By Veronica Green-Gott
Portraits by Melissa Fuller
Very few adults—let alone teenagers—get to win a brand new car. Kate Egan walked away from winning the 2023 WEC Premier Equitation Cup Championships with a brand new Ford Explorer XLT SUV, which she drove victoriously around the arena. Kate credits her family, her support system and her mental resilience with helping her achieve the win.
Unlike some riders, Kate doesn’t come from a horsey background. Her sister actually started riding first. But as soon as Kate got on a horse, she was hooked. “I started riding, and then I never got off a horse, essentially,” she said. 
She started training with Redfield Farm at the age of 8, with lesson horses, then partial leases and, before she knew it, she was full leasing. Kate was determined to put in the work to rise to the top of the sport. To get more time in the saddle, she started competing on their sales horses, which she credits with hugely improving her riding.
“I was able to gain experience in the equitation ring, in the hunter ring and in the jumper ring,” Kate said. “And that really, I think, helped improve me incredibly as a rider because I was getting triple if not four or five, six times the amount of riding in every day compared to if I was just riding the horse I was actually leasing.”
Thanks to the amount of riding she was doing, Kate began to slowly build a reputation and take on catch rides from people outside the barn. Despite all her hard work, she credits the COVID-19 pandemic with allowing her to take her career to the next level. When school became virtual, she had the opportunity to take a leap of faith and go to Florida for the winters.
“I kept doing school virtually and then I was able to ride seven or eight horses a day and really pursue my passion,” she said. “The one good thing about COVID was that I was really able to take off in my riding career.”
While many teens might take advantage of the freedom of living alone in Florida to shirk their education, Kate takes school seriously. When she’s not actively competing at horse shows, you can find her doing schoolwork between classes. Her classes aren’t easy, either, as she takes only AP or honors classes and is going to Texas A&M in the fall.
Florida Sunshine
Kate has been spending every winter in Florida since she was a freshman in high school. She’s now a senior and is in her last season as a Junior rider. Kate credits living by herself in Florida as making her more mature and disciplined for her age. “I honestly think that living in Florida really played a role in learning how to live independently and helped make me a more mature teenager,” she said. “I’ve learned how to balance school and riding and getting my laundry done and being disciplined to go to bed early.”
While Kate has made an attempt at the Premier Cup before, she wasn’t victorious until Ypaja Kashmir came along. Kashmir was the perfect horse for her senior year and her last shot at victory as a Junior rider. The 2013 chestnut gelding came to the barn in March 2022 after starting life in Europe. The original plan was for him to be a Junior/Amateur jumper, but they soon realized he was too slow. Kate got the ride and quickly turned him into a top equitation horse with help from trainers Emil Spadone and Luke Olsen.
“From the start, we were like, Oh my goodness, he has amazing potential,” Kate said. “So I started riding him more and then eventually we started leasing him in April of last year.”
Not only is the warmblood super talented, he’s also a barn favorite. “He is such a gentle horse,” she said. “He’s like a big teddy bear. And sometimes I don’t think he realizes how big of a horse he actually is. I feel like he’s this cute little pony in an 18-hand body.”
Because he had little experience with equitation, it was up to Kate to introduce him to all the new experiences the equitation ring had to offer. “I was bringing him to all of his first shows in the U.S., and his first equitation classes in the fall. That was his first indoors experience and he just completely surprised us in the best way possible.”
Kashmir rose to the challenge of the bigger atmosphere and crowds of indoor shows. And he didn’t just survive—he thrived. Knowing that she had something special, Kate spent the entire winter in Florida prepping for the Premier Cup Championships with Emil and Luke. “We were doing difficult courses. We were doing lots of no stirrups, we were really getting me and Kashmir to our peak as a pair.”
Being Mentally Prepared
Kate didn’t just prepare physically for the Premier Cup, she also worked hard on her mental game. “I started training with Nancy Dye’s Peak Performance Program,” Kate said. “She and I really worked on my emotional strength and getting me feeling my best inside.”
Nancy and Kate focused on not becoming triggered in stressful situations. Instead, Nancy taught Kate how to thrive under pressure. “I’ve learned to channel pressure to work for me,” Kate said. “There was clearly lots of pressure in that class that day, in the final test and everything. I just embrace it; I’m able to use that pressure to make me focus on exactly what I need to do to be able to have Kashmir and I perform our best.”
Kate is a strong believer that a big part of horseback riding is mental. “I think the mental side of the sport is extremely important to be able to win and achieve all of your goals.”
Her mental fortitude is definitely something to be admired, particularly for a teenager. Kate is a big believer in self-fulfilling prophecies and never lets herself focus on the negative and instead puts all her energy into believing in herself and Kashmir.
“You know, I could have made up the story to myself that I can’t make it in the riding world because of the money and everything,” Kate said. “But instead of telling myself that, I decided no, I’m going to be the best rider that I can be and I’m going to show up to the barn every day and ride as many horses as I can. And I’m going to put in that time and effort to train with a mental skills coach. And leave school for months on end to go down to Florida. And miss prom so I can go to Devon. It’s definitely a lifestyle. I think all the sacrifices I’ve made are just really so crucial to being in the position that I’m in today.”
When the time came to compete at the Premier Cup, Kate and Kashmir were confident and ready to shine. All of her hard work paid off. Despite the stiff competition and Olympic-style course, designed by Bobby Murphy, Kate and Kashmir came out victorious. “It was very fun, but definitely, it really tested your mental skills—it’s easy to crack under pressure in those situations because everyone wants that top spot.”
As well as winning the Premier Cup, Kate also earned the title of Nancy Dye’s International Junior Brand Ambassador for her Peak Performance Boot Camp.
The Dream Becomes a Reality
Despite a large and vocal crowd, Kashmir played his part perfectly. Kate credits a large part of her win to the big chestnut. “He was staying calm, staying himself and was really just that perfect partner during the test.”
The moment she found out she won was highly emotional. “Hearing them announce me as first was just a moment you want to cherish forever. And then getting the keys and driving around in my new car—it almost felt like a dream.”
Perhaps most important to Kate was her barn family waiting to congratulate her at the in gate. “Those moments are really not as special if you don’t have people there cheering you on. The people that are there with you are the ones who make it all possible.”
Throughout her journey, Kate had to rely on her support system: her Redfield Farm family, her trainer, Emil Spadone and Luke Olsen, and, of course, her parents. “I’m so thankful because really, without my parents supporting all this, it would not be possible,” she said. “And without the support from my farm and their endless dedication, none of this would be possible. It isn’t just one person who makes this happen. It takes a village.”
Kate has big dreams for her future. While she’s going to take a short break to rest up for more shows over the summer, she also said she would be proud to one day represent Team USA on a global stage. As for her academics, Kate will be off to college at Texas A&M in the fall, as well as competing on their Division I equestrian team.
However, the horse show world hasn’t seen the last of her and her right-hand-man, Kashmir, yet. While they’re planning on competing at Devon over the summer, Kate also has big plans for another indoor season in the fall with her trusted partner. “I’m super confident that even though I’m not going to be with Kashmir the entire fall because I’ll be at school for parts of it, we’re going to pick up right where we left off every time we compete.”
Follow Kate on Instagram @kate_egan
Photos by Melissa Fuller, melissafullerphotography33.mypixieset.com
