Kaitlin Knox never dreamed that it was possible to start and run a business. As far back as she can remember she was told she had to go to school and get a degree in order to get a good job, and hence, have a good life. But Knox has since proven to herself that you can have a business and a big dream to go with it (without the traditional post-secondary job placement route). Knox runs a grain and cattle farm alongside her fiancé and is becoming a sought after horse trainer and breeder through her business – Winterwind Kigers  – in her corner of the world, Atlantic Canada. 

What are dreams made of? For Knox it was horses. The one constant love in Knox’s life has been horses. She is grateful that her parents provided her with many years of riding lessons as a girl and eventually bought her a horse when she was ready to own one. Her great-grandfather had horses, but she is the first in his lineage to follow this path. Stuck in her mind from early on were her parental cautions, “You can’t make money with horses. You have to go to university and get a good job so you can afford them.” Her mother, a pharmacist, and father, a power engineer, could not have foreseen the mental toughness their daughter would need to eventually carve her path in the world. Dutifully, Knox pursued a science degree, but when she didn’t get the big internship she had her heart set on, she pivoted and completed a Master’s Degree in Equine Science from the University of Edinburgh. This experience reawakened her dream to work with horses.

Knox says she felt like she had the reins in her hands after that, free to explore where combining her passion and education could take her, but at the same time she needed to tame the inner critic constantly warning her that horses were a sure way to lose money and that security came from working for someone else. This inner dialogue created a lot of angst she says; however, Knox was determined to pursue a lifestyle and work environment that centered on horses.

Armed with her education, Knox knew she needed to gain the kind of experience that can only come from working with other professionals. Arizona and Australia provided her with many opportunities to learn more about equine operations and apprentice with other horse trainers. Travelling through Australia for a year with her fiancé Ryan (in 2017), Knox says was a freeing experience, yet at the same time overwhelming. The isolation challenged her at first, but she grew to love it as time went on and the couple travelled to grain farms, ranches and training stables. In 2018, a new opportunity presented itself to Knox and Ryan. Born and raised on his family farm near Antigonish, N.S., the time came for him to decide whether he would take over the farm. Their mutual decision was a big, “hell yeah,” and so began the next phase of their adventure. 

Knox explains, “I had no idea about the learning curve I was about to maneuver. My science background hadn‘t prepared me for the business administration, financials, and accounting elements I needed to know to run the farm business.” 

Immersing herself into the farm’s management was a task she took on in addition to her overall farming education – which came in the form of pulling calves, vaccinating, castrating, learning to drive tractors, feeding livestock and everything else that goes with a thriving farm operation. 

Jumping into farming with both feet, Knox soon came face-to-face with the realities and challenges of her new lifestyle. She couldn’t have predicted the uncooperative weather – such as the cold springs, dry summers, and early winters of their first two years running the operation. They lost calves, crops failed, cattle prices dropped and horse clients were few and far between. At the time Knox felt little comfort in the reassurance from her fiancé that things would get better, and she wondered if her parents had been right about securing a steady job. 

But hard times do not last forever and after two years things turned around in 2020. The weather returned to its seasonal best – crops grew, calves thrived and the cattle markets became steady again. 

Knox kept up her advertising, putting her horse training and breeding information out to the public. A strange phenomenon occurred when Covid hit. She became, “crazy busy,” she says, teaching lessons. 50% of her time was spent on horsemanship and the other 50% on colt starting. It was a turn-around she hadn’t expected given the previous two years and it enabled her to fill her training bookings a year in advance. As horses are a luxury for a lot of people, what Knox feels she was witnessing, was a return to something meaningful and deeply rooted for those who love equines. 

Years earlier when she was in Arizona, Knox had purchased a Kiger mare. Kigers are a rare and beautiful breed of Spanish Mustang, known for their incredible golden coats and thick manes and tails. Knox had possessed the foresight to begin breeding these iconic horses earlier on and was now watching her ‘dream’ horse program come to life. She was selling horses faster than she could breed them (mostly to women) and adding to the farm revenue at the same time. She currently has a waiting list for her foals. Knox says she feels a deep satisfaction in that she is creating something unique and special with her Kigers and living her early dream of creating a life within the equine industry.

Now that she has had a few years to examine her initiation into farming, Knox says she sees how important the subject of mental health is to farmers and ranchers who have little control over external factors affecting their lives and businesses. The constant state of unknowing versus the need to trust that things will work out takes its toll on individuals she says. She knows firsthand how entrepreneurs get burnt out and over-stressed, and she feels blessed to have had someone in her life that was there to reassure her.  

To other women Knox says:  “Plan for the worst. Keep looking for where you can go for resources, and talk about what you’re feeling and experiencing.” 

No-one ever said bringing your dreams to life would be easy, but Knox has shown herself (and others) that doing the work and having a goal bigger than yourself can put you on a path greater than you could ever have imagined as a girl.

Photography also done by Kaitlin Knox.

This article was originally published in the Spring 2021, Issue #2 of Trailblazher Magazine.

More Articles from Trailblazhers like Kaitlin:

• Timing is Everything: Embracing the Unknown with Ash Turner
• Wisdom from The Wild: Alyse VanRamele’s Journey with Herbalism & Self Discovery
• Embracing the Softer Side of Farming with Kristin Graves of Fifth Gen Farms