Kathy Brunjes

Born: March 23, 1953
Hometown: Bethel, Maine

Kathy Brunjes has ridden more than 8,000 endurance-recorded miles. Brunjes started riding ponies at age 4; she showed Arabian horses in junior to ride classes, including saddle seat equitation, until late teens; and her mother has been a ride/competition manager for competitive trail since 1964. Brunjes has been trail riding competitively since she was a teenager, completing her first 100-mile ride at age 14. She left competition riding after college to raise a family and came back to the sport in 1991. Since then, she has focused on endurance.

Kathy Brunjes. (Photo by Genie Stewart Spears, provided by Kathy Brunjes)

In 1997, she competed in her first Endurance Race of Champions and in 2001 Brunjes was a member of the USA-East Squad for the Pan Americans (held in Woodstock, VT). In 2002, she was selected for the FEI World Equestrian Games, Endurance Championship in Jerez, Spain, based on her performance at the selection trials in Kansas.

Brunjes was a member of the USA-East Squad for the North American Endurance Team Challenge (NAETC) in 2005 in Fair Hill, MD, and a nominated rider for the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. In 2007, with the Arabian gelding Theatric, she competed in the 160km Biltmore Endurance Challenge, finishing second and won the 160km Canadian Endurance Championships (the Spirit of Excellence event). Additionally, she was invited to compete in the pre-event for the World Endurance Championships (the Sultan’s Cup, held in Malaysia), finishing as first U.S. rider., in fifth place.

In 2008, this pair was invited to compete in Abu Dhabi at the 160km President’s Cup and later that year they traveled back to Malaysia as part of the 2008 U.S. World Endurance Championship team. In Malaysia, they finished the 160km course in 24th place, the first U.S. rider/horse team to cross the finish line.

In 2010, Theatric and Brunjes started the season off tying for first place in Florida at the Fun-in-the-Sun (FITS) 160km, posting a course completion time of 7 hours and 44 minutes.

Outside of the world of endurance, Brunjes is a medical librarian. Training horses, mentoring young riders and competing take up the majority of her non-working life. Brunjes is married with one son.