Award-winning Horse Trainer Pursues Online Degree

Between traveling across the country, training and showing horses and being a teenager, Katelyn Hood fits school in where she can. It’s usually in the evenings through iQ Academy, an online program geared toward students who have situations that prevent them from going to a bricks and mortar high school.

Katelyn is an award-winning horse showman and trainer from Westmoreland who is working to complete her high school education through the online program. The local iQ Academy runs through Manhattan High School.

Katelyn and her mare, Just Say It, recently won fifth place in a field of 80 at the World Show for Showmanship in the 15-18 year old category She was also top five at the World Show for the Halter competition.

“I have won a few larger state shows, and I have also helped a lot of successful clients.” Katelyn said. Along with her own successes, she likes helping others to do well in shows as well.

A typical day for Katelyn starts around 7:30 a.m. when she wakes up, “then I do the riding. I ride about seven to eight head of horses a day.”

The whole Hood family is involved in some way with the family business of training, selling and showing horses.

“My dad (Kevin) does most of the training, mom (Kathy) works with UPS but does the breeding and my sister Kally helps with the horses and shows,” Katelyn said.

This weekend, Katelyn and her father are at a show in Minnesota. She travels out of state an average of three weekends a month.

“During the winter the traveling slows down and we might travel one weekend a month,” Katelyn said.

Travel isn’t the only constraint on her school schedule. She typically works 10 to 12 hour days riding and training the horses. One of her main show categories is western pleasure, which judges the horses on how they move. The other category is halter, where the horses are judged on their structure and build.

Katelyn typically does her schoolwork in the evenings, “I have to quit working with the horses early and come in,” she observes.

During busy times, homework stacks up and she might have to do several weeks of it in a week or two just to catch up. “I usually send an introductory email to my instructors at the beginning of the semester to explain my situation,” Katelyn said.

Brooke Blanck, director of iQ Academy for the Manhattan-Ogden school district, said the instructors usually know what the student’s situation is whether the student is home schooled, ill or working.

“Katelyn has a great GPA,” said Blanck. “She dedicates herself to whatever she does.”

Katelyn started using iQ Academy about two and a half years ago. Before that she had a hard time showing horses and keeping up with her attendance at school.

“I would miss 20 days a semester because of all the traveling,” Katelyn said. “iQ Academy works out great with me because I can work whenever I want and still get my schoolwork done.”

Taking classes online may sound like an ideals situation for any high school student. But Katelyn sees it as more challenging than attending a bricks and mortar high school.

“You don’t always get to meet with the teachers,” Katelyn said. “I have had instructors from as far away as Hawaii.”

Katelyn said the program is good at trying to keep students and instructors connected, as well as getting students connected with other students. IQ Academy has its own email system and a bulletin board that students and instructors can post messages or alerts about upcoming events or happenings.

Though Katelyn will finish her courses in December, she will attend a special iQ Academy graduation in May. With her showing and selling career already underway, she doesn’t plan to attend college.

She wants to eventually have her own stable and show and sell her own horses. “Or I would go work with some other trainers,” Katelyn said. “You can never learn too much.”

Thank you The Manhattan Mercy for this original post.