Eastport Teen Makes Most Out of Equestrian Opportunity, Earns Long Island Sportsmanship Award from Hampton Classic

When Merry Harding was 11 years old, her aunt bought her a riding lesson with renowned trainer Eddie Horowitz. Before long, her mother was making the hour-plus drive to drop Harding off at the farm in Brookville, New York, where she would spend weekends with the Horowitz family, working and riding horses. As she progressed in the sport, the number of days she spent at the farm increased, and eventually Harding spent the winter months down south, working the show circuit in Wellington, Florida.

Harding is now a successful hunter jumper trainer, running her own operation, Northern Ridge, at Seahorse Stables in Water Mill, and she’ll be bringing a group of 10 riders and their horses to compete in the Hampton Classic this week.

The opportunity to work for Horowitz had a profound impact on Harding, making her determined to pay it forward in the same way once she was established in the business.

That’s exactly what she did seven years ago, when she brought Eastport resident Sadie Berkhout to her barn.

Berkhout, an 18-year-old senior at Eastport-South Manor High School, has become Harding’s right-hand woman, helping Harding ride, train and show several of the horses at the barn, owned by both Harding and other Northern Ridge clients. During the summer, Berkhout spends nearly all of her waking hours at the Water Mill farm, doing everything from overseeing horse maintenance and care, applying wraps and ice boots to horses with injuries, filling out horse show entry forms, organizing the tack room, cleaning saddles and bridles, wrangling the child riders at the farm, and more.

In return, she’s had the opportunity to excel in a sport where it can be an uphill battle, to say the least, for riders from a middle class background to make it to the show ring on a consistent basis, and find the kind of horses that match their talent and ability.

Harding knows exactly how that ecosystem functions, and how hard it can be to make it without serious financial backing, which is why she remains grateful that Horowitz took her on so many years ago.

“I would never have been able to do the things I did without that opportunity,” she said in an interview earlier this week. “When I went into business on my own, the one thing I wanted to do was give a kid that same kind of situation I had, but even better.”

Harding explained that while her own working student situation prepared her to be successful in the horse show business, she didn’t have a lot of “ring time,” meaning she did not get to put on a show coat as frequently as her peers did. Instead, she was often the one who prepped the horse for the show ring and then had to stay on the sidelines and watch while someone else was in the saddle collecting the ribbons.

That hasn’t been the case for Berkhout, and she has certainly made the most of the time she’s had in the ring.

Berkhout was champion in the Zone 2 finals (which includes riders from the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania area) in younger children’s hunter horse division (3-foot fences) in 2021 with “Worth Every Penny,” and was Zone 2 champion again a year later in 2022, in the junior hunter division (3-foot-3-inches fences) with “Imposant.” This past winter, Berkhout was circuit champion in the older junior hunter division at the highly competitive Winter Equestrian Festival with Harding’s horse “Rare Cask,” aka “Tully,” in the older junior hunter division. At this year’s Hampton Classic, she’s competing all week long in the hunter divisions with three different horses — Harding’s horse, “Rare Cask,” aka “Tully,” and two client horses, Heather Broome’s “Quality” and Newsha McCarthy’s “Gotcha.”

Berkhout was recognized for her hard work recently with a big honor. In the days leading up to the Classic, it was announced that Berkhout was the recipient of the 2023 Long Island Sportsmanship Award. She was scheduled to be presented with the award during the Opening Day ceremonies on August 27.

Berkhout caught the horse bug at a young age, starting riding lessons when she was just four years old, following in the footsteps of her mother, who also rode horses when she was growing up. She competed in the Hampton Classic for the first time in 2011, in the leadline division.

In the early days of her development as a rider, Berkhout had success at the local level in the children’s jumper division, on her Appaloosa pony named “Spot On,” aka “Quinn. Appaloosas are a spotted breed more frequently seen in western riding disciplines. Berkhout described the pony as “a real handful” but said he pushed her to work harder. Once they built a bond, they had a lot of success in the jumper division, the only division in the English horse showing world where top placements are not determined by judges but rather by the objective measure of who can finish the course fastest. When it was time for a horse, she rode an off-the-racetrack Thoroughbred named “Flint,” who her mom rescued when he was just three years old. Like, “Quinn,” “Flint” was also a project, and Berkhout helped develop him into a more reliable partner. Eventually, her riding skill outpaced what she and her family could afford in terms of a horse that would be on par with her ability.

The opportunity to work for Harding came just at the right time.

She started off with Harding competing in the 2’6” equitation division (where the skill and position of the rider is judged, as opposed to the hunter division, where the form of the horse is being judged) and quickly moved up to the 3’3” equitation division, in just two months. Harding went on to sell the horse Berkhout rode during that time, and Berkhout’s time in the saddle showing that horse, and the ribbons they won, built up its resume for the sale.

Riding and competing on whatever horses are available at the time, and having to say goodbye to them when they’re sold is part of the deal for a working student. Like other working students, Berkhout often picks up what’s known as a “catch ride,” sometimes showing a horse for another trainer or barn to help build up its show record.

Berkhout said she likes the challenge of working with different horses, discovering their quirks and unique personalities, and coming up with a plan to make them better, improve on a flaw and, most importantly, build a foundation of trust that is the key element to success for any horse and rider partnership.

It’s a big part of the reason why she loves riding so much and is willing to make the kind of sacrifices necessary to put in so much time at the barn.

“It’s really rewarding,” she said. “You totally get out what you put into it. It’s nice when you put so much training and love into the horses, and getting their attention and getting them to be OK with you.”

Berkhout frequently rides the horses under her care bareback, and in what’s called a “war bridle,” a simple, scaled down version of a bridle without a bit or anything around their head, with simply a small piece of rope or leather that goes in their mouth, attached to a set of reins. Sometimes she will ride with no bridle or saddle at all, with only a simple lead rope around the horse’s neck, and still confidently steer them around a course of jumps in the field, a testament not only to her skill, but the bond she builds with the horses. While Northern Ridge is a competitive show barn, taking clients to top rated shows around the country, Harding said it’s important to her to make sure the horses and riders still find time to enjoy those kinds of simple pleasures. Berkhout has been known to teach horses in the barn how to lay down, give kisses and do other fun tricks. She spends almost as much time connecting with them on the ground as she does on their backs; Harding said whenever she can’t find Sadie, she looks in the stalls, and typically finds her curled up with one of the horses, near a pile of hay or wrapped underneath a horse blanket if it’s cold.

“She just loves it to the core,” Harding said.

In addition to all the time she spends at the barn (which is a 40-minute drive from her home, with no traffic, and there’s always traffic), Berkhout manages to maintain an A average at Eastport South Manor, taking a challenging course load with AP classes. She’s also a member of the varsity girls lacrosse team at the school, requiring her to be an expert at time management.

She attends school in person at ESM for most of the year, but during the winter months when she’s in Florida, Berkhout keeps up with her school work remotely, attending a tutoring academy in the area. Berkhout has her sights set on college after she graduates from ESM, but in the long run, she wants to follow in the footsteps of her trainer and make a career in the equestrian world, hoping to one day have her own business, like Harding.

If what she’s done so far as a teenager is any indication, there’s good reason to believe that’s an attainable goal.

“I don’t know many kids that can keep up an A average, play lacrosse, and do this full time,” Harding said of Berkhout. She shared how Berkhout helped make sure the barn in Water Mill was in top shape in the days before Harding returned from Florida in the spring.

“She pretty much knows everything that needs to be done,” Harding said. “I don’t have to worry about anything when Sadie is there.”