Born to ride

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Charles Casey feels most at home in a barn. He’s been riding about three or four years, which Casey said is “not too long in the whole scheme of things.” In that short time, though, the Homewood High junior has already set his sights on a new career path.

“I love the horses, and I love taking care of the horses. I feel like I have a connection,” he said.

At Homewood High, Casey has five classes per day. He leaves early to get to Blackjack Farms in Irondale, where he rides but also helps out with projects around the stables to qualify as an independent study project for school. He also takes a night class at UAB and balances his riding with guitar lessons and activities for Key Club and Beta Club at school.

“I try and balance it. I end up out here [at Blackjack Farms] most of the time, but sometimes I try,” Casey said with a laugh.

Since he began riding, Casey has progressed quickly in show jumping competitions. He’s now competing about once or twice a month around the Southeast in junior shows, with obstacles ranging between three-and-a-half and four feet.

“He’s improved far beyond what we thought he could do — or at least what he thought he could do,” said his mother, Ann Casey. “He was very dedicated from the moment he started.”

While at these shows, Casey said there is constant activity and a lot of “hurry up and wait.” It again becomes difficult for him to balance being a student and a rider.

How much homework gets done on show weekends? “Not a lot. I’m going to be honest,” Casey said, noting most homework finally gets his attention when he reaches a hotel at 10 p.m.

With his showing talent quickly growing, Casey recently had to purchase a new horse to continue competing at higher levels. The horse he chose was Kolaborant, born in Poland and trained in the Czech Republic. After Kola had traveled by plane and trailer for eight days to Alabama, Casey said one of the first things the horse did was lay his head on his new rider’s shoulder.

It’s now one of Kola’s favorite things to do with familiar faces and new people alike. He lays his head on a shoulder and usually receives a scratch behind the ears or a pet on the neck in return.

Kola arrived in the U.S. right before Thanksgiving, but he and Casey are already becoming a team.

“He has a little bit of an attitude. He likes to mess around and see how much he can get away with. But when he starts the jumping and starts to get into it, it’s really good. He really wants to do what you’re saying,” Casey said. “He’s really fun to ride.”

Casey’s goal is to reach the Grand Prix, the highest level of show jumping, by the time he graduates high school or within a year or two after that. Grand Prix shows are open to adults ages 18 years and older and have jumps with a maximum height just over five feet.

Besides the age limit, Casey said he will have to progress through a few more junior levels to qualify for the Grand Prix shows — “if you won’t freak out,” he joked to his mom. Competing at that level requires not only technical skill but also a lot of mental preparation.

“You need to be calm in the ring. It’s hard to go in the ring and clear your brain of everything going on. Because there’s a lot going on around you: there’s buzzers going from other rings, there’s people announcing ribbons from the hunters, there’s jogs going on around the place, there’s horses getting loose and running around you,” Casey said. “It takes a lot to zone in on what you’re doing in the moment.”

He got a first taste of that lesson in his first show. Casey’s horse was spooked at the end of the show by fluttering ribbons and the sound of a golf cart backing up. Casey fell, causing a hairline fracture in his leg and multiple breaks in his wrist.

“Everyone asked when I was in my cast, ‘Are you still going to ride?’ Yes, it’s not a question I’m still going to ride. It didn’t even cross my mind that I was not going to ride,” Casey said.

“He would have gotten back on in his cast if he could,” Ann added.

Six weeks after the fall, Casey was in a saddle again. If his wrist was still hurting, Casey didn’t let it show.

Besides showing, Casey’s eventual goal is to own a stable of his own to breed and train show jumpers. He uses competitions and work around Blackjack Farms to learn how different people manage their barns and train their horses and riders.

“I know you talk a lot about that with me, about if it was your farm, you would do it this way. So I think mostly you’re observing what you see around you right now,” Ann said of her son.

Casey said he never had a defining moment when he knew he wanted to make a career in the equestrian world. He simply doesn’t get bored with being at the barn.

“I love doing it and I never get tired of it,” Casey said. “I’m always here, and I always love what I’m doing. So as long as I’m enjoying it, I’m going to keep doing it.”