By JESSICA SHANNON
Brooke Brombach will ride her final collegiate trips at the NCEA Championship in April. The next order of business for the senior on the champion Texas A&M equestrian team: Going pro. And it’s a transition she’ll make right at home.
At Silver Fox Farm in Wimberly, TX—where Brooke’s mother, 36-year-veteran trainer Colleen Brombach, leads the charge—she will join the family business.
Brooke was just a middle schooler when she knew she wanted to be a professional in the horse business. So at the end of high school, it was not easy for her to turn down the opportunities she’d have if she went pro right away. But now, on the eve of her college graduation, she’s not only grateful for the past four years as an Aggie, but also confident they will make her a better trainer.
“Being an adult amateur for the past four years, I can see life through my future clients’ eyes with a totally different view. It’s so nice to have that. If I didn’t go to college, I would have never been an amateur and gotten this whole new perspective,” Brombach tells The Plaid Horse.
“Showing as a junior versus an adult, it’s just a shockingly different vibe. In the juniors, it’s super serious. No one talks in the warm up ring. Showing as an adult, I still had some of that junior mentality. One time, I had this awesome round in the Ariat adult medal and scored a 93. I was so proud—it was my new highest score—but I was trying to keep it on the DL, waiting until I was away from the back gate to celebrate with my barn.”
“Then the rider going next says to me, ‘Oh my gosh, that was so good! I don’t even know you and I’m so proud of you!’” Brooke recalls. “That is the vibe amateurs want and need, and honestly, it should be more like that for juniors, too. This is supposed to be fun! As an adult in the schooling ring, we’re chatting with each other about our horses, and making new friends. I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to do this, and I think it would benefit young professionals to take these years as an amateur. I will understand my students better now when I graduate and turn pro.”
The sports management major also credits her coursework for helping her prepare to be in the horse business. “I’m researching what coaches can do to help youth athletes be leaders of the future,” she says. “Not just good riders, but good people. My leadership classes have been really helpful, too. Being a trainer, you have to be a leader for the children you’re teaching, the adults, and especially the horses. I want to help people be successful not just in this sport, but beyond, in the rest of their lives.”
Research On the Barn Aisle
Brooke’s personal research actually began much earlier in her family of horse people. Along with her younger sister McKayla—a freshman also studying sports management at Texas A&M—Brooke has ridden with mom Colleen and many other top teachers and trainers, developing her own style along the way. Both sisters have spent ample time in the winner’s circle, amassing championships and top honors at some of the biggest shows in the country since their pony days.
Mom Colleen agreed that turning professional would be a great path for her daughter, but, adds Brooke, “My mom was also terrified for me, since she has lived the ups and downs of this industry.”
Still, growing up in the Brombach household meant that the kids learned to pursue “a job that you enjoy,” Brooke adds. “While there are hardships, I just love this whole sport. Horses are so beneficial to people. They show you what it is to be loved, which I think is super important for young girls. Horses show their emotions because they are not able to speak to us.”
Brooke also loves seeing what horses mean to adults, allowing them a break from the real world pressures in their lives: “Adults leave the barn so much happier than when they arrived,” she says.
When Brooke joins the training staff at Silver Fox Farm, she will do a mix of traveling to shows with Colleen and working at home with the clients and horses who stay in Wimberley. “I’ll go where the wave takes me,” she says. “It’s exciting!”
The budding pro also recently purchased a young horse of her own to bring along. “While I am continuing to teach him, he is also teaching me. I’m hoping to be in a situation where I can have a quality young horse on rotation that I can develop into an amateur or junior horse,” she adds. Her goal is to continue Silver Fox’s reputation for being a great source for sale horses, as well as having a group of clients who genuinely love their animals and being part of the barn family.
Sisterly Bond and Shared Goals
Growing up on the show circuit, Brooke and McKayla share a special bond, both at home and later as Aggies on a powerhouse NCEA equestrian team. McKayla notes that everything she’s learned from her mother and sister will set her up for success for her freshman spring semester at Texas A&M—and beyond.
“My main goal is to allow myself to enjoy the team and work hard without letting the results define my happiness,” notes McKayla. She adds that the college riding format will help her to focus on her performance and consistency, rather than a focus on winning and losing.
“I’ll become a better competitor if I strive to be consistent and proud of the performance I put out in the ring, while taking the opportunity to work with more horses and expand my skill set as much as possible.”
While just a freshman, McKayla is already seeing the benefits of a college equestrian program and how they will improve both her riding and her life. Riding in college gives riders the opportunity to work with a big team, a different barn set-up, and the chance to manage environments where everyone has different expectations and goals, she says.
She’s also learning how to live in the moment. Asked about her future goals, McKayla says, “The jumpers are definitely a goal of mine. But for right now, I’m listening to what each horse I get to ride needs and wants.”
Building Sucess at Pin Oak
To understand where the Brombach family is going, it helps to learn where they’ve been. Of all the big shows where they compete, one horse show in particular has been instrumental in building Colleen, Brooke, and McKayla’s foundation for success, while also providing memories to last a lifetime.
About 150 miles east of the Brombachs’ Silver Fox Farm is the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, TX, home to the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show. After moving from California in 2008, the family have been exhibitors at Pin Oak since 2009, when Colleen showed her hunter in the First Year Greens and brought a client to show in the hunters and equitation. Colleen has ridden and trained clients at the show every year since then, and both Brooke and McKayla also found their way to the storied show grounds. This March will be the family’s 16th year showing at Pin Oak Charity Horse Show.
For McKayla, personal highlights at Pin Oak include winning the 2017 High Point Welsh with Morton’s Sassy Kat, and the 2019 Children’s Pony Classic—her first classic win—on Sir Moxley. McKayla also won 2019 Best Child Rider on a Pony, 2021 Best Child Rider on a Horse, and 2021 High Point Pony on California Dreamin’. She’s also won the style of riding award with her highest score of 91. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, McKayla was also Pin Oak’s High Point Equitation rider on Singani (2022 and 2023) and Actionable (2024).
Brooke won the Ariat Medal at the show in 2022 with a score of 93—that pivotal adult amateur memory she cherishes. Her years at Pin Oak prior to 2022 were filled with impressive highlights, too.
In 2017, Brooke was Pin Oak’s Leading Junior Hunter and Green Pony Circuit Champion on a catch ride. In 2018, she earned Best Child Rider on a Horse and Circuit Champion in the Junior Equitation. Brooke was also Circuit Champion for the Pony Hunters in 2019.
Giving Back at the In Gate
As one of the Houston area’s most beloved equestrian traditions, Pin Oak has aimed to maintain the charity aspect of their annual horse show since its inception in 1945. Colleen remembers when local school children would come to the show to learn about horses. Trainers, farriers, riders, and volunteers would take part in the yearly activity.
“They would teach children about topics like the horse’s anatomy with a horse with their skeleton painted on it,” says Colleen. Though Pin Oak is a show with big prizes and classes, there was also a true community feel.
All of the Brombachs believe in the mission of Pin Oak Charity Horse Show, and they are proud to be a part of it. Colleen says that knowing the financial impact the horse show has on childhood cancer charities, such as Candlelighters, is important to her as a trainer.
“The industry spends so much money, and it feels like the least we could do is try to give back. When I first moved to Texas, money was tight so it was hard to donate, but I could go with my clients and feel like I was donating by showing and bringing clients.”
Brooke and McKayla have vivid memories about diff erent ways Pin Oak gives back to the community, especially childhood cancer families in Greater Houston. For example, in 2021, the show raised nearly $148,000 through an auction of large painted horse sculptures. “I loved seeing the painted horses around the horse show,” Brooke recalls.
“I felt like it was something that made the show different,” says McKayla. “You can do good things for people while having fun. You can raise awareness and remind people to be grateful for what they have and help others when you can.”
But perhaps the most special Pin Oak memory for the Brombachs is when exhibitors and their mounts line a long pathway so that the children with cancer could pet the horses.
“The girls would argue about whose horses could be petted by the kids,” Colleen recalls.
“I enjoyed helping the kids experience that. It was a whole barn activity to bring the horses out, and it felt like we were reminding the kids they could keep fighting,” adds Brooke. “Horses are just so powerful.”
Brooke’s Athletic and Academic Highlights
- 2024 NCEA All-Academic First Team
- 2024 SEC Rider of the Month for October (Flat)
- 2024 NCEA Honorable Mention All-American (Flat)
- 2022-23 NCEA January Rider of the Month (Fences)
- 2021-22 Aggie Jumping Seat Rookie of the Year
- 2021-22 All-Freshman Team (Fences)
- 2021 USEF Talent Search bronze medal
- 2019 Junior Hunter Finals Champion, Large Junior Hunter 3’6” 15-Under
- 2018-2021 WCHR South Central 3’6” Junior Hunter Champion
- 2015-2020 Maclay Finalist
A Big Win for McKayla
At last year’s National Horse Show, McKayla Brombach took home the Large Junior Hunter 16-17 championship aboard Michael Britt-León Fair Game, who earned Horse of the Year honors for 2024. “It was my last show as a junior and super exciting,” she says.
“I was so grateful to Michael Britt-León and everyone at Windsor Stables for the opportunity to show this horse. He’s super good at his job. It was nice to just guide him and let him do what he’s good at!” Britt-León is, of course, no stranger to giving riders a leg up (see November cover below).
Now a freshman at Texas A&M, the younger Brombach sister is enjoying college riding and looking toward new goals in the jumper ring.
