Aside from her many roles in life as a working mom and a board member with the Town of Montgomery Emergency Medical Services, Sylvie Rainaldi, a Montgomery resident, has recently reclaimed her youthful love of horses.

Having taken part in 4H and riding dressage growing up in Cornwall, Rainaldi took up barrel racing around two years ago — a sport which requires a rider to weave different patterns around barrels on a horse in the fastest amount of time. Racers are in competition with each other for the prize money associated with winning as well themselves in order to beat the time they ran certain patterns last. Each arena has different spacing of the barrels, challenging competitors to travel and try out different venues.

Whispering Winds, a local equestrian facility in Walden, has a training program that has allowed people like Rainaldi to rediscover their love for riding, even into adulthood. At first, however, she was not as inclined to become a barrel racer specifically.

“I was just wanting a horse,” Rainaldi said. “I just needed to be in a barn. I was scared of going fast, and barrel racing is fast, we are galloping and going very fast. But I was like, you know what, I will do anything to get back on a horse, I just love it so much, I am willing to give it a try. And it is so much fun.”

Barrel racing is a sport inclusive of all ages, as Rainaldi said there are kids that ride as well as grandparents, with senior races for ages of 50 and older. Many will come just to watch the competitions as well, making it a very family friendly sporting event.

Reconciling her busy schedule with her other obligations, Rainaldi said she usually tries to ride while her kids are at school or camp. While her children are still a bit too young for barrel racing, they do enjoy barn time and pony rides with her horse. Kristen Brown, an owner of Historic Brown Family Farm in Walden and another local barrel racer who Rainaldi credits for getting her back into riding, attends competitions with her daughter Bailey, and has expressed gratitude for the connection she has been able to form with her daughter through their mutual love of the sport.

“Being able to watch her mature into a responsible adult through these horses [is] something I can’t find in any other sport,” Brown said. “And then to be able to compete with her is the whole next level, having her yell for me and encourage me as I am going through the ring and around the barrel.”

Local competitions are typically held at Whispering Winds, in addition to those slightly farther away in Syracuse or Catskill, New York. Due to her family commitments, Rainaldi does not travel as far as others from the farm may to compete.

Emilie Holloran, a trainer at Whispering Winds, said that while she loves working with the kids, working with adults can also be an incredibly rewarding experience.

“You know how hard you work as an adult to enjoy things in life, so to be able to come out and get on a horse and invest all of your time and money into it, they are even more excited than the little kids,” Holloran said. “It is their hard time and their money. So I think they enjoy it a little bit more because they have a deeper understanding of what it is to have that privilege to come out and ride that horse.”

Rainaldi and Holloran both highlighted one particular competition recently which took place during less than optimal weather, with Rainaldi saying they were racing but also racing the rainstorm. Once the skies had opened up, everybody got soaked and stayed to ride and cheer each other on, a display of camaraderie amongst the greater racing community.

Part of her dream was also to have her own horse. Enter Miss My Invitation, nicknamed Gabby. When they race, they work for each other and are an inseparable team about to perform this adrenaline inducing activity.
“I’m hers and she is mine,” Rainaldi said. “That has surpassed any dream that I could have ever had.”