Rachel Marino wanted nothing to do with horses when she was a little girl. In fact, she was afraid of them until the age of 12, when her parents sent her and her sister, Emily, off to horse camp. Fast forward to 2026, Marino now prepares to compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) National Championship in Mill Spring, North Carolina.
As President of the CU-Bloomsburg Equestrian Team, Marino has come a long way in the sport, especially since she nearly walked away from it after high school. Between a toxic former trainer who prioritized “keeping yourself slim,” judges that favored body-dysmorphic beauty standards and the constant pressure she put on herself to perform at her best, the Bloomsburg local was exhausted by the time she was 18.
“You know how everyone tells you that high school is supposed to be the best years of your life and you spend the entire time trying to convince yourself that it’s the best years of your life? That’s what [showing] was framed as. I wanted to quit. I leased out my horse; I wasn’t going to buy a new one.”
A horse named Phish
When her supposed “highlight years” of showing ended, Marino prepared to enter college and leave showing in her rearview mirror. That is, until a horse named Phish came along. At first, her calling back to the sport began from within, when she realized just how much she missed showing. After negotiating with her parents and a vast search for the right horse seller, Marino soon found a motivating reason for her to return.
“I took a complete gamble on [Phish]. I was extremely lucky. He’s young but has so much potential and has come such a long way since I got him. It’s been super rewarding for me to see.”
Once Marino got back on the saddle, she began to rebuild her broken relationship with the sport she had once loved, just without the persistent negativity. Since coming to college, Marino feels like she has a fresh start and an even fresher perspective that allows her to truly enjoy showing again.
The equestrian team
For Marino, finding a community of horse riders in college has reminded her of how fun the sport can be. She describes the women on the team as supportive and like-minded, something that appealed to her from the very beginning.
“It opened a social life for me here but it also helped me get back into something that I used to really love that I had pushed myself away from. I feel like I’m back with the mentality I had before I put unrealistic pressure on myself.”
IHSA National Championship
When asked about going to the IHSA National Championship as a college student, Marino discussed her perspective on the opportunity, especially after all of her years of self-hatred and burn out.
“I want to be competitive but at the end of the day, I’m happy walking away from it knowing that I qualified. I’ve worked hard for it so I hope that it pays off. If nothing else, it should be fun.”
As for the future, Marino has no plans to quit. She even claims that her current career pursuit for a job in the finance world is motivated by her desire to financially support her amateur horse riding career as an adult– pressure free.
“There’s really nothing that I can pressure myself with now. I’m proud of myself that I got over that. No one tells you that your amateur years are the best years of your life but for me, I think they’re going to be.”
