Maggie Sarmiento New Trainer at Spring Mill Farm Maggie Sarmiento is riding her way to recognition in the Mid-South. The new trainer and rider at David Pellegrini’s Spring Mill Farm in Eads, TN finished fifth at Brownland Farm’s Fall II Grand Prix on Peggy Jones’ horse “Adventura.” The September 19th event was the horse’s first Grand Prix outing. “I love him!” Sarmiento gushed. “He’s a super horse. Very brave. He’s got a really big step that’s slow, so you do have to work a bit. But in the ring, he’s happy to do his job.” Sarmiento contributes a high level of care and training to Spring Mill Farm’s show horses. Her day starts early, teaching lessons and riding up to ten horses a day. Dressed in her signature long sleeve collared shirt, sunglasses, and blonde braid, Sarmiento puts the welfare of the horses at the forefront. “She rides really well,” said Sara Stephens, who has three horses in training at Spring Mill. “And she takes care of the horses like they’re her own.” Mary Haley Hamm added, “She is completely dedicated and really cares about the animals.” Dedicating her life to horses is not new for twenty-seven-year-old Sarmiento. Growing up in a “horsey” family in Illinois, Sarmiento never considered another career. “It was always horses. Dad rode horses and bucking bulls. Mom rode and worked in the show office, and both my brothers worked at the shows. There are pictures of me on ponies before I can even remember riding,” Sarmiento said, tucking her blond hair behind her ear. Destiny may have played a part in Sarmiento’s eventual arrival at Spring Mill Farm, but the path traveled there provided plenty of learning opportunities. Sarmiento started her career working as assistant trainer with Janet Sassmannshausen in St. Charles, IL. “Janet taught me the most important thing about teaching clients. You can’t just focus on what went wrong. You have to take the bad and surround it with the good. The client has to feel that they’re accomplishing something,” she reflected. Sarmiento also worked privately for the Lyons family of St. Charles, IL, training such renowned horses as the Junior Hunter “Justified.” Later, working for trainers Steve Haight and Ashley Hill of Lake Forest, IL gave Sarmiento miles of experience riding in the Open Hunter divisions, including First Year Green Hunter “Viva,” whom Sarmiento rode successfully Indoors in 2009. Next, the opportunity to help Grand Prix rider Laura Linback with her horses gave Sarmiento a crash course (no pun intended) in riding jumpers. “Laura taught me how to ride the jumpers, how to flat them, how to get them fit. She taught me to sit in the saddle. I was so used to riding hunters in the half seat that I couldn’t do it at first,” Sarmiento shyly admitted. Sarmiento had been trying to get a job working for Pellegrini for two years. “I heard that Dave was a really good guy, and he had a big show barn and went to a lot of shows.” Ironically, Sarmiento started working for Spring Mill Farm years earlier as a junior, long before she knew Pellegrini. “Dave sent a horse named Foreign Exchange to Larry Glefke to sell. I was Larry’s working student and showed the horse in Children’s Hunter that weekend. We were Champion at the show and the horse got sold.” Sarmiento’s and Pellegrini’s careers finally crossed paths in early 2010 when Pellegrini offered her the job as rider and second trainer. Since then, working for Pellegrini has provided Sarmiento opportunities in both the hunter and Grand Prix rings, including winning ribbons in the Hunter Derby at Tunica High Rollers and Brownland Farm Fall II. “Dave picks on me a lot, but that’s okay,” Sarmiento shrugged. “When he stops picking on me, then I’ll worry that he’s stopped liking me.” Judging from the way the horses perform for her and the results they have posted, that is not likely to happen.