Horses — A girl's best friend

By Maddie Gannon

Gabi Sorrentino got on her first horse at age 3.

At 8, she got her very own first horse—an Arabian named Josiah. She refers to the light bay colored horse as laid back and easy going. “Josiah was with me through everything,” she said. “He was my stability in life when other things weren’t so stable.”

Then, at 14, came Covergirl, the horse that eventually knocked her off during a competition and caused her to get a root canal. She was the opposite of Josiah—full of attitude and aloof but unbelievably fast and agile. “She was difficult and I had many falls with her but also many wins which made it all worth it,” she said.

Now 22, Sorrentino recalls her horses as if they were her childhood best friends—she talks about their personalities, their weird quirks and, most of all, the companionship they gave her.

“Growing up,” she said, “horses were always there for me when people were not.”

The falls and wins that came with riding formed Sorrentino’s understanding of the turmoil of life and the meaning of perseverance. But even through those ups and downs—in life and the sport itself—what remained constant was the sense of reliability and escape riding provided her. That never went away and, now, it is driving her hopes for her future.

“The barn was an outlet for me at a young age and throughout my life,” she said. “It was a place where I could forget everything going on in my outside world and focus on my horse and getting better at the sport.”

And a lot was going on in Sorrentino’s outside world. She switched schools three times, moved out of her childhood home and watched her parents get divorced—all before she started sixth grade.

“For the three hours I was in the barn every day, it was just me and my horse, no one else,” she said. “No arguing or crying, just me focusing on riding and my horse.”

If those three hours started as a way to escape from reality, they soon enough became a regimen that allowed her to excel. She started to ride competitively at 12, and every major decision she made throughout high school and college was guided by her equestrian career.

Riding was the sole factor in her decision to attend Sacred Heart University—a private Roman Catholic school in Fairfield, Connecticut and one of few universities that offers a Division I equestrian program.

Sorrentino in a competition while at Sacred Heart University.

In college, more falls and wins came. Her junior year, she won regionals, the competition that sends riders to compete in zone finals and eventually nationals, and is the equivalent of playoffs for college riders. She took the title in the open over fences competition—making her the best in Connecticut in that category. She entered her senior year as a captain of the team and was on track to win regionals again.

Then, she faced an IT band injury that sidelined her from team workouts and forced her to work harder. So, she did and qualified for regionals again. Then, a global pandemic ended her riding career two weeks before the competition.

But unlike her early riding years, Sorrentino was not experiencing these falls alone. This time, she had a team full of friends and they were all she could think about when she saw her own riding career come to a close. “It was so hard to see some of my teammates who had never made it to regionals and worked so hard to qualify this year have those dreams come to a complete stop,” she said.

After all, for Sorrentino, riding had never been about accolades and success.

“She always aspired to be the best for the team rather than the best on the team,” Sorrentino’s co-captain Emily Spellman said. “I remember the day she walked onto this team, she had a vision of greatness for each and every person, and not a single day went by where Gabi didn’t do everything she could to ensure that everyone reached their full potential.”

Sorrentino with her team at Sacred Heart University.

Sorrentino vividly remembers the day her coach called her in tears to tell her the 2020 season was over. It was up to her and Spellman to sit the team down and break the news.

It is those experiences—the disappointments and challenges that come with college athletics but, more importantly, the steadfast dedication to a team— that reminds Sorrentino of why she fell in love with riding in the first place. And it is those same experiences that she believes makes her equipped for her next step: a career in sports broadcasting.

Her early passion for horseback riding sparked her love for all sports. Her dream is to be a sideline reporter for an NFL team, or a network that covers football. She watches everything from hockey to motorcycle racing.

“She once bragged to me how she got up early, watched a Formula One race, then moved on to Indy car racing and finished up with a NASCAR race,” Sorrentino’s dad, Mark Sorrentino, said. “You really have to have a love of sports to find that interesting.”

And the sense of escape she got from riding as a child, she now gets from being a fan.

So, while she grew out of Josiah a long while ago and Covergirl is no longer in riding shape, what they provided her as a young girl is still at the forefront of her dreams.

“Sports have always been an outlet for me and a way to help take my mind off of tough times,” she said. “I feel that by having a career in sports I can help sports do for others what it has done for me.”