Our Team

At Cairn O'Mount Stables we have a strong focus on team. Susie works with each individual rider to set and reach achievable goals. We are proud of all of our students, whether their goal is to complete their first event or are focused to International competition.

Arezo Ghahremani Amin

My name is Arezo Ghahremani Amin. I’m in 7th grade, and I have been riding for 7 years. I have been riding at COM for 2 years. I love Cairn O’Mount because I am able to learn so much in a safe environment with amazing people. I have learned to have good sportsmanship and had the opportunity to learn more about being around horses. I love riding because it is a relaxing and graceful sport.

Amanda Beale Clement

My name is Amanda Beale Clement and I am currently obtaining my Masters Degree at Cabrini University. When my mom, Susie, found my first horse, Small Wonder, at the age of 11, I fell in love with fox hunting, then eventing and never looked back. In the Summer of 2014 my mom found Peter Pan, a 2003 Bay Thoroughbred. In 2015 Peter Pan and I competed at the North American Junior Young Rider Championship where we were part of the Area II Gold Medal Team.

In 2018 I acquired the ride on Carlson 119 owned by the Get Ready Syndicate LLC. In 2022, I finished off my year with a 5th place finish in the USEF CCI3-L National Championship at The Maryland 5*. After a very successful season, we were named onto the 2023 USEF E25 Emerging Athlete Training List. I ride with COM because it is more than just a stable. It is my second home. The place I have grown as a rider and a person. There is no other trainer who cares so much about her students and their success. I have big dreams of following in my mothers and grandfathers footsteps and hopefully competing at a 5*, as well as representing the United States on a team.

Mary D'Alonzo

Hi, I’m Mary D’Alonzo and I started riding at Cairn O’Mount 1.5 years ago. Though I had been riding for the majority of my life, i had stopped competing (showjumping) some time in my teens. I was content with riding “just to ride” and felt like it was unnecessary to dust off my show coat after more than a decade.
The saddle is my happy place but I was timid (ok, fine, petrified) when doing anything outside of my normal routine. I was a total “ring girl” and deviating from the safe zone would have been entirely too risky.
That mindset lasted exactly 1 week at Cairn O’Mount.
In 1.5 years, Susie has completely changed the trajectory of my riding career. She inspires me to grow as a rider and encourages me to believe I am capable. In 3 short months, I left the ring and loaded a trailer to my first event ever! Susie escorted me into the start box of x country and reminded me to breathe. She laughed when she met me at the finish and I screamed “that was the best time of my life!”. In just under a year from that day, I completed my first training. Although, I was still reminded to breathe, I sailed around all three phases and, again, had the best time of my life.
I sometime forget I didn’t always event and that I have only been doing this for a year. Everyone at the barn is like my family already and we are all so supportive of each other. I am so fortunate to be surrounded by such an amazing group of people and to have such wonderful guidance from Susie and Amanda.

Kelly O' Brien

My name is Kelly O'Brien and I have been riding with Susie and Cairn O'Mount just since this May. Although a competitive saddle seat competitor and Arabian horse owner through college, I had not seriously nor consistently ridden in 30 years. I could not have picked a better place to re-launch my equestrian endeavors. Susie has taken me from a very rusty rider who never really jumped to successfully competing at the Beginner Novice level, going to jumper shows (!!) and even dabbling in fox hunting. Susie's passion for teaching is tremendous and her abilities to communicate, correct, encourage and praise are spot on. Even more impressive is Susie's desire to make better horse people out of all of us, fostering an environment of continual equine education. I feel so very lucky to call Cairn O'Mount my horse family and be able to learn on some of the most amazing horses and from very accomplished and successful horse people.

Cynthia Sansone

Coming Soon...

Francie Schafer

My name is Francie Shafer, I’m an adult student of Susie’s currently based in NYC. I’ve grown up riding with Susie — from Saturday lessons after my youth travel soccer tournaments, to my first combined test, to eventing at the Training level — she has been an integral part of my development and growth, both as a rider and a person. She encourages active horsemanship and responsibility and is a supportive coach to all of her students.

The COM family are a wonderfully caring, generous, and kind team that have become great friends. After taking a 16 year hiatus from competing, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to get back to eventing. I was embraced by this community, welcomed down south to train in Aiken, and cheered on through the highs and lows of competitive sport.

Though I’ve spent most of my time recently riding Susie’s topnotch horses, B.E. Never Say Never (“Connor”) and B.E. Excalibur (“Calibe”), I’ve no doubt that when the time is right for me to buy a horse, Susie will be the best steward of that process.

It’s hard to put into words what Susie and Amanda have modeled and taught me, certainly: patience, resilience, integrity, and above all love and care of horses. I’m beyond grateful to them and the entire COM family for sharing the joy that horses give to us. The barn is my favorite place to be!

Vanessa Stoltzfus

My name is Vanessa Stoltzfus, I’m 24 years old and live in Philadelphia. I have been at Susie’s for 4 years with my 13 year old Irish Sport Horse, Teddy Sarco.
I came to Cairn O’Mount looking to do my first Preliminary and we’re now laying out the plan for my first 3*-L!
When my partnership with Teddy began, we were both at the Beginner Novice/Novice level and Susie has played a fundamental role in developing us into an upper level pair. She was the last person I saw before leaving the box at my first 2* and 3* and the first person I saw when I made it home through the flags.

Susie is really patient and understands the dynamic Teddy and I have where each step up the levels is new for both of us. Susie loves a good challenge, but she would never put anybody in a situation they were not adequately prepared for which I really value from her.

From the start, Susie has supported me outside of the arena just as much as much as she does inside the arena. Whether it’s getting Teddy to Bromont so I can take a final exam before my first FEI or coaching me through a hundred transitions at sunrise so I can make it in to work on time, Susie has always been there. Her commitment to me as her student strengthens my passion for training and the sport.

I can’t wait to see what 2023 holds for Cairn O’Mount!

Elizabeth Welker-Ebling

My name is Elizabeth Welker-Ebling and I’m in the 2023 graduating class at Villanova University majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Psychology. I own a 17.1hh grey Oldenburg mare named Santana II (Annie) and a 16.1hh bay Selle Lux gelding B.E. Calvados 12 (Calvin).

I’ve been riding at Cairn O’ Mount since October 2012, but only started eventing in the spring of 2015 and from then on, I was hooked. I have been extremely lucky to have ridden such amazing horses, including Batteries Not Included, the super pony who brought me into eventing, and Catchy Connection, the incredible mare who brought me from Beginner Novice to the 2*L level in two years. I have now had the privilege of riding and competing Annie for four years, and she is truly a one-in-a-million horse. After successes at the training, preliminary, 2*, and intermediate levels, this year we completed our first 3*S together and finished the year 7th at the CCI 3*S at Virginia Horse Trials. Calvin completed his first modified this spring, and we have been focusing on training and getting to know each other. He has been enjoying his break from competition and having fun foxhunting and going to various jumper shows.

The biggest lesson that I have learned while riding at Cairn O’ Mount is that every moment and everything you do counts. This is a sport of incredible highs and lows, and it is impossible to do without a strong support network and foundation to fall back on. My goal is always to be a better rider than I was the day before, and Susie makes that goal a reality. One day I aspire to complete a 5* and possibly represent the US on a team, and until then I will not stop trying to be my best and do my best. My whole life revolves around riding, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.