Our association has a rich history, going back to the 60’s. On this page you can read all about how Hipac St. Joris became the association it is today!
History
Hipac St. Joris was established in 1969 from a fusion: St. Joris, the riders association from KSV Fransiscus Xaverius, and Hipac, the independent student riders association. It seems that initially the Rough Riders from W. S. V. Ceres also formed a part of Hipac St. Joris, but they split off and are only accessible to members from W. S. V. Ceres.
After the establishment of the association, a lot of students from the Wageningen University joined Hipac St. Joris to have riding lessons and to participate in activities.
Unfortunately, the enthusiasm decreased later on and on February the 15th, 1995, the association had to quit its activities indefinitely. Nevertheless, this didn’t last long. There was a demand for riding lessons, so Hipac St. Joris was re-established on the 20th of February 1997.
The association has had lessons at different stables, varying from ‘manege Klein Vosdal’ in Heelsum, ‘Manege Blauwendraad’ in Rhenen, ‘manege Foliohoeve’ in Bennekom and now (since September 2018) the lessons are given at ‘Stal Eikelboom’ in Wageningen.
Hipac St. Joris has had a magazine called ‘Dollen met knollen’ with informative articles, stories, reports and pictures from the activities.
There are a few horse related associations in Wageningen besides Hipac St. Joris and the Rough Riders. The Paarden Fokkerij Club (PFC) is a part of the study association ‘De Veetelers’ from the study Animal Sciences. The Paardengroep offers horse and carriage driving lessons.
Hipac St. Joris offers weekly riding lessons and fun activities, such as trail rides, social evenings and weekends.
Current
We are an intermediate between the university sports centre and the stable. We bring students to the horse riding sport, and we make it accessible for them to participate. We do this by arranging a discount on lessons and activities. And we also make it easy for students to fit horse riding in their busy schedule.
So, we make sure you can enjoy a weekly riding lesson with quality horses and quality instruction. Both dressage and jumping are offered here.
But of course, we are foremost a student organisation. That means that fun is numero uno! We make sure you can go on organised rides with a group of people. Beach rides, western rides etc. Also we have some integration activities we call social evenings. Such are Sinterklaas, introduction, BBQ and dinner before going to the stables.
Future
Hipac St. Joris has had a steady flow of members and we like to keep it that way. But also we look for ways to help students who are interested in starting with this sport. Or who want to return to it. Therefore we brainstorm a lot and we make plans to improve ourselves. To find fun new activities to do. To see where the opportunities lie. In recent years, we have organized several student competitions like SO’s (Stedenontmoetingen) and the VNSK! We hope we can improve the horse riding experience for all students in Wageningen.
A.W.S.R. Hipac St. Joris 