Just when Kaitlin Spurlock was at her most broken, a stubborn chestnut mare saved her.

Spurlock, 23, had known Expedience for a number of years before she bought her in 2009. But a tragic accident with another horse shook Spurlock to her core soon after they joined forces. It was up to the feisty off-the-track Thoroughbred mare to make Spurlock love the sport of eventing again.

Spurlock first met “Spedy” when Spurlock was 14. Melissa Hunsberger, who purchased Expedience (Aye’s Turn—Promenador) as a 3-year-old from the track at Charles Town, W.Va., had just taken the mare to her first one-star and wanted Spurlock to buy her. While Spurlock had grown up riding with Hunsberger and knew Spedy well, she wasn’t initially impressed with the mare, and she passed up the opportunity to purchase her.

“I’ve always idolized Melissa, but Spedy gave her a fair bit of trouble!” said Spurlock. “She stopped a bit as a young horse and never had any love for dressage. So even as a kid I had a vague impression of Spedy as an underdog. I don’t think Spedy would have made it to the top of the sport with anybody but Melissa, honestly. Anybody else would have given up on her, but Melissa and Spedy were the perfect match.” 

In the meantime, Spurlock had Baseline, or “Bates,” a New Zealand Thoroughbred.

Hunsberger kept telling Spurlock that Spedy would suit her. “But like I said, Spedy never gave me a ‘wow’ feeling. I was a bit of a snob about her, honestly,” Spurlock recalled.

“I had [Baseline], who was absolutely neurotic, but we had the best connection. He is still the best feeling over a jump I’ve had, and I was sure that he was going to be my special horse. But I let my ambition get the best of me and moved him up the levels a bit too quickly. So we had both lost a little confidence, and that’s when my mom began echoing Melissa’s sentiments,” Spurlock said.

By that time, Hunsberger had developed Spedy into a confirmed three-star horse, having jumped clean around the Jersey Fresh (N.J.) and Fair Hill (Md.) CCI***s in 2007.

“Originally the plan was just to have her as a sort of a second string, to give me some mileage. I bought her without really trying her, since I knew her and Melissa so well. I went to pick her up, and Melissa gave me a jump lesson. I’m not sure what Melissa thought, but I thought maybe I had made a terrible mistake! I couldn’t ride her to save my life, but she was mine, so I hoped I’d figure it out,” said Spurlock.

She doesn’t like to talk much about what happened next. She still mourns the loss of Bates, who suffered an injury while cross-country schooling and had to be euthanized a week after she purchased Spedy in 2009.

“I don’t think I can put into words how much this absolutely broke me,” said Spurlock. “I love my horses, and to know that I did something that killed my best friend just absolutely shattered me. The pain I still feel is very personal.

“I remember that first day Melissa came to see me. She took me down to the barn to see Spedy and told me that Spedy would get me through this. I didn’t believe her. I didn’t think that I deserved to,” Spurlock continued. “I thought about giving up riding, but that only lasted for a day. I didn’t really know what I was going to do with Sped, but I had promised Melissa that I would give her a forever home. I did a lot of crying, and Spedy was happy to just hang out. I can’t say I loved her at that moment. She was more of a reminder that I lost my best friend, and Spedy could never replace him. I have to say that I don’t think losing a horse like I lost Bates is something you get over.  It’s more that it becomes a part of you; it sort of changed the lens through which I saw the world.”

A Fairy Godmother

As time went on, Spurlock began to heal, and she realized that Spedy had been waiting for her all along. Their partnership slowly formed that fall over long trail rides, which Spedy took to with much enthusiasm, and lots of time spent together in the barn. Spurlock also took a job galloping racehorses in the morning, which kept her going. She said she was a pretty miserable person to be around at the time, as she had lost a lot of faith in her love of horses and her talent.

“I didn’t think I deserved to be happy after my accident,” Spurlock said. “It was never that I was scared, but I felt so guilty. My horse died, and I was fine; it didn’t seem fair. No matter what chaos goes on around me, being on a horse has always given me clarity. But I was on the verge of losing that when Sped came into my life. She kept me going.” 

When dressage trainer Linda Zang, with whom Spurlock had ridden for years, heard about Bates, she offered to bring Spurlock to Wellington, Fla., for the winter to do a bit of riding. “Linda is the most positive, full-of-life person I know. Between her and Spedy, I was in good hands,” said Spurlock. “My mom always called Linda my fairy godmother!”

Spurlock had yet to jump since her accident with Bates, and instead she chose to focus on dressage. However, Spedy had a different opinion, and she put her foot down about doing flatwork every day. Zang set up jumping lessons for Spurlock with Canadian show jumper Erynn Ballard and cheered her on when she jumped Spedy for the first time.

“I was shocked at how much I still loved it,” said Spurlock. “And of course I was sad, mostly because Bates would never get to do that again. He had loved it too. But Spedy was just there for me, never demanding anything else but that I hang on for the ride. Spedy helped me reconnect with my love of horses, and Linda helped me reconnect with my ambition. It’s something I still struggle with.”

Spurlock’s first forays back into competition were rounds in the adult amateur jumper division at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington in February and March. Despite the chaotic atmosphere, Spedy took it all in stride. By the spring, Spurlock had done a lot of soul searching and felt ready to be back eventing.   

Spedy and Spurlock’s first event together was the June 2010 Rubicon Horse Trials (Va.), where they finished sixth in an open training division. They contested their first two-star in 2012, finishing sixth at the Virginia Horse Trials CIC**, and moved up to advanced that August.

Moving Forward

After graduating from the University of Virginia in 2012, Spurlock took a job with Phillip Dutton at his True Prospect Farm in West Grove, Pa. Of course, Spedy went with her, and Dutton very quickly told Spurlock that the mare “wasn’t that hard” to ride. Spurlock still laughs about that moment, and she said it was the best advice she ever received about the mare.

“I wish I could be more like Spedy,” Spurlock said with a laugh. “She is an incredibly fair horse. She will give just as much as you do, but she also has a very firm boundary. She doesn’t let you walk all over her. I also love that she walks just as fast leaving the barn as she does coming home. She hates to be groomed and fussed over, and doesn’t tie. I kind of love how insistent she is on her irrational fear of tying. You can’t change her mind! I love that sassy stubborn streak in her, when she’s so low-key most of the time. I think any good girl, horse or human, has to have that.”

Spurlock and Spedy’s partnership has grown tremendously over the years, and the pair have risen to the three-star level. In 2013, they have completed CIC***s at Red Hills (Fla.), The Fork (N.C.), and Richland Park (Mich.) as well as placing 11th in the Jersey Fresh CCI*** (N.J.). They finished 2013 with a 16th place and clear cross-country with just 2.4 time penalties at the Dansko Fair Hill CCI*** (Md.), clearing the way for their Rolex Kentucky CCI**** entry. Spurlock refers to Spedy, now 16, as her guru.

“I think early on it was pretty obvious that Spedy and I were both individuals with unique pasts that we brought to this new partnership. I knew right away that I wasn’t going to change Spedy, that I’d have to work with her,” said Spurlock. “She’s given me everything that I have right now. She gave me back the love of this sport and brought me back to the pure love of horses that I thought I’d lost. I honestly don’t know where I’d be without Spedy. She has given me my life back.”