Kate Samuels Equestrian

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Charlottesville, VA
Kate Samuels Equestrian

KSE is a full service equestrian operation based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Kate Samuels is an FEI 4* level Three Day Event rider.

05/05/2026

Adventures with Moon begin with exploring our natural environment to bond and build confidence as a team.

05/04/2026

I’m going to try to document Moon’s educational journey, because I feel that few things are more important in the life of a sport horse than the beginnings. So many issues under saddle can be avoided with thoughtful and patient interaction from the start. Come along with us as we play and learn!

06/20/2025

Welcome Lilibet! This lovely young mare is four years old and here to get started under saddle for the summer. She just arrived yesterday, and she’s settled right into the farm. Stay tuned for more adorable pony content!

03/15/2024

I am no longer of the opinion that OTTB’s or thoroughbreds in general just “have bad feet”. I think it’s high time we look past that stereotype and take more responsibility as horsemen for good trimming and proper hoof care as we are building our equine athletes.

Bad farriery affects the whole horse. Their muscular-skeletal system is based on these relatively tiny toes, so even small imbalances can have a big effect on the development of their entire bodies. Chronic pain on one foot could lead to a bigger, more serious injury on the other leg, or just really improper and unbalanced muscle development.

Lots of horses do their jobs with really poor trimming and shoeing, but should they have to? If this much change can be made in a little over four months, it gives me a lot of optimism for the future of this horse, but also some sadness that he had to perform with the previous situation.

Many thanks to Elliott Jennings for helping me develop a plan to rehab these feet, and showing me how to make a real positive change.

01/30/2024

No words necessary for this little glow-update:

01/13/2024

Here’s the thing about that recent video of Katie Prudent teaching a group of young riders: the way you react to the video tells me a lot about how you view the world.

Is it entirely possible to be very successful within your chosen sport/career while utilizing fear, punishment, and ego-driven, obedience-based methods? Absolutely. Many of the world’s top achievers in sport and business do this. It’s well known that psychopathy thrives in the executive branches across all different realms.

The question is not to do with Katie’s expertise within the field but the way in which she talks disparagingly about both horses and riders in this lesson. “Horses need a good licking” “I would flip him over backwards before letting him turn” etc. I won’t even get into the way she talked to the riders, because my expertise is with the horse side.

This tells me that her training methods are based in fear, and the thing about fear is that it only goes one way. Respect, on the other hand, in order to be real, has to go both ways. I don’t care if your relationship is within your species or inter-species, the knowledge of pain and punishment as the probable outcome to getting an answer wrong is not the way to build respect.

Kindness matters. It is also entirely possible to train horses with humility, care, and empathy, and achieve your riding and competitive goals at the same time. So why do we just say that the ends justify the means when it comes to high level professionals like this?

Anger is just ignorance in disguise, because something happened that makes you uncomfortable, and when you delve further into why it makes you feel that way, you’ll find the why. Why is my horse doing that? Why isn’t my horse doing this? Ripping his face off, or giving him a good licking prevents you from finding out the why, because you skipped that introspective moment of why it made you angry in the first place.

Why does the idea of another being “disobeying” make us so uncomfortable? Why do we require obedience at all times in the first place? Why do we think we inherently deserve it?

The perpetuation of this notion of “man’s dominion over beasts” with dominance and submission as the main tenets is absurd in this day and age. We have an explosion of science that proves horses to be far more intelligent, sensitive, and capable of complex emotions and feelings than we ever thought possible. Ignoring this is just intellectually lazy, and professionally embarrassing.

01/05/2024

Horses Are Possibilities

These photos are a month apart. Would you buy the first horse? How about the second?

The first photo features tense muscle patterns, a gait that looks like it covers about as much ground as a sewing machine, and an unhappy facial expression.

The work between the two? A few weeks of groundwork, at the walk. No riding. Bodywork, better farrier attention, and biomechanically correct training.

Maybe I’m delusionally confident in my own abilities as a horse-woman, or maybe I’m just addicted to projects and proving everybody wrong. Perhaps I’m just willing to put in the work when others see a culdesac, because I see a path.

This horse will never move like Valegro, but guess what? Most of us will never ride like Charlotte, and almost none of us really want to or need to ride a horse like Valegro.

However, he can always be a better version of himself, and one can only see his true potential when he is given a chance. It’s always, always, ALWAYS worth the trouble to care enough to hold yourself, your training, and your care and management to the highest standard.

01/03/2024

It’s very fun for me to work with Hank as he progresses this winter, he’s quite remarkable in his ability to be vulnerable and let you “in” while also being a right tough old boy for so many years.

We have been playing with lots of postural work on the ground, really just about 20 minutes a day of walking around the ring focusing on maintaining a neutral spine and relaxation through the thoracic sling while practicing walk-halt transitions, bending around turns, and stepping over poles. It’s a lot harder than you think to do this work correctly!

A lot of this early work might look like watching paint dry to the outsider, but it’s super nice to see him give these big releases multiple times during each session as he learns to swing through his whole body and let go of some long-term tension!

12/20/2023

An update on my newest project! Hank gets to be part of my bodywork and bio mechanical rehabilitation curiosity, as I try to rewire his body for a different job, better self-carriage, and long-term soundness.

He’s been doing groundwork, stretches, pole exercises, and liberty work in the ring, all while encouraging softness through his body and, perhaps most importantly for most OTTB’s, doing so without bracing his brachiocephalic muscles!

Also, he very much enjoys self-adjusting on my knockoff balance pads. You can see how much engagement this encourages from all the muscles in the area of the thoracic sling, which we are trying to re-ignite so it can open up instead of being jammed into the ground all the time.

Being a racehorse for years is an incredibly demanding job, and helping them change takes a long time! But little things like this go a long way. Okay, nerd time over!!

12/15/2023

Turkey moonlights as a hunter dream horse ⬇️⬇️

Address

3435 Ridge Road
Charlottesville, VA
22901

Telephone

+14349815812

Website

http://www.katesamuels.com/

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