included the likes of Olympians Beezie Madden and Peter Wylde. As a junior with one year left to compete, Alston now becomes only the third rider in SCAD history to bring the honor back to Savannah. He’s also the first male of color to win the award, a sobering reflection on equestrian in the year 2025. (Amanda Forte (2001) was the first person of color to win.)
Even still, Alston is cautiously optimistic. “I would venture to say that [diversity in the sport] has come a long way in the time that I have been around,” he says. “But I think we have a long way to go, for sure.”
Making Introductions
Having trained with John Brennan and Missy Clark at North Run Stables for the last four years, Alston has learned to pay attention to the details. It’s a skillset that also plays well with the atypical demands of IHSA competition.
Alston says he watches the horses closely in the warm-up, getting as much information from the horse handlers as he can for as long as he can after mounting up—usually just during the short walk up to the in-gate. He’s also learned to pay attention to his draw’s reactions from the moment he sits down in the tack.
“You can learn so much from the horse even at the walk.” Alston says. “You know how sharp they are to what’s going on around them, and watching how they react, just shortening your reins and walking, as they’re leading you around.
“When you go in the ring, I hope you’ve got a little bit of feel, because you get nothing to warm-up with [in IHSA]. You just have to pick up a nice pace and work with that.
“But I think that makes it even more exciting,” he adds. “You know the judges are seeing the first jump that you’ve ever jumped on the horse.”
High-performance sports were a way of life for Alston’s family during his early years in Gahanna, Ohio. His grandfather player professional baseball, his father had the opportunity to play professional soccer. His brother and sister both played soccer and volleyball, respectively, and it was assumed Alston would follow in the family’s ball-sports footsteps.
“We were all pretty athletic growing up, but we went to our own separate sports,” Alston explains. “My brother also played soccer, and he coached some soccer with my dad when I was younger. They tried to convince me to go that route, but it didn’t go so well,” he jokes.
“I tried every sport under the sun—state championships in gymnastics and diving. I was forced to play soccer multiple times by my father, and also tried playing polo for a few years, and swimming. We all know where I ended up!”
Where he ended up, of course, was North Run. There, he had opportunities to train and compete on mounts of all types in all three rings. And while Alston makes it clear that he’ll happily “ride anything,” his preferred horse is something with a little bit of blood.
“I don’t ride the cold ones all so well, if I have a choice,” he says. “Honestly, most of the equitation horses that I had the most success on had a little bit of blood. You didn’t have to wear big spurs and kick the whole time.”
A Team Player
The ability to be flexible on many different types of rides is one of the things Alston credits Brennan and Clark with bringing to his riding, along with the help of longtime sponsor Juanita Furuta. “I think it’s just the experiences they’ve given to me, the quality of horses I’ve been able to ride,” he says.
“I think they just have such a great program [at North Run] and have done such a great job with so many people. They know what they need to do to get you to where you need to be.”
That’s not an understatement. Past North Run students have included the likes of American Grand Prix riders Catherine Tyree Flores and Michael Hughes, and Olympians Erynn Ballard (CAN) and Darragh Kenny (IRL)—both of whom are ranked in the top 35 in the Longines Rankings and are regular fixtures on senior Nations Cup teams.
For his part, Alston has already participated at multiple FEI North American Youth Championships (NAYC). He says that, in and out of the ring, the comradery of competing alongside fellow riders, both in championships and in IHSA competition, is an aspect of the sport he enjoys.
“It’s just a feeling you can’t really describe—when you’re even more nervous than your teammate is for it to go well for them and your group. You can’t recreate that,” he says.
“I think it’s fun to get to cheer everyone on and, as a group, to see what you can achieve—whether it’s in the ring in competition, or back in the barn, taking care of 15 horses, having them turned out perfectly.”
Even when he’s not on barn duty, these days, the advertising and branding major has plenty on his plate. In addition to his studies and juggling IHSA practice and competitions, he still travels on “free” weekends to compete with his North Run team at horse shows such as Wellington and Tryon.
And, like most college students, Alston says his future plans are still evolving. “I’d like to jump on senior Nations Cup teams eventually, that sort of thing,” he says. “I’m really focusing on school right now, and once I’m done with school, my life will probably revolve around horses in some way, shape, or form.”
A sure bet? Whatever form Alex Alston’s riding takes in the years to come, amateur or professional, IHSA star or future Grand Prix winner, we’ll continue to read his name in lights.
