Originally from Bronxville, NY, Kristen Kissel Carollo’s first horse, Restless Magic, was a Thoroughbred from the racetrack in Saratoga Springs. At nineteen years old, Kristen was already running her family’s floral business with ten stores across Westchester when she inherited Restless from her mother. Although she had no prior horse experience, Kristen refused to sell the mare and found a home for Restless at Boulder Brook Stables in Scarsdale. There she met Jerry Carollo, a well-known trainer and professional rider who had originally founded Courtyard Farm in 1984.
Six years and seven hundred horse shows later, Kristen, Jerry, Restless, and their two sons, Nicky and Daniel, moved Courtyard Farm to their own property in Bedford Hills. In 2001, after losing Jerry tragically to a sudden illness, Kristen embarked upon her next milestone; the multimillion-dollar renovation of a condemned 31-acre horse facility in Bedford Hills. Today, Courtyard Farm is one of the few top-level riding facilities that has endured area’s the competitive market under Kristen’s exclusive ownership. Throughout the past nineteen years, she has brought along numerous riders from short stirrup to nationally-ranked horse shows up and down the East coast show circuit.