The History of Hippeia

U.S.R. Hippeia has over 85 years of history in the city of Utrecht. On January 28th in 1936 the association was established as part of C.S. Veritas. Back then it was quite common for big student associations to start their own horseriding associations. Our founder, mister Otjens, had bought riding gear during an auction and put a notice on the association board of Veritas to invite people to join his horseriding association. This was the very start of U.S.R. Hippeia.

The first stables Hippeia went horseriding at were on the Gansstraat, after which we moved to the Stadsmanege Achter Clarenburg in the fifties. Back then Hippeia wasn’t doing very well; we had trouble finding members and the city was planning to stop their funding to the Stadsmanege. Along with other student horseriding associations, Hippeia managed to save the stables. In return, new members could ride trial lessons for a reduced price. However, the city appeared to have significant grounds – on account of the questionable construction of the building – to stop funding the Stadsmanege.

In 1954 the Utrechtse Manege was established in the Voorveldse Polder. Hippeia immediately moved there because of the troubles at the Stadsmanege. Hippeia remained at the Utrechtse Manege until 1972.

Looking at the memberslist during the first years of the association, it is clear that mostly men were members of the association at the time. It was during the seventies that female members became the majority. During those years the association was faring very well, which is why Hippeia decided to seperate itself from Veritas in 1978. U.S.R. Hippeia became an independent student horseriding association. This independence led to the publication of Hippeia’s very first magazine, the Biks, and to the participation of Hippeians in national competitions. Since then Hippeians have managed to win numerous prizes of which the ‘award for best assocation’ is the one we’re most proud of.

The next stables Hippeia called home was Manege ‘t Hoogt, which lies on the border of Utrecht. From 1988 onwards we had many wonderful experiences with two full evenings of horseriding lessons. Because of circumstances at these stables, we moved again in 2010. This time to Manege Rijnenburg in Nieuwegein. However, in 2018 we got the offer to move back to Manege ‘t Hoogt, as it had been bought by two former members of Hippeia, Thijs Visscher (also an honorary member) and Lizzy de Koning. After many talks and meetings, the association decided to take the step. Since January 1st, 2019, Hippeia has had tons of fun lessons here!