Hannah Kate Pipkin – A Young Horsewoman On The Rise

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296 – May/June, 2025

By Susan Winslow

Thirteen-year-old Hannah Kate Pipkin is a seventh grader who has had a meteoric rise in both APHA and AQHA competition in the past few years. She hails from Flower Mound, Texas, where she lives with her mother and father, Dana and Shane, and her 11-year-old brother, Chase.

Her mother, Dana, laughs as she describes Hannah Kate’s introduction to horses at the tender age of three-and-a-half, “It all started with a trip to a farm to pick up a puppy we had bought. Keep in mind that we were not a horse family at all but when we got to the farm, Hannah Kate was excited about the new puppy, but it was the horses that caught her attention.” The evolution from a three-and-a-half-year-old with no exposure to horses to a young woman competing successfully on the national stage with her sights set on a college equestrian team has been an exciting whirlwind.

Hannah Kate picks up the story, “They had a horse camp going on and I wanted to join; so the next day my mom signed me up. I went to all the horse camps that summer and then started lessons with Taralyn.”

Riding with trainer Taralyn Krause, Hannah Kate competed on lesson horses, focusing first on leadline and then hunter/jumper poles and crossrails until Krause made a career change to become a flight attendant. Hannah Kate then followed Krause’s daughter, Addi, to Lyon Performance Horses in Burleson, Texas where she was introduced to more advanced competition. She continued to jump with her horse, Bentley, and at the same time she was exposed to the APHA All-Around world.

Click here to read the complete article
296 – May/June, 2025