Maybe springin’ and flingin’ has you in a nature-loving mood. Maybe you love animals and admire the ways some people have with majestic, well-bred creatures. Or maybe you just want to play the game that the UA Equestrian Club will be running this year.

“We get a booth assigned by ASUA and a certain percentage of the tickets that are used to play our game comes back to us,” said the Equestrian Club’s vice president, Isabel Runge, a sophomore studying molecular and cellular biology.

It’s the club’s third year working a booth to raise money that is put toward reimbursing students who traveled with one of the riding teams throughout the past school year.

“We get most of our money from sponsorships and donations, which we use to have the team and coaches travel to zones, semifinals and nationals for Intercollegiate Horse Show Association,” Runge said.

The western team qualified for the IHSA’s semifinals as a team this year and with individuals for the first time in the club’s history. 

“We like Spring Fling because we are done with our show season and it’s a good time for everyone to get together and have fun,” Runge said.

The club worked the water-gun-utilizing machine gun game last year.

“We find out tomorrow at the training [what we’ll be working],” Runge said when asked where Spring Fling attendees can find the horse lovers this weekend.

When asked if the 40-member Equestrian Club is a close-knit group, Runge said, “As a whole, we don’t spend a … lot of time together, but for the time we do spend together, I would say, ‘yes’.” 

The team is divided into two subsects: those who ride for the western or English sides.

“Personally, I ride on the English side and we always have a blast at the shows,” Runge said. “When we do things where we are all together like Spring Fling, we have a great time.”

Whether they’re gripping reins or the dirty metal of a Spring Fling attraction, everyone in the UA Equestrian Club looks forward to sharing white knuckles this weekend.

Follow Gretchyn Kaylor on Twitter