Kayla Deyarmin wasn’t quite sure why her name was being called out on the loudspeakers at the end of the Middleburg Classic Horse Show (Va.) on Sept. 25. After all, she was working as a groom at the show, not a competitor.

But she ended up in an awards ceremony herself, accepting the sportsmanship award.

It was icing on the cake for Deyarmin, who the day before had joined forces with her fellow grooms at Tracy Brennan’s Vineyard Haven Farm to win the daily grooms’ raffle. Each day of the show, organizers held a raffle for the grooms, with trainers and riders pitching in to the cash total. So there was a daily prize of cash along with a backpack filled with Middleburg Classic gear—on the weekend days, the total was $1,000.

Deyarmin and her coworkers—Juliana Peterson and Julia LeDane—decided that if they won the raffle, they’d split the money three ways. “We decided whoever’s name got called, if we won, would get the backpack with the goodies and then we’d split the money,” she said. “Then on Saturday my name was called! And when we got the backpack, there was so much stuff in it that we all split it anyway. There were T-shirts and sweatshirts. And we each got $330!”

Once she was done celebrating, Deyarmin remembered a life lesson her mother had instilled in her. “I always carry thank-you notes in my car because my mom taught me to always write a thank-you note if someone does something nice for me,” she said.

“So about half an hour after we picked up the money, I just wrote a thank-you note from the three of us to [show manager Nardeen Henderson]. Then on Sunday, they called me over the loudspeaker and brought me to the ring and told me that since I split the money and wrote a nice thank-you, they wanted to give me the sportsmanship award,” Deyarmin said. “It was really awesome and so nice.”

Deyarmin posted on Facebook: “My reason for posting this is to thank the Middleburg Classic once again for everything. Thank you for treating us grooms so well. It means the world. Also thank you to Tracy White Brennan and Tom Brennan for randomly employing me to do what I love.”

The swag Deyarmin got to take home from the Middleburg Classic, including her plate for the sportsmanship award.

Deyarmin, 23, works for three different barns as a groom, splitting her time among whichever trainers need her the most at the moment. She works for Tom Brennan and Tony Workman at Winter Hill Farm, Tracy Brennan at her Vineyard Haven Farm (both in Virginia) and at Harmony Ridge Stables in Maryland where she showed as a junior. “I just hop around whenever anybody needs me,” she said.

“Working for the three barns that I do, they treat me like family. I like that I’ve created a bond with all of them—with three barns that’s a lot of people, but every time I show up, I feel like I’m part of the barn family. It’s very welcoming, and I love taking care of the horses and making sure they’re getting the best care they can,” she said.

Deyarmin, from Owings, Md., recently earned her master’s degree in clinical exercise physiology from James Madison University (Va.) after getting her undergraduate degree from Bridgewater College (Va.), where she rode on the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association team.

“I wanted to get my master’s to make sure I had something to fall back on,” she said. “I love the horse world, but it’s for in case the horse thing doesn’t work out. It’s such a hard industry and grooming is wonderful, but it’s not the most stable life. As much as I love it, I wanted to make sure I had the education to back me up as well.”

In between her studies, Deyarmin was always grooming on the weekends for the various barns, even when she was interning in cardiac rehabilitation.

Deyarmin grew up in Maryland riding, starting at a small local barn. “That’s where I learned my work ethic. I worked at the summer camps every summer and we were cleaning stalls, turning out, cleaning tack. We were doing everything. I boarded my horse there on self-care board, so every day after school I’d go and take care of him,” she said.

In her early teens, she sold her trail horse and her parents bought her a show horse, and Deyarmin moved to Harmony Ridge Stables with Rachel Agee and Sue Chambers so she could focus on the show ring. She showed Life Of Riley in the children’s hunter division at B-rated shows around Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Kayla Deyarmin showing Life Of Riley. Photo by Mary Sullivan Photography

“We were pretty successful. I brought him to college with me and we did one year of the adults,” she said. “When I turned 18, all the bills were my responsibility, so I leased him out for five years. And now he’s retired. After that, I just ride whoever I can. If a horse needed to just walk/trot when they were rehabbing or that kind of thing, I’d get to do that.

“My goal eventually will be to get myself a young horse to train to do the adults, but I don’t have the money at all now. I go to some schooling shows when I’m not grooming, but usually when I’m showing I’m also grooming for my barn at home. So I run to the ring and show, and then run back and take care of the horses,” Deyarmin said.

Deyarmin, who is engaged to be married, isn’t sure where life is going to take her from here. “I’m kind of just living life right now. I do teach some walk/trot lessons now, so I’m not an amateur anymore. I’d love to maybe get into the management side of horse shows. I could do anything in the horse world, so I’m just seeing how it goes now,” she said.

This is an article in Groom Spotlight, a new series of groom profiles. Make sure to follow www.coth.com and like the Chronicle’s Facebook page to see them posted. If you know a fantastic groom you’d like to see appear in this series, email molly@coth.com.