Haley Cole got her passion for horses from her mom. It was something they shared from the moment her mother first held her up in a saddle as a baby โ and is something that connects them still today.
โMy mom rode her whole life until she suddenly passed away when I was 8. So, being around horses is really special to me, because I feel like itโs part of her life that I can still share,โ says Cole, a member of the equestrian team who still rides in the saddle that โ as its golden nameplate attests โ belonged to her mother, Dawn Theresa Wigand. โRiding keeps me connected to her โ itโs a connection that we had when she was alive and has continued since she passed. I can feel her with me when Iโm on a horse.โ
But thereโs something else she feels while sheโs riding, too.
โI canโt even begin to describe it โ but that feeling is why I ride,โ says the Limerick, Pa., native, who is grateful for the support of her father, Steve, and her twin brother, Richard, throughout her equestrian pursuits over the years. โMy family has sacrificed a lot so that I can keep riding. They just really show up for me.โ
That support allows Cole to show up for practice โ even when itโs at five in the morning.
โYou know you love something when youโre willing to get up that early!โ she laughs. โBut riding really is what gets me out of the bed in the morning โ itโs what I look forward to. Itโs the only thing that makes me smile every single day.โ
Well, that and travel.
โTravel is my second love after riding. Thatโs why I decided to major in international studies,โ says the sophomore. โThat is my other passion, my other joy.โ
She hopes to travel the globe as much as possible after college before returning to the world she knows best.
โThe horse world is where I ultimately want to be,โ says Cole, whose goal is to open her own riding facility where she can breed, train, rescue and sell horses โ as well as give lessons and provide equine therapy. โI want to do it all โ anything and everything connected to horses.โ
And, of course, to her mother.
Equestrian Haley Cole still rides in her late mother’s saddle. Photos by Mike Ledford.
