horse sport

There’s no question that the show jumping horses of today are different from the horses of 30, even 20 years ago. As courses continue to get increasingly technical and fast, breeders are producing increasingly athletic horses to match…or is it that cause/effect relationship the other way around? 

And what about the horses who are bred to jump 1.60, but either through a bad start or through genetics (or both), never reach that level - can a horse bred for a top Olympian still be rideable enough for the everyday amateur? 

To help us answer these questions (and so many more), we turn to Helena Stormanns, one of show jumping’s most respected coaches, horse-rider matchmakers, and breeders who was a top rider herself. 

In addition to talking about show jumping breeding today, and how it’s changed from the breeding of yesterday, Helena and Caroline also dive into:

• How Helena thinks about breeding for, or selecting horses for, the elite pro versus the amateur rider

• Show jumping stallions and breeding lines that Helena personally loves, some proven and some quite new

• New horse-rider partnerships, from the POV of both the rider and the horse

• Bits, and how they factor into developing a young horse

• Why no one is doing enough flatwork

• Helena’s views on The Olympics and the role BigEq plays in developing riders for top levels of show jumping sport

• Why buying a horse “off the rack” is never the good idea it can sometimes appear to be

You hear it all the time: “Young riders today don’t know about horsemanship.” “Kids today just want to get on and ride.” “There are no more barn rats.” These complaints point to a larger potential issue of losing generational knowledge. Is it something we, as horsepeople, should be concerned about? 

To help us answer this question, we turned to Archie Cox, owner and head trainer at Brookway Stables. Along the way, our broad conversation covered a lot of ground that should hopefully make us all feel a little better about the future, and a little more empowered about how we can all become better horsemen. 

Archie has been immersed in the horse world his entire life, and has operated Brookway Stables for 23 years. During that time, he’s coached numerous horses and riders to national titles and wins at the biggest shows in the country, and remarkably through it all, he’s kept the same manager, farrier, and vet. His daily routine revolves around starting early (as in 3am!), staying consistent, and keeping things simple - all of which he says contributes to his amazing success in the industry. 

In the conversation, host Caroline Culbertson and Archie discuss:

• Whether riders in 2023 know as much about horse management as riders in 1983

• The role of “tradition” and its connection to safety and function

• How passion acts as the driving force for those who seek out knowledge

• Social media, and why it’s such an important tool in horse education

• Archie’s two C’s: Consistency and Curiosity

• How to find your “flavor” of riding, and why the industry needs all types of riders

• The responsibility of trainers in teaching horse management as well as riding

Vets are one of the unsung heroes of horse sport. Horses are unfailingly creative (and effective) at hurting themselves; from a mystery lameness to a sudden colic to every type of laceration you could dream up, a day that goes by without some sort of injury is a good day by default. 

Because of this, having access to a good vet is a critical part of horse ownership, but the criteria for what makes someone a “good” vet is cloudy at best. How responsive and available should your vet be? What sort of equipment should they use? Is it better to work with one vet, or a team of several, and how do you go about putting that team together? And just how late is too late to text them? 

In this episode, host Caroline Culbertson sits down with equine veterinarian Dr. Lauren Schnabel (who is, by all accounts, a Good Vet) to try to get some clear answers to these questions. 

Dr. Schnabel is the Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at NC State University, and has over 20 years of equine clinical experience, and over 15 years of both equine and human research in the field of Sports Medicine. 

They discuss:

• How important are credentials? Hands-on experience? Personality/bedside manner? What else?

• Rules of communication for the client/vet relationship

• Questions to ask when screening a new vet 

• How to handle mistakes when they happen

• The steps to creating a good “team” for your horse, and who should lead that team

• The best way to break up with your vet, should that step need to be taken

• How important equipment and diagnostic tools are when choosing a vet

• What if a vet has a troubling “red flag” in their past?

Mindset Check! Welcome to 2023. We're kicking off with a mindset conversation because even if you're riding less in the cold, dreary month of January, you can still be doing major work to improve your riding. This conversation will inspire you to pour some time, effort, and energy into yourself, not just your horse. (If you, perhaps, would like some equestrian-specific mindset coaching, EquestrianMasterclass.com offers courses on consistency, fear, and more.) 

Today we speak with human performance coach and author of Ride Big, John Haime. John is a former pro golfer turned corpororate executive and athlete coach who has an interesting bird's eye view on equestrian sport. As he began to coach riders following a serendipitous request from an executive he was working with, he realized that equestrians frequently struggle with confidence.

In this conversation, host Caroline Culbertson and John discuss:
- John's take about the unique challenges riders face versus other athletes
- An explanation of confidence - what it is, where it comes from
- The reason you shouldn't say you "lost your confidence"
- Why "fake it til you make it" doesn't work, and much more. 

Being a successful rider in this sport is an uphill battle — and not just in terms of the skills and time necessary to make your way up the ladder. The ups and downs can be extreme and unpredictable, it’s often “one step forward, two steps back”, and money more often feels like a problem than a solution. And for many ambitious riders like our guests today, there is a palpable tension between “businessperson” and “horseperson”. 

Today on #EquestrianVoices, host Caroline Culbertson is joined by Paige Jardine and Erin Lane: two show jumping professionals who are putting in the hard work, making the sacrifices, and navigating conflicting emotions as they chase big dreams. In this conversation, they explore: 

- When putting the horse first isn’t always the “easy” thing to do in terms of business

- Grappling with the feelings of “why not me”?

- Staying connected to your purpose, and thinking about your legacy in the sport (regardless of whether you’re a pro, amateur, or recreational rider)

- Why finding your niche as a pro is crucial

- Why riders can struggle to find owners and the problems with relying on other people to own your horses

- The question of whether there’s really enough room at the top of the sport

Both of these things are great! But, as the old saying goes, ‘Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should’. We have to gut-check ourselves: Are our horses paying the price for our drive to compete? Is the idea of giving our horses a real break from work becoming ancient history? What’s causing this shift, and how do we get ourselves back to a time where horses, like pro human athletes, have an on- and off-season?

Equestrian Masterclass instructor and President of the U.S. Eventing Association, Max Corcoran, joins host Caroline Culbertson to discuss: 

• What has contributed to the rise of competing too much, too hard, too often (finances, geography, pressure and more)
• How burnout shows up in the horses mentally and emotionally
• Common overuse injuries
• What we can learn from human athlete performance and what it has to do with horses
• Why we do need to “reinvent the wheel”
• Grooms’ roles in identifying an overworked horse
• Max’s rule of thumb for giving our horses time off