Born to Ride
SUMMIT TWP— It all started 15 years ago with a spelling test.
If 6-year-old Celeste Hortert passed, her parents would buy her a horse. If she failed, no sale.
"That probably seemed like a pretty safe bet," Hortert said. "I never passed a spelling test before, and I don't think I've passed one since."
But she passed that one. And Hortert, now 21, has been surpassing the competition on horseback ever since.
Hortert recently rode Ricardo IA, an 11-year-old paso fino show horse, to the Paso Fino Horse Association's Grand National Championship in Perry, Ga.
The event is broken down into numerous divisions. The horse won the Pleasure Division, Amateur Owner Stallion Championship, beating out 12 other horses.
Ricardo IA, affectionally called "Ricky" by the Hortert family, won the same national title last year and won 10 of the 12 competitions he's been in this year. The horse finished second and third in the other two.
Ricky won national titles this year with Hortert riding in the amateur division and trainer Javier Suarez aboard him in the reserve class in the professional division.
He also won the Paso Fino World Cup and International Grand competition in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2007, in the amateur and professional divisions.
Horses from seven countries competed at the World Cup, an event that rotates countries and had not been in the United States since 1999. Rickywon four first places there last year — the amateur stallion pleasure class, amateur all-age pleasure, pro pleasure stallion and pro pleasure all-age.
"He's an amazing horse," Hortert said. "To do what he's doing at his age is incredible."
Hortert would know. When she's not attending classes at Butler County Community College or working, she's at home on the El Cacsejan Farm in Summit Township, where the family began raising horses in 1992. They have 17 horses there now and own nothing but paso finos.
Ricardo IA is not on that farm. He's being boarded in Ocala, Fla., "the mecca for any breed of horse," Hortert said.
"They have more thoroughbred horses than there are in Kentucky, more race horses than any place in the United States,"she said.
There might be up to 30-plus horses in a show competition or as few as a handful."There's no jumping involved and everything is under saddle,"Hortert said of the paso fino nationals. "The biggest difference between our breed and every other breed is that they're gaited."That's a very special way of stepping. They're four-beat lateral gaited, which means they don't trot like most horses. ... They do a four-beat step."As such, the paso fino steps one foot at a time in the sequence of left hind, left front, right hind to right front. The trotting sequence of non-gaited horses includes a two-beat step in which the diagonal feet step simultaneously — often creating a bumpier ride.Paso finos are judged at three speeds:Classic fino (walk), Paso corto (moderate forward speed) and Paso largo (running).The hardest part of competing is staying in gait, or maintaining the same stride with virtually no variation or misstep."All horses want to just go. It's in their nature. You're trying to keep them in gait at a very athletic level. You don't bounce. There's no up and down,"Hortert said. "Our competition is really nice. It's not judged on what you wear or how much your saddle cost. You want your horse to just float."Horses parade around a rail and are judged by their smoothness of step and how slightly their heads bobble as they walk."I try to keep my space,"Hortert said. "My horse gets upset if he's too close to another horse he doesn't like. When you're in a smaller speed, like a walk, I try to keep my distance from other horses."It's like, in NASCAR, they get crunched up, get piled up. Your horse gets nervous, you can't get out, you get kicked. ... You want to keep your space."Passing another horse on the track during a competition isn't ideal, but can be a necessary evil."You really don't want to do it. It doesn't look good to pass people in our breed, but you have to, sometimes," Hortert said. "You have to do it really gracefully and you pass on the outside. You never pass inside along the wall. That can be dangerous."
When Hortert was 6 years old — before she got her first horse — she was in Aruba with her mother, rode a paso fino and was hooked.The paso fino breed of horse flourished initially in Puerto Rico and Colombia, its smooth, rhythmic gait proving popular for trail riding.Their origin dates back to the horses Christopher Columbus brought over when he discovered America."They left them here because they didn't have the food to take them back," Hortert said. "They introduced a new species to a new continent.""They really are easy-going horses," said Jan Hortert, Celeste's mother. "When Celeste rode it, she fell in love with it."Finding a paso fino was another story."There was no Internet back then," Celeste said. "When we got home, it took some doing, but we eventually located some on a farm in Uniontown."From the time she was 9, Hortert worked on different paso fino farms each summer. She spent two summers at a farm in Uniontown, two in Philadelphia, and a few summers in Illinois and St. Louis."I cleaned stalls for seven hours a day, then maybe they'd let me ride," she said, smiling.It was all part of the learning experience that created a national championship rider.Her mother had no problem with Celeste's travels as a young girl."I recognized her love for horses because I have it, too," Jan Hortert said. "My grandfather loved horses, and that's where my experiences with them began."Horses are such good animals for kids to be around."
Hortert has never turned professional. She competes in the amateur class and has been showing horses for 10 years. She has won competitions with nine different horses."Celeste loves horses,"her half-sister, Lisa Gilson, said. "There's so much involved with training them, and she excels at it."It's hard work, but it doesn't feel that way to her. Her time with the horses ... It's therapeutic in a way. It's relaxing to her."Hortert agreed."I feel so focused when I'm with the horses," she said. "I do feel relaxed. This is more than a hobby to me."But it's not enough to make her want to show horses professionally, even if she could be one of the best in the business."I know I could be one of the top pros in the area," she said. "There are only three professionals in this field in the entire state of Pennsylvania."I love to paint, too, but I don't want to do it for a living. That's when it becomes stress. Right now, I don't want to go pro. Maybe that will change."Hortert met her boyfriend, David Martinez, during a show in Florida. Hailing from South America, Martinez has been a horseman all his life.He now works with Hortert on the El Cacsejan Farm."My dad is a horse trainer. My grandfather did it, too,"Martinez said. "I met Celeste at nationals four years ago. To succeed in this business, it takes time, patience, dedication, knowledge of and love for horses. She has all of those things."The horses respond to her, perform for her. It's a special relationship that few people can build."
Hortert never played any sports in high school, as most of her free time was spent around horses."I missed so much school in 10th grade. ... They'd write me letters because I was in so many competitions," Hortert said. "I was only three points away from being high point youth that year. I was so mad because they gave away a horse trailer as a prize. That was the last year they did that."I had 500-some points. It was ridiculous. Every first-place you get from a judge, it's 12 points. It's hard to rack them up."Hortert said school has always been important to her."You're only in high school once, but socially, activity-wise ... I didn't do anything else." she said. "Kids used to make fun of me because I breeded horses. They'd make horrible jokes, so I just quit talking about it. A lot of kids I went to high school with didn't even know I had horses."When I wasn't at school, I was either at a horse show or here (on the farm)."Hortert enjoys history and art and said she'd like to become a history teacher, "though that idea might change next month."As for horses?"I'm always going to be doing this," she said. "I just don't know if I want to go pro."The first horse Hortert ever rode on the El Cacsejan Farm — Marilyn Monroe — is now 35 years old and still on the farm. Hortert rode her when she was 6."Talk about a special memory ... I'll cry like a baby when she dies," Hortert said.
