Mary McCormack
Student builds her own business on her love of horses
Mary McCormack found a profound love of horses at the age of 7 after horseback riding for the first time. More than a decade later, she has turned that love into a career. She has just opened her own equestrian facility, City View Equestrian in Chili.
"It's something I always wanted to do," McCormack said. "I worked for a lot of other people in the past and realized I wanted my own (facility), with my own horses and rules."
McCormack, 18, said she and her parents, Sean and Sandy McCormack, began looking for places to build her facility from the ground up, and found a parcel of property in North Chili near Scottsville.
The facility is at 4310 Union St.
The process took about three months, she said.
"We did it all by hand with laying down the sand to working it up from there," McCormack said. "It's just the most beautiful piece of property you can have."
McCormack is a 2011 graduate of Mercy High School and a student at Monroe Community College. In the fall, McCormack said she plans to transfer to Alfred University to study business administration and equine business management.
The 20-acre plot is 600 feet above sea level with views of downtown Rochester to the north and Bristol Mountain to the south, McCormack said. A large barn houses her seven horses.
But the facility is more than just riding, training and boarding horses. McCormack said her students and clients learn every aspect of owning a horse, including Saturday morning barn chores.
"I want to give them a real-life look at what goes into these kind of tasks," McCormack said. "I think it helps us appreciate the responsibility of having a horse."
McCormack said she prepares riders for shows, and trains and coaches professional and amateur horseback riders ages 6 to 58.
In September, McCormack and a team of seven riders completed their first feat. They competed in a show in Hemlock, and came back with five championships and one third-place ranking, McCormack said.
Student Samantha Solomon has been riding with McCormack for a few months and said McCormack has helped her find success as a rider.
"I took reserved champion out of 10 other girls at my first show because of Mary," Solomon said.
McCormack said she hopes to expand her facility in the next couple years.
"I want to do more of everything, but I need to finish school first and then put my all into City View Equestrian," McCormack said.
Interview
sourced from www.democratandchronicle.com
Jamie Germano/staff photographer