The Duquesne University Equestrian Team's crowdfunding campaign (www.spirit.duq.edu/duet16) ended last night and exceeded its goal! The project raised $3,741 thanks to your generosity! Here is a message from the team's captain Caitlin Phalunas, a junior biomedical engineering major.

------

With your help, we met and surpassed our goal! I am so ecstatic and overjoyed that we reached our goal. I want to convey a HUGE thank you to every donor. With your support I am confident that we will be able to host our own show and cover costs so that competitions are affordable for all riders. I am very appreciative of your support for our season and hope that you will keep up with the team's accomplishments.

To keep up with the team please check out our Instagram account – www.instagram.com/duqequestrian – which we regularly update.

We would love to meet each and every one of you or see you at our lessons and shows. Please contact me at phalunasc@duq.edu or David Jakielo, A'05, GA'10, assistant director of annual giving, at jakielod@duq.edu if you are planning to attend or if you ever visit campus so we can make plans!

Our show schedule this year is:

• November 19-20, 2016: University of Findley, Findlay, OH
• January 28-29, 2017: University of Findley, Findlay, OH
• February 11-12, 2017: Lake Erie College, Painesville, OH            
• Regionals – March 11, 2017: Lake Erie College, Painesville, OH
• Zones – April 8, 2017: University of Findley, Findlay, OH

Thank you again for your generous gifts, they mean so much to the team and are a huge help to our season. We are all beaming with joy!

Caitlin Phalunas

Thank you again for your support and encouragement of the Duquesne University Equestrian Team (DUET)! We are currently at 70% of our goal with two days remaining in our crowdfunding campaign. If you know of anyone else who might be interested in donating, please direct them to our page – www.spirit.duq.edu/duet16.

We are excited to share with all of our generous donors the following news from our great weekend!

We showed two days at Stonegate Farms in Coolville, Ohio, hosted by Thiel College. There were eight teams/schools competing, including us. We had only four girls show, unlike Findlay or Lake Erie teams who have new people each show day since they are huge equine schools. The Intercollegiate Horse Show Association limits people per team to ride in over fences and flat each day so some people only ride one day - but we ride both days since the limit is 12 and we are a team of four.

At the competition we received 11 ribbons for 12 classes we competed in, almost a ribbon for every class. You are not always guaranteed a ribbon since classes can range from 7-12 people so I am very proud we did so well! As a team we accumulated 34 points (1st-7pts, 2nd-5pts, 3rd-4pts, 4th-3pts, 5th-2pts, 6th-1pt; 1 first, 2 seconds, 2 thirds, 2 fourths, 3 fifths and 1 sixth). Points are important, as to move up to the next level/class in a show you have to have received so many points from shows.

This weekend we received 5th place which was very exciting for our small team to have done so well! The horses we randomly drew were good horses and we had a lot of fun!

We hope you are proud of our successful weekend. Thanks for helping to make it possible!

Caitlin Phalunas

Duquesne University Equestrian Team captain, junior biomedical engineering major

P.S. For the latest updates on our campaign, connect with the Duquesne University Spirit page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/duqspirit) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/duqspirit).

Hi, everyone –

Thanks so much for your support of our crowdfunding campaign! Your gifts will really help us this season and we are very appreciative. Because of your generosity, we have already raised $1,505 -- 50% of our goal!

Not only is this campaign financially supporting us, but it's making many more people aware that Duquesne University has an Equestrian Team. We even received publicity in The Duquesne Duke this week! We hope you enjoy the article as much as we did: www.duqsm.com/duquesne-equestrian-team-hosts-crowdfunding-campaign.

If you have a moment, please help spread the word about our campaign so we can reach our goal. Simply e-mail, text, post on social media a link to our page: www.spirit.duq.edu/duet16.

Thank you again!

Sincerely,

Duquesne University Equestrian Team (DUET), '16

P.S. For regular updates, connect with Spirit on Facebook (www.facebook.com/duqspirit) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/duqspirit).