09/03/2026
A lot of people know Mr Justin and Mrs Kati as Instructors and Trainers. They see them in the arena, working around the farm, and with the horses/students. During September, our goal is to give you a chance to get to know a little more about them and the farm. This week, we start with Mrs Kati.
Meet Mrs Kati (An Unexpected Journey):
*In her own words:
I never intended to be a professional in the horse industry. I went to school for History and Education, spent my free time writing novels or playing instruments, and wrapped up early adulthood with multiple degrees, none of them in anything related to equestrian studies.
As an adolescent and through college, I was a gymnast, choreographer, and gymnastics coach. I spent a million hours in the gym and dedicated most of my time to perfecting my own skills and the skill sets of others through coaching.
Oddly, all through that time I loved horses. My parents gave up everything so I could pursue my gymnastics career, therefore I never tried to switch to horses. I knew the sacrifice my parents had made and the sacrifice I had also made to be a top performing athlete. There was no time or money to afford both. My path was set and I was not dissatisfied at all.
But still, always in the background of my heart: horses.
I watched every single movie that had a horse in it. I researched every single breed. As a kid, I had a hundred toy horses set up in my room. I think I read Misty of Chincoteague 50 times.
As college started to wrap up, my gymnastics career ended and I made a list of 100 things I had never done or experienced. I tried everything on the list except skiing because let’s face it - I am a wee bit clumsy and truly have no desire to ski… so I did 99 of the 100 things. I went ice skating, starting playing a few new instruments, traveled all across the world, consumed a bunch of new desserts, and even tried skateboarding (for about 10 minutes).
But the only thing on the list that I LOVED was horseback riding. So in my early twenties, I started taking one lesson a week for a few months. In less than 8 weeks I started showing. After that I bumped to two then quickly to three lessons a week. I showed a lot and loved it.
At this time I was a teacher and working on my masters. Money was tight so I went back to coaching gymnastics on top of teaching to supplement my new passion: riding.
Not long after that, I got my first Saddlebred. If I was not teaching school or coaching gymnastics, I was in the barn. I rode 6-7 times a week on any horse that was offered me and watched as many lessons as I could. I stayed all day during summer to watch training and helped with every piece of the farm that I could, even cleaning water troughs and fencing. I just loved being at the barn so much.
As time went on, I accomplished a few more degrees, was able to support riding/horses with my teacher’s salary and dedicated all my weekend and after school time to horses.
Then I started teaching lessons under my instructor. For free. Didn’t care at all if I got a dime, just wanted to be with the horses and wanted to share my passion with others. I loved it. I loved watching the barn grow. I loved watching kids experience their first trot, learn to post, feel the whiskers of school horses against their fingertips. And I adored my Trainer/Instructor. I loved every single minute of it.
That’s how I ended up being a professional. I was just a young adult who was going a whole different direction when her passion collided with what she had studied. I’m still a teacher. I still educate. I still use my Admin degrees to operate the farm. I’m not a school principal, but the parents joke when I ask to see them in the ring, “Ohhhhh, we’re getting called to the principal’s office!” I guess I’m just a collision of two worlds that perfectly mesh together.
While it was never my life goal to be a professional instructor or trainer, I’m here, and I’m happy. That young woman who led every horse she could while the instructor said, “up, up, up” as a rider tried to learn to post is now the instructor saying some of the same phrases. There is a new young person leading the horse who may one day be exactly who I was once; the girl who had no clue she’d end up the person in the middle of the ring helping introduce people to the greatest breed of horse that exists.
I am not a professional because my mother and father were. Justin and I did not inherit a farm. I did not become an instructor because I rode horses all my life and this was all I knew. No one pressured me into it. No one I grew up around inspired me to become it.
I became a professional instructor because I was supposed to. Call it fate or call it whatever you want to, but I worked my whole life to know how to do exactly what I’m doing now yet never planned to be who I am.
Every fall in gymnastics taught me how to teach others to get back up.
Every day I coached taught me how to manage a show team.
Every day in the classroom taught me how to work with different types of learners.
Every degree I went after (except foreign policy; I haven’t figured out how that one works in my life yet) taught me how to manage a horse farm.
Every day my real passion of horses was just a distant thrum in the background, the spark for it was just being protected for when it was the right time in my life to ignite it into a flame.
I used to wonder if I belonged in the industry. I had learning curves in parts of my life where others my age were years beyond me. Even after over a decade and at my age, I am the “odd man out” because I didn’t grow up with other instructors/trainers and foster lifelong friendships. My path is so different than most of my peers.
But the reality is I am so grateful for the different journey to this point. It has helped me tremendously in helping to build a very different program at Silvers Stables that would not have been conceivable without having taken a different path.
Justin and I want something different; a barn for all levels of riders, a barn where the successes and ribbons don’t overshadow the joys of the horse, a barn where the advanced riders help the new ones, and a barn where beginners are accepted as just as important as the staples of the industry.
Because beginners are very important. Every great was once a beginner after all. This instructor was once a beginner and now a whole barn exists where there wasn’t one before.
And one day, I hope a beginner (of any age) that I help get started ends up on a journey they never expected — and that one day they’re sitting in their own barn late at night writing a post that might inspire another beginner to come along and follow their passion.
