About Sporthorse Revival
About the Blog
Sporthorse Revival is a personal account of Cat Allen's experience in the equestrian industry that led her to her current mission of championing the American Thoroughbred in the hunter and jumper arenas. She hopes that her writing will light a path toward a more equitable, inclusive, and humane sport that will inspire the next generation of equestrians to think and ride different.
About the Author
Cat Allen grew up riding in the suburbs of Chicago. In her early years, she began as an eventer. During the summer, you could find her practically living at the barn at Cedar Lodge - a hunter/jumper focused children's summer camp.
In high school, Cat worked part-time at retail and food establishments to spend every last penny on shareboarding a big-bodied Thoroughbred named "Meant to Be", also known as Bubba.
After graduating, Cat moved to South Carolina to learn the East Coast hunt seat style. She later moved to Virginia to ride Off-the-Track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs). In college, she worked at two top AA/A barns in Chicagoland – riding, teaching and training horses and humans of all ages and levels. She also spent a year as a working student under a dressage trainer to work on her core stability and refine her upper body style. She worked briefly in Wellington, Florida, for two winter circuits barn managing, exercise riding, and training seasoned show horses and young Warmblood prospects.
Cat became well known in the equestrian sport media industry while moonlighting as a journalist to make ends meet. She wrote for many equestrian publications, print and digital, and had the opportunity to interview top ranking riders to tell their unique stories. She also traveled to top horse shows across the country for on-site media content creation, results reporting, press release production, and to network with important sponsors and scout for up and coming talent to tell their stories. You can find some of her selected work at https://catallen.media
After Cat suffered a life-altering injury, she took a brief hiatus from riding before spending two years rehabbing her mind, body, and soul through volunteering at a hippotherapy and equine-assisted therapy operation.
Today, Cat is enjoying life as an amateur, writing her story as she lives it. She has since shifted gears into a career in cybersecurity. She is a product marketer, storyteller, full-stack developer, and data privacy advocate.
Cat's ultimate goal is to find her path to return to the hunter and jumper show arenas. She aspires to one day wear the coveted scarlet red coat and represent the United States on the world stage.
