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SIDELINESMAGAZINE | June 2026
iding is more than a sport—it’s a way of
life. This is the foundation that Cavallo
Farms is built upon. For founders Amy
Center and Janet Cawley, that way of life has
always included something rather rare in the
horse industry—a friendship that has lasted
more than 40 years and formed the foundation
of the business they built together.
BARN RATS WITH BIG DREAMS
Amy didn’t come from a show-ring dynasty.
She was 9 when she first started riding at summer
camp, and like a lot of horse-loving little girls, she
was hooked. “I was that normal little girl who just
wanted to ride,” Amy recalled with a laugh. “My
HUNTER-JUMPER
dad bought me a racetrack pony horse thinking it
would be the safest thing. He was an Appaloosa
and came with his own Western tack. I stuck that
out for a short while, but I basically taught myself
how to jump in that Western saddle because I
wanted to be a show jumper.”
Eventually, there were English lessons, and
with them, doors began to open. Amy caught
rides on anything she could swing a leg over
and, thanks to a bit of luck and a lot of try,
ended up with a 3-year-old who grew into an
impressive Junior jumper. “I would love to say he
was so good because I’m such an amazing rider,
but it was pure luck and a very talented and
willing horse,” Amy said.
Her family moved constantly; she changed
schools every year from fifth through 11th
grade, riding with different trainers all over the
Southeast. By her junior year of high school,
they landed in Winter Park, Florida. Her dad
picked a barn, moved her horse there and
unknowingly set the rest of her life in motion.
“That’s where I met Janet,” Amy said. “She was
three years younger than I was but at the barn,
age doesn’t really matter. We were the barn rats.
If the trailer didn’t get packed, it was because we
hadn’t done it. We lived and breathed it.”
They traveled to shows up and down the
East Coast together, the kind of teenagers who
would rather scrub water buckets than go to the
Amy Center at Cavallo Farms.
AMY
CENTER
The Business of
Friendship and Horses
By Tori Kistler • Portraits by Becky Henderson