Photo By Eric Bartelt | After 39 years of dedicating themselves to managing Morgan Farm, coaching the U.S....... read more read more
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WEST POINT, N.Y. – After 39 years of dedicating themselves to managing Morgan Farm, coaching the U.S. Military Academy Cadet Equestrian Team, caring for the Army mules, helping build a world-class equestrian center and serving the West Point community in several different capacities, the husband-and-wife team of Peter and Sherry Cashman will soon drive off into the sunset of retirement to their new home in Aiken, South Carolina.
Recently, the Cashman’s were honored with a pewter plate, American Flag and a cadet saber from the Directorate of Cadet Activities and the Directorate of Morale, Welfare and Recreation, respectively, for their years of service to not only the cadets but the entire West Point community.
Peter officially retired on Oct. 31, although he will return one more time to help with the mules during the Army-Navy Game in Washington D.C., in December. Sherry will retire after this weekend’s cadet equestrian competition hosted by Marist College in Lagrangeville, New York, before they head off to South Carolina on Nov. 19.
Emotions hit firmly as the Cashman’s reflected on their 39-year trek where they were deeply intertwined into the community as they built a home and family here over that time. They moved here from Long Island in 1986, after spending years involved in Standardbred (Harness) racing to begin a new venture.
“The key was getting the opportunity to work with the cadets,” Peter said when he was offered the job to manage Morgan Farm in the mid-1980s. “When we first arrived here, this was supposed to be a stop gap for us coming out of the racing world. We both rode and trained racehorses for the first 20 years of our lives. After we had our first child, we were looking for something with more stability.”
Sherry’s father, who was an ex-New York City police officer, was looking for security work and looking through government job advertisements when he came across a job for manager of Morgan Farm at West Point and mentioned it to Peter.
Peter said as a “lark,” he applied with no thought he would get the job, and that was now 39 years ago.
Since then, he has run Morgan Farm, co-coached the cadet equestrian team with his wife, bordered horses for military families, ran a horse-riding lesson program for military and civilian families, and for the last 12 years, have been taking care of the Army mules who used to be housed by the West Point Veterinary Clinic before their responsibilities were passed to the Cashman’s.
Sherry also started and coached the equestrian team at James O’Neill High School in Highland Falls when their daughters went there, and Peter left coaching the West Point equestrian team five years ago to become the executive director of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA), the organization the team rides under, because the criteria for the position is that he couldn’t coach a team and Sherry then took over full coaching duties at that point.
For the Cashman’s, the experience has been amazing due to not only teaching the cadets the intricacies of equestrian riding, but the thousands of cadets they developed, mentored and cared for through four decades at the academy.
“We’ve had a phenomenal period of working with what I consider America’s finest, these cadets,” Peter explained. “We’ve been through their trials and tribulations and have had the great pleasure of having a lot of testimonies come back to us from the people who rode on the team about what it meant for them.”
Sherry said the cadets they have coached have “literally become family to us.”
“We’ve kept in touch with so many cadets, even as far back as when we first started in 1986,” Sherry stated. “We are still in touch with cadets who graduated that year.”
The first team captain they coached came back to visit them this past summer, and Peter coached one of the ’86 team members at the Equestrian National Championships – so the connections are still there.
This summer, the Cashman’s daughters astonished the couple with a retirement ceremony and more than a hundred former cadets came back from all over the country to honor and surprise them.
“It was a very nice thing to see these kids and realize that you make a difference in their lives,” Peter said with a crackle in his voice while emphasizing “kids” because they have all become his children.
Sherry added that “When you look back and you talk to them, you realize how much you’ve affected their lives in a positive way. I’m very proud of that.”
“Coaching is our priority and getting the cadets ready so we’re a competitive team, but still, we’re like an extended family,” Sherry further explained. “Many times, they would come in and ask, ‘Sherry, Peter, can I talk to you?’ Whether it’s something personal or academically, they knew our doors were always open for them, and that’s been very special.”
Over the years, they upgraded every aspect of the equestrian program from upgrading the horses the cadets use to the current state-of-the-art center, opened in April 2020, that allows the cadets to practice without the hinderance of the harsh elements.
Sherry calls the facility their “pride and joy,” while Peter said they worked 30 years to get it built.
“We were the ones who did the designing (of the facility) … it’s just been a world of change,” Peter said. “We used to ride outside at the lower barn below in February, and I would go outside at 4:15 a.m. with my tractor and chop the ice.
“We’d get about a half an hour (of practice) in before it froze again,” he added. “Now, we have this $60,000 footing that never needs water and it’s dust free. The quality of the conditions for the cadets – their horses and their facility – besides working with the cadets, those are our two greatest accomplishments here.”
Peter and Sherry gave thanks to the West Point Association of Graduates for their donation to building the facility, a fundraiser led by a former team member Mike White, USMA Class of 1982. And now, the married couple of 41 years will give the reigns to Betsy and Kevin Price to take care of the farm, facility, horses and team.
While they are leaving West Point, they are not leaving behind their lifelong passion for horses as they will house a handful of them at their new farm in South Carolina. So, they will continue to tend to their “24/7 lifestyle job” even in retirement.
In reflecting on their time here, it is emotional for Sherry and Peter in leaving a community they put their “heart and soul” into the last 39 years.
“The team, community, people at DCA, MWR, DPW, who have been a blessing to work with – we’ve made a lot of different friends here,” Sherry said. “We’ve been very blessed and fortunate to have so many connections.”
Peter said it’s been a “great ride” to the point where Peter and Sherry got tattoos of their house key, the same keys they’ve had living on West Point for 39 years, as their children, who also got tattoos, wanted to have that memory of growing up in the home. But it is more than just the tattoos and memories, it has been the experience of working with the people they helped grow into adults but also helped changed their lives in the process.
“In its totality, it’s been a phenomenal journey, and we’re very grateful for the opportunity that West Point, the cadets and the people that we’ve dealt with have given us,” Peter concluded. “We can’t say enough about what this experience has meant to us. It’s changed our lives and given us opportunities that we probably would have never had in other circumstances. We’re not rich, but we’re rich where it matters – in the matters of the heart.”
| Date Taken: | 11.14.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.14.2024 15:43 |
| Story ID: | 485327 |
| Location: | WEST POINT, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 26 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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