Kate Rice Nilan

Behind every great business is a great leader. For Stable Secretary, that leader is Founder and CEO, Kate Rice Nilan. An avid equestrian since the age of 5, Kate began her riding career in the hunt seat and saddle seat arenas. Between the ages of 6 and 11, Kate called France home, and her riding lessons there tested her and pushed her beyond the average American expectation.

After arriving back in the United States, Kate moved to New Jersey where she began riding lessons with Nona Garson at the Ridge. From there, Rice moved into the Children’s Pony Hunter Division. Upon another move, this time to Massachusetts, Rice became a client of Peter Wylde. Riding with Peter throughout high school, Kate took the reins on Red Sox, a small junior hunter that she recalls, “had an amazing jump, but also had a bit of a bucking/runaway ‘episode’ every once in a while, which made him affordable!” Despite his minor antics, Rice and the gelding clicked, and went on to win at some major shows, including Harrisburg.

As college arrived, Kate sold her mount and headed to Dartmouth College, riding competitively for the Equestrian Team there. When college ended, Kate took a break from riding for a while, though it still called to her. First, she did web development and customer support at two software companies. Then, she decided to switch paths entirely. Bouncing around in the horse world and gaining unique management experience, Kate went on to work for some incredible equestrians, such as Ginny Edwards, Peter Wylde, Sandy Ferrell, Amanda Lyerly, Kim Buzby, Cory Hardy, Leslie Emerson, and Anne Dotoli. Through these various outlets, Kate was able to learn what some of the most difficult elements of barn management included. Organization of records and documents seemed to be at the top of that list.

Enter Stable Secretary. Launched officially in 2013, the expansion of the product has been impressive. Beside every great leader, there is a loyal team. Kate credits the success of the company to those that she relies on to help with the day-to-day functioning of the Stable Secretary operation. She stated, “The people who help with Stable Secretary are amazing. They have a LOT of horse experience, so they understand ‘horse people’ problems, and they sincerely value-creating solutions for those problems… Everyone is hard working and supportive, we all want the same thing: to make it easy for barn managers, trainers, owners to keep track of important horse information.”