10/12/2026
Read about Stephanie and Yoyo’s 2025 Harrisburg experience! So proud to be a part of their journey 🏆💙
My first experience at Harrisburg was more than twenty years ago, when I was grooming for a friend who was showing in the equitation, Stephanie Grober writes. Until recently, those fuzzy memories (was it really that dark?) were all I had of the historic equestrian venue. That all changed this August when I showed my horse, Paint the Town Red (Yoyo), at Zone 2 Horse of the Year Finals. While I barely remember the Harrisburg of the early aughts, I can tell you that it shines brightly—brilliantly even—when you’re there competing for the first time at nearly forty years old!
I rarely showed as a junior, mostly due to financial constraints. I had my own horse, a very hot, very opinionated, and yet very wonderful OTTB gelding. It’s clear from photo evidence of that time that I had more guts than style. When I stopped riding in my twenties, I saved those photos, thinking they would be the sole reminders of my most significant equestrian achievements.
Life and horses, it seemed, had other plans. In May 2020, a wonderful friend (whom we now jokingly refer to as an enabler) shared that the barn where she took lessons had been struggling due to the pandemic’s effects. “I can ride horses,” I told her. And that is how, at 33 years old and after a decade out of the saddle, I started riding again.
I soon became the owner of a young thoroughbred hunter, Rory, an eye-catching and impressive athlete who dutifully carried me as I regained my seat, my leg, and (sometimes) my eye. In my “re-rider” era, I thought I would quickly become one of the poised, confident riders I had always envied in the hunter rings. But riding such a green but talented horse, I realized just as quickly how many critical skills I had failed to regain—or maybe had never possessed at all. My wonderful trainer, a true believer of thoroughbreds in the hunter ring, kept us both on track, and Rory and I shared many firsts, showing at wonderful venues where I was often proud to place solidly in the middle of the pack.
Last February, at six years old, Rory had a high hind splint that was proving tricky to heal and ultimately required surgical intervention. Emotionally, I struggled with the idea of being out of the saddle for months while he recovered, knowing that the break wouldn’t do either of us any good when it was time to bring him back to work. Enter Yoyo, a seven-year-old OTTB who was doing the jumpers with his teen owner and was available for half-lease. Hunter life was completely new to Yoyo, but he had already proven himself to be a willing, brave, and clever partner, and like all thoroughbreds, he has the heart of a champion.
After just a couple of months together, Yoyo and I went to our first show, where his lovely rounds showed us how much he had learned. That spring, he took home a ribbon in his first hunter derby out of nearly 40 horses. By the summer, we nicknamed him Big Ribbon Yoyo as his collection kept growing—even against steep competition on the summer circuits.
📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/10/06/what-its-like-going-to-finals-for-the-first-time-as-a-38-year-old-re-rider/
📸 © Bryan Nigro
