Harrisburg, Pa.—Oct. 21 

There was one thing Jaime Auletto wanted to clarify right off the bat about Carla, the mare with whom she captured the 3’3” amateur-owner grand championship at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show.

“This is my mom’s horse,” Auletto, 35, said with a grin, motioning to her mother, Suzanne.

Jaime may have piloted Carla to victory in the 3’3” amateur-owner, 18-35, championship and the grand title to boot, but it’s Suzanne who hacks and cares for the mare every day at the family’s farm in Tabernacle, N.J.

Suzanne first saw Carla’s beautiful dished face hanging over a stall door at Redfield Farm in Wellington, Fla.   

“Every year it’s fun to look through the barn and see the new horses they have, and [my mom] saw her and loved her; she has such a sweet face,” Jaime said. “And my mom loves a mare!”

Jamie Auletto piloted the family’s mare Carla to the grand title in the 3’3″ amateur-owner division. Photo by Ann Glavan.

Suzanne grew up competing a bit on the hunter-jumper circuit, but she currently just rides for fun when she’s not busy working at the family’s catering company, Auletto Caterers. Suzanne was looking for a horse to hack out with when she saw Carla and asked Emil Spadone at Redfield Farm if she could try her.

“My mom rode her. She was so cute riding around in this big field; it was adorable,” Jaime said. “And she said, ‘I’m going to get her, and the best part is you can show her!’ ”

Jaime also works in the family’s catering business from Philadelphia, commuting between the city, the family’s farm in Tabernacle, and Redfield’s northern base in Califon, N.J. for lessons and training with Spadone. The family just purchased the 9-year-old mare in March of this year, and Jaime showed her seven times before taking Carla to her first indoor show at Capital Challenge (Md.).

Nikki Diamantis rode Castle to the reserve championship finish in the 3’3″ amateur-owners, 18-35, division. Photo by Ann Glavan

“Honestly I didn’t have a great Capital Challenge, nothing horrible just I made mistakes in all my classes,” Jaime said. “So I was a little discouraged, because I’m proud of my horses, and I know I have nice horses, and when you go, and it doesn’t go great, you feel like you spend all this time, energy and money. So I spent a lot of time this week wanting to correct that.”

Correct it she did—in Friday’s final two classes in the division, Jaime piloted Carla to scores of 90 and 90 for one blue and one red ribbon. They took the championship, with Nikki Diamantis and Castle taking the reserve title.

“She’s really a sweet horse,” Jaime said. “We’re really lucky. She comes out every day, and she’s the same, and when my mom gets on her she trots around pokes her nose out and is so sweet, and then she’ll come here and do this!”  

Check out this article The Chronicle wrote over a decade ago about a day in the life of the Auletto family! 

See all of the Chronicle’s Pennsylvania National coverage. Click here for full results from the Pennsylvania National Horse Show, and don’t forget to check out the Nov. 7 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse for more in-depth coverage from the show!