Robbinsville resident Nicole Pirozzi poses with her horse after a competition at Lehigh University in the fall.
Robbinsville High School grad Nicole Pirozzi joins Lehigh University equestrian team
By Rose Robson
Cindy Pirozzi grew up in a house on a quiet stretch of Sharon Road where several families owned horses.
After school, starting in 1968, she and the other children would saddle up, sometimes in shorts, with no shoes, and never a helmet. Unsupervised, the children would make their way down Sharon Road, around Sharon School, in the woods between Woodside Road and Sharon Road or to her cousin’s farm on Bresnihan Road. She was 8 at the time.
It was an almost daily ritual that kept the kids entertained until Cindy Pirozzi was 18 years old. “It was good clean fun,” she said.
Those cherished memories were something she wanted to share with her daughter, Nicole, who picked up her mother’s love of horses. Nicole Pirozzi, also a Robbinsville resident, has formed her own fond memories of riding, including a few from her current role as captain of Lehigh University’s equestrian team.
Pirozzi’s journey with horses started at 7 years old, when she and her mother started taking lessons together at JEM Stables in West Windsor. Over the next three years, what started as a hobby and a mother-daughter bonding experience turned into a serious passion.
At 10, Pirozzi began leasing a horse at the barn. Two years later, in 2004, Cindy felt confident that her daughter was ready for her own horse. That led her to inquire about a five-year-old, off-the-track thoroughbred mare that had been living at the stable. The owner was interested in selling, so Pirozzi took a few riding lessons on the horse.
The horse was stubborn, with a fiery attitude to match her chestnut red coat. The horse’s previous owners told stories about how if she didn’t want to do something, like get on the horse trailer, she would just lay down.
Pirozzi didn’t fare much better, at first, and it was a rocky start for the young horse and rider team. Almost immediately, Pirozzi was unsure if the horse—named Mickey Nicky D—was the right fit.
“She had too much personality for her own good, but she was a quick learner, and I became fond of her,” Pirozzi said.
Cindy had a heart to heart with Pirozzi, encouraging her to stick with the horse, saying, “Just think how rewarding it will be to train this horse and grow up together.”
That first winter, though, Pirozzi was convinced that Mickey was trying to kill her. The horse had a quick temper, and would act “crazy” when compelled to do something against her will.
“She would find any possible way to get out of an undesirable task,” Pirozzi said.
Pirozzi, with the support of her mom, agreed to work with the horse from March until August. If they didn’t see a turnaround by August, they would sell the horse and look for a new one. Since Mickey was so young and untrained, Pirozzi had to approach their training sessions with more patience. Pirozzi tried several disciplines of riding with Mickey, including dressage, barrel racing, eventing and jumpers. Mickey’s heart was in jumping, and soon horse and rider were cruising around a course of jumps, clearing each one in the quickest time. It eventually became Pirozzi’s discipline of choice, too.
But, at first, needing patience with a horse was a new experience since, at the time she purchased Mickey, all of Pirozzi’s horseback riding friends leased or owned well-trained, seasoned horses. It was a close knit group of friends who always went to competitions together. After a failed attempt at show riding eight months after owning Mickey, Pirozzi realized her horse was not ready for the show ring. Mickey’s inexperience meant Pirozzi couldn’t join her friends, and risked falling behind.
But Pirozzi turned the negative into a positive by dedicating more time working with Mickey. Five months after the pair’s initial competition, they returned to the ring, this time successfully. Success, for now, meant just making it through the event smoothly.
In summer 2008, though, the pair raised the bar. After four years of work, it qualified in show jumping for the United States Pony Clubs National Championship in Lexington, Va. Since Pirozzi—then between her sophomore and junior years at Robbinsville High School—personally trained Mickey to jump, she said it was incredibly gratifying to be competing and beating professionally trained horses with prestigious bloodlines.
After investing years of time and training, Pirozzi wanted to continue her riding career in college. She sought out schools with an equestrian team. After a few visits to Lehigh University, including a riding lesson with the school’s equestrian head coach, Marisa Kalmar, Pirozzi was sold on Lehigh.
Now a senior bioengineering major, she has to juggle classes and competitive horseback riding. Further straining her schedule, Pirozzi belongs to Lehigh’s equestrian A Team, which means she has committed to attend every show, as well as the appropriate amount of training to be competitive at these shows. When she competes with the team she rides in Equitation, which is a class judged on the rider’s form.
With the A Team riding schedule, her research assistantship, 18 credits and sorority involvement, Pirozzi was feeling short on time for all of her commitments during the fall semester of her junior year. She pushed through but when the spring semester arrived, she decided to move to the B Team so she would have more time for school work and—most importantly—sleep.
That was a difficult decision, she said, because she felt like she would be giving up her chance to be a team captain, along with her long-held spot on the top team. She feared much of her work, including holding team leadership roles like vice president and president, would be for naught.
But the move didn’t improve things. Pirozzi actually found it more stressful not riding as much. She had lost her outlet.
Pirozzi switched back to the A team in the fall, and her coach asked her to be a team captain for her senior year. Every week, Pirozzi commits at least 20 hours to riding combined with her responsibilities to the team. With all of those hours committed across more than three years, Pirozzi was naturally delighted to hear her semester on B team didn’t keep her from her goal.
As captain, she and co-captain Alex Gordon handle all entries to competitions, act as liaisons between the coach and team and run the horse show that is hosted by their school. Putting a horse show event together includes renting a facility, enlisting a judge, and supplying enough horses for the competitors.
Supplying enough horses? Yes, many of the riders on college teams own their own horse. However, at a collegiate competition, riders are given horses they have never ridden before and basically know nothing about.
“This really levels the playing field. You have to adapt,” Pirozzi said.
It is a fact that the best way to improve is to experience a variety of horses so all of your movements and signals to the horse become second nature. Riders want to get to the point where they can do the sport by reflex, Pirozzi said.
Coaching riding would be a dream job for Pirozzi, but it is a very difficult career to become established in and make a living. Upon graduation she will be pursuing a career utilizing her engineering degree. However, riding will always be a part of her life.
“It’s always a challenge.” Pirozzi said. “You can always learn something new.”
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