Greeley – As a child growing up in South Africa, Kate Gillespie of Fort Lupton was eager to show off her riding skills on a horse, even if it meant riding through the living room on her first pony.
“I used to ride my pony around the house and be a real brat with my pony. My mom used to chase me around all the time,” Gillespie said. “My pony used to sit down and sleep on the floor. We were just kind of crazy in those days. We weren’t real serious about it. We just learned how to ride and stay on.”
Gillespie is still showing off her riding skills, but these days in an arena.
She competes in the sport of eventing. During a recent weekend, she joined other top riders from the area for the Northern Colorado Horse Trials in west Greeley. Gillespie finished as reserve champion in the training championship division, and she finished seventh in the preliminary training division.
Eventing, an Olympic sport since 1912, is an equestrian triathlon with three phases that test the competitors’ skills in the ring, over fences and galloping through the countryside.
Gillespie started competing in eventing when she was in South Africa. She came to the U.S. five years ago to visit a friend and decided she wanted to live here. So she went home, picked up her dog and moved back to Colorado.
“I could further my career riding,” Gillespie said. “You get to a point in South Africa, and you really can’t get much further.”
She began her riding career at the age of 4 growing up in Umhlanga Rocks, a small beach town on the eastern coast of South Africa, where her mother owned a house with a couple of stables.
As Gillespie got older, she moved from riding around her house to galloping on the beaches in her hometown.
“I was always kind of a hooligan, riding through the sugar cane and jumping irrigation (ditches),” Gillespie said.
Eventually, she moved to Cape Town, where she became involved in eventing. But the opportunities to compete were limited, and the competition wasn’t as challenging as she wanted it to be, so when she had the chance to come to the U.S. and stay, she did.
At first, it wasn’t easy. The rules of the sport were different from South Africa, and she had to deal with the language barrier.
“A lot of people don’t understand what I am saying,” Gillespie said. “It took me a couple of years to figure out what to say and what not to say because we talk in a whole different way.”
With the help of her friend Shannon Peters, Gillespie thrived.
Peters helped Gillespie get a job at her ranch running her barn, and she helped Gillespie work out a payment plan on her first horse.
When Peters left for California, Gillespie partnered with real estate agent Kate Shepard to buy the K-2 Ranch in Fort Lupton.
Now, she owns two competition horses. Her 12-year-old Hessen is a German import named Black Diamond, who Gillespie sometimes calls “Big Daddy” because “he thinks he is kind of special.” Her other horse is a 6-year-old Danish thoroughbred crossbreed named Renegade Reno.
“They were both rehab horses that were kind of crazy and not very well mannered and just kind of a little lunatic. I just worked with them a little bit and they are doing real well,” Gillespie said.
Gillespie’s ultimate goal is to compete in the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, one of the world’s most prestigious equestrian events held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky.
“I will do Rolex before I die,” Gillespie said. “If I have to pay someone to ride their horse, I will do it. I have to do it.”
