August/Septemer 2026 Issue

By Lois Szymanski At first glance, Kirsten Moore might seem like a throwback: a horsewoman shaped not by one discipline, but by many. Yet at 34, she represents something decidedly modern—a return to broad horsemanship grounded in curiosity, practiced skill and attention to the individual horse. Moore is a trainer, performer, trick rider and farrier whose experience spans classical dressage, driving, liberty work, Ro- man riding, recreational vaulting, breeding, young-horse devel- opment, warmblood handling and showing, and farriery. She has driven Friesians, ridden Andalusians, managed a Gypsy Vanner breeding farm, started young warmbloods and shown foals as well as presenting them inspections. Alongside that work, she teaches, performs and maintains an equine art prac- tice encompassing painting, sculpture, woodcarving, beadwork and horsehair braiding. The pursuits may seem disparate, but together they form the architecture of a modern equestrian renaissance. The range is unusual; the philosophy behind it is consistent. Her work draws on mind, body and spirit: the the- ory required to understand a horse, the physical skill to com- municate clearly, and the intuition to recognize when a horse is ready to trust. If Moore’s instinct with horses seems innate, the breadth of her horsemanship was forged along the path she began early and spent a lifetime of work creating—one horse, one discipline and one hard-won lesson at a time. She began riding at about 9. A year later, her parents bought her a horse, and by 11 she was charging friends $5 for lessons. After reading Walter Farley’s “The Black Stallion,” she became determined to own an Arabian. At 14, she bought one who test- ed that ambition. “He threw me off, skinned off the top of my foot and gave me a concussion, but not enough to stop me,” she said. “I would pre- The Making of a Renaissance Horsewoman In a world of specialists, Kirsten Moore brings mind, body and spirit together across disciplines—the knowledge to understand the horse, the physical skill to communicate clearly and the intuition to earn its trust. Continued on page 12