Kathryn Anderson on her winning horse, King Mojo, at the 2022 annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in Shelbyville, Tennessee. She won the Trail Pleasure junior horse World Grand Championship for horses aged 5 and under. (Photo courtesy of Kathryn Anderson)

Kathryn (Kathy) Anderson, J.D., blazed new trails through a successful career in south Florida. Now, in Shelbyville, Tennessee, she is building a small horse farm to continue her love for competitive showing. But she remains a Florida Gator at heart.

In memory of her husband of 40 years, who passed away late in 2021, she established the John and Kathryn Anderson Equine Veterinarian Scholarship to attract and recruit incoming equine-oriented veterinary students into the much-needed field of equine veterinary medicine.

An accomplished equestrian, winning ribbons and trophies, Anderson’s life journey reflects big ambitions: She graduated from law school at 22 years old and became the second woman to be named as a partner at a prestigious law firm.

After college, Anderson joined a real estate law firm in Miami that was soon acquired by the Holland & Knight law firm, which began expanding in Florida and later nationally.

She unexpectedly met her husband John when their fast-paced careers converged. Both worked on large-scale hotel development projects. She was a real estate attorney; he was a successful developer. It was John who bought Anderson her first horse.

With big opportunities, often comes big demands. Anderson was working around the clock managing very large real estate projects with high stakes. Not new to the stresses of navigating big opportunities, her husband knew just what was needed for her work-life balance.

“John said, ‘Let’s go buy a horse’ — and so, we did — and now we have five,” laughed Anderson. “That was my husband — he never did anything small.”

The couple soon bought a small farm where she could raise a few horses and work with trainers while learning to show her horses. She and John continued to work closely together for many years on major resort hotel projects in Florida, California and internationally.

In 2017, they decided it was time to retire. After serious consideration, they made a big decision to sell their farm in Florida and relocate to Tennessee. They bought a small farm where Anderson found a highly skilled and respected horse trainer for her four show horses. She fell in love with the iconic smooth-gaited Tennessee Walking horses, known for their gentle temperament and distinctive head shake.

Over the years, the Andersons had supported philanthropic opportunities in various organizations, many related to John’s career. It was more recently that they supported the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. Through contacts in their horse world, Kathy learned about a matching gift campaign seeking donors to complete the expansion of UF’s Small Animal Hospital.

“We’re animal lovers,” Anderson said. “Before we started raising horses, we always loved dogs and had rescue dogs, so we wanted to support that.”

After experiencing the difficulty of John’s passing, Anderson looked back to her roots in Florida for a philanthropic opportunity that would have some meaning for them both.

“I wanted to support something I valued, and that John would be proud of as well,” said Anderson. “As a double-Gator, I love the University of Florida. Supporting the UF veterinary college — in equine — was just a natural thing. Both of us had been thinking about it for a while.”

Being a part of the horse community and raising show horses of her own over the years, Anderson knows first-hand the great need for skilled large animal veterinarians practicing in equine health and medicine.

She also remembers the high costs of getting a graduate education. Transferring from the University of Maryland, Anderson earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Florida studying political science, and from there went directly on to the UF College of Law. The university was on the quarter system at that time, which allowed her to take classes through two summers, graduating in about two-and-a-half years.

“I was so honored to be there and loved being at UF, but I had to work my own way through law school,” said Anderson. “I needed to complete my education as quickly as possible to start earning a living.”

The endowed scholarship is being awarded to incoming 2024 equine veterinary students starting in the fall of 2024. Students interested in practicing equine medicine who were invited for admissions interviews were asked to submit an essay to the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. With additional spendable funds, the generous gift will provide up to five scholarships in 2024, and continued scholarships will be awarded in perpetuity at $15,000 per student during their first year of veterinary school.

Selected students choosing to attend UF CVM were notified in their January acceptance letter that they will be awarded this scholarship.

In addition, fundraising efforts centered around UF Giving Day, and other fundraising initiatives are in place to continue to grow the fund to recruit even more highly qualified equine-focused students for years to come.

Anderson found personal rewards in raising and showing the horses she loved. She hopes that by easing the educational debt burden through scholarship, UF will be more competitive in attracting top veterinary students who love horses to seek rewarding careers in a much-needed field.

“As an owner, I know the panic when you have a sick horse and there aren’t many equine veterinarians close by. I’m proud that UF is a leader among the very top schools in veterinary medicine. I want to do what I can to inspire, encourage and support the best students to become equine veterinarians at ‘my’ university,” Anderson said.

Still going big — she is proud to be leading the college’s first ‘recruiting’ scholarship to attract top-tier students to equine medicine.