Horseback riding with Carrie Carrollo

Back in the saddle.

Thinking About Getting Into is a newsletter about cultivating interests.

Carrie Carrollo wanted to get back out in nature. The now-Brooklynite had always lived in a city—growing up in Chicago—but as a child, she found her solace outside the shadows of skyscrapers. From the age of nine through college, she rode horses, competing in the Hunter/Jumper style. Like many, she stepped away from her childhood passion when she entered adulthood—until, more recently, she felt compelled to get back into the saddle. Now, when she’s not creating colorful interiors or writing creative copy, you can find her in the stables with her four-legged companion, Yoshi.

Carrie!

How did you get into horseback riding?

I grew up riding. I rode a horse for the first time when I was 3, in Wyoming, I think—someone leads you around and your legs barely read the saddle; that sort of thing. I was obsessed. I’m from Chicago, so I grew up in the city—so it wasn’t easy to ride, similar to my experience now in New York. I basically begged my parents to ride. I would do a little trail thing when I was on vacation. And then finally, I think when I turned nine, they were like, ‘Okay, we can do it. You’re still talking about it.’ So I started riding officially at nine, and then I did it through college.

That started out sort of slow, doing lessons once a week, and then eventually in the summers, twice a week. We fell into buying a horse, and I just kept doing it. When I hit college, I need a break, honestly. And then, when I moved to New York, it was cost-prohibitive and car-prohibitive, and also, I was kind of over it. It’s a time commitment and a life commitment, but now that I’ve been in New York—this is my eighth year here—I’m feeling more settled. I think I was just missing it and wanting an excuse to get out of the city and be with nature or animals—anything that was the opposite of the city.

I have a friend who grew up doing gymnastics and cheer and things like that, and she had started getting back into that. And I think when she did that, I was like, ‘Oh, I should pick up my childhood hobby again, too.’ So I started looking into it. That was two summers ago, and then I officially got back into it last fall.

What does horseback riding look like for you today? How often are you riding, and how far outside of the city do you go?

As of this past fall, I’m half-leasing a horse—which is the same way you lease a car.

I had no idea you could do that. What’s his name?

His name is Yoshi. These days I half-lease him, which means I pay for half of his bills. But also, you get to ride them half the days of the week. I really only go out two days a week—so Saturday and Sunday—which has been a major life schedule shift, but I have a car. [The stable] is in Jersey, and I would say on a good day with no traffic or a little traffic, I can get there in an hour and about six minutes or an hour and 10. But usually coming home, that can be two hours or an hour and a half. I’ve definitely been in the car for two and a half hours getting home—it just depends.

When I go out, I’m doing lessons. I do a style of riding called Hunter/Jumper, which is the earliest part of what you eventually see in the Olympics, where they’re jumping big, colorful jumps—which is not nearly anything close to what I’m doing. I go out and take lessons, which means you’re riding around with a trainer. We’re usually jumping courses and working on different things. I’m out there for about four hours every time.

I started competing again recently too, which in horse world is called a horse show.

I’d love to hear a bit more about the progression from two summers ago, to getting to this point where you’re competing again. Do you feel like it was something you picked back up quickly? What led to the decision to make that kind of investment—to half-lease a horse—and then to compete again?

I hadn’t been on a horse for four or five years. Someone who I rode horses with in college had shared a post [on social media] that she was riding a horse in Prospect Park. And I was like, ‘Oh, this is shocking.’ I had no idea. I think I had known there used to be riding in Central Park years and years ago.

I’ve seen the signs in Prospect Park but I have no idea where they keep the horses.

They’re in Kensington, at the corner of the park. It’s a small barn behind a storage unit facility, but there are 10 horses there. You would never know.

So I saw her doing it, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is interesting.’ And then through that, I found the group that puts on these rides. It’s called Manhattan Riding Club, and they cater to people sort of like me—adults who used to ride, or want to ride or are just getting into riding, who either have cars or don’t have cars and don’t really want to commit. It’s a very pay-to-ride sort of situation. They have a lot of different cool experiences, like riding Clydesdales or jumping in the woods upstate, or in Jersey, or in Connecticut, or in Prospect Park. So I did one of those rides. The previous summer, I had my mom ship my stuff to me because I had started thinking about it again.

I got on a horse for one of those rides, and I was like, ‘Okay, my body still knows how to do this.’ I did another one a few months later. And then I was like, ‘Oh, okay. I’m thinking about it a lot. I’m missing it. My stuff is here. I have enough expendable income to rent a Zipcar every once in a while and find a place to ride.’

I found a barn. I’d been deep on Facebook groups and Reddit trying to figure out where city people ride. I started taking lessons occasionally, once a month, once every two weeks, that sort of thing. That place I was riding didn’t end up working out, so I had to find another place, and I found another place last summer, which is where I’m at now.

As I was looking, I was kind of like, ‘Okay, financially, I can do this to an extent—not fully—and I also don’t want to do it fully that way right now. But I’m interested in dedicating some actual time to this. I have some free time. I’m not actively working on saving for a house or working on paying for a wedding or any other big life goals.’

The way I’ve always ridden horses, competing is part of it. I think I was like, ‘If I’m dedicating the time and the money and whatever to pay for this horse, then I want to get back in the show ring and see how that feels.’

How did you feel at your first competition back?

It was good. It’s crazy how innate that sort of stuff is. It feels different, but it feels familiar and normal. Even the outfit that you ride in, the jacket and all those things… I was shining my boots the night before and it felt very nostalgic. It was nice to do it again.

What was the emotional appeal of it for you? What did you get out of riding as a kid and in college, and now what do you get out of it?

I think animals in general, and especially horses—they’re so therapeutic. Maybe that’s something that’s hard to understand unless you’re doing it there with them. The horses are not judging you. The vibes are good. The vibes are chill. I don’t know how else to say it, but I think there’s just something about that that I’ve always been really attracted to and felt very connected to. I think growing up, it was always this therapeutic thing, and I missed that feeling.

When you started riding again, did you feel nervous at all? Or were you immediately comfortable?

A bit of both. It was a homecoming of sorts, but there’s definitely a nervousness to it. That’s honestly part of the reason I stopped riding; I knew it was time for me to stop when I started getting fearful. Horses are big animals. You can get seriously hurt doing it. It’s definitely not a particularly safe sport or hobby.

There’s a notion, in general, that when you turn 18 and become an adult, you start valuing your life a little more, and you realize it’s dangerous. That definitely hit me. So the first time I got back on, I was like, ‘Oh, this feels so good, but I still feel this feeling that started when I was 20, riding in college and needed to take a break.’ That’s been something that I had to deal with a little bit since I started riding again. But it is honestly kind of amazing how much it’s like riding a bike.

The specific style of riding you do, Hunter/Jumper—is that the style you’ve always done? What do you like about it?

Yeah, that’s what I’ve always done. I think in the Chicago area, that’s what’s popular; so you can access all the different types of riding, but that’s what I fell into. Now I think it’s what I feel most comfortable with, just because it’s familiar. I also like the fashion element of it—jumping a horse is a pretty unique feeling.

The horse you’re half-leasing—what’s he like?

He’s a Gemini, which is so funny because I’m also a Gemini, and I feel like it’s very fitting. He’s really sweet, and he has a strong personality. I feel like sometimes I’ll meet horses, and they’re just there. They’re vibing. Some horses are really mean. There’s a different spectrum, but I’ve always gravitated more toward horses that I feel have a personality. And this horse is such a good boy, but he also is opinionated. When you’re tacking up, or when you’re grooming them, put them on these things called cross ties, where they just stand, and if I’m away for too long, he’ll scream down the aisle.

He’s got a lot of feelings. What color is his coat?

He’s brown with a black mane and tail, which is called Bay.

You mentioned how much of a time commitment this is—how has this changed your lifestyle?

I think part of the reason I decided to be like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna commit to this and dive back in,’ is that I started feeling overstimulated by the city. I would wake up, walk my dog, and feel…I don’t know. I thought, ‘Is it time to leave the city? Do I want to do this?’ I was thinking a lot about that in the fall, and I was like, ‘Okay, I need something to try to get me out of this mindset, or just out of the city physically, and see if like that fixes it.’ Being from a city, this is all I’ve ever done. I needed change. I could live a slower life—not that adding this and the drive to my schedule makes my life slower. But when I get out there, I know it will be worth it

I feel better, happier—I don’t necessarily want to say relaxed, but it’s doing something, for sure. It is definitely a time commitment. I go out in the morning and leave at 8:30 a.m. to get out there by 10 a.m. to get on by 10:30 a.m. and that definitely impacts what I can do Friday night and then Saturday night. There’s a trade-off: Which weekends am I going to say yes to doing a trip or not? And if I’m doing a weekend trip, can I find another time during the week to ride to get my money’s worth and my time’s worth and still reap the benefits of it? It’s changed my life in that way, for sure, but I feel better in general, too. More settled, I think.

What would you tell people who are thinking about getting into horseback riding?

They should try it. I think it’s totally worth getting on the horse and seeing how you feel. My friend who was doing gymnastics and inspired me comes out with me a lot and has fallen in love with the horses. I’m trying to get her on a horse soon. Even just being around them can do a lot.

It’s a time and financial commitment, especially without a car. It can be a lot of logistics, but it’s worth trying out. It is definitely not the most accessible hobby in terms of distance and whatnot, and also the financial aspect of it—horses are notoriously expensive. I’m not afraid to say it’s a rich-person sport in a way that can be really prohibitive to a lot of people. I can’t do it fully at all. That’s the downside. But there are other ways to spend horse time with horses. The way I do it definitely doesn’t have to be the way that you do it.

What are some of the other ways of spending time with horses that you would recommend?

There are a number of different therapeutic riding programs I know that are around the city at least, which is great. There’s one called Gallup NYC, which I believe operates mostly in Queens and Prospect Park. They do volunteering, and I think that that’s a really good way to spend time with horses, give back, do something good for other people, and also reap the benefits of that. ▲