Portraits by Kelly Mudd
Oprah Winfrey said, “Your true passion should feel like breathing; it’s that natural.” At age 4, Ashleigh Kloppman was fortunate to find her passion when her mother signed Ashleigh and her sister, Megan, up for horseback riding lessons.
“It was supposed to be a fun activity for Megan and me to do. We quickly fell in love with it and after some time, my mom, Jennifer, started taking lessons as well. Even though my family had little to no knowledge of horses, we ended up purchasing a horse, Prince, early on,” Ashleigh said. “That’s how the journey began for everyone.”
A year later, the family bought a second Quarter Horse, Treasure, that Megan mainly rode while Ashleigh took the reins on Prince. “Throughout the years, my mom, sister and I would ride together and began showing. For the first few years, we did Western, but then we transitioned to English and low-level hunters,” she said.
Having a shared passion with her mom and sister has helped Ashleigh navigate the ups and downs that come with loving, riding and owning horses—but it hasn’t been easy. Two riding accidents and several injuries to her heart-horse hopeful have threatened the dream. Time and time again, Ashleigh has proven that horse girls are resilient and will never stray too far from the horse world they love.
Growing up, Ashleigh was the definition of a “barn rat” and proud to be one. Whenever Ashleigh wasn’t in school, she begged her mom to take her out to the barn. “I was at the barn seven days a week and spent several hours there each day. The more time I could spend at the barn, the better. I didn’t mind getting dirty—I cleaned stalls, played in the dirt and jumped jumps in the arena on foot,” she said. “I was the definition of ‘crazy horse girl’ as a kid.”
Thankfully, since the whole family got the horse bug at the same time, Ashleigh’s love for the sport and the animals was supported from day one. “We’ve made so many memories inside and outside of the ring. It has created such a strong bond amongst us,” Ashleigh said.
With a Quarter Horse, rather than a pony, Ashleigh had a different start to the hunter world than most of her counterparts. While other girls her age were competing on their ponies, Ashleigh was learning the hunter ropes on her Western-trained partner, Prince.
“Together, we navigated our new discipline and spent hours trying to learn about our new hunter world. I’m extremely competitive, so by the time I was 11, Prince and I were competing in the Short Stirrup and Pleasure Horse classes. He was never the fanciest horse, but he was consistent as the day was long and always gave 110%,” she said.
The duo spent their time showing on the Virginia Horse Shows Association (VHSA) local circuit where they won the Short Stirrup and Pleasure Horse titles at the VHSA Associate Finals show in 2013.
When the time came for Ashleigh to move on from Prince, she began leasing a 17-hand warmblood and eventually joined her school’s IEA team. “Prince’s jumping abilities maxed out at about 2’ and my family never felt it was fair to push him past what he was comfortable doing. My leased horse, Suspense, took me from showing in the 2’6” divisions to the 3’3” divisions,” Ashleigh said.
Shortly before heading off to college, Ashleigh had two freak accidents that bruised her confidence and made her question her future as an equestrian. During her junior year of high school while having a lesson at home, Ashleigh’s horse tripped after a jump, went completely down and left Ashleigh with a broken shoulder.
After her bone healed and her doctor cleared her for riding, Ashleigh got back in the saddle. “Although nervous, I wanted to make the most of my last Junior year before aging out and going to college,” she said.
Fast forward to spring, a few months before her freshman year at High Point University. Ashleigh’s lease on Suspense had ended and she began riding a very green horse at the farm to get some saddle time. Cue another freak accident, this time at the first horse show she took the horse to. “The horse got his leg caught in the rail while jumping and went down to his knees on the backside of the jump. I went over his neck and ended up under him. Somehow, the reins got caught around my neck and I ended up getting drug around the arena by my neck until the horse stopped. I was able to jump up and get myself detached,” Ashleigh said.
Thankfully, Ashleigh walked away with “only” a concussion. However, that incident caused her to take a break from riding. “I always knew anything could happen when riding horses, but having two unpreventable, freak accidents really messed with my confidence and love for the sport,” she said.
Since her concussion forced her to the sidelines and college was on the horizon, Ashleigh decided to use that time to shift her focus to other pursuits. This break almost caused Ashleigh to opt out of trying for the High Point University Equestrian Team. “Ultimately, I decided I should stick to my plan and try out for the team. My first time getting back in the saddle after my accident was to try out for the High Point University team,” Ashleigh said. “Although I was on the team, I no longer had the spark for riding and wasn’t overly involved starting out.”
The draw of being around like-minded horse girls and a supportive coach, Cathy Schlaeppi, eventually helped Ashleigh reignite her spark for horses. “The team ended up being a great experience. It gave me an outlet to enjoy horses and meet people outside of everyday life on campus. If days got stressful, I could always drive out to the barn and get some horse therapy,” she said. “I enjoyed the team being at the club level because it wasn’t overly demanding and I could make what I wanted out of the experience.”
While in college, one of Ashleigh’s good friends at her summer internship was a fellow horse girl who had started a side business buying and selling horses. When they finished work for the day, Ashleigh and Paige went into full horse-girl mode. “I’d hang out with her and hop on some of the horses she had. I didn’t necessarily get the ‘horse bug’ at that time, but I saw how it was a fun way to get back into the saddle,” Ashleigh said. “While Prince was always available to ride, it just wasn’t as exciting as this opportunity.”
Eventually Paige convinced Ashleigh to try to flip a horse on her own. Once her parents bought into the crazy idea, Ashleigh put the flipping plan into motion. “If I’m being honest, I never thought we’d actually end up buying a horse and going through with the idea of flipping a horse, but somehow it came to fruition,” she said.
While she began her search in earnest on Facebook, Ashleigh thought buying something off the internet could be risky. As fate would have it, during the search, Ashleigh’s vet, Dr. Maurice Casey, came out to look at Prince and Jennifer mentioned they were looking for a horse to train and sell while Ashleigh was home for the summer. “Dr. Casey breeds racehorses and had just gotten Millie—aka Case In Point—back from the racetrack. She was bred great but didn’t have the heart to race anymore, and his plan was to breed her himself. He told us that she had a great brain and temperament and could be a good candidate for us to look at,” Ashleigh said.
A few days later, Ashleigh found herself looking at a chestnut Thoroughbred mare. With the ‘chestnut mare beware’ mantra in mind, Ashleigh thought there was no way she’d get attached to Millie. However, Millie’s sweet temperament helped ease those preconceived notions. Dr. Casey suggested that Ashleigh take Millie home for a few weeks to try her and see if it worked out. If having a freshly off-the-track Thoroughbred proved to be too much, having the option to return her gave Ashleigh the courage to proceed in her horse-flipping venture.
“Once we got her home, everything I imagined an OTTB straight off the track would be wasn’t my experience at all. She wasn’t spooky, hot or dangerous. Of course, at only 4 years old, she was green and wiggly, but she tried hard and was always a good citizen,” Ashleigh said.
After discovering Millie was one of the most trustworthy horses she’d saddled up and by far the sweetest horse she’d ever met, Ashleigh kept trying to convince herself that Millie wasn’t going to be her forever horse. “Before I left for college, without advertising her, two people offered to buy her but I told my parents I thought we should see what else Millie could do. I think her personality is what really allowed Millie to sneak into our hearts,” she said.
Ashleigh ended up taking Millie to college with her for her senior year. It was during this time that Ashleigh knew Millie wasn’t going anywhere. “We had already been on such a journey together learning the ropes and I felt like we were very bonded in a short amount of time. She gave me a sense of security in the saddle that helped me regain my confidence after my accidents. In the three years that I’ve had her, she’s never once given me a reason to worry when she’s under saddle,” Ashleigh said.
As Millie progressed in her flatwork, Ashleigh started thinking she might have potential in the show ring. “Riding Millie has always been about having fun together and seeing where the journey took us with no expectations,” she said.
Millie and Ashleigh were just embarking on their show lives together when they were dealt some unlucky cards after competing at HITS Culpeper in July 2024. After noticing Millie wasn’t quite right, Ashleigh had the vet out and they found a very mild suspensory strain.
After three months of rehab and a completely clean UTC scan, Millie was cleared to go back to work. Excited to get back to showing, Ashleigh happily loaded up Millie to make the move from her rehab barn to a new training facility.
That excitement and hope for the future was quickly squashed when Millie got in an altercation with what was supposed to be her new turnout buddy. While it looked like Millie had walked away with just a cut on her leg, it was still swollen several days after the incident.
“We then learned that she broke her splint bone in her hind right from being kicked. Completely devastated, we shipped her back to rehab and had another long road ahead of us,” Ashleigh said. “That injury took us out for the rest of the season as she was on stall rest and not able to be ridden for months.”
Always one to love the horse before the sport, Ashleigh shifted from focusing on saddle time to just being grateful to have a horse she could spend time with. “We spent many hours hand grazing, hand walking and grooming. In our many months of stall rest, I taught her a new trick: how to smile,” Ashleigh said.
With the all-clear to begin showing again, Ashleigh entered Millie in the Back From the Track Hack at the 2025 Upperville Colt and Horse Show. “I truly had no expectations. Millie hadn’t been off-property in nearly a year, and I know how overwhelming that show can be for horses. I was just ecstatic to be back at a show with her,” Ashleigh said.
During the many months of rehab, it was hard for Ashleigh to see a light at the end of the tunnel. That first Tuesday in June, when Millie walked into the ring, she knew it was time to shine. She didn’t just shine, she outshined the other OTTBs and walked away with a blue ribbon.
“Even if we hadn’t gotten a ribbon, I was thrilled with how she felt and how she handled the class. Hearing our names being announced as first was a full-circle moment. It felt like the many tears and hours spent questioning what the future would hold were worth it and the universe was rewarding us,” Ashleigh said.
The duo continued their winning ways when they competed at HITS Culpeper a few weeks later. Millie hadn’t been jumping too much prior to showing at Culpeper, since her rehab had been focusing on flatwork. “Stepping back into the ring, knowing she was still green, I thought it was going to be a hot mess and back to square one. To my surprise, she went in there like a champ and came out with a clean sweep in our Pre Children’s/Adult division,” Ashleigh said.
What started as a short-term horse situation, with Millie intended to be a sales horse, has turned into a long-term journey with Ashleigh’s best equine friend. “Millie has continually exceeded my expectations. No matter what our future holds, she will always be part of my life,” she said. “If I could only walk around on trails with her for the rest of my life, I’d happily do so.”
Photos by Kelly Mudd, kmuddphotography.com
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