Mary Bigham Binks '69

Mary Bigham Binks’s love for horses has led her far from her grandmother’s stables in New Jersey, but this member of the Class of 1969 has had a horse by her side almost continually since the days when she rode there. A resident of Karen, Kenya, since 1972, Mary has enjoyed nearly every facet of equestrianism on the African continent, whether as rider, competitor or observer.

Mary is something of a historic figure in African equestrianism: She became, in 1996, the first female member of the Jockey Club of Kenya, an institution that had previously seen 90 years of exclusively male membership. For 28 years, she oversaw the club’s stud book, a comprehensive record of all thoroughbreds. She is now chairman for southern Africa in the governing body of Olympic equestrian sports, the Fédération Equestre Internationale.

“The most important part of my job is to promote communication and international equestrian competitions within my region,” Mary said. In Africa, she explained, equestrian sports lack the support and development they have in North America and Europe. “Most of the countries need help to improve the standards of their competitions and sports structures,” she said.

Mary helps to make those improvements possible by raising awareness of equestrianism’s value. “Horse sports offer a chance to connect with an animal in an ecologically friendly way,” she said. “We need to change our image as an elitist sport and broaden its popularity.”

In pursuit of that goal, Mary has visited six continents and more than 70 different countries, an experience she has relished. “Our sport gets people of different languages and cultures together,” she said.

It is not surprising that Mary views equestrianism as a tie that binds. It was so in her own family. “My mother’s side of the family was very interested in horses, particularly fox-hunting, and I was encouraged [in riding] by my grandmother,” she said. Both of Mary’s Chapin sisters, Hildreth Bigham McCarthy ’65 and Anda Bigham Hutchins ’73, were avid riders, too.

Horses should be held partially responsible, in fact, for Mary’s departure from Chapin, which happened after Class 8. She left to attend Garrison Forest, a boarding school in Maryland. “I wanted to live in the country, and I wanted to be able to ride my horse every day,” Mary said. She remembers, though, that her years at Chapin taught her to finish anything she started.

For a girl who wanted to ride her horse daily, she has certainly made good on turning her passion into a career. She has no plans to end that career anytime soon.

“I love it because I like to share my experience with others and because one never stops learning new things,” Mary said.