It can get a little lonely being a jumper rider in a three-day eventing enclave like Southern Pines. But Maryann Charles, who found her way to the Sandhills in the early 1980s, has all the company she needs in the talented jumpers she competes at venues all along the Eastern Seaboard.

Charles, who shares her farm just off May Street with her husband, Brad, and border terriers Skipper and Tucker, is the “go-to” trainer and professional rider for hunter/jumper owners and breeders in the area. Two weeks ago, Charles took home the grand prize in the $5,000 Thanksgiving Classic Mini Prix at the Carolina Horse Park with Stainless — also known as “Stanley” — an 8-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Laura Gaither of Southern Pines.

Born and raised in Valley Forge, Pa., Charles inherited her competitive drive from her father, Al Steiert, a breeder of high quality Warmblood sport horses. The elder Steiert, who was tragically killed in a fall on a young horse in Valley Forge Park in 1983, made sure his daughter knew her way around tough horses.

“If he saw you riding one that was easy to ride, he’d give you a look and say, ‘Why are you riding that one?’” Charles said fondly. “He was a special man. He was part horse.”

Q: What’s your earliest memory of riding?

A: I started riding when I was very little, so my earliest memory is of every kind of riding … foxhunting, horse shows. When I was 8, I was starting Welsh ponies for Mrs. Du Pont at Liseter Hall Farm. I had a fantastic 12-hand pony named Farnley Quellyn. He was a little white pony we bought at a sale for $250. I rode him in a lot of the Pennsylvania horse shows.

Q: Who encouraged you the most?

A: Without question, my dad, Al Steiert. He was the big guy. I used to get a little embarrassed when we went to horse shows because everything he did was a little unorthodox. But it worked. Our family had a broom business, and he hooked up a little trailer to collect the bristles from making the brooms and made shavings from them. He had automatic waterers before anybody. He had a stallion they used in a commercial once … they put him in a department store window and had him selling nail polish! A lot of this stuff I took for granted as a kid.

Q: And he was a successful breeder?

A: My dad was really instrumental in getting Warmbloods into the hunter world. In the 1960s he brought the stallion Abundance over from Germany. My dad did everything with that stallion, drove him, foxhunted him. We bred him to a thoroughbred mare and got Ruxton … he was a champion many times over and AHSA (American Horse Show Association) Horse of the Year (in 1977).

Q: You were a champion junior rider. What do you remember about the horses you rode back then?

A: Oh, goodness. I can’t even remember some of the horses I rode. But my junior years were huge. I would say a horse called You Watch … she was a horse from California a man wanted me to ride and was the nicest junior hunter I had. I did my medal at Harrisburg and was fourth in that with jodhpurs on. I had a bunch that were quirky, but I knew what I was doing, thanks to my dad.

Q: Besides your dad, who did you train with ?

A: In Valley Forge I trained with Debbie Buchanan. Through her I started riding with Jimmy Lee (a renowned trainer and owner of seven AHSA Grand Hunter Champions).

Q: Who has been your best horse?

A: I would say Bombay, a thoroughbred I had for some time. He did great for me. Maybe he wasn’t a big-time Grand Prix horse, but he had all the heart in the world. He had some personality. My most successful pro horse was Scot To Do. He won all the indoor shows and was Grand Hunter Champion at Madison Square Garden. He was a conformation pro.

Q: How did your partnership with Stanley evolve?

A: I’ve ridden for John and Shirley Gaither for a long time, starting out in the hunters a while back. They’ve been very successful at raising young horses that win quite a bit in the hunters. Lately, they’ve been breeding jumpers; the girls (daughters Christina and Laura) do all the groundwork and break them. This one (Stainless) came from Europe … he’s a cutie. He’s scopey and athletic, he’s careful, just a really neat horse. I really have fun with him. He’s just fun to have around.

Q: Living in Southern Pines, do you ever feel that jumpers take a backseat to eventing?

A: Yeah, sometimes I do. I don’t know why or how it happened, because for a while it looked like this was going to be a hot spot for jumpers. It was really nice for the Horse Park to put this on for us (the Thanksgiving Classic) because there really isn’t that much for us in the local area. It was great to have Harold (Chopping) and Hillary (Simpson) out there competing.

Q: If you could own any horse in history, who would it be?

A: I’d like to have one so broke and easy to ride that all I’d have to do is worry about the course! I guess maybe a horse like Sapphire … I’ve never ridden one that had already been there and done that. Right now I’m really just enjoying Stanley. It’s about more than just riding him. I organize my whole day around catching him in the field, getting the halter, getting the mints. He’s worth the trouble.