By Jessica Grutkowski
Portraits by Melissa Fuller
Many would argue that horsemanship is dead, but professional hunter-jumper rider Maria Rasmussen proved them wrong when she turned a big-money class into a schooling ride—all for the love of the horse.
As a young girl, Maria moved around a lot. “I lived in Minnesota, California and New York all before I was 8 years old,” she said. “I was always a bit horse crazy; my mother had Saddlebreds before I was born, but she stopped riding when she became pregnant with my older sister.”
Their family home in Livermore, California, backed up to a horse farm. “My mom would park me in a high-top kitchen chair facing the field,” Maria said. “It was a wonderful childhood; the kind where you played outside until dark.”
When Maria’s family moved to Naperville, Illinois, she had a difficult time adjusting. “During a parent-teacher conference, my fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Dilabel, said I was a ‘troubled child’ and suggested my mother sign me up for an after-school activity,” Maria said, adding that she missed her life in California, her friends and playing softball outside. “My mother asked me if I wanted to play softball here, and I told her that I wanted to ride instead. To this day, I credit Mr. Dilabel for setting my passion in motion.”
Maria began taking lessons at the Naperville Equestrian Center. “They had a trailer on site that sold all the essentials,” she said. “I got my rubber boots, breeches and helmet, and was off!” Maria eagerly rode all the school horses in the barn and worked her way up to jumping a small course.
A Family Affair
When Maria was ready to take the next step, she went to Plantation Equestrian Center to train with Ken Stein. “I leased my first horse, named Test Pilot, and we did the Short Stirrup,” Maria said. “His nickname was TP, and my older sister, Emily, never missed an opportunity to tease me about going to ride toilet paper.” TP didn’t get lead changes, but Maria learned to land the lead and they were a successful team.
Like most horse-obsessed teenagers, Maria wanted to spend all her free time at the barn. “We didn’t come from great financial means, so I became a ‘barn rat.’ I learned to be useful by mucking stalls, cleaning tack and helping in any way that would keep me at the barn,” Maria said.
When Maria turned 13 years old, she took her skills to task and became a working student at a boarding facility, where she worked weekends and summers. She cleaned about 20 stalls per day, turned horses out, fed and unloaded hay. “I did whatever it took to help pay for lessons and show fees,” she said.
Two years later, she moved to Perfecta Farm, owned by Kim Gardner, where she continued to be a working student. “I would work at the barn after school, on weekends and at horse shows,” she said. “I had a horse named Absolut, and shared him with my younger sister, Stephanie. We took turns showing him in the hunters and equitation, which, back in the day, was par for the course. Our mother, Marlys, ran a house-cleaning business to help finance everything; we all worked for her at one point.”
Maria and Stephanie are four years apart but have a close relationship. “When we started in the equitation, Stephanie was about to walk the course,” Maria said. “She had some wisps of hair coming out of her helmet. Just as any helpful sister would, I shaved her neck with a horse clipper. She complains she hasn’t been able to put her hair up for 30 years!”
Throughout her Junior years, Maria remained competitive but her last two Junior years didn’t go as planned. “I was in a bad car accident; it took me a long time to be able to drive a horse trailer again,” she said. “My horse sustained injuries, luckily nothing life-threatening, but I wasn’t going to equitation finals, and I couldn’t afford another horse.”
Whatever It Takes
Maria never fell out of love with the sport. On her 18th birthday, she became a professional and took on a myriad of freelance riding positions to help pay the bills. “I would be in the car all day, driving from barn to barn,” she said. “I drove about 10 hours a day, and nearly three hours between barns.”
All of Maria’s hard work finally paid off when she was offered her first full-time professional role by Steve Wall, a respected USEF “R” judge and owner of Harmony Farms in Wisconsin. “I was riding two days per week for Steve, and never thought it would turn into anything more,” she said. “Steve was always very matter-of-fact. One day he just called and offered me a job in Gulfport, Mississippi, for the Winter Classic. He asked if I could do it, and I said yes, trying to match his nonchalance—but inside I was bursting with excitement.”
After traveling nearly 1,000 miles south, Maria settled into her new position working for Harmony Farm’s lead trainer, Linda Valetic, during the Gulf Coast Winter Classic, a six-week hunter-jumper circuit. “We had a blast,” Maria said. “I began to meet other professionals, and it helped me to realize I was in the right place.”
While working for Harmony, Maria attended Capital Challenge for the first time, a venue she longed to compete at as a Junior. “I was sitting in the stands between classes, and met my future best friend, Vanessa Berger (now Wendt),” she said. “We instantly connected.” After two weeks of getting to know each other, they planned to become roommates upon returning to Illinois.
Living together allowed the two young women to bond over their shared love of horses and career aspirations. After 10 years of working for Steve, Maria decided to go out on her own. “Vanessa had a small farm where she kept some sales horses, including her off-the-track Thoroughbred, and a stallion I had on consignment,” she said. “We were like Thelma and Louise in the trailer going to shows. We had so much fun!”
Managing Motherhood and Business
Maria began working for Ashley Hill at Forest Hill Farm to supplement her consignment business. “I was in my 30s and found myself married and pregnant with my son, Owen,” she said. “True story: A mare I produced and sold paid for my wedding! That mare also sparked my love for developing young horses.”
Maria has since amicably divorced, and Owen, now 14 years old, remains the center of her world. “My pregnancy affected my equilibrium, and I couldn’t ride, but Ashley was a mom, too, and I’m grateful she supported me,” she said. “Owen spent his early years on the road alongside Ashley’s children. She had a wonderful nanny who helped out.”
Owen caught the “horse bug” when he was 5 years old—but only for one week. “We were at Lamplight, and I put him on a small pony named Peter. He had so much fun that I went to the tack store on Sunday and purchased an entire equestrian wardrobe,” Maria said. “On Monday, he said he was done. I held onto everything hoping he would change his mind, but he finally outgrew it, and I begrudgingly took it to consignment.”
In 2015, at the end of the circuit in Ocala, Maria had the opportunity to start her own business. Together with her head groom, Luis Ruiz, whom she considers family, she founded Sea Change Farm. “Vanessa named my business after her horse,” Maria said. “It means a profound and noble transformation.”
Maria suddenly found herself in Ocala with 10 horses and very few supplies. “We moved into a barn across the street from the show,” she said. “Brian Brown, my boyfriend at the time, who is now my forever life partner, gifted us with the leftover branded coolers from Wellington. I had never shown at WEF, but our horses all had championship coolers!”
Sea Change was off to a strong start. “I inherited a few wonderful clients from a fellow professional, including the Hamel and Vogel families, but our sudden growth caught up,” Maria said. “I was on the board to show 18 horses, an insurmountable task to do correctly. My assistant and I decided to split the business.”
Together with the late Jeff Wirthman, Maria got back to her passion—developing young horses. “Jeff hugely influenced my career; I carry his lessons with me on every ride,” she said.
Now based in Wellington, Sea Change has continued to thrive. “Jeff taught me that you can’t change a horse, you can only showcase its abilities,” Maria said. “He taught people to love and appreciate the horse, and to never try to make it into something it’s not. I promised to carry on his legacy.”
A Spectacular Lesson in Horsemanship
Every winter, thousands of people tune in to watch the $150,000 WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular. Even more spectators fill the stands, eager to see all-star horse-and-rider combinations and young prospects alike take center stage during World Champion Hunter Week (WCHR) at Wellington International.
This past February, Maria was set to compete under the lights on SVF Changeup, a 2017 Dutch Warmblood gelding by Il Est Balou, owned by Kristen Hamel of Sunset View Farm. “Casey is so much fun to ride; he’s consistent, scopey and brave,” Maria said. “When I walked into the ring that night, he put up his proverbial periscope, and I felt a very different horse under me.”
Maria is not new to the pressure of competing under the lights in the International Ring. “The environment can impress even the bravest horses,” she said. Luckily, Maria found the poise to take a deep breath and come up with a new plan to help ease Casey’s apprehension. “Two very good friends always told me, ‘Do what feels good; don’t do what doesn’t,’” Maria said. She decided to follow their advice.
Maria struck up a canter and began the course. “I talked to him all the way to jump one. He spooked, but jumped it, so we continued to jump two,” she said. “But then he spooked again, dove left and took the rail, so we stopped.” After walking around for what felt like forever, Maria adjusted her plan to finish on a positive note.
“I cantered to jump three and he jumped it well. He did a nice lead change, so I decided to try jump four; Casey took a deep breath, so we did five and six, mainly to get toward the other side of the ring.” Within the second nine-stride line, Casey dropped his head and settled in. “I didn’t see a distance to the last jump,” Maria said. “Chipping wasn’t an option, so I took my own advice—trust in your partner and get out of their way.”
As a spectator, it was impossible not to become invested in their journey. “Our goal was to finish in the ribbons, but the feeling coming out of the ring that night was more rewarding than a winning round,” Maria said. “Kristen came running from the stands to give us a big hug. This is exactly why I do what I do.”
From Slaughter to Superstar
When Maria first laid eyes on Casey, fellow professional Jennifer Papiernik was giving him a schooling ride at a neighboring farm. Originally Casey was imported as a jumper, but he was simply too slow across the ground. Isabella Harding, owner and head trainer at Goldridge Stables, first discovered him while scrolling Facebook. “I came across an ad for a talented 2-year-old gelding in Hungary, but the seller’s account was suspicious,” Bella said. “The horse was scopey, brave and beautiful. I had no doubts he was something special.”
Bella enlisted the help of Zsófi Vándor, a Grand Prix rider based in Budapest. She was shocked to learn that the seller was a Hungarian Gypsy. “Zsófi said that these groups pull horses from slaughter to sell or breed,” she said. “I had a hunch this horse had slipped through the cracks, so I asked Zsófi to try him, and he proved to truly be a needle in the haystack.”
The veterinarian discovered that Casey had sarcoids during his pre-purchase exam. “That’s probably why he ended up in that situation,” Bella said. “We decided to treat his skin with a chemotherapy cream, and he fully healed.”
Zsófi continued his training abroad, and two years later Casey landed stateside in Loxahatchee, Florida. He showed for two seasons at Wellington International, initially as a 5-year-old jumper, and then in the young hunter divisions at age 6. Casey was successful in both rings, but ultimately was destined to be matched with Maria. The pair was awarded 2025 WEF Circuit Champion in the High Performance Conformation Hunters, and his owner, Kristen, couldn’t be happier about their evolution.
Kristen and Maria have always had an open and honest relationship. “Maria’s horses are her babies; they whinny when she walks into the barn, and she stops to love them all,” Kristen said. “Maria always includes me in the process; it’s helped me learn and become a better owner. She is always patient with the horses—and with me.”
Outside of the barn, Maria describes her life as pretty normal. “Owen competes on three baseball teams and recently picked up golf. After school, he rides his scooter to the range and hits balls. I love our baseball family just as much as our horse family,” she said. “Finding a balance at home has helped me be a better horseman.”
Follow Maria and Sea Change Farm on Instagram @seachangefarm
Photos by Melissa Fuller, melissafullerphotography33.mypixieset.com
