Megan Kepferle

3-Day Eventing & Dressage

Megan Kepferle, widely known as “MegKep,” is a 4-star event rider based out of Long Valley, New Jersey and Ocala, Florida. Growing up, MegKep had a love for horses, but her path to riding and compete was not as direct as you’d expect. Growing up in a small rural community in Southern Maryland as the third of four children in a single income ex-military family, it took a few years to convince her family to allow her to start weekly riding lessons at a nearby stable. She was determined to make it work financially, so she also worked as a barn manager part-time to afford her half lease while riding and showing as often as possible. Meg progressed from the pony hunters to equitation to the jumpers. By the time she reached the 8th grade, Meg discovered eventing and soon took her horse to their first schooling event, won, and never looked back.

It took another 10 years until Meg found herself in central New Jersey working for an up-and-coming event rider in the area. That job launched her into professional grooming, leading her to Sinead Halpin’s yard months before Manoir de Carneville’s four star debut. For the next five years, Meg was at Sinead’s side through several four stars, Olympic training camps, World Championships and all the tears and smiles in between. She took on a strong media presence, showing the world that you do not have to come from money and horses to end up at the top of the sport.

In 2012, Meg became the Chef d’equipe for the Area II Young Rider Eventing team, championing three consecutive medal winning teams, and finding out her true niche: working with motivated young people. Through exposure to NAJYRC and USEF High Performance as well as her background, coming from horse riding schools, she saw the disconnect from the bottom to the top and wanted to make quality education easily accessible for kids and amateurs of all abilities – not only for those seeking the top ranks of eventing, but also those simply wishing to learn how to produce confident, safe, and enjoyable partnerships with their animals.

Since its inception, Kepferle Equestrian has grown into an independent program tailored to riders of all ages, abilities and financial backgrounds. From developing realistic goals and plans, to working on a specific training or riding issue, to learning how to take care of the animals we love, Meg wants to connect all people with the information they need to be successful, growing the sport from the bottom up.

Not only does Meg provide extensive learning opportunities through training and clinics, she also has fierce competition goals of her own. Climbing up the ranks of eventing, she has reached the four-star level with her partner Anakin. She also competes a range of young horses at the lower levels for clients, and hopes to continue to grow her competition string.

MegKep’s Horse Care Philosophy

When you are making decisions in both riding and horse care, always ask yourself, “what is the best decision in this moment for my horse to be successful?” Not “what is the most convenient thing for myself?” Oftentimes, the most convenient and easiest decision is not the best decision for the horse. Use this as your beacon and you will avoid regret! Most of the mistakes I have made in my career have been because I have not used this as my guide.

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Where are you based out of?

I’m based in Long Valley, New Jersey and Ocala, Florida.

Do you have any horse care pet peeves?

Shavings in the horses’ manes and tails!!

How can people keep in touch with you?

@megkep on Instagram and facebook.com/kepferleequestrian