By Briana Garcia | Reporter
Jumping seat senior Caroline Fuller is one of the top performers on the Baylor equestrian team, but it didn’t start out that way when she joined the team during the fall semester of 2018.
“I didn’t just start at the top and cruise my way through,” Fuller said. “I started at the bottom of being a little bit of a nobody to work my way up.”
Fall semester of Fuller’s freshman year, she only got to practice once or twice a week, but her coach noticed that she wanted to get better because of her drive and determination.
“I was fortunate and lucky to have a coach that pays attention to everyone, and she saw something in me that was like, ‘Uh, I guess I’ll give her a chance,’” Fuller said.
From practicing once or twice a week in the fall semester to practicing five to six times a week in the spring semester, Fuller said it took a little while to adjust to the new routine.
“Going halfway through the year with not a lot of competition, to being thrown right into it was a little difficult, but I tried my best to work hard every day,” Fuller said.
Fast forward to today as a senior, the Denver, N.C. native is the first Bear in program history to win two conference awards in the same month and is a perfect 3-0 in both jumping seat events (Fences and Flat). Fuller also picked up a Most Outstanding Performer award back in September in a win over No. 10 University of Tennessee at Martin, scoring a meet high of 84 in Fences on a horse Baylor had never drawn before.
“It’s definitely been a long road, and I’ve come quite a ways as far as competing and confidence,” Fuller said. “It’s been a great experience, and it’s really cool to get to say that’s where I came from to get to where I am now.”
When Fuller was looking for colleges back in 2018, she said she knew she didn’t want to stay in the East Coast, and a lot of schools she ended up liking were in Texas. Fuller visited Baylor, Texas Christian University, Texas A&M University and Southern Methodist University with her dad.
“All of those schools had an NCAA D1 equestrian team, which I wanted to do coming out of high school,” Fuller said. “But I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it on the team recruiting-wise.”
As the colleges started trickling down, Fuller was stuck between Baylor and TCU. Fuller said she loved both campuses and that they each had great people on their teams, but it all came down to Fuller not being heavily recruited, nor having a lot of options to ride in college.
“Baylor was the first school that offered me a spot on the team, and I said alright. I knew I wasn’t going to wait around for other schools,” Fuller said. “One of the coaches at Baylor offered me a walk-on spot, and I just took it and ran with it.”
