JEFFERSON TWP — Carissa Chilcott is all about horses.

Owning them. Taking care of them. Riding them.

Winning with them.

Chilcott, a Knoch senior, is a member of the Causelot Farm Western Equestrian team in Cecil Township — located in the South Hills — and the Culver Training Stables English Equestrian team in Fombell.

She recently won the Overall Western high point rider at the Interscholastic Equestrian Association competition at West Virginia University, where she competed against riders from three states. Chilcott also won first place in Varsity Open English Equitation on the Flat and took fifth in Varsity Open over fences in English riding at WVU.

“I really love them both,” Chilcott said. “That’s why I compete for both teams. The gait is faster in English and you can show more of who you are in Western.”

In both, a rider has to work with the horse and get the best performance possible from the animal — without knowing the horse at all.

“The horse is randomly selected for the rider at each (IEA) competition,” Culver Training Stables coach Lauren Holmes Pursitta said. “Nobody rides a horse she owns. That makes it a level playing field for everybody.”

Chilcott has been riding horses for 13 years. She owns five horses currently, stabling and caring for them herself on the family’s property.

“Her father and I have never been horse people,” Shirley Chilcott, Carissa’s mother, said. “This is her thing. She gets up, feeds and takes care of those horses before she goes to school each day.”

Along with riding her own horses, Chilcott takes at least one equestrian lesson a week at both the Causelot farms and Culver stables.

Causelot farms coach Kathy Marciak said Chilcott’s dedication to horses and knowledge of them helps her during competitions.

“She’s gotten really consistent in her riding,” Marciak said. “Carissa puts so much time and effort into what she does in this sport.

“She’s much more confident now. Switching back and forth to so many different horses ... She’s learned how to adapt to it.”

Chilcott said her love for horses developed almost immediately when she was a small child.

“When I was two and a half, my parents took me to the Butler Farm Show and I met my first horse there,” Chilcott said. “I’ve been fascinated by them ever since.

“I like how you can communicate with an animal that large, without using words, and develop ways to work in tune with the horse to maximize your performance as a team.”

Chilcott was a member of the Butler equestrian team —coached by Holmes Pursitta — since seventh grade. Her family moved into the South Butler School District last year.

Butler’s equestrian team folded after last year when Holmes Pursitta had to leave her teaching job in the district due to personal time restraints and no replacement coach could be found.

“It was sad to leave because the program was successful,” Holmes Pursitta said. “But a lot of the kids stayed with it and are with other teams now.

“Carissa is one of the most successful students we had there.”

Chilcott competed in the English regional finals last weekend at Horse on Course in Valencia. The zone finals — involving competitors from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — will be at Horse on Course April 10-13.

The IEA nationals will be held near Boston, Mass., in May.

Chilcott hopes to compete in equestrian in college, but has not settled on a school yet.

“I know I want to go to a college that has a team,” she said. “I’ll always be involved with horses in some way.”