Three weeks ago Kathy set a little gray mare named Freckles to a high jump at the Upperville (Va.) Colt and Horse Show, took her over and cantered away holding a new American women's record of 7 feet 3 inches, an extraordinary feat.
For Kathy the world begins and ends with horses. Kathy herself has owned two of them: a mustang pony, formerly a plow horse, whom Kathy developed into a very accomplished jumper, and a jittery chestnut mare "too crazy for the shows." To the chagrin of her father, a onetime college professor, Kathy is passing up college to travel the horse-show circuit, including the big ones at Madison Square Garden, Harrisburg and Toronto. "I'll ride horses forever," Kathy states flatly and confidently. "I'll be getting a job now riding in shows and races, and in the winter there will be more races and fox hunting." Kathy's mother, who holds an advanced degree in education, now accepts her daughter's decisions with the cheerful resignation of the parent who knows when she is licked: "You just can't live their lives for them."
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HOWARD O. ALLEN
