Ep 48- KEEP SHOWING UP: Horse Poor & Delusionally Confident

Micah Howard and I are DIY Amateurs, which is basically a cute way of saying we spend an absolutely irresponsible amount of money to do most of the work ourselves.

We ride our own horses. We haul to weekend shows. We obsessively analyze videos. We occasionally require professional adult supervision. And then, for reasons neither of us can fully explain, we also think it’s a perfectly reasonable idea to roll into places like the Congress, NSBA World and AQHA World Show and say, “Yeah… I can probably do this.”

In this episode, Micah and I get into the very glamorous reality of doing this yourself — figuring out quirky horses, finding trainers who will tolerate our independent streaks, learning when to ask for help, getting humbled at weekend shows and then showing up at the big ones like we belong there.

We talk about the $500,000-horse problem, horse show politics, intimidating barns, expensive rigs, aging amateur bodies, showmanship theatrics, financial decisions that would concern a licensed professional and the deeply unhealthy emotional relationships we have with our horses.

At one point, OnlyFans enters the financial planning discussion.

Things deteriorate from there.

But somewhere between the inappropriate jokes and questionable financial decisions, we actually get serious about something that matters: you do NOT need the fanciest horse, trailer, trainer or bank account to belong in this industry.

Sometimes you buy what you can afford.
Sometimes you make the horse yourself.
Sometimes you get your ass kicked at the weekend show.
Sometimes you make the finals at the World Show.

And sometimes you do all four with the same horse.

So this episode is for the DIY Amateurs. The weekend warriors. The people riding after work. The ones who pull their own trailer, saddle their own horse, watch the video 47 times, ask someone smarter than them for help and then go home and try again.

We may not have a giant machine behind us.

We do, however, possess a truly concerning amount of confidence.

And apparently, that’ll get you pretty damn far.

This episode is sponsored by ME!!! Guys, we have merch now!

https://ali-hubbell-shop.fourthwall.com/

Click the link and happy shopping :)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Yeah. Okay, so okay, so then this is your first podcast, and I hit record a while ago, just in case we got some cute stuff to the you know from the beginning. But I have to just like formally thank you guys for doing this and coming on caterculture so welcome. I have Micah and Chantelle, aka Red.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

Yeah. Red. Obviously.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Yeah, we love it. We love it. And you know, I feel like everybody on the internet knows you as Red now. I literally I was like, wait, that's not her real name.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

I given Chantel. Actually, it wasn't Chantel. Chantel's my middle name. Oh, really? I dropped Chantel. I mean, I dropped my first name, which I hate to even say.

SPEAKER_07 0:41

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

What? Oh, I took his name as my middle name. My star name is my middle name, so I he should be happy. Okay. So my cool. I'll tell you, it's my first name was Tisha.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yeah, I like Chantel better. It's beautiful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

First trade was brutal. It was horrible. It was the worst of my life to this point. No, because no, but they called me Tisha Tissue Paper, and I just said, I can't have it, mother. I'm not doing it. And she said, Well, let me talk to your teacher. And my teacher said, Well, when she can spell it, she can be it. So there's Chantel. It's not right, Chantel. I learned it that night. And from then on, Tisha Tissue Paper was left in the wind. And I became and then I took it actually took me a few years to take Micah's name.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

And it took, I mean, it took a judge. It took like hours at Social Security. But I took my surname, which is Harp. L Harp Howard is my new name.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

That's beautiful though. That's that's like a celebrity name.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Thank you. My grandmother.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

I was a very sick little baby. Mother and I had a real weird blood disease, and I almost didn't make it. And so my mom was so sick she didn't she didn't have time to figure out a name. And so my grandmother saw this little girl in the newspaper who played violin. Can't tell. And so my grandmother named me, which I'm so pleased to say because I just love that woman to death.

SPEAKER_06 2:28

She is depressing.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Why is it depressing? You got picked on and you well, meaning is a real thing. Yeah. You know what? My maiden name is Grusha. And like I'm I literally am just Allie, like ALI, right? Like my my great-grandmother's name was Elida. And when my mom named me, she wanted, she was gonna name me Elida. And then everybody was like, oh, that's too old-fashioned. And so she just took the D and the A off and got Ali. Well, after 9-11, I got stopped in every airport, like Ali Grucia. That is the most. And I uh everybody was like, You're a terrorist. And like, whenever I spell my name for people anymore, yeah, I'm like, well, A L I, just like a terrorist, Ali, you know, it's not Allison, just Ollie.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

Yeah, I guess that might be uh yeah, I could see that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 3:23

So you look at you.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

First sentence paper, I guess. I mean, kids are mean, man.

SPEAKER_03 3:30

Brutal savages.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

You guys they are, and like I don't know. Like, we obviously didn't have social media in high school. Like, you know, and now these kids, like, my kids gonna go through high school with you know, social media. I don't know how I'm gonna handle that. We'll see.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

Last name is Yeah. Like the telescope.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Telescope. And I wish we were related. My husband swears we are, but we are not getting any of those uh kickbacks from that. So I mean, I wish, but I don't think so.

SPEAKER_07 3:58

But you wouldn't uh creating content if that was you were related.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Probably not. I probably would be in Wellington with some really fancy horses or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 4:07

Yeah. Me too. Me too.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Yeah. So, okay, well, I had to have you guys on because for like a number of reasons, but I will say that Micah, you are such like a cheerleader for everybody on social media when it comes to the horse stuff. You know, like I maybe it just shows up on my algorithm that way, but I always am seeing you being like, that's awesome, good job. Congratulations. And I think that's that's so cool though. Like, I I love that. And then also I know that you're a do-it-yourselfer. You compete at the world show, you go do all the things, and then you have this really cool support system sitting next to you here, too. So I just like, you know, I typically don't do the whole like tell me your story, but I want the story. Like, you know, I creep through your Facebook a little bit to see if I could figure it out a little more. And I saw, like, you've obviously been involved with horses since you could walk, it seems. So what got you here?

SPEAKER_07 5:04

You know. First of all, I will say horses are have been a lifeline for me over the course. I'll be 48 in December. And my family tells when I was old enough to get out of the crib on my own, that the first thing I would do every morning was pull up on the windowsill, which overlooked a huge pasture with the horses in it. So I don't know that I had any choice. My mother, dad met showing horses. We were in horses. Red's parents. My mother-in-law is in my and Red's dad shows, he's in reserve at the big Petrudi and or uh at the Petrudian The World Show, yes. Yeah, in so it's it's kind of just followed me around.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 5:48

I I got started early. They tried to get my sibling started, and she just didn't, she got bucked off and then quit. And so they somewhere on my social media is what red. Somewhere on my on my social media is a picture of me and my first pony. Her name was Starlet's a Shetland pony, and I had a terrible accident and fractured my skull on her. So I actually became afraid of horses after that. So then my mother and dad um went and bought me. She was mean as a snake to everyone but me. She bit, she kicked. She didn't she would sit back when you tied her, but I was scared to get on. My mother later tells the story that it she felt like it was a shame that a kid that loved horses so much was scared to get on one. So every day after school, she would saddle that mare and get on and make me get on behind her until I aim that fear. So I I owe a great debt of gratitude to my mom for nurturing that at that age.

SPEAKER_04 6:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 6:56

And then my dad's brother's wife, she liked eventing, and so she taught me how to ride. I spent a summer showing at her place. Cool hunters, and so I learned a little bit enough to you know not fall off.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 7:12

And it's just I took a little break after Red and I did a little stint musically.

SPEAKER_05 7:18

We did.

SPEAKER_07 7:18

We did, and I took a little break from horses, and then that didn't work out. And it was like 2007. I bought my first, we bought our first horse together on up eight.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

Max.

SPEAKER_07 7:30

His name was Max. We rode with Mike and Charlene Carter, and they took us to the car first comp.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_07 7:36

It was a pleasure. I didn't know anything but how to sit there. And those two really taught me how a lot to hold my craft in.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 7:45

And then I moved that horse on to Ryan and Mandy. And that horse was a superstar as a novice. He won he won the novice championship. I think he was reserving the showmanship, the trail. I won the horse with championship. Great.

SPEAKER_03 7:58

It was incredible.

SPEAKER_07 7:59

And I owe also a great debt of gratitude to those two because they're I always tell everyone that does this business, if you ever get a shot to get a lesson from Ryan or Manny. But Ryan particularly does the two events that I love showmanship and trail. And he's an incredible teacher. He's one of my he taught me so much about those classes.

SPEAKER_03 8:21

Awesome. I know. I taught you so much about showmanship.

SPEAKER_07 8:25

She didn't. She didn't Ryan feel the finishing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Yeah, definitely. I was really looking forward to spending time with them when I came down because I've always admired them. And as I it is kind of cool about my job that I get to learn from so many different people. So I was really looking forward to that until I had to go and have my medical issue. But they do seem like horsemen, both of them. You know, I've always like really admired just watching them work. I feel like you can always like tell like who's like really a horseman and who, I don't know, who just really studies this more than than others, I guess. So that's really neat to hear.

SPEAKER_07 9:03

Of Robin Fred, too, working as his assistant.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

That's right.

SPEAKER_07 9:07

You ever want somebody to break down a circle for you? There is nobody in horsemanship. I don't do horsemanship, which we'll get into later, I'm sure. But she made me sign up for it. That's basically the only reason I did it. But there is no one tell you how to make a circle any more perfect than Mandy Gately. If she's she just I mean, she's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

How far do they live from you guys?

SPEAKER_07 9:28

Uh maybe an hour.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Oh, that's nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 9:32

Yeah. You know, I I don't mind using a trainer. When you I have to ride. I do five days a week. Same stuff. And so when you are within those big programs, you have to book an appointment because they're gone. So liability and I love them. I would I wish they would allow fall-ins. And they just can't. They have too many in their programs. I don't even ask, would never approach that. But they don't live that far at all. And they are other than work horsemen.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

That is so cool. I'm with you. Like I I tried the trainer thing with my current horse with Zeus. And it just, I was only riding twice a week. And it was like a two-hour drive one way. And I just, I don't know. I I I wasn't doing well. I wasn't progressing. And I I felt like I wasn't connecting. And I'm like for the all-around and the especially the showmanship. Like I do weird stuff with my horses for the showmanship. You know, like I have like little weird things that I do with them to make it better for me, anyways. So like, you know, like I like when I'm grooming, I make him set up and I give him treats if you know, like if he stands good, and then if he moves, like he gets put back. And I I just do like weird things. And I couldn't do that at a trainer's barn. And uh so uh do you board your horse close by or north of town at Lone Star Ranch?

SPEAKER_07 10:59

She also does she does the ranch events for and she does Rebecca Clavery is her name. She's a young girl or young lady now, I guess. We know her as a kid. So I'd like she's a wonderful caretaker and trying to make her also I think she's won the level two in the roping at the world show. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

She's have you tried that? Have you tried roping?

SPEAKER_07 11:23

No, I don't. My calculus teacher in college, I that was my first he had like these three fingers or something.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

I did it at Weatherford and in the Teskies with a bunch of teen actor boys.

SPEAKER_07 11:36

Stress those out.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

I didn't she almost fell down. My dad had calf roped when I was a child.

SPEAKER_07 11:42

He did, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

And his his best buddy was a world champion calf roper. So my dad started out calf roping.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Have you done it?

SPEAKER_01 11:51

I okay. So my husband was a team roper when I met him. And so of course he was like, he had he was a header though. So he's like, Well, I'm gonna teach you how to heal. And I tried, and we had like a dummy, you know, at the barn and stuff that we were practice on. And uh okay, I am not a hand-eye coordination kind of gal. Okay, that's why I ride horses and I was a swimmer, not ball sports for me. So to try and like coordinate plus riding and like I can't one time, I would think too much, huh?

SPEAKER_07 12:20

Plus the bottom fingers up, just my calculus.

SPEAKER_03 12:22

The digits were not, that's not a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

No, it's not cute. Yeah, no, so yeah, it's like it's so that's so cool that she does that though, because that's hard. It's hard stuff.

SPEAKER_07 12:34

Yeah, a stunning she's turned into a stunning woman. She does. You'll see her face on the I don't know. They make the suits for the shellmanship and they live here in Tennessee. Oh gosh, Debbie Lindville. What's that their business thing?

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 12:50

Cowboy couture, cowboy collars.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Oh, custom collars.

SPEAKER_07 12:54

That's it. They don't get mad at me for not remembering.

SPEAKER_05 12:58

I did a name right now.

SPEAKER_07 12:59

I did Debbie Lindville, custom collars. That's it, custom collars. But Rebecca's the on most of their ads.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Who? Well, I'll have to look I'll have to look that up. That's so neat. So, okay, you do the showman show. You do the showmanship. You're really good at the showmanship, too. So the showman chip and the trail are like your things, right?

SPEAKER_07 13:16

That's really, you know, I always say I hated doing the horsemanship, and Mandy would sign me up for it. And then they got me pointed out of that novice real quick. I hung on to that novice as long as I could, man. It was like a safety net for me, man.

SPEAKER_04 13:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:34

Right. Women, you know. So I just always say if you're a male judge and you have the choice to look at my wine belly uh over a saddleboard versus looking at you in the horsemanship. Come on, okay.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

Or shellmanship.

SPEAKER_07 13:48

Horsemanship. No one's gonna, you know, no one wants to look at me in the horsemanship. So I just focus on trail and the and the shellman shit.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

I I the horsemanship really the horse the horsemanship gives me anxiety.

SPEAKER_07 14:00

It kind of does me too.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

It's like there's so much.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

It's like a whole although, okay, first of all, I think men have it easier in the horsemanship because you guys have a perfectly straight back. All of you. You have this perfect straight back, and I'm so jealous of it.

SPEAKER_06 14:18

Okay. I hadn't thought about it.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

What about the front?

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Well, if you have it depends on their age.

SPEAKER_07 14:24

There, you know, because I do have a bulgy belly.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

No, you don't.

SPEAKER_07 14:28

Yeah, I ask them all the time to if in those photos, I'm like, oh, just stop. Edit out the billy. Stop it.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yeah, but I feel that way too. I'm like, oh, there's this big butt coming out the back, and everybody's like, you have to tuck your butt, tilt your pelvis. And I'm like, no, that's just how I am. Like I literally just have a butt. It's not gonna get tucked.

SPEAKER_07 14:45

Right?

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Yeah, wait, say that again.

SPEAKER_07 14:47

You've created content about that, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Yes, because it's true. I can't tuck it. Everyone, there's like no shape or like that's just me.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

What do they call them? Seatbones, sit bones, what are those names?

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Yeah, yeah, they tell me, yeah, sit on your seatbones. And I'm like, I am, but my butt still is popping out. It's just like it's ghetto, it's out there.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

I can't, so I've made I didn't I didn't notice an enormous R. Well No, it's her podcast, sure.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

I mean, yeah, it's gangster, but I mean my husband likes it, so that's all that matters. You know, it is what it is. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

But I forgot dad's legs and I got mom spoons.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

That's okay. That's nice.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

Yeah. I'll tell you.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Well, it's but it's like all these there are so many of these people on Ozempic too, and I'm like, I can't keep up with this. Like, I can't. I just can't.

SPEAKER_07 15:48

Yeah. What do you get over my A1C is all it does? Mine went down to like seven ones. Well, that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 15:56

I use half the insulin that I would normally use if I didn't have it. So that's why I take it.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

So that's a whole another thing, too. And I mean, we could let's just jump right into it. So I also I also connected with you over being diabetic.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

So how did how did that happen for you?

SPEAKER_07 16:18

Well, I was late. Red's was triggered. Red actually has a pump. So hers was by the COVID shot, and it caused her pancreas to stop producing insulin. We almost lost Red to diabetic keto acidosis of how many years ago? Two?

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Three years at 23?

SPEAKER_07 16:33

23.

SPEAKER_03 16:33

Three years ago, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 16:34

I jumped up in the middle of the night and realized what was going on and got her to the ER and her things were shutting down.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

He's what saved me. Life is what saved me.

SPEAKER_07 16:42

I have a sick sense sometimes that anyway.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_07 16:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was it was rough. Mine started in my late 30s. And I don't no one in my family claims to be have insulin issues. I have the classic signs, you know, the round face, the stomach, and you know. And I started as a type two, then they said I into a type one.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Which is crazy.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

Same thing, except he didn't DK. He got really scary skinny. Yeah. His doctor was like, Why are you so skinny? And he would and she put it insulin at that point. But my doctor, I had just gone to the doctor the Thursday before the Monday that I went into intensive care. And they called me on the Friday and said, I think we're gonna have to put you on insulin. Like you're not also, I was 35 pounds thinner, which I'm just gonna be honest, I loved every second of that. Yeah. Every second. And apparently I looked a little bit anorexic, but I love as I've always I've always struggled with, you know, just being flat pretty fleshy. Yeah. Be really thin and be like, okay, you know, you can pretty much buy anything, wear anything. You feel comfortable, your body was you didn't have bumps and bulges where you want to have them, and but Micah's point, he's always like, Well, I'd rather be dead. I know.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

I know.

SPEAKER_07 18:09

Did you get skinny when you got diagnosed?

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Oh my gosh. So I was 12 and I, but I got I got a flu, and the flu attacked my pancreas. So it lit like I was a super healthy kid, no diabetes in my family, no anything in my family. Everybody's really healthy. I was a swimmer and I was I had just started riding at 12 also, but I was swimming, and another person on the team, his daughter was a type one, and he said it was like a dad, and he said to my mom, he's like, you know, I don't mean to be weird. And he was like, but I've noticed that like Allie's lost a lot of weight and she's just not doing as great, not as much energy. And it was the summer and it was hot. And like who gets the flu in the summer, too? Like it was weird. But my mom was like, you know, she has been drinking a lot. And then of course I was peeing a lot. And there was like all the signs were there. And so she called pediatrician and, you know, they did the blood work. And I literally at 12, I had never had blood work, never been to a hospital, nothing. I go in to get the blood work. I was so freaked out about the blood work. I was vomiting. I was losing my mind. My mom was like, get your shit together, like you. She was like, This is not a big deal. And I was like, my and but I remember I got the blood work, and literally the next day, my the pediatrician called my mom and was like, my blood sugar was like 700. And she was like, What's that?

SPEAKER_07 19:37

What was your A1C?

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Oh, you know, I don't remember. At the I it had to have been like 13 or something. Yeah, it was something like wild. I was in DKA and but she when she called, my mom was like, Well, we have a swim meet this afternoon, so can we go to the hospital after? And she was like, ma'am, I'm giving you the opportunity to drive your child to the hospital instead of sending an ambulance. So that was, yeah, it was, you know, I had the coolest doctors though, because I remember I had a doctor come in and they were like, You're gonna be fine. This is manageable. You will live a long life. You can do everything everyone else does. You just need to think about it before you do it. And I have, and my mom has always let me live that way too, where she's like, Nope, we're gonna do all the things. You can go away to college, you know, do everything. Uh again, I was a competitive swimmer, plus the horses, and yeah, we just kind of like always figured it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:35

Manage it now if you assuming you haul yourself right to shows now.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_07 20:41

And I don't know how that's a question I had for you. I I don't know how you do that.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Yeah, it's a lot. So, like I I have the Living Quarters trailer and a dually, and I do it and I go and I just I actually I'm a control freak. So I like having all of my things and I like being able, like if I have to leave, I can leave. And if I, you know, I just like having all of those options for me. And a lot of times I take my daughter with me, and I've now realized though that I need an extra set of hands. So it's gotten to the point where I have to take either my mom or my husband too, because it's too much. It's too much.

SPEAKER_07 21:23

Things I compromised on was I hire his name is Hobby. I don't know how to say his first name. I hire those guys and they can twice a day, they clean my stall, change my water.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

That's been great.

SPEAKER_07 21:35

I mean you know, otherwise, I got to St. Louis at March and was unlucky, and my sugar shot down to nine.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 21:43

And you know, it's like then you get on that roller coaster where you Yep, up, down. And you chase have to chase it back down. It's ex that's exhausting to me.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

It is. It is. And that's I mean, I don't do I think you and I had talked about this through Messenger, but I don't do well in The heat. That's why, like, I can't do the big A. Everybody's always like, You gotta go, you gotta go. And I'm like, I I can't. I will be in the hospital.

SPEAKER_07 22:07

Yeah.

unknown 22:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 22:08

What I did for Red Bud was there's this gent online, he sells those, they're called show stalls. Oh and I bought one, it inflates. And oh I mean it's more crap to unload.

SPEAKER_05 22:20

Yeah. Sure.

SPEAKER_07 22:21

You stick a portable air conditioner in there, and you can at least get dressed in the AC. Like I had to put a hoodie on it. I had to put a hoodie on in the thing as I worked at the Red Bud. It was that cool. But it's nice.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

That is nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 22:35

I don't do living quarter, red things. It's like camping.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 22:38

So you know, we we went back to hotels.

SPEAKER_03 22:41

Yeah. We just never had the math work out though. There's math.

unknown 22:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

I know. Well, that's a whole nother. I mean, my my husband, I made I made him help me haul to a low, like just a New Jersey show for me, which is like an hour away. And he's like, Do you realize the amount of money in because I made him drive his farrier rig to meet me there to help me unload? And he's like, just the money in fuel and rigs that you're requiring to go to this weekend horse show. And I'm like, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_07 23:12

It's like a rig, dude, for you know, for any retainer, it's like, good lord.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

So he has a farrier then, maybe. He's a farrier, yes. So it's kind of tough because his free time, he doesn't want to be around horses. You know, he wants like a break, and whenever he comes, someone's like, Hey, could you fix this? Or hey, could you? And he's like, Oh man, he's like, I just want to come like be a dad and a husband, you know. So that that part is tough on him. You know, I'm like, Don't you want to go to the world show with me for two weeks? And he's like, No, I don't.

SPEAKER_07 23:46

I'm like, why she has it now that she'll fly in like the night before and then stay for the two classes and then well last year I yeah and uh it was really strangely cold.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Like I think it was colder than anyone expected it to be. Yes. Yeah, I really had not prepared properly for that. No, uh, but it yeah, it was fun. We had a good time. I got kicked out of the uh what was that little area right before you go into the arena?

SPEAKER_07 24:15

The one with the giant spells.

SPEAKER_03 24:18

It was so sweet.

SPEAKER_07 24:19

He just didn't read the signs up to come past. And John Kunkel said, ma'am, you've gotta go.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

You cannot. You gotta get, you're too too close.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

I was I was greasing horses. Fine.

SPEAKER_07 24:33

You missed here about because I wanted to touch on this specifically. It's a complaint that I have about the horse business. Is I am eternally that kid with the horse that burned an inside track in 4-H. And my 4-H leader daughter, Rachel Benjamin shows with Brendan Mohke. Her name is Mary Murphy, and she was an unbelievable encourager to me. Shittiest horse on the I am eternally still that kid at heart that I so I fully believe I I think we should normalize. Hey, you had a nice ride. You have a nice horse. Like it's a con I it that's a gripe of mine. And so I always go out of my way, you know, especially if somebody's done well or I know their story, or that's a big deal to me to to support well.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

It's very sportsman-like. I mean, that's how it should be. Yeah. You should be able to go over even if they even if you did you did better or they did better, I think that that's that's how it should be.

SPEAKER_07 25:47

Well, you know, I watched a couple talk you did with the Whitney fella. Um that was very important. That was a very important dialogue in, but most of the time they won because they were better.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Yeah. And you know what? When he said that to me, and he when he said that you should want to be political, and he meant that in a way of like, you should want to be respected for the horsemen that you are, that you show up every time and you put your best foot forward, and you're showing the judges like, I'm here and I'm gonna show you what I can do. I was like, well, that makes a lot of sense because really, you know, I mean, I'm guilty of it. I know like years ago when I started in Quarter Horse, that I thought it was just so political and you know, this isn't fair, and like so-and-so messed up, and they still got to win, and you know, so that it is a hard pill to swallow sometimes, but those people continuously show up and continuously like show how good they are.

SPEAKER_07 26:47

That's so true. That was a really good dialogue to have.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 26:51

I mean and I my hope from listening to that was, and I I I don't know that man, but I I just I talked to him at the Red Bud and said, Hey, that was a really good podcast. It was good.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Oh god.

SPEAKER_07 27:04

And my hope from that is the people that do look from the outside and say, Well, I can't get my name called. Well, you know what? I rolled into Oklahoma City, I got my name called. You know, I don't have I didn't have I don't have a big machine behind me. No. And you just gotta bust it, man. But a lot of times people win because they have put in the time.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 27:26

And they're the winner. I mean, you gotta you gotta really internal compass that says, okay. I I I suspect you would be the same of okay, this is where I am, this is where they are.

SPEAKER_03 27:43

If I need to get humility for sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

You know, I same. I don't I've never had like that horse, or like I've always had to buy something on a budget and make it something. And I can't tell you the amount of times my mom was like, Why are we still doing this? Why are we still doing this? You know, and I'm like, I just keep going. And I could I think too, like I've I just keep showing up. And maybe it's stupid, and I think people think I'm crazy, but you know, my family thinks I'm crazy. But I think I've gotten to the point where I am, especially with this horse, because I was like, nope, we're gonna keep showing up. And even I think the look of me and my horse is a little different. Zeus goes differently than probably some other horses do. And I even had this talk with the trainer that helps me, Colton Lassousa. He said, Well, he said, if we're gonna keep Zeus, he said, we have to make them appreciate your look. And I was like, that's a good point. I said, because we he moves a little different. He's bouncy looking, he's not super solid in his neck, but we are connected and I can ride him. So he's like, we just need to keep selling your look. And I'm like, all right, we'll sell it.

SPEAKER_07 28:56

So define for me, just as an observer, what is your look?

SPEAKER_01 29:01

What is what I think Zeus is just not as like soft of a mover, and he's not, he's we're we are not a soft look, I guess, is what I what I think. I think we are a little bit more of a harsh look. Like he is, he's heavy, he's a heavy mover, and you know, I got that booty, so I'm not like this soft looking. But you know, and I I've talked with other like judges and trainers about it too. And they're like, the thing about you though is you get to that cone and the look on your face is watch this. And I'm like, it is, because actually I'm saying that. I'm like, ready?

unknown 29:37

Watch.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

We got it. And I that's that's how I walk in. It really is.

SPEAKER_07 29:42

I wanted to I wanted to say this, and I think I reached out to you too about it, but I wanted to say this on air.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_07 29:48

I have mad respect for you for trotting that mayor. It's a mayor, right? The little sorrow one.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Yeah, sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 29:55

Uh I wanted to do that night. I came specifically to watch you in in Ohio. And I thought, God, that girl's got some balls.

SPEAKER_03 30:03

You know what? Anabody.

SPEAKER_07 30:04

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Antibian. I both. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 30:07

You should get the S H I T out of that mare. You did I I was you did a great. I guess I saw your content afterwards where you said the fans kind of roasted you, but I thought, gosh, if you only knew what it took. I don't because it's easy to type and it's in there. But you just showed so good. It was good.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Do you know what? That was literally sorry, my dog's barking. Oh my gosh. Amazon, Amazon. Hold tight as he stops barking, of course. It's for me. You know, my husband loves this too. All the Amazon packages. Do you hear him? He's like a murderer. He's a hearing. Oh my gosh. Okay, good wait, hold on. Nikki.

SPEAKER_07 30:52

You rewarded first.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

I do. I'm like murder kill. Yes.

SPEAKER_07 30:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

Anyway, so that horse that I showed, she that was her first horse show. Like ever.

SPEAKER_05 31:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

Oh, wait, no, it was her second. I took her to a small show before just to like test the waters. And then I was like, oh, I'm gonna go to the madness. And to be honest with you, I didn't, I don't know why, but I was like so confident that she'd be fine that I just was like, this is gonna, I took her out the first time to ride, and she was like, What is this world? Like, there is so much here. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I have a lot of work cut out for me. And she had been in like one-handed in a bridle for maybe 30 days.

SPEAKER_05 31:36

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

So, like, that was like a lot. And when I saw like the type of horses that were warming up for the same class, I was like, Allie, what did you put yourself into? Like, this is a little, oh gosh. And I will tell you, A, I appreciate you saying that that you could even tell and you could see that. And then the next day, Angie Canizero judge that class.

SPEAKER_05 32:01

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

And I have never really spoken to Angie just because we obviously don't really show the pleasure. So our paths really have never crossed. And he came up to me and she said, I have to tell you that we all said that you did such a great job showing that horse. I almost started crying. I was like, oh my gosh. I was like, Me? You mean me? So that was cool. That that someone could tell that I was just I was just trying to show the shit out of what I had. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 32:27

You know, I knew the magnitude probably of what you felt, just because that's not what we do. No. We do the all-around, you know? So and I thought, gosh, you it didn't up on you whatsoever. You you had your gang face on.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

I gotta face it until I make it. I know. Well, and okay, so you showed at the world show last year. You did well in the trail, right?

SPEAKER_07 32:51

Yeah, I was like a couple of maybe a either a half point or out of the finals, and then I made the finals in the showmanship. So Marcus, he's still pretty green at the showmanship. Oh my gosh. You know, going back to I don't have the horse.

SPEAKER_03 33:06

So what do you mean the horse?

SPEAKER_07 33:08

Well, you know, like I I don't have that budget. And we have a healthy budget, we don't have the budget for a $500,000 horse. And so Marco was a kind of a den only could as and then he went through a couple of people and then found his person in Vicky Parker. Oh, cool. He taught him the trail, I think, in the Western writing idea. And maybe Jamie Watson started him at work. Showed pretty good apt to the trail and pointed out of the green the first year, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 33:45

So he was stuck with me in the level two, uh having to go over race based.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 33:50

It's been a learning curve, but yeah. Then the summonship he was really green at, so we kind of picked that up along the way, and I was really proud of him.

SPEAKER_03 33:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

He's a good boy. Yeah. How old is he?

SPEAKER_07 34:11

He's 12.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Wait, is that him in the background? That's the picture of him. Oh, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

Yeah, our friend uh our friend Jane took that out at uh at a farm. And we've just I find it for Micah for uh That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_07 34:29

She runs Reds, or she did, she's retired now. Red's parents have a show ranch in Weatherford and then they have a breeding could be California. She does she's their breeding manager, but she's always cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Awesome. That's yeah, that's beautiful. Wow. Gosh. So wait, tell me how old is he?

SPEAKER_07 34:48

He's 12. 12. Yeah, he's older.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

That's awesome. I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_07 34:54

Show him a ton. She had some health issues. Um, you know, so he he's not he doesn't have a giant record on him yet, but we finished a career in June on him in the trail, in the road trail. And I really he's a quirky horse. He's hard, he's hard to prepare.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Yeah. Like what does he do? What are his things?

SPEAKER_07 35:16

Yeah. Spooking is sport to him because he thinks you'll get off. And so he's impulse he has in the impulsions line.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 35:25

And so he's out of Rebecca Bailey Breden, so he's out of her really good marriage, that Anna Impulse. Oh. And of course, he's a one-hot crimson on the top.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Cool.

SPEAKER_07 35:35

And so the Anna Impulse mayor, I understand, was quite full of herself. And he a lot of the same traits. He he may last anywhere from three minutes outside to three hours. He despises flies. He will buck. I mean, he's you know he's spooks. Like I thought I had it made. I thought, all right, this is the nicest horse I've ever bought. So I went right out after I bought him and went to Tampa and I thought, I've got it.

SPEAKER_04 35:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 35:57

And I was really stupid and didn't do enough homework. I came out of a back through and this trotover went well, and I thought, okay, it's going well.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 36:07

And he likes to do this thing where he will duck a shoulder and picked up a wrong lead going over a pole. And I thought, well, shit, I'm back to 4H. Like that's here we go.

SPEAKER_05 36:18

Yeah. Yeah. And that wasn't a good day. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_07 36:21

But he's so super, super smart. And he can find a spot in the trail pretty well. He knows how to rate his body. He did his own flying lead change and got on the right lead and made this spot.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_07 36:33

But it went downhill from there, and I went back to the hotel. It was my birthday, and I pouted and canceled my birthday dinner. And like a big baby. And I called Vicki Holt. I'm like, what is wrong with this horse? I'm so mad. I was really just embarrassed. And I will say this too to anybody that's thinking about doing it themselves. If you're scared to talk to these professionals, a lot of them will talk to you.

SPEAKER_05 36:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 36:59

Every time I have reached out to Vicki, she's given me honest, helpful answers. She still does it. At the red butt, she pulled me aside and gave me a talk. And that has been the most helpful. And she helped me figure out how to prepare him appropriately. And she gave me the regime and it worked.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 37:18

And so I came home from Tampa and I said, All right, buddy, you've hooted me your last time. And I just went every other weekend to weekend shows, figuring out to the I know to the minute what it takes to get him prepared.

unknown 37:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 37:32

And so uh and she was instrumental in helping me figure that out. And so that that's what I spent a whole year doing then before I came back to doing some of the bigger shows then.

SPEAKER_01 37:42

That's really smart. You know, I did when I brought Zeus home from the trainer that he was at, I called the people that had the most success with him. And it was Rick and Kelly Christie. And I messaged them and I was like, I need to talk to you. And immediately they were like, of course. You know, and I was like, what did you feed him? What was his turnout like? How did you ride him? Like, what bit did you put in his mouth? And they sent me everything. And they still to this day, like I keep in touch with them just about like how he's doing and like if there's any little things. And, you know, I'm I am grateful that I have found a handful of trainers that will let me like tag along at horse shows and you know, but but I will say, like, I remember I had asked Holton Lasso, he was still with Whitney Legacy at the time. And when I asked them to, I was like, would you take me on? They had to think about it for a minute because you know, they had never done that before and they hadn't had success with like haul-ins or, you know, allowing people to keep the horse at home. And, you know, I definitely see both sides of that. And although what I wish of these trainers is that they would take more of like a leadership role in that standpoint. And like if the customers have a problem with it, that they can say, like, this was my business decision to allow this person to come stall with us, don't worry about it. Like, don't get upset. Don't think I'm spending more time that, but she's not paying enough. Or, you know, there's stuff like that that like I, you know, see that and add more legs sometimes where people are like, Do you think this would be fair? How do you feel about do-it-yourselfers? And we're paying for training and blah, blah, blah. And to be honest with you, I would always be okay with like paying a premium to stall with them because I don't pay training and I don't expect them to ride my horse. I don't expect them to, you know, it's more of just like a coaching and maybe dumping his grain in so I could sleep in an extra 20 minutes or something. Like that's really what I'm hoping for. But it, you know, like at the smaller shows, I don't mind going by myself. But I love having like even a friend at the smaller shows, like videoing for me so that I can over, you know, overanalyze and get weird in the yeah, you know, nice to have. Yeah. But other than that, like I'm okay at the little ones, but at the big shows, I like having like a group, you know, and like so. Do you I thought you're going with Evan Knapp a couple of times, right? Oh my gosh, and they are so fun. He is hysterically funny. I actually can't imagine between all of you guys the laughs and the wit at those stalls. It has to be so good.

SPEAKER_07 40:11

So he's pretty like, he's pretty even killed. I've got like a dry kind of just sense of humor. I I look, I I paid attention for two years before I because I knew I needed eyes on the ground. I think that's everything, especially those big stuff, that big stuff. And so I saw him in March at St. Louis, and I don't know, something was said about a show I was going to, and he goes, You can stall this if you want to, because we stalled down the hall from them at the world show. So we kind of had a rapport.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 40:37

Yeah, yeah. And so my first show with him was the Red Bud. And first of all, his girlfriend, Lindsay, is she was one of the best keepers of time.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

Yeah. So organized.

SPEAKER_07 40:52

Do you know Lindsay?

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Yes, I know Lindsay well. Yes, she's very organized. Yes.

SPEAKER_07 40:56

She's one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

I mean, she's just, I mean not changing to get the chaps on at the last minute like you did with me.

SPEAKER_07 41:01

No, she's done enough. She is she can tell you to the T. That was the most helpful to get me to. That's another thing, too, is time management.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 41:09

And sometimes be difficult.

SPEAKER_00 41:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 41:11

And so but the I mean, we just kind of hit it off, all of us, and we just kind of laugh and joke and oh I bet. All about the good time.

unknown 41:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 41:19

And supporting, you know, hey, and Evan is real, he's quiet. Um and Marco needs he he needs you to be quiet because he's a sensitive animal. And so, but I, you know, for me, going back to what you said about the clients, you know, or the trainers taking more of the leadership role. I made that abundantly clear. I said, hey, let's just lay out this boundary. Your clients come first.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 41:44

I'll do anything that's gonna piss your your clients off because I I'm gonna ride, I'm always gonna have my horse with me.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 41:51

I wouldn't hesitate for 30 seconds to send a horse to Evan. They are Lindsay is really, really, really on top of the care of the killers he has with them. And but I just have to ride. And so I, you know, I saddled my he wanted to do some leap changes on it to see what we had.

SPEAKER_02 42:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 42:08

And I saddled my own, I would lead it up there for him. Like I I'll do all this for you. If you could just show up for me at the pen, and that's really he works with me on the patterns. We walk the trail, we school the trail, and he handled it well because he he has select lady and he meets me. And so we could all do the trail at the same time. And I don't do the Western riding or horsemanship, so yeah, it it it works out really well. I'm looking forward to the NSBA with them. They're a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Yeah, that will be very helpful.

SPEAKER_07 42:37

He's a horseman, he's a very helpful.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

It seems that way. I haven't been around him much. I got to know him a little bit more at the world show two years ago. Also, I think he and Lindsay had just started dating, so he was like coming around and you know, but so I got to know him, but I knew that he he had written like a funny book about like the non-prose, like I don't know, like an amateur book, and it's like for sale on Amazon, and I love it, and it was so funny. And then when I met him in person, I was like, Oh, he's so quiet.

SPEAKER_07 43:09

He's very interesting human in that he has all these facets of his life that Lindsay spilled on him while we would go to dinner, and he's also an artist. Oh yeah, he either I think he draws or paints. God, I'll get all the street.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

Well, he's a renaissance.

SPEAKER_07 43:24

Yeah, he totally is. That's what I said to him. I was probably drinking and don't remember what he's either a painter or a drawer. Anyway, but he like welds and he does all these yeah, he has a lot of different He works on cars too, right?

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Doesn't he like? Yeah, okay, I knew that.

SPEAKER_00 43:38

Uh huh. He sounds like a guy got a lots of coffee.

SPEAKER_07 43:42

He has a lot of he's very multifaceted. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

No. So when you're at home, Red, do you go to the barn too? Like, do you guys go together? No.

SPEAKER_07 43:53

Look, she's like, What is the last time you have been at the barn? Like that photo shoes. The photo shoot. When was that?

SPEAKER_03 44:01

Well I don't really like to get I don't like to get together.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

I mean I get it.

SPEAKER_07 44:08

I mean So what she's used to with her family is you know the cutters will come down from their box and get on.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 44:16

So you have lopers that lope them down.

SPEAKER_02 44:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 44:19

You know, it's very for me if I go ride there because they want to take your horse from you when you get off the flag or whatever and they hose it down and unsaddle it and I'm like that that's foreign to me.

SPEAKER_03 44:30

It is weird.

SPEAKER_07 44:31

I think she probably if we had a little more pool thirsty. You don't, or hot or sweaty.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

I mean yeah. I'll do that for medieval villages in Europe, but maybe maybe not. I mean I will I have been I have if hard times come, I have been like the muck bucket and then and the glass of wine to get me through it. Yeah and it's you know it's a world show last last time I ended up doing some mucking and I started the wrong training, and then that thing had to be transferred to the other thing and she wasn't aware of the dust situation with I had to do it.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Well, I mean I get it.

SPEAKER_03 45:12

I don't like cookies, I don't want fibs with it. I I mean I don't love the smell of it the way Morsey people do.

SPEAKER_01 45:18

Oh smell yeah, it's not for you. It's not for you. Yeah, it smells terrible.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

Makeup pen? What makeup pen? Like before you go in. Oh, the yeah, they call it makeup pen?

SPEAKER_07 45:34

I mean, whatever. Well, that's not the point of the story. The like you do no, that's where you warm up. It might have. It could be great Marcos. She had greased Marco's nose and ears, and I'm like, you have been paying attention all the time.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

Whatever that was, the first Congress. And I thought, oh, you're supposed to put a grease on my face. The problem was is that my ear might not have over grease. It was all over the greens are all green. Oh no, oh no. I was like, he looks really slick, doesn't he? Too much grease. Too much.

SPEAKER_00 46:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:10

He was very keto. He I Guido'd him. Sorry, Danny Guido's listening.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

I know, right. I know. I probably just offended somebody. I know. It's okay.

SPEAKER_03 46:17

I'm always offended.

SPEAKER_01 46:19

I call that I when I put it on Zeus, I tell him we're putting his lip gloss on. I'm like, okay, it was time to put your lip gloss on. Then I do his eyes. I says your highlighter, you know, I do his lip gloss. And but it it always ends up on me though, then too. Like I don't, and maybe that's like the do-it-yourself or in me also, but I will have like a grease mark across my outfit instantly. Instantly. I actually hate that stuff. It doesn't come out. What's that?

SPEAKER_07 46:48

I won't use it at the small shows. I hate it that bad.

SPEAKER_01 46:51

I know, I don't either. Nope. It's not worth it. No. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 46:55

So gross. Everywhere. And then does he he gets turned out, right?

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:00

I didn't know until I had an experience with it that it also sunburns. They get sunburned if Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:06

You put grease on them. And you let them out. My mother sitting outside with baby oil. Yeah. Yes. Just to basically she was basing herself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

I know. Well, do you know what? Like now we know about skin cancer and all the things, but back in the day, like my mom would always like tell me if my face was broke out as like a 13-year-old, she'd be like, Oh, go sit in the sun, it'll dry it out, and like burn it all.

SPEAKER_07 47:30

You're like, I almost tell what our mother did to uh with us was like, Well, if you have acne. My mother, my sister and I'm not sure. Yeah, that's right. Um, but she would say, Oh, she would say for a tanning bed session. Go get the tanning bed.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

My mom did too. She's like, Oh, you want to get tan?

SPEAKER_01 47:46

She's like, You want to be tan in the winter? You can do the tanning.

SPEAKER_07 47:48

Go get the tanning bed.

SPEAKER_03 47:51

I've called it the tanning coffin for years.

SPEAKER_07 47:53

Red does. Yeah, red works on skin, so she's anti-any of the sun.

SPEAKER_03 47:57

Yeah, that's my job.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

Well, I mean, I understand it now and have had multiple things removed from my body because of it.

SPEAKER_03 48:05

But you're keeping a watch. Very sorry.

SPEAKER_01 48:10

I know. Yeah, it's well, I've loved the sun for far too long, and my mom loves the sun. It's like we're bad. But I wear sunscreen now. I don't care as much about being tan. There's fake stuff for that. So it's okay. It's okay.

SPEAKER_03 48:22

There's a lot of options.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

Yes, there are a lot of options now, but there weren't in the 90s. So true. I was bacon, you know.

SPEAKER_03 48:30

And the stuff that they made in the 90s, as far as like bronzers and self tanner, was horrible.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

Horrible.

SPEAKER_03 48:38

It makes you look like an ooplaopa from Willie Wong's horrible. Horrible. My sisters used to put that stuff on themselves and they would they would come out looking just orange. Orange. Oh, never mind. I'm not never mind.

SPEAKER_05 48:54

Never mind.

SPEAKER_01 48:57

It's fine. You can say whatever you want to say. I don't care.

SPEAKER_03 49:01

Hopefully they won't listen. Hopefully not. Hopefully, maybe your reach will get to them. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 49:06

Oh, I mean, yeah. Say that again.

SPEAKER_03 49:11

How long have you been doing the podcasting?

SPEAKER_01 49:13

Two years. Yeah. Like August. August 20th or something is going to be two years. Yeah. Well, congratulations. Thanks. I wish I could do it more. You know, and like I it's been interesting because I put something up about the world show and somebody had commented and said, like, we wish that we heard from more people and more stories. And like, you know, honestly, it would, it did light a fire under my ass to reach out to you guys again because I was like, I know we have talked about this numerous times. And I'm like, let's get it on the schedule. Let's do it. Because there are so many cool stories to tell. And I like, I want to get it out there because I just feel like there is so much negative press around our industry right now. And actually, my husband said to me the other night, he was like, you know, you talk about the financial side of showing horses a lot. And he's like, stop bringing it up. He's like, you're making it worse. You know, he's like, you're bringing more attention to the fact that it is expensive. So people are going to be like, well, then I don't want to do it. And I'm like, okay, so now how do I even reposition that narrative? Because listen, we know it's expensive. So I hate to even talk about it again. So like for me, I just try and have a plan and like make set priorities so that I can do it because I have to do that. I can't just go and go and go, unfortunately. And to be honest, now that I have three horses, which oh my God, I went to a show with the two for the first time and I got the bill in the office, and I was like, oh, I can't keep this up. So I was like, and I'm not good at selling horses. So I'm probably just gonna have to either like start dancing for money, which probably I won't make that much, or I'm gonna have to like, I don't know, but I have to prioritize. Let's just say that. I'm gonna prioritize.

SPEAKER_03 51:08

You'd make probably as much as you would if should we start dancing? I don't know with the big booty. No, no, no. You may do it pretty well.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

I could try. I mean, I could try just very fit. I I joke and I tell my husband, he he's always like, I mean, if you want to do an OnlyFans and it pays for the horses, he's like, I don't care.

SPEAKER_07 51:26

You know, and I'm like, well, there's something for everybody. Just show your feet. Some of you pay for that.

SPEAKER_03 51:31

The only thing I could do on OnlyFans would be one of those people who just eats and you just watch them like cracking crab legs and there's people. There's only someone for that. They're like licking their fingers.

SPEAKER_06 51:45

Is that like a fetus?

SPEAKER_03 51:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's I think it is.

SPEAKER_06 51:49

There's something for everything.

SPEAKER_03 51:50

Not that I watch OnlyFans, but I I've heard we've heard of it, right? So I mean, I'm not a participant in OnlyFans.

SPEAKER_01 51:57

Do you want to hear do you want to hear my idea for OnlyFans? Because obviously I've thought about this. I don't think there's I don't think there's anyone out there that hasn't. I thought I could like change my insulin pump like topless or something. And then like there's got to be somebody that's into, you know, like maybe it could be like a MILF thing, I don't know. And then changing my insulin pump. And I'm like, there's uh that's the pain thing too.

SPEAKER_03 52:19

I think I'm gonna go for the food thing over the insulin.

SPEAKER_07 52:22

I mean, thinking about big groups, that would work for you. I'm not commenting on this.

SPEAKER_03 52:31

That I'm like, this is not so attractive, but it's not good. You don't know. Maybe, maybe like an insulin pump fairness.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

That's what I was thinking. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 52:40

There's gotta be somebody that's like my boobs almost come down to my insulin pump.

SPEAKER_01 52:44

Do it. Yeah, I mean, I know, same. So uh yeah, but it was a thought.

SPEAKER_07 52:49

But what's your answer for what's your answer for the financial? I'd love to hear your kidding.

SPEAKER_01 52:56

You know what? To be to be honest, I with the three horses now.

SPEAKER_04 53:01

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 53:01

As much as I don't want to stop showing Zeus, I I'm probably gonna have to really pick and choose with him. He doesn't need to go, to be honest. He does the same thing for me every single time. So it's not like he needs to stay seasoned or anything. So I'm going to have to, I think next year I have two young horses, and the one is eventually going to be my daughter's horse. So I'm probably gonna stay closer to home next year and maybe prioritize the Congress. This year I am I'm doing Ocala in September and then the world show. And then that's kind of probably gonna be my final hurrah with Zeus, as much as like big stuff. It sucks a little bit because he's still sound and he's still really fun. And you know, it's not like he has to stop, but I can't, I can't, I can't do it. I hear you. I hear you. So I think like staying local and doing stuff, you know, honestly without a trainer, is that's the only way that I'm gonna be able to do it next year, probably.

SPEAKER_07 54:03

So I understand. For me, it's I'm blessed that I work remote and then I just take PTO if I show.

SPEAKER_02 54:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 54:13

So that's been a game changer for me, and I'm serious. It's a huge blessing. I do not do everything I can to protect that ability. But for me next year I'm gonna nail it down to just a few of the bigger shows.

SPEAKER_02 54:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 54:29

My thought process there is after doing weekends, weekends all year, Marco is so much to spread that I I don't want to waste any more miles on him than I have to.

SPEAKER_02 54:41

True.

SPEAKER_07 54:41

And I am hopeful that he takes me over to the you know, the 50 mark select side for the first time.

SPEAKER_05 54:48

That's exciting.

SPEAKER_07 54:49

Yeah, that's what I really that's what I really want out of him is to take me through my first year of select. And then after that, you can just I'm not very good at selling either. Red will tell you I almost get in a relationship. And I don't mean that's freaky OnlyFans way. I just almost get in a relationship with my all-around partner. I have to, I have to know the horse. Oh, not you. Where are you? The horse.

SPEAKER_05 55:15

Also, also horse.

SPEAKER_07 55:18

Also, yeah, yeah. She'll sometimes tall. Like she called last night. She's like, You're leaving for two weeks. Remember, we're married, come home. And I'm like, Okay, yeah, yeah. Ocksaba's still at the bar in at Cordial Six.

SPEAKER_01 55:26

I know.

SPEAKER_07 55:27

And but I have to, I have to be in partnership with that horse before I feel comfortable showing. That's another reason why I don't.

SPEAKER_03 55:34

I mean, that's uh ultimately that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 55:37

It is. And you know, there's two things I want to address that you guys just talked about, but that one is like you're going away for two weeks, like you're married. Like, are you gonna cut, like, hello, I'm still here too. You know, and I also have a daughter who last year, well, this is still this year and last year, I was gone a lot, whether it was for work or showing, like a lot of these bigger horse shows, yeah, they're two weeks, right? Like by the time you get there, you practice, you show, and you come home, it's long. And you know, my husband was like, believe it or not, I do like hanging out with you. Like, I mean, it's kind of a little much. And I'm like, you know, it's true. And at that 10-day mark of the horse show, I'm like, all right, I I need to go be with my f family. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:20

You know what? I would say for me, I definitely do miss Micah when he's but I just always feel like given the time with the horse, yeah, and given the time with the dog, but and the food and the mucking and all the business that goes with it. I ultimately give back this person that is at his best and is really happy to come home through the messy weather. And I I don't have any uh feelings of you know, assume I don't have any of those feelings of you don't need to be business. He has such a passion for what he does. It's very acmable to see someone who puts so much I'm gonna get tearing out.

SPEAKER_06 57:14

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 57:15

Come on in. Please do that, I will too. So much into the working with his forks, knowing his force, showing his force, all the preparation to get to that point. Yeah. I mean, it it is something that I wish other people had. I mean, I wish that there were I wish that my girlfriends that spend time with, I wish that their husbands had a passion like that. Right? Yeah. Because he ultimately comes back to me this like even if he doesn't win, he comes back to me this person who is of course missed us. Yeah, you know, we've got we don't have any children, but we do have uh, you know, he takes Miss Beatrice, our Australian shepherd, with him. Yeah, and we have two kittens. Well they're and you know, ultimately when he comes back, it's just like I'm so glad to be home. Yeah. I'm gonna take a little break. And it's just this, you know, and it but it's so it's been so wonderful to see him do so well this year. Yeah. I mean he's for sure. He's he's uh just had an incredible year. And I'm so proud of him. And you know, we've got the we've got the NSBA, we've got the the uh uh what else we have?

SPEAKER_07 58:38

Oh, you know, uh I think I'm toast on the level two trail this year. So then Lindsay, I know Lindsay you reach adoption.

SPEAKER_01 58:48

But it's actually a good thing because that means you're really good and it's time for you to move up.

SPEAKER_07 58:52

Lindsay, you know, Lindsay stays on top of all that stuff. I I that that girl can like she's a true definition of a female that can do that can juggle 50 things away from she's like, hey, I think you've point you're gonna point out. So you probably should go to the Congress this year. And I'm like, No. Um and so I've got that coming up. I think I've made a hotel reservation at least. Good. But I am back to what you said. I had very fortunate Red's parents. Yeah, it's called You Turn It Down to 66 anymore.

SPEAKER_05 59:21

Oh, that's Red's parents show.

SPEAKER_07 59:24

So she at least has you know perspective on a lot of dedication.

SPEAKER_03 59:29

Yeah, it really does. And so many people don't have that particular thing in their life where they feel that I mean, this man that I made to right here, he has an unbelievable amount of dedication and discipline for the sport. That I mean, there's no one of the reasons I don't ride is because I'm like, are you kidding? I wear five days a week. Are you crazy? It's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:03

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:06

It was not good.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:07

It didn't go real well. I was probably the nicest.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:10

Let's get it, stay by your butt, bro! Do this. Let's left, let's have spit.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:17

So she got off and dropped the reins. She cried. She got off and dropped the reins on the ground and left the arena and just went the car and left me with the boards.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:24

She hasn't ridden since actually I didn't get on the hall of fame for the tell. Oh my god. That my mom that my mom has. I had to get on him. I couldn't I couldn't help. But I you'll love this. I got on him in in my pajamas.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:40

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:41

And so I I and I and he got to trotting around, and I was just like, okay, it's time. Let's get off now. I'm done. Or something. That's crazy. I can't do that. I mean, I can barely sit on a horse.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:54

Oh my God. Oh my God. That is like I actually like trying to teach my daughter right now, it's not good. Like, it's not good. I'm like, What's the dynamic? Oh, because I'm like, you're not even trying. Like, why are you not trying? There's no try. Like, sit up, try. Like, this isn't a couch. Sit up.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:14

Yeah. So other daughter, I would assume that would be hard.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:16

Oh, it's awful. Isn't always good with that. Yeah. You do need a, you do need also being someone who doesn't necessarily I didn't, I mean, I it's not like I've ridden my entire life. I've been on a horse a handful of times. I mean, you didn't know my family show and you know, we've gone divorced since 2007 together. Yeah. I d I'm not a writer. That's so funny. I am not a writer. And and I work with my hands. So I've always kind of felt like you really need to be if you it really needs to be to be a passion for me if I'm gonna jeopardize hurting my hands. Because I work with these things and if we don't work, we don't have any we don't make money off these hands. True. So, you know, it's just been the it's just it's just been the the way we've looked at it.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:03

Tell her what you always say though. You don't want to say you don't want those man hands, is what you always say.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:07

Oh my gosh, the oyster shucker hands. I have man hands. She said, look how big these things are. Well, they're just little tiny hands, and they're like they're in oils and creams all day. So they feel you know, they feel like velvet. Yeah. Um, and I I do, I will say, I've maybe been a little ugly about horse ladies' hands. Even though they're always all the nails are always done.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:30

My nails are done. Yeah. Oh yeah, my nails are done.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:32

But you can shuck oysters with the with the other side. Oh yeah, it's they're rough. It's it's I call those oyster shuckers. I know. That wouldn't bother me. It's hard. The horsewoman thing. It's not it's not a bad thing. It's just like I see I see women at the shows and I'm like, how is she picking up that?

unknown 1:02:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:50

Like, how the girl is she picking that up? Yeah. How is she hauling that saddle with all the silver up over the horse? Like, I've got cotton candy muscles. I mean, I really, I mean, I've got I got nothing there. Yeah, I'm laughing.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:05

But I am a little like I'm like you in a way, though, because like I won't go camping. Like, I will not. My husband is this like man's man, rugged.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:15

He like seems like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:17

Oh, and he could like live off the earth. And I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. He got like real weird for a little while and he was like prepping for like he was like doomsday prepping. And he's in the military too. So like he could totally protect us. Like, I like he's good like that. But he started he started getting like all these like like prepared meals and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:35

And I was like, where are the press on steps that they take to space or whatever?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, okay, where are the press on nails and the mascara? I'm like, because my priorities during like a blackout is not gonna be the same as yours. I was like, so I'm gonna need razors, press on nails, and mascara. Press on nails.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:55

I'm spoken like a real girl.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:57

Oh my gosh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:59

I'm a horse girl and I'll go shovel shit every day. And I will get dirty and I will do the things. But then there is like, I like a switch goes off and I'm like the complete opposite then. So like he tries to make me go camping, and I'm like, no. And he's like, Well, you go to horse shows and you stay in the trailer, and I'm like, there's air conditioning and water and all of my things. I'm like, I am not, I'm not doing it. And he's like, You should do no, noes he does a tent, yes, yeah, yeah. He's a real deal. So that's they he wants because he wants my daughter to like experience that, you know. He's like, Well, that'd be good for her to like, and I'm like, Well, the two of you can go do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:38

No, not doing it.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:40

Yeah, yeah, not doing it.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:42

That's funny. That's funny.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:43

The whole way camping one time. See? And you'll never go again. One time, and it was because there were two boys on the trip. I was I was pretty it was before you.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:54

And they were cute.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:56

Yeah. And my mother said, Well, honey, we have an army cot. Why don't you take that army cot with you? And one of the girls had like a tent that could fit like 16 people or something. Oh. And there were two boys there that I really liked. She was. I thought, well, I can do this. Maybe I'll get to know the two boys a little bit. Yeah. They were both very cute. So I took the army cot and then she gave me one of the guys had had written in an email, you know, bring up, you know, a slip bag or whatever. So I brought the army cot, and my mother gave me like a comforter and a pillow for the teacher. And so I set that up in the army cot, and it honestly looked like a twin bed. And everybody passed by and they were going, who's just that? And I was like, they were jealous. I would have done the baby. Everyone else had a rock in their back.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:48

They could have walked the next day.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:50

Not you.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:52

Well, I'm with you. That's what I would do too. I just, I can't, it's just not for me. I don't, I don't like bugs. I don't, I'm not into I will have more mosquito bites on me than anyone. I don't know if it's a diabetes or what it is, but like they love me.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:08

They like about that. I haven't thought about that. Telling you, they do. Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:14

No, it's fine. It's horrible. That's what like I'll go to a horse show and be sweaty and disgusting. And you know, if I can't even take a shower for a day at a horse show, I'm like, I'm good. Just cake some more makeup on. It's fine. I'll figure it out. But camping? Nope. Not doing it. Not doing it. It's all for the horse. That's what we're crazy horse girls. Like we really are. Horse people. I was talking to somebody, I don't even know where. I mean, that you guys can imagine, but I'll talk to anybody anywhere, anytime. And I was talking to someone and they're like, oh, I heard horse people were they're crazy. And I'm like, we are. We are.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:48

But special.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:50

We are. But I think it's like there's like good crazy and then there's bad crazy. Just like women, you know, like there's some good crazy women and then there's some bad crazy women. So it's the same for horse people, I feel like. And you just have to find your group that you guys have the same kind of crazy, you know?

SPEAKER_05 1:07:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:06

Yeah. So are you gonna do the world show this year? Speaking of crazy. Yeah, good.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:11

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I didn't think you were going though.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:14

I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:15

Good.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:15

I'm I'm gonna go. Because this is, you know, I wasn't, and then because, okay, and this is, I know people at quarter horse get mad at me when I say this, and I'm just gonna say it because it's how I feel. But for me to spend $15,000, which I know sounds unreal, but for me to spend $15,000 to get 15 is hard for me to swallow financially. Okay. And I, and I I said that to some people, and they're like, really, they're like, hey, don't even talk like that. You know, like, don't think like that. But that's how I was rationalizing it. And I was like, it's just so much money, and I know I'm not gonna win. And I'm not even saying that, like, like, like, oh, poor me. I'm not saying it like that. I'm not gonna win, and that's okay. But I I changed my viewpoint on it that I have such a connection with this horse. I don't know how many more trips around the sun I have with him just because he's gonna, he's 11. And you never know, right? He could get hurt and be done next year. So if he's sound and he's good right now, I need to do it. So I that's what I'm doing. I'm I'm not going to NSBA. I'm saving my pennies and gonna go to the World Show one more time with him. So that's that is the plan.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:33

So give me your perspective on why you don't think you'll win.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:39

I don't know. I don't even know. Just probably I don't know. I I I think I don't I don't think I have okay, I don't know why I'm I feel this way, but this is true, and I'm just saying it the way I feel. I don't think I have what it takes to get a globe because I don't think I have the horse, and I don't know I don't know if I just have the look. Seriously, and I know I say that a lot, but it's true. Like I I don't look like a college rider. Like I have a different look, and and I and I feel like the the trend right now is like a really tall, thin, younger girl on like a are we talking horsemanship or what are we talking about? Probably horsemanship, you know, and even like for the showmanship, like my horse isn't like as snappy as the ones that win. He can do it and he's correct, but he's not as like snappy. So he's more of like a soft, well, I say soft, but he's like a heavy, clunkier look, I guess. He does all the things correctly, but it's a different look than what I feel like is winning right now. I don't know. I have I also like you have had a really good year this year. So who knows? Like we, I I went two years ago, I got my name called, which was amazing, made finals and I and all those things. So I would be really grateful for something similar. I don't know. That's just, and I guess I know people like other trainers or judges I talk to, they're like, I hate that you talk like that. And I'm like, well, but I just I don't know. I just kind of feel like that's how it is. It just is what it is.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:14

Do you think it's the age bracket that we're in? And I know I've got some some mileage on you, but not much, yeah, but yeah. Yeah. I also wonder, are we like I'm not real big on problem announcing without a solution. So I want to be very careful there. Because of the reach this podcast has. But one of the things I was talking to Evan and Lindsay about was um I asked them um you know, Reiners have four levels.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:47

So now I'm gonna have to step up and show. You know, there's a gal in Carly Park's barn. It's a red mirror wrapped in red. Is her name?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:56

Oh yeah, Sienna. Sienna Holyoke.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:57

Yes, yes, that's her name.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:58

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:59

You know, she's got that really nice mirror. Uh right with Ryan forever, now right as with Bruce Vickery. Like, I'm riding against all those kids.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:06

And I'm like Grandpa Jones out there, you know.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:11

Wait.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:14

Are we is that where your perspective is coming from?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:17

That you feel Yeah, I think so. And I said this a while ago, and some of the like even Colina Weekly had commented, and she was like, Ellie, no, stop it, you know. And and he was like, I like these college girls because they push me to be better. And they do. Yes, I agree because like they make me step up. They really, really do. And they make me want to be as aggressive as they are, but I do agree that there's just like a it's it's a different, that's why like I was pushing for different age groups, maybe not levels, but age groups, because like in like Youssef and like the Morgans and like some other associations, they do it's 18 to 35, and then it's 36 to 49, and then it's 50 and oh, you know, or and then 50 and over. And I or and even in is it in the paints, the paints goes to 45, and then 46 is masters. And like I love that. I actually feel that that is a better age group to compete against than like you're right, like you're two years out of select, and I even feel like I, you know, I'm getting I remember being 21, and when the 35-year-olds would come to show, I was like, Who's this grandma? Who does she think she is coming to the show? And now I'm grandma, and I I do, I do I feel the same exact way when I show against these younger girls. I'm like, it's just it's a different look. Again, I call it a look. I think it's just a different perception.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:52

For me, too, in the showmanship, it's real, real hard for me to be that animated and yeah, I guess the word is snappy.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:00

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:01

I was mess messaging with Evan today, and he was like, you know, I could never do that class. He's like, it's a little too much theatrics for me. And I thought, yeah, yeah, no, he he's too laid back.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:12

Theatrics.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:12

Yeah. And I thought, what a great way to describe it. That's where I struggle, is with maybe I probably should pick up speed when I'm doing a pivot. Where but it's very I just like a life's flowy kind of even.

unknown 1:13:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:27

But it's not, I don't it's not gonna cut it against those kids.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:30

I know. Well, I but I agree because they are like freaking fast, man.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:34

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:35

I'm gonna fall. Like A, I'll probably like eat it. And then like that's mortifying.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:41

I agree with you. I think that like for me for the showmanship, that's great. That's my opportunity to like to sell it because I can be snappy and you know, I have I like that. But yeah, I'm like, I'm very animated. And I always joke that like if something goes wrong and I need to like pop lock and drop it at the inspection, I'm gonna do it. But I like in the other classes, I feel like I don't have that, what you're talking about. So I actually want to know, and here, like, I can't believe I've talked to you guys this long too. This is so good. I love this. But I have to know as a man, yeah, it's different. And I think you guys have some advantages, but I also think you have a lot of disadvantages. So, how do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_07 1:14:24

Yeah, of course. You know, that's why I stick to the trail and not do you saying I'm not in the song. She's telling me I'm not in the shot enough.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:34

You were starting to drift off. We saw half of your face.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:36

Okay. In the trail, I feel like, you know, I'm solid there. I don't I don't I feel comfortable. I actually did shellmanship as a joke, and that started for me quarter growth Congress 2008. Charlene, I only did the pleasure, and she said, I'm gonna teach you how to do shellmans. And I said, No, no, no, that's only the girls, girls. I legit shut the fuck. And she goes, No, so we started it there, and then it just kind of became a joke for me. Like, okay, I'm gonna do this because I'll be elite. And then over the years, very few men doing it. Yeah, yeah, but over the years now you have veto Eric Mendriza does it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:16

Joe Witt does it. Who else? Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:18

Vito from your barn. Vito, is that how you say that? Yeah, veto.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:22

Yeah, he's a big start.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:23

The novice amateur. Let me tell you my Eric, is it Mendriza or Mendusa? I don't know him, but my first year at the novice championship, he won the showmanship. And I just remember him. Well, first of all, you know, he could be in magazines that yeah, he's portified.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:37

Uh-huh. And but he his trotting was just like, I was like, good lord, I'll never.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:47

He was like truly doing a dance. I'll never forget that image, watching him warm up, trot that force. It was like 24. He was, he was floating. But now over the years, now all these men have, you know, Tony Anderman, um Joe with.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:00

Very good, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:16:01

Joe.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:01

Joe, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:03

Yeah, we know.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:03

Joe was really good at the showmanship before he had Sissy, that great mayor that does the showmanship for him now.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:09

Yeah, for sure. He's always been cook. Frank Cook, by the way.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:12

Yes, he is. If you ever get the chance to go stay at his house, he's an incredible cook.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:15

Very cool. A lot of fun. And and yeah, Joe can Joe can, he's a gourmet cook. He's fantastic.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:23

But you know the horsemanship is exactly what my horse probably could. My horse has got a real good turnaround on it. But he can swap a lead. But that's what keeps me out of that game is the male versus the female. That's it's super intimidating.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:41

Yeah. Yeah, you do really well with it.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:44

As a novice, but I mean, you know, for me, uh I'll I'll go right back to what I said at the beginning of the conversation. If you want to look at you on a horsemanship horse versus looking at me, it's that's a no-brainer. Everybody's gonna want to look at you though, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:58

And it's although like a body like Eric or Tony, though, too, I feel like I I can't compete against those types. You know, again, because they're so straight. Everything is like shoulder, hip, heel, like bing, bang, boom, just like straight down. And you know, as a woman, like even like with boobs, it's like the it's it's just like an optical illusion, I feel like, you know, and I I don't know. Yeah, it is, it's a tough class. And again, that's why I kind of feel like right now, and I'll probably get some kind of pushback for this. And I I'm just saying it how I feel, but I just feel like there's like a trend of like a literal look of what should be winning.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:38

Really?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:39

Uh yeah. And I I feel like maybe 10 years ago, it was not so much. I feel like they're like any if anybody was really wicked gun, they just won. You know, and now it's like I feel like we're into like trends, but we also, I can't believe what we ask of these horses. I don't, did you watch the youth world at all? Have you watched the live feed?

SPEAKER_07 1:18:00

No, I had not because I've been getting ready for the NSVA and working side. I have not taken I missed the trail, which I in the showmanship, which I didn't intend to do, but I did.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:09

The trail finals, I watched the trail. That was like actually the only thing I really watched was the trail finals. And that pattern, I was like, I haven't shown trail for quite some time. I want to, but Zeus is not good at it. Anyways, so I watched it and I was like, I don't even know if I'm capable of a pattern like this. Like it was so intense and it was so hard and so specific. I'm like, what we are asking of these horses, I could tell some of them were tired. Like they were tired. And, you know, there was like certain like wheels that that last pole that was raised was getting every horse. Every horse was like, and I mean clunk in it because I'm like, they're tired, you know? Like we ask so much of these, like to do the showmanship and the trail. Your horse is so specialized to be that good at those two classes. Like it's wild. Like the horses never used to be like this, you know. We didn't call on them the way we call on them now.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:02

How old were you? What year was it when you first started showing horses?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:04

So I showed Appaloosa's first in like '97. And that's my mom bought me a green three-year-old Appaloosa and thought it would be great for us to learn together. And he would I he was at like a the place where I took lessons and I lived like two miles up the road. So we were there every day because I grew up in a neighborhood. I didn't grow up on a farm. And then we showed apps until I don't know, like 2001 or two.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:38

And then I got my first quarter horse. I took, I had taken my Appaloosa to a quarter horse trainer to Jonathan Mueller for some help. And he was like, You gotta come to the quarter horse Congress, you gotta try this out, you gotta see what this is all about. I went to the Congress and the rest is history. So that was 2007. I like got introduced to the quarter horse world and started towing quarter horse in 2008.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:04

Okay. You know, when I was a kid, people would they would show the horse and everything. Yeah.

unknown 1:20:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:13

And now it's so specialized that you have to I mean. That's why I bought Marco Co, because he was good at the trail. That's really what I wanted. You know, he wasn't good, it wasn't that it wasn't gonna make a pleasure worse. Yeah, and he came out of the Hornix program when they were rocking and rolling back in the day. And but it he just wasn't gonna the trail's really that's what he's he likes it, yeah. That's awesome. And it's you know, but everything is so specialized. It is speaking of that kid that won the youth world in the trail, he's a beast. He is. That was so cool. Is it Tristan? Is that his name?

SPEAKER_00 1:20:47

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:48

He's a beast. I'm a huge fan of his. He doesn't know it, but uh and I'm not gonna. He's gonna know now. I'm not I'm not real comfortable around children, so I would never go up to him, but I don't know how old he is.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:58

Do you he's gonna be like 18. I feel like he's or 16, 18, something like that. I feel like he's an older teenager.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:06

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of his.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:08

Yeah, yeah. These kids, these kids are amazing. And you know, it's even like you know, we going back to like what we were talking about, like you got to put the time in, and you can tell these kids are putting the time in. And I love these programs that are instilling that in these kids because we have to keep them. That's the other thing is like I feel like the youth numbers are getting a little smaller, and then they go to college and we lose them. So, how do we keep these kids engaged and and interested in horses and wanting to do it until they are select too? Like, I think it's sad when we lose them, but what's your perspective on that? No, and I don't know. You have a kid, yeah. You know, I mean, I never quit. I always had a horse. And I even tell some of my friends that, like, you know, you said you went you had a break for a little bit and like took a, you know, like worked on your career or whatever you wanted to do. And the cool thing about horses is they're never going anywhere. There were they'll we'll always be horses. So if you want to take a break, you can always come back. I have a friend that's kind of going through it right now, and I don't know, she she bought the wrong one and she's kind of like upset that she might not have a horse for a little bit. And I'm like, the cool thing is, is you can always come back. You will always be able to. So I don't know. I I think that some of these kids or parents are maybe paying for things right now, and then they go to college, they try and get a job, they're like, oh my God, this was expensive. I can't do it all. And then I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:41

One of the things you asked me about was participation.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:44

What do you what what is your perspective there?

SPEAKER_01 1:22:48

So as far as like, again, like I wish that there wasn't this overarching thing that the showing is intimidating, and I wish people felt comfortable to just come and try. And like, even if you mess up, that's the point of a competition. Like, we're all not perfect all the time, and like just go try. So I wish that more people felt the need to show instead of the fear to show. But what do you think?

SPEAKER_07 1:23:17

I have a friend from East Tennessee, we want the name just because it's not but she says, I'm not gonna get my name called the Donald Stone. Like it's you know, and you know, Red and I sort of when we set our mind to something, we we both have that in common. We will just work our asses off and figure out, you know.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:42

That's right.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:43

Two of the greatest pieces of advice I've ever been given, one was by Charlene Carter, and she would say, Micah, there's no perfect pattern.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:50

Nope.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:52

And Ryan and Mandy would pat you on the leg or just flatly tell you before you went in the pen, ride the horse you have today.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:00

Yes, I love that one.

SPEAKER_07 1:24:03

That's their opinion. It was so helpful to me as a as a writer. I mean, they they instilled so much in me. But yes, um I I make it a point at a show, and I know we're busy and but I only do two events, so I you know, I'm not like you doing everything. But I make it a point if I'm at a show, particularly a weekend show, or if I see somebody that looks like, okay, we've just rolled in, we don't know what's going on. I make it a point to go over and shake a hand and say hi, it's my doing this the whole time. Or, you know, the social media thing, encouraging people, we're but I feel like we have to make it not scary and more a more inviting atmosphere for these people to come in. Because it's super intimidating.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:48

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_07 1:24:49

I feel that too is a you know I went to the madness. I stalled at the end of Karen Horn Exile. She was gracious to let me, you know, and that's another thing too. I always offer if you are charging your clients a sponsorship.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:02

Charge me too. Yep.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:03

I always offer that.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:05

And you know, or you know, I worked, I've worked out my own thing with Evan. And um but I feel like it has to be a more friendly atmosphere for people who feel like they can mess up or hey, I need to ask someone.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:24

Um yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think again, like I that like hurts my heart that people feel the other way about it, that people do find it intimidating, or that people are scary, or because you know, I again, like I'll talk to anybody. So, and I I'm not like afraid to go up to someone and be like, hey, can I ask you a question really quick? You know, I or can you hold this for a second? Like, I need help. So, but that's just me, and I know that that's not everyone. So I understand that. But I do, I think, you know, AQHA is working on having like an AQHA amateur ambassador, which you should do because you would be really good at it. But that's what we're trying to do is make people feel welcome and be someone that they could go to that isn't a trainer. That they could be like, hey, I just have a quick question. And you know, obviously we can't give out training advice or anything like that, but we could just be someone to talk to and someone to be like, where do I order shavings? Or like, is it okay if I park my trailer here? Or you know, those little questions that I might still not know the answer, but I can probably find out for you.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:30

Well, when you think about rolling up to your, you know, on your own as a DIY, it's like on these newer facilities, like yeah, I've never this is would be my first time to NSBA. I've never been before in all these years.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:42

Really?

SPEAKER_07 1:26:43

Yeah, one of the few I haven't done. I haven't done that and Scott Steele. And so sometimes for me, the anxiety of like where do I get you know, yeah. Lindsay's really solid at giving you a plan. So I'm I'm not stressing that going into Tulsa, but I think some of that she was super intimidating from coming up on your own.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:04

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:06

Or they don't feel like they have enough horse or their rig isn't fancy enough, or you know, I am of the opinion I got advice from a friend in Alabama that read and our friends with her and her husband, Jeff and Amy Black. When I first got my first horse trailer, I was embarrassed about that. Um but I pay, it was paid to them. And she said, Monica, she talks real southern, she says that you're not dragging that trailer down the center of the pen. It's what you back out of that trailer that matters.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:35

So pass that on.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:38

Pass that on to a lot of people. I there was a lady at the red bud that was embarrassed about her stock trailer, and I just said, doesn't matter what the trailer is, it's what comes out of the back of the Yeah. And you just see a light cut yeah, it was brilliant advice, but you could see a light come in her eyes. Like, oh, you know? Those things matter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:56

They do. I almost feel like we could end it on that. Was that like like spiritual and like inspirational. But it is true. And you know what? That's what I actually do. That's what I want people to walk away from this podcast as is like just keep showing up. Who cares what your rig looks like? Just keep going to the barn. Keep riding your horse and do what you love. And I have said that to people too that like either if they're afraid to leave a barn or a trainer or go do it on their own. I'm like if you love horses, you belong here. That's it.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:32

So good.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:32

I love that.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:33

I say to everyone now I have a friend Tracy who lives in East Tennessee. She's going on her own with the ranch. And I said she goes, what do you how do you do it? And I said you just gotta hang in like a hair in a biscuit and go.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:50

That's kind of gross.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:51

That's disgusting.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:52

But it is true.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:52

But it's true.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:53

But it's true.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:54

I'm gonna bust your bust your ass and be the best you can be.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:58

And just show up keep showing up.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:00

Yeah absolutely keep showing up. That might be the name that might be the title of this podcast. Just keep showing up.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:05

Just keep showing showing up yeah I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:08

I love it too. Oh you know what I think let's call it you guys this was so good. This was so good. Oh my god we've enjoyed talking to you guys too like I feel like we're like I want to call you every week now and we can just like give updates every week right we'll be right here I am going to be like or we'll see you in no November Yeah for sure. I might I'm gonna pop into the Congress apparently I've been talked into doing I'm gonna be riding in the ride the pattern for the Hunt Seat Equitation.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:40

Great.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:41

Oh yeah I have to remember like six patterns because I have to do all of them. I don't know how I don't know if I can do that.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:51

Are you bringing your horse or are you using someone else's I'm gonna use someone else's horse.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:55

Yeah yeah so that's we'll look you up yeah we'll see but I am gonna be watching the live feed in the NSBA so what are you doing? You're doing the trail and the showmanship.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:07

That's it.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:08

So any any like slot class any like money like fancy classes no okay just kind of tread water and okay show up and you know put out you know a decent product enough that you know just okay I'm here.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:23

Yeah that's really been my goal this whole year just to say hey yeah I'm here yeah awesome you're gonna love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:29

You know everyone loves NSBA. I will say your blood sugar is gonna be low. So like it's hot. It is hot. I struggled there and actually there was another Cammy Claypool she's a trainer in Ohio she's type one also and I literally I went to her and I was like I texted her and I'm like what did you do in Tulsa with your blood sugar? Because I was nervous. I'm like I don't I don't want to like be in the hospital. Yeah and so she just was like she put her pump like weight like she barely took insulin and always had fruit snacks on her side. So but that's the only thing I can say is it's hot and to like stay hydrated because it's like that's huge.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:10

Yeah it's huge.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:12

Yeah yeah the hydration that's what like I I don't think about it because you're going going going going going and next thing you know you're like I haven't peed today there's a reason yeah yeah yeah there's that that's so true. I keep those little sugar free propel packets and I dump them in a water bottle yes I always have a box of Mike and Ice in my room bag always yeah me too I do I have like a little thing of fruit snacks is my is my go-to yeah and then and then if it gets real bad I'm like can somebody give me a soda I need a soda give me a Coke now yeah yeah yeah yeah just Coke savior yes yes oh well best of luck safe travels out there again I will be watching so I'll be hearing from home um have so much fun fren are you going to are you going for the whole thing?

SPEAKER_03 1:32:04

I'm not just I've just taken off 18 days oh yeah our family trip so I can't I get that but I will be at the world okay right the X A world what is that that's the one I'm going to do November yep I'm going to that one awesome okay good good see you Alan yeah you too again thank you so much for making time to do this I appreciate you guys so much and um we'll talk soon yes ma'am