By RIYA KALRA and BRYNN DRYE
Siena Giacoma fell in love with riding the moment she sat on her first pony at 5 years old.
Her grandmother, who had grown up riding in the San Fernando Valley, was a horse lover and became a huge supporter of Giacoma’s riding at an early age. As a child, she often felt anxious, so her father decided to involve her in equine-assisted therapy as an outlet … thus creating the spark that ignited her love for horseback riding.
For Giacoma, now a senior and captain of Chadwick’s equestrian team for the past two years, her passion for riding isn’t just about competing to win. In her words, equestrian is about “building a connection with the animals so that the horses learn you and you learn them.” Giacoma’s “heart horse,” Cato, taught her silent leadership through riding; Giacoma learned to use her body language to communicate with her beloved horse.
“He taught me everything that I know. He’s one of the most gentle animals I’ve ever met in my entire life,” she says.
Chicago (nicknamed “Chico”) is another competition horse that Giacoma has spent a significant amount of time riding, over the past year and a half. Although she no longer rides Chico, who has been returned to his owners, Giacoma emphasizes that the horse was crucial to her growth in competitive riding.
Despite competition not being her main goal, Giacoma progressed to national competition in the Children’s Affiliate Jumper Division last November, taking fifth place overall, an impressive achievement.
Giacoma faced an even greater challenge three months ago after suffering a concussion from a fall; she hasn’t returned to riding since. Fortunately, she was recently cleared by her doctors and expects to be back riding again soon.
Though injury halted her riding for a moment, Giacoma says that her biggest fear isn’t getting hurt, it’s “untraining” her horses.
“I’m nervous that I will develop a bad habit and mess up the connection with the horse,” Giacoma admits. She emphasizes how important it is that the rider has a connection with their horse–otherwise “it’s hard to make that work.”
Giacoma believes it’s her persistence that has led her to become the best version of herself.
“I compete against people who have imported horses from Germany, who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars,” she says. But a heavy price tag for horses was unrealistic for her family, so she “put in the work and held [herself] accountable for that work.”
MAVERICK FARMS
Many of the skills Giacoma has gained from her riding experience translate into other parts of her life. For one, she has gained valuable leadership skills. Training horses helped her develop both patience and self-accountability, which she has found useful in her experience as a camp counselor at youth summer equestrian programs.
“It’s a sport where you have to be really accountable for what you’re doing with the animal. I think it’s a really great sport to grow up in,” Giacoma says.
She’s also realistic about challenges in her sport. “Things just don’t work out all the time. It was a hard thing for me to realize … sometimes you have a horse and you just don’t click.”
While riding is her biggest passion, Giacoma devotes time to other activities as well. As a music lover, she enjoys playing guitar and piano and singing at open mic nights at the Young Artists Society in Hermosa Beach.
“Music is kind of an escape from riding for me,” she says. “Because when I’m not injured like I am now, [riding] takes up to 30 hours of my week.”
Giacoma also has plans to launch her own nonprofit, Heart Beats to Hoof Beats. Her goal is to get more kids into riding, specifically those from lower-income families, as equestrian can be expensive and often inaccessible. She hopes to do so through equine-assisted therapy–just like how she became involved in the sport.
Next fall, Giacoma will attend Colorado State University and be part of its equestrian team. Her interests lie in pre-veterinary studies, and she hopes to go into equine medicine (“Surprise!” she joked). While she received several NCAA offers for riding, she chose to ride in a separate program so that she could dedicate more of her time to being around horses and enjoying her college experience, rather than traveling often for competitions.
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