Heide Bossow-Casciaro. Photo courtesy of Heide Bossow-Casciaro
The two-time Cacchione Cup Champion will join other luminaries honored during the IHSA National Championship
Gladys, Va.- April 1, 2026 - Heide Bossow-Casciaro will be inducted into the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) Hall of Fame at the organization's National Championship, scheduled for May 1–3 at Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, North Carolina.
It’s hard enough to win the Cacchione Cup once during one’s IHSA riding career, but Heide Bossow (now Bossow-Casciaro) managed that feat in both 1985 and 1987 during her time at Hollins College (now University).
But for those who knew her, it was not a surprise.
“She was just poetry on a horse,” said longtime Hollins barn manager Elise Roschen. “She could make horses sing without ever alluding that there was any kind of issue. It was nothing short of pure elegance.
“On top of that she was just a lovely human being, always super kind and she presented herself beautifully and with confidence,” Roschen continued.
Bossow-Casciaro got her start when her grandmother bought her a six-pack of riding lessons for her 7th birthday (“My dad said it was the most expensive birthday present she could ever have bought me,” Bossow-Casciaro said) and she burst onto the horse show scene by winning the Illinois Hunter Jumper Association Junior Medal Finals at just 10 years old. She competed at Madison Square Garden for the National Horse Show and the Pennsylvania National under Tom and Pat Boyle, then packed her bags for Hollins, where she majored in economics and business.
While at Hollins she served as the president of the riding club and competed at IHSA National Championships all four years. She impressed her coaches with her dedication to the sport and her skill in the saddle, like her freshman year when she clinched her first Cacchione Cup win in the flat phase. That year she kept her poise when she was forced to circle at the counter-canter after getting cut off, holding the lead and winning the competition.
Marty and Elizabeth Cacchione present the 1985 Cacchione Cup championship to Heide Bossow (now Bossow-Casciaro) riding for Hollins College (now University). Photo courtesy of Heide Bossow-Casciaro
“She was the ultimate student,” said Nancy Peterson, the former director of riding at Hollins and a member of the IHSA Hall of Fame. “Lots of girls who come to Hollins are great riders, and they have good references and everything, but when she sat in a saddle and walked away from the mounting block you knew she was different. To me she’s the ultimate intercollegiate rider. She used to help all the other girls, and she was pleasant; I never saw her in a bad mood.”
After graduating Bossow-Casciaro rode and trained at a few East Coast farms before making her way back to the Midwest, where she started her business, Tievoli Farm (which spells “I love it” backwards), in Woodstock, Illinois. Bossow-Casciaro is also a busy U.S. Equestrian Federation judge with her hunter, equitation and jumper cards who has officiated at the likes of USEF Pony Finals, Traverse City Horse Shows, HITS Ocala, HITS Saugerties, Pin Oak and many others, and she’s judging IHSA National Championship this year. She’s also given back as past president and current board member of the Illinois Hunter Jumper Association, and she’s also on the advisory board for the newly formed U.S. Equestrian Trainers Association.
Bossow-Casciaro credits the IHSA and the professionals at Hollins, including Peterson, Roschen and Liz Courter, for helping boost her horsemanship and the team spirit that she now fosters at Tievoli Farm’s Interscholastic Equestrian Association team.
“The IHSA is a really good platform to maintain your riding and have fun and have camaraderie with your teammates,” she said. “[Usually] when we show it’s an individual sport. Having that team support for each other at Hollins, whether you were riding in the walk trot division or the Cacchione Cup, made such a difference.
“The horses have been a passion of mine all my life,” she added. “Whether I’m coaching or riding or judging it’s all about the horse and their performance and making it better.”
Heide Bossow-Casciaro is a much sought-after USEF R-rated judge and was coincidentally slated to judge the IHSA National Championship well in advance of the Hall of Fame inductee selections.
Photo courtesy of Heide Bossow-Casciaro