After school, freshman Lirone Wolf heads to a different place than many of her peers: the barn. For Lirone, competitive horseback riding isn’t just an after-school activity, it is a major part of her life that has shaped both her schedule and her responsibilities.
Lirone’s connection to horses started as early as she can remember. Her mother Andrea also rode horses competitively as a child.
“I did that [horseback riding] with all my kids, and she’s the one who just loved it so much and wanted to pursue it and kept at it,” Andrea said. “I think it’s also related to the fact that she bonds really almost spiritually with animals and babies, so she has a deep connection.”
Lirone rides twice a week during show season and once a week after show season, with her practices taking place right after school at Free Rein Farm in Olney, Maryland. Although her riding schedule typically fits her daily routine, competitions require a larger time commitment. Most team events don’t conflict with Shabbat, but recently, Lirone had to stay overnight at a hotel to participate in a competition.
For Lirone and many student-athletes, schoolwork can contribute to a lot of stress, as it is difficult to balance academics with a time-consuming extracurricular like horseback riding.
“I sometimes get a little bit stressed out, but I love horseback riding, and it never feels like a burden, so [horseback riding] takes away from that,” Lirone said.
Recently, Lirone’s team qualified for Zones, a large regional competition featuring athletes from North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and Maryland. This year’s competition was in Lexington, Virginia, and it is highly selective, as only the top two teams from each state qualify.
Unlike many sports, horseback riding relies on nonverbal communication with an animal, making it difficult to understand what the horses need. Despite this, Lirone loves that her sport is based on communication with the body. Lirone takes time with each animal before she rides them and bonds with them, making her connection even stronger with any horse she rides.
“She never gets frustrated, even when they’re being difficult or not listening,” Andrea said. “She just always stays steady with them, and in her mind, they’re always right. A lot of times, people who ride or do anything with animals get frustrated when the animal is not doing what they wanted to do. But Lirone doesn’t.”
Despite riding at the barn for a few years, this is Lirone’s first year on a team. Lirone’s coach, Amber Philler, was very happy she decided to join her Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) team. This organization is unique, because whenever Lirone goes to competitions, she doesn’t know which horse she will ride and draws a horse’s name to compete on. To prepare for the competitions, each practice Lirone rides with a new horse.
Even with that reality, her connection with the horses she rides never ceases to surprise Philler.
“She’s a very focused individual, really good student and very teachable,” Philler said. “She wants to progress, and she … is just very focused, but also really, really enjoys the horses. I can tell how much she enjoys being around them. Horses can be very good for the soul.”
In spite of the few complications that come with having an important commitment outside of school, Philler and Andrea both agree that Lirone is great at what she does. Lirone believes that horseback riding has benefited her in many ways.
“[Horseback riding] definitely taught me a lot of discipline in terms of responsibility, cleaning stuff up and noticing and taking care of other people and other animals, which is really important,” Lirone said.
