Kim Goto Miner’s maiden/middle name says it all.
She is the “go-to” person if you need a show secretary, a trainer, a rider, a volunteer, a friend, a competitor, a scorer, a Pony Club Regional Supervisor and/or someone who can make sense of the latest horse show-related technology.
Kim is a Swiss army knife when it comes to anything that needs doing with or around horses and their people. Most importantly, she’s a staple of the West Coast eventing scene. She’s also a wife to her supportive, mountain biker husband, Kent, and mom to their two pre-teen boys, Jakob and Jaxson.
The Juggling Act
Kim is currently…
- Owner and operator of KGM Eventing at El Sueno Equestrian Center in Camarillo, and an active FEI competitor.
- Show secretary for all Ram Tap’s recognized Horse Trials in Fresno and schooling shows, and for competitions at Shephard Ranch in Santa Ynez.
- Organizer of triple-rated dressage shows at El Sueno and at Fox Canyon Farm.
- Regional Supervisor for the Camino Real Pony Club Region. (The Shepherd Ranch events raise funds to support the region’s Pony Club members going to the Pony Club Championships in Kentucky, including this summer.)
- Santa Rosa Pony Club main instructor
“I like to juggle a lot of things,” Kim shares. “My brain works better when I have more things in the fire and I find that I can focus on the task at hand, or whatever I’m doing that weekend. When I manage to ride, compete, coach and secretary at the same time, my focus is on whatever I’m doing in that moment. The noise goes away. When the radio goes back on my hip, somebody will take my horse back to the barn, and I’m good at changing the channel.
“Not all brains are wired that way!”
“Forget the Trail Riding, Mom!”
Kim inherited the horse bug from her mother, Janet, a regular volunteer throughout USEA Area VI. Growing up in Fresno, Kim and Janet enjoyed bareback and trail riding. They boarded at a western cutting horse facility located across the river from Ram Tap. “One time we were knocking around the property on our western horses, wondering what the heck this place was, when Bill Burton showed up.”
Rather than shooing them away, the longtime Ram Tap concession owner and event organizer explained how the property was getting ready for a three-day eventing competition. “We came back the next weekend and jump judged,” Kim recalls. “I said, ‘Forget the trail riding, Mom! That’s what I want to do.’”
Bill Burton told them about Pony Club, the Gotos bought a pony from a Fresno Bee newspaper advertisement and joined the local Pony Club. “Now our horses jumped and the rest of it all kind of came together,” Kim laughs.
Kim trained with Noel Ortiz, at her small Twain Harte facility in Sonora. Along with learning horsemanship, Kim embraced a variety of volunteer tasks during Horse Trials held there.
Science or Saddle?
She earned her Pony Club H-A credentials at 16, then turned her focus to Young Riders pursuits, while progressing with Olympic eventer Jil Walton. An injury sidelined the Young Rider quest before Kim embarked on an impressive academic journey.
After graduating with math and chemistry degrees from CSU Fresno, Kim earned a Masters in material engineering from UC Santa Barbara. She began a PhD program, as a researcher, but realized that “life in a lab is not what I wanted to do with my life.”
“In the back of my mind, I was trying to find a job that let me do horses on the side,” Kim shares. “It took me until my mid- to late-20s to realize that ‘horses on the side’ was not a thing!” Especially for her. “I’m all in or not at all.”
Veteran steward and technical delegate Wendy Wergeles influenced Kim’s career path. Officiating at the Twain Harte events, Wendy recognized Kim and her mother Janet’s talents and recruited them to help with her Event Derby competitions. Janet worked in the office, armed with spreadsheets of info Kim had prepared the night before.
Kim’s academic education may not have enhanced her horsemanship, but it’s been a great foundation for event secretary and organizer roles. Schedules and stabling charts are all “logic puzzles,” she says enthusiastically. And her science and technology background help her adapt to the evolving milieu of event management programs. “It might take me a few hours to play with it, but I use all the different systems.”
Professional Development
KGM Equestrian aims for six horses in the program, and Kim currently has two competition horses of her own – the core of her personal professional development plan.
“If you don’t take the time to do it, you can end up getting stagnant.” Theoretically, both of her horses are “for sale at the right price. Luckily, I never get that ‘right price!’”
Solaguayre Largento is her “magical heart horse.” Over their three and a half years together, Kim brought “Lars” from Beginner Novice to completing their first Intermediate together at the February Ram Tap Horse Trials. A seasoned 3* contender, Kim hopes that Lars will become her blue flag partner at the Advanced level. “He show jumps like nobody’s business and has more scope than anything I’ve sat on,” she explains. “In dressage, however, we’re not always on the same page.”
A new horse recently arrived from Ireland with 1.10-meter jumping experience. Kim foresees Sir Diamante, aka “Monty,” will be an investment horse and an understudy to keep the pressure off Lars as her only mount.
Family Matters
So far, Kim and her husband Kent’s boys have not caught the horse bug, but they’re comfortable and competent around them at home and at events. “I’m blessed and lucky that horses have become another family passion thing we’re able to do together,” she says. Their 12-year-old son, Jakob loves working the shows. He enters scores and checks riders in at the office.
Kent is often off pursuing his own passion – for mountain biking – while Kim competes and/or works the shows. “He’s not a horse guy, but he is super supportive.”
Given his recent Ram Tap run, Lars won’t be competing at the Galway Downs International Horse Trials this month. Kim will be working the event as a scorer and appreciating all that organizer Robert Kellerhouse and his team do behind the scenes.
She recalls competing at Galway Downs when Robert and his late mother, Anne Kellerhouse, first brought their competitions from Del Mar to Temecula.
“The evolution has been amazing to watch and my hat is off to Robert for the different things he’s had to jump through. There’s nobody better to be at the helm and he has dramatically changed eventing in our area along with adapting to the how the sport has changed along the way. He keeps a great attitude.”
Whatever role she’s wearing on a given day, Kim is a true “go-to” girl in keeping the sport thriving, well-organized, supportive and fun.
