48 SIDELINES AUGUST 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
do something like that while I’m carrying a child.”
Much to Kim’s disappointment, the fear didn’t subside after the
birth of their daughter, Andrea. Because of her husband Jack’s
job, they moved to Ireland when her daughter was 3 months old.
Jack also rode and they arranged to ride together at a nearby
stable. “Once they found out we could ride, the only horses they
gave us were young horses that had issues,” Kim remembered.
“We joined the hunt there and I was terrified, but once I’d get out
there, it would be OK. It was just the first few fences because I
was on young horses I didn’t really know. I was moving through
the fear each ride but it was still coming up every single time.”
After a bad fall followed by an illness and her baby daughter’s
bout with spinal meningitis, Kim went home to her parents. As
she healed mentally and physically, she rode her mother’s gentle
horse, determined to teach herself to jump again. After her return
to Ireland, she started riding again slowly, first on large ponies
before she began to ride the big gray gelding that she would later
name The Gray Goose.
The Gray Goose
Kim’s driving passion was to get on the U.S. Eventing Team.
Every horse she considered was with that goal in mind. In those
days, the cross-country phase was the most determining factor
so a very fast horse was necessary. Kim knew The Gray Goose
was fast because he regularly bolted with her and she had wind
tears from going so fast. The ability to jump great heights wasn’t a
problem for Gray either because there was absolutely nothing that
would hold him in when he wanted out. His dressage ability was
evident as he moved elegantly out in the field. Kim felt that she
could learn to ride him correctly, so she and Jack agreed that Gray
was worth bringing back with them to the U.S. in 1976.
Kim started in the novice division at a competition in northern
Virginia that fall, and Gray was his usual self, bolting with her on
the cross-country. The smaller jumps weren’t enough to even
slow him down. Kim laughed, “We ran a jump judge up a tree, as
I recall. He was really out of control.” She still decided to move up
to Training Level although his dressage left much to be desired.
During the 1970s, dressage was considered by many event riders
to be something to just get through in order to do the fun stuff,
which was the cross-country.
“We had to travel at least 4 hours everywhere we went, if not
more,” Kim said. “As Gray came up the ranks, we’d go to Georgia
and Maryland, and sometimes even further north than Maryland to
compete.” Kim’s son Brian was born as Gray moved up between
Training and Preliminary levels. “Brian came early so I didn’t miss
any of the fall season,” Kim said. “I just brought myself back again
with the jumping.”
She worked out a plan that continued even after she and Gray
were on the team. “Every spring I’d go to the Morven Park com-
petition [at the start of the spring season] and we’d ride Hors Con-
course” — not competing, only to be judged — “in Preliminary and
that would get rid of our fear, and we’d be fine for that year. Jack
understood that the expense was very important to get us both set
up for the season.”
At home, Kim got creative in order to ride with a toddler. She set
up a playpen under a tree and placed netting over the top to keep
out the flies, and rode nearby. They took a pram on cross-country
walks, and Kim nursed the baby between phases of the competi-
tions. She explains, “I was driven, this came from the inside. I just
had to do this. It was tough, but we all made it work!
“I’ll always be grateful for Jack’s encouragement. If he hadn’t
supported me financially and emotionally, I wouldn’t have made
it,” Kim said, explaining the overwhelming support she received,
even from Jack’s employer. “When I was competing at Blue Ridge
in Virginia, his company paid for him to be on the Concorde so
that he could be there in time for my cross-country. His company
would plan their meetings around my competition schedule.” She
added that even the little Connecticut town where they lived had
fundraisers for times when the team didn’t pay for their trips out
of the country.
The World Champion-
ships
While juggling the re-
sponsibilities of a young
family with her husband
often traveling, her strong
will to succeed was chal-
lenged in different ways.
Kim recalled a time during
the Rolex selection trial for
the World Championships.
“When I was in the vet box
Continued on page 50
Competing in the 1984 Ledyard Olympic Selection Trials. “Gray
LOVED to leave off a long spot over the widest jump on the
course. Truly, it was like flying!” Kim said.
Photo courtesy of Kim Walnes
Gray and Kim jumping
the Lexington Bank
during the filming of the
movie, Sylvester. “The
movie was shot during
the summer of 1984,
and I was asked to
do the double work
for Melissa Gilbert for
the filming done at the
Kentucky Horse Park,”
Kim said. “Wherever
you don’t see Melissa’s
face, it’s me. Gray did
all the shots where the
cameraman hid inside
the jump and filmed the
horse going over. Gray
was so careful in those
instances!”
Photo by Mary Phelps
Rolex, 1985. “This is one
of my favorite dressage
photos taken of us,” Kim
said.
Photo by Margaret Kaiser
