North Hills horse-riding community mourns decorated teen killed in Christmas weekend crash

At 18, Taylor Orlowski stood just 5 feet tall and weighed no more than 98 pounds, her sandy blonde hair falling on petite shoulders.

Those who survive her in the tight-knit horse-riding community of Pittsburgh’s North Hills, however, remember the Beaver County teen as a giant in their extended family.

Dolores de Jong, whose two daughters rode horses alongside the Baden teen, said Orlowski felt like a third daughter to her.

Charly Dobosh, a fellow horse-rider and Mars girl who is seven years Orlowski’s junior, called her “a big sister” and role model.

“She was a nice, hard-working kid and she was very, very talented as a rider. Anybody who knows horses could tell,” said Katie Rosinski, 43, of Marshall, a family law attorney whose daughters Reese, 11, and Erin, 9, were mentored by Orlowski, a nationally ranked equestrian.

“Her body position and how she rode was just beautiful, and she had a lot of natural talent,” Rosinski said. “I think she understood the only way to keep getting better was to keep riding. And she took advantage of those opportunities.’

Orlowski was killed early Dec. 23 — two days before Christmas — after a speeding car in which she was riding with five passengers crashed at a McCandless intersection. Orlowski was cremated Saturday at an Ambridge funeral home, her family said.

Another passenger — Jonathan Tourney, 14, of Richland — also was killed in the one-vehicle crash. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet released a cause or manner of death for either victim.

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Police responded to the intersection of Babcock Boulevard and Irwin Street about 3:20 a.m. Dec. 23 and found six people inside the wrecked vehicle, Allegheny County Police spokesman Jim Madalinsky said. Two passengers were hospitalized, two others uninjured, Madalinsky said. Police believe the driver of the car was speeding and lost control, then struck a tree. Madalinsky said the driver was an 18-year-old man but did not name him.

County police are continuing to investigate.

Orlowski’s and Tourney’s families have said they don’t want to talk publicly about the crash.

Born Feb. 16, 2005, as the second child of Donald Orlowski and Heather McCandless, Taylor Orlowski carried into a third generation her family’s love of horses.

Her mother grew up riding horses — and a pony named Spanky — on the family’s 2-acre property in Independence, Beaver County. Orlowski’s grandfather, Randy, painted houses for a living but was better known for his work as a farrier, an equine specialist who shoes horses’ hooves.

After flirting with dance lessons, Orlowski started her horse-riding training at age 13 at Classic Equestrian Riding School in Economy, Beaver County. Her mother joked that it seemed, at the time, at odds with Orlowski’s “girly girl” attitude.

“She said one day she wanted the riding lessons, and we thought, ‘Oh, this is not going to take,’” laughed McCandless, 46, of Baden. “But it stuck.”

After early successes, Orlowski shifted almost three years ago to Houdini Farms. Her two horses — Lydell, a Belgian Warmblood horse, and Tom, a Westphalian horse — are stabled at the Clinton, Butler County facility.

McCandless and Orlowski, who attended high school classes online, started traveling extensively and competing with horses in places like Michigan, Kentucky and Maryland. Orlowski recently was named a “junior” category champion by the Western Pennsylvania Professional Horsemen’s Association, thanks to points accumulated from various competitions.

“Really, all the girls looked up to Taylor. They called her ‘Tay Tay,’” said Deana Dobosh, 53, of the Mars area, whose daughter, Charly, trains and tends to horses at Houdini Farms. “She was a role model there at the barn. All the girls just adored her.”

It was not uncommon for a half-dozen young riders to sit in on sessions and watch Orlowski train — just to pick up tips, Dobosh said.

“Taylor was always so good with the kids,” said Lindsey Wrigley, 41, of Cranberry, a North Allegheny High School teacher whose daughter, Maddison, 10, has two ponies stabled at Houdini Farms. “They’d run in to the open barn, and she’d meet them all with a hug.”

Though warm with fellow riders, Orlowski was driven and dedicated to her work with the animals, Rosinski said.

Rosinski, herself a horse rider for more than 30 years, immediately thought of the young Orlowski when Rosinski bought a “young and inexperienced” pony named Rosie in January 2022.

“This was a very young, inexperienced pony — but they had a ton of potential,” said Rosinski, who starting stabling horses at Houdini Farms 17 years ago, before it was even bore the Houdini name. “We needed someone who was going to work well with them. And Taylor did that.”

Orlowski first competed with Rosie in December 2022 and immediately qualified for the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Pony Finals in Lexington, Ky. — no small feat, Rosinski said.

After just nine or 10 shows, the pair were ranked sixth nationally, Rosinski said. They took home top honors in their respective regional zone, which includes Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. Orlowski last competed with Rosie in mid-August.

“She was literally unbeatable by the end,” Rosinski said.

De Jong on Monday remembered the small details about Orlowski, who trained at Classic Equestrian with her daughters Mimi, 16, and Vicky, 15, both students at Sewickley Academy. Orlowski would send friendly text messages to Mimi and share photos of her horse.

“Taylor was special in the horse community not only due to her numerous riding achievements but due to her remarkable connection with horses and overall horsemanship,” de Jong said. “She loved and cared for her horses deeply, and that was evident when she was on horseback and on the ground.”

Orlowski aspired to turn her love of horse-riding into a career and talked about relocating to Florida, her mother said. Large horse-riding communities can be found in towns such as Ocala, Fla., and Wellington, Fla., which hosts the annual Winter Equestrian Festival.

In an interview with TribLive this week, McCandless talked about how close she had grown to her daughter as they traveled the country for national competitions.

“She was such a good kid. She was such a very good kid,” McCandless said. “It was so incredible, so incredible to be able to spent that much time with her. We weren’t just mother and daughter. We became best friends.”

When the two drove, McCandless remembered how her daughter would crank up the car stereo when she heard one of her favorite songs, “Fear and Friday’s” by country singer Zach Bryan.

One of the lines from a poem that starts that song continues to resonate with her: “I do not and will not fear tomorrow because I feel as though today has been enough.”

Rosinski summarizes Orlowski in another way — as “a light.”

“She was so special, so fun, so kind,” she said. “It was fun to talk to her and to hang out with her. And it was fun to watch her ride. I was looking forward to seeing where she was going. We just adored her at every level.

“But I’ll always think of her in one way: Outside. In the sunshine. With her horses.”