Equestrians of the Carolinas

from Summer 2023

Summer Horse Camp

Joan and Gil Hilsman

If you have ever shown at the Carolina Horse Park in Raeford, North Carolina, chances are you have encountered Joan and Gil Hilsman. The Hilsmans, who are in their 70s, live five miles down the road, which Joan says makes it easy to support the park. She competes there with her own horses and then runs home, drops the horses off, and comes back to help out.

The Hilsmans enthusiastically participate in any way they are called upon—dressage scribe, cross country jump judge, warmup supervisor: anywhere they are needed. Joan is on the Carolina Horse Park Board of Directors, and she also coordinates awards for the competitions. Gil fixes “just about anything that needs fixing.”

“I married a horsewoman,” says Gil, laughing, when asked about his role. “I owned boats all my life and finally found a hobby more expensive.”

Joan and Gil met when her father, who was also a sailor, suggested they both crew for him in an ocean race in California. Joan, who was living in New York and working in public health, flew over to help. Three months later, the two were married and moving to France for Gil’s job in the oil industry. In the years since, they have lived and worked all over the world, from Oklahoma to England to Kazakhstan. Gil remained in the oil business and Joan taught science courses in high school and junior college, and they raised three children.

When they decided to look for a farm to purchase for their retirement, they agreed that it had to be accessible to a coast. They soon found a 30-acre farm south of Aberdeen, North Carolina that checked all the boxes. It was near Joan’s parents (who lived in Pinehurst at the time) and not too far from the ocean. They could even grow their own hay for their horses. They moved to Aberdeen from Texas 15 years ago, with Gil sailing his boat solo from Houston to New Bern, North Carolina.

“When he isn’t tied up to a horse trailer, he still likes to be on his boat,” says Joan, but Gil says that he enjoys participating in horse sports because “It makes her want to get up every morning, so that’s fantastic.”

Joan has ridden horses since the age of 6, when she and her identical twin sister took lessons in the Chicago area. The twins got more riding time when their father bought a 500acre cattle ranch in Arkansas. Joan mostly rode Western and it wasn’t until she was in her 40s that she started jumping.

Today, she has competed up to Training level in eventing and she enjoys bringing along young horses at the lower levels. Her twin sister now lives in Georgia and breeds warmblood sport horses, so Joan has acquired some horses through her. She also competes a buckskin Quarter Horse/Cleveland Bay cross named Talisman, who has won the North Carolina Dressage and Combined Training Association’s Horse of the Year several years in a row, as well as the Carolina Horse Park’s “Over the Moon” award for the high scoring rider over the age of 50. Joan found Talisman at a ranch in New Mexico where he was working cattle with a cowboy who had acquired him after the breeder, who bred him for dressage, passed away. Joan was familiar with Cleveland Bays from her time in England, where Queen Elizabeth protected and supported the breed. She knew that Cleveland Bays tend to have kind temperaments and great movement, and there aren’t that many in America, so when she saw Talisman advertised she immediately flew out and brought him home.

Riding cross country in competition is her favorite thing to do with horses, says Joan, and the friends she has made through the sport bring her great joy. “I have several friends in their 70s and 80s competing along with me here at the Carolina Horse Park, so I hope to keep competing as long as I can safely do so.”

It is evident that both of the Hilsmans like the wind in their hair, but after so many years of travelling all over the globe, Joan and Gil have put down roots in the Southern Pines community. The Carolina Horse Park, particularly The War Horse Event Series, which is dear to Joan’s heart, and the extended community of fellow equestrians all continue to benefit from their generous support.

Top: Joan Hilsman and her horse Talisman having a blast galloping cross country

Bottom left: Gil and Joan at the War Horse Event Series awards, where Joan won the “Over the Moon” award for the high scoring rider over the age of 50.