COLUMBIA – Retired Head Coach of the University of South Carolina Equestrian Team Boo Major and her former equestrian team members will be honored by the University on Sept. 26-28 as it celebrates the anniversaries of the equestrian team’s 2005 and 2015 national championships under Major’s coaching. While details are not yet final, much of the three-day celebration will be held in conjunction with the USC/Kentucky equestrian team competition at the Blythewood headquarters of the team on Friday, Sept. 26. More information will be published in the Aug. 28, issue of The Voice.
Major says she’s looking forward to seeing former team members and friends and supporters of the teams she coached.
“I just hope they all get to attend,” Major said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get to really do a lot of celebrating back when we won the championships. I was busy with lots of things. So it will be nice to get to enjoy it now. I’m really looking forward to it. I hope we have a good crowd from Blythewood as well.”
Major, one of Blythewood’s own, learned to ride at an early age at the JJ Ranch in Blythewood, and spent much of her adult life living on her uncle’s farm on Portia Road. As a rider, Major has competed in hunter shows, eventing and dressage. It was during her storied coaching career that the University purchased a farm in Blythewood that became the equestrian team’s home base.
“It was like working at home,” Major said. “It’s wonderful having our home base just down the road.”
During her coaching career, Major received state, regional and national recognition as a top equestrian instructor for over 30 years. After completing her 25th year as head coach of the South Carolina equestrian team, Major retired in July, 2024.
Major has instructed riders throughout the southeast and her teams have successfully competed at the national level over the past three decades.
During her tenure at South Carolina, Major led the Gamecocks to three NCEA Overall Championships (2005, 2007, 2015), three consecutive NCEA Hunter Seat National Championships (2005, 2006, 2007), one Southern Equestrian Championship (2012), and two SEC Championships (2013, 2014). She is a two-time (2013, 2014) Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year winner, and she was named National Coach of the Year by the National Collegiate Equestrian Association in 2014 and 2015. On March 29, 2014, Major became the first University of South Carolina head coach to win back-to-back SEC championships.
On April 18, 2015, Major became the first University of South Carolina head coach to win three national championships. In 2014, she was recognized by the University of South Carolina’s College of Mass Communications and Information Sciences as one of its two Distinguished Alumni award winners.
The University of South Carolina was the first major Division I school in the nation to declare equestrian as a varsity sport.
Major is a 1981 graduate of South Carolina and received her Master’s degree from the University of South Carolina in 1990.
