By JESSICA SHANNON
Texas A&M senior Brooke Brombach is eyeing a professional career after walking across the stage in Aggie maroon next spring. Most of her junior years were spent as a working student for people like Don Stewart at Don Stewart Stables and Andre Dignelli at Heritage Farms. The list of horses that stables offered for her to catch ride is endless, and the lessons Brombach took from each of those experiences are invaluable.
Brombach’s career as a working student spanned nearly seven years, beginning at age 12 with offers to catch ride that later led to her different types of working student positions, including at Royal Sport Horses and Chosen Brook. Brombach’s homebase is Silver Fox Farms in Wimberley, TX, with her mom, Colleen, as her trainer. Colleen was a constant as Brombach found countless opportunities as a working student. “My mom helped make me well-rounded,” adds Brooke.
Endless Opportunities
Brombach was always ready to lend a helping hand, in and out of the saddle, at her home barn and with various trainers for shorter stints. She always aimed to show her appreciation for every riding opportunity by working as hard as she could and picking up any sized chore around the barn. “Even if you went through something you didn’t love, you can always find something you learned from it,” she says of her working student years. Her longer, more formal positions with Stewart and Dignelli gave her incredible opportunities as a junior, skills for her college riding career, and built a strong foundation for her future as a professional. With Tommi Clark and Walid Alrashid, Brooke seized the opportunity to catch ride for Alrashid or spend a couple weeks at a time learning with Clark in North Carolina. Stewart initially gave Brooke a couple of lessons at horse shows then watched from the back gate. His help began when she was about 13 years old. Stewart soon offered for Brooke to travel with him for shows and to his stables. Brooke remembers that he was one the first people to encourage her gifts as a rider, along with fellow Texan, Liza Richardson. He believed in her, and he made sure she knew how strongly he believed in her abilities to succeed as far as she dreams.
While under his instruction, Brooke was introduced to a lot of different people in the industry she would not otherwise have had the chance to meet. During that time, Brooke had one of her first major wins. “I won the 2019 Junior Hunter Finals – 3’6” Large Junior Hunter 15/U with Classico” Brooke says. “He stood at the back gate with us. I had an ‘ah ha’ moment about the talent he seemed to see in me.” Junior Hunter Finals took place in the famed Dixon Oval at the Devon Horse Show, and Classico was trained by her mom and owned by Erica Moe. Brooke says, “He really believed in the program we had at home. He trusted my mom and how my mom was training me and then helped me at shows.” His skills built upon the great things happening at Silver Fox Farms.
Brooke remembers that the grooms at Stewart Stables were appreciative of how willing she was to help clean tack, walk horses to and from the rings, and was ready to help at a moment’s notice. Clearly, Brooke sees the value in being a part of every aspect of riding and barn management. She enjoyed the ability to ride three to six horses per day with Stewart. Stewart also gave her opportunities to ride and show different hunter and equitation horses, including Spygate.
With Spygate, Brooke won the THJA Junior Medal Finals. Brooke noted that Stewart was approachable and happy to share her talents with other trainers. He connected her with Marketmoor and both Shane Powell and Matt Martin, who took her under their wing at shows and gave her wonderful catch riding opportunities. She was able to show at New England Finals as a catch rider with Marketmoor, and Brooke found New England Finals to be a very different type of medal finals experience. “I truly loved it,” she says.
When Brooke was 14 years old, she began catch riding for Tommi Clark of Chosen Brook, a sales barn near Tryon, NC. Later, when Brooke was 16-17 years old, she picked up typical working student duties as a token of appreciation for the great horses she was able to ride at Chosen Brook. Speaking of Clark, Brooke says, “Her forte was buying and selling nice horses, as well as getting them to perform,” and having a close look at this side of the business was helpful for Brooke.
She had the opportunity to stay at Chosen Brook for a couple of weeks after Silver Fox Farms’ horses headed back to Texas to rest. She happily handled any chore, from dog care, bathing the miniature horses, braiding tails, and setting courses and jumps to express her gratitude for the opportunity to ride some incredible ponies and horses, including a large pony named Etch a Sketch. She was able to show Etch a Sketch, a pony that was a catch ride that was later in the top 10 Large Green Pony Hunters at Pony Finals in Lexington, KY. Having the opportunity to show with Clark helped Brooke learn how to run a facility geared towards sales.
Brooke headed to Heritage Farms during her last junior year. At 17 and 18 years old, she made the 30 hour drive from Texas to New York by herself, would stay a week in New York and then drive back. She rode two to four horses a day, and then she would spend the rest of the day doing laundry, cleaning tack, set or change courses, and occasionally clean stalls. Brooke says, “I love barn chores and always look for more to do.”
Brooke watched a lot of talented riders at Heritage Farms. Working for Dignelli allowed her to be immersed in that talent. The farm itself is incredibly organized, stabling 100-125 horses. At Heritage, she had earned her first equitation win at WEF while learning from Dignelli. The horse she partnered with for her first WEF equitation win was quickly leased out by someone who took note of Brooke’s success with him in the ring. She built a great partnership with him, which allowed him to shine and catch the eye of another rider.
Brooke says, “This position was more typical of what people imagine when they think of a working student position.” It was full of tack cleaning, grooming, chores, walking horses to and from the rings for clients or the trainers at shows, and observing lessons.
She says, “I liked learning from a different perspective” when watching Dignelli teach his students. While cleaning tack, Brombach says, “I would take pictures of bits I was unfamiliar with and then research them. I was very curious about learning all the different types of tack I hadn’t seen before.” Brooke soaked in knowledge about every aspect of the equestrian industry while at Heritage Farms.
Between her time at Stewart Stables and Heritage Farms, Brooke was looking for an equitation horse back home in Texas. Berry Porter introduced her to Alrashid at Royal Sport Horses, and he offered RSH Mirage for her to ride. Alrashid immediately saw Brombach’s potential and gave her more opportunities to ride on his sale horses. This catch riding position consisted entirely of riding. Walid connected with both Colleen and Brooke, and he valued Brooke’s perspective. He would actively listen to how she thought the horses felt. For a few months, Colleen would school Brooke on the hunter and equitation horses at Royal Sport Horses. They would travel to Tomball, TX, outside of Houston, on Sundays and Mondays when it was not a show weekend. Brooke enjoyed having another professional trust her with their horses.
Tips for Hopeful Working Students
Brooke says she loved to see how each trainer ran their barns. She realized that there is not a perfect formula for managing barns and horses, or training students. As she reflects back on her experiences in each position, she has some wisdom to share for junior riders hoping to gain similar connections in the horse world.
First, she wants to remind future working students that, as a working student, riding is not a guaranteed aspect of every job. Riding may or may not be part of the job, and, if you do ride, how often you ride certainly varies. Brombach also wants to encourage students to be flexible. “You will learn more if you are open to how each trainer teaches and runs their facility,” she says.
Most importantly, Brooke hopes all future working students will keep pushing when things get tough. “You need time to get in the groove on how the barn runs and what your job is.” she says. She finds that growth happens when things get a little uncomfortable. She adds, “Don’t give up. In the future, you’ll be happy that you kept going”
