Youth Profile – Grace Riley
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326 – July/August, 2025
By Susan Winslow
At the age of 14, Grace Riley from Tulsa, Oklahoma, has already learned valuable lessons about the importance of tenacity, focus, and optimism. This talented young competitor has faced injury and adversity in her equine career, but with a strong circle of support from her family and trainers, she has shown remarkable character and fortitude to not only overcome obstacles, but to shine.
Grace Riley and her beloved horse, A Certain Red Vette, known as Pistol, clicked instantly the first time she met him at the Congress in 2021. Grace was just ten years old when she attended her first All American Quarter Horse Congress as a spectator to support the Berryhill barn and her friend, Ella Kate Herman, and the rest of the Herman family. Grace had started her riding career with the Hermans, who introduced her to Leigh and Leonard Berryhill and their daughter-in-law, Mandie–and she has been training with them ever since.
The Berryhills had been searching for a horse for Grace, and Leigh asked Spencer Zimmerman to bring Pistol to the Congress for her to try. Grace recalls, “Spencer let us try Pistol in the warm-up ring, and we clicked instantly.” Fortunately, the Berryhills had known Pistol since he was a two-year-old and Grace returned from the Congress with a new horse and a new path toward competition with the team at Berryhill Quarter Horses that is located in Talala, Oklahoma. Grace describes the bond she has with the handsome chestnut gelding by saying, “Pistol is my best friend. He is always there for me whenever I need him. We have always had a connection. He is the horse that started me off and has taught me everything.”
Click here to read the complete article
326 – July/August, 2025
