Latest / The Driven Athlete / Olympic Competitor Alexandra Reid on Pursuing Excellence in Dressage & Equestrian | Ep 37

Transcript

Olympic Competitor Alexandra Reid on Pursuing Excellence in Dressage & Equestrian | Ep 37 · The Driven Athlete

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you're a driven, active person who wants to reach and pursue a higher quality life with some ambition, then guess what this podcast is for you.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This is the Driven Athlete Podcast.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: What's up y'all?
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: It's your man, dr Kyle.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Driven Athlete Podcast.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: We're super pumped to have Alexandra Reid with us, a high-level equestrian performer or athlete.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Competitor.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Competitor.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: There you go, super excited to have you.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Thanks for coming in.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I know you're really busy, so thanks so much for having me.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: This is awesome, super excited to learn more about this stuff, right Cause this is not really you know a thing that I've been involved with.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: A lot.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: You know, um, so tell us more about, um, uh, what you do, um, where you're currently located and what you're involved with.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: So I am a professional dressage rider, which is basically the type of riding is harmony between horse and rider.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: It's a little bit comparable to gymnastics or figure skating.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: I could say Right now I am in Loxahatchee, florida, which is not too far from here.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: I have my own facility there.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I'm originally from Canada but ended up coming to the US because there is a little bit more opportunity.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: There's a bigger training circuit here, competition circuit, and right now I am here all year round.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: In the past I would travel between Connecticut, new York and Florida.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Gotcha Is Connecticut, another like hub for equestrian dressage.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: New York for sure.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very big.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: There's an area like Bedford, New York, North Salem.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: They have huge showgrounds out there and it just is a place that the typical equestrian seem to start in New York and be there in the summer, I think because you can access New York City, a bunch of areas out there and then coming down to Florida just basically for the weather, so you can access New York City, a bunch of areas out there and then coming down to Florida just basically for the weather, so you can continue to train.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Year-round.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I know Wellington's a huge spot.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, loxahatchee also.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: It's like five minutes outside so it's growing a little bit.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: It was kind of the swamp and now it's being built up a little bit Super swampy out there, muggy.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: How do the horses do with that?
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Honestly the heat and the mugginess.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: It's like people, Every horse.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Some horses thrive.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: They love the heat.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: If horses have like a super kind of high energy temperament sometimes, it's very good because it helps them calm down a little bit.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Some really struggle, just like some athletes don't do as well with the heat and the humidity.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: So it just depends on the horse.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: So you're originally from Canada, yep, and when did you move to the States?
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: I started coming here when I was 19 and I would just travel here for the winter circuit, so I'd only come here for about four months and then go back to train in Canada.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: But then I started coming year round when I was a little bit older, so probably 22.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: I had then gone back to school because my parents were like you need a piece of paper, don't just ride horses.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Did that for two years and then decided to come back, so I've been here permanently since 2015.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow, okay.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: When did you start dressage equestrian?
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: So I started riding like just basic kind of going to summer camps things, when I was six um, I would say more competitive 14, 15 years old, and I actually did a different.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: It's called three-day eventing, which is a three-phased competition.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: So you have dressage, which is I, what I solely do.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Now there's the show jumping and then also cross country, so that's like a more complicated kind of area of horses, but did that for a few years and then just kind of so that's like a more complicated kind of area of horses, but did that for a few years, and then, just kind of the way that it worked out with the horse that I had, I decided to kind of hone in on dressage.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Gotcha yeah, what, what.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: What originally got you into doing dressage or just horse riding in general?
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: No idea.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: My parents, none of my family's into horses, nobody.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: We grew up in a really small town in the country outside, outside of Toronto I think maybe the influence of just all my friends having farms and horses and cows and all those things, um, but my parents said like from the moment I was born, anything horse I was just obsessed with.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so just we just got my daughter for Christmas this like pony ride horse thing with wheels on it and she bounces on it and it just springs forward.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: It's the best, but it could be a mistake.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: I know it could be a lifelong investment, I know.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: And right after that at a local event there was pony rides and we had a ride on that and she was loving it.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: She might be hooked.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: I know We'll see.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: It hasn't been a super huge constant thing.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: She's like I want to ride a pony, I want to do this, so hopefully we might have avoided something.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a big, you know, dodged a bullet there, yeah, so you started when you were six.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Okay, so explain more the different fields of equestrian Is equestrian, the overall umbrella of everything, and then you have categories underneath that.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: So there's tons.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: Like I probably can't even name all of the different avenues basically, but some of the top ones would be that you'll see, at the Olympics will be show jumping, which is probably the most popular because it's a little bit exciting and a little bit faster pace.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: There's the three-day eventing, like I was explaining, which is kind of a combination of three different disciplines.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: There's dressage what I do.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: There's endurance, which is that's insane, and it's actually very interesting if you're kind of into, like, the health aspect of things, because it's they go like a hundred miles a day on horseback and basically you're trying to demonstrate who is the fittest, so how fit your horse is.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: There's like check-ins along the way of the 100 miles or 50 miles, whatever they are doing, and they want to see the heart rate, they want to see the temperature, they want to check in, like if the horse is lethargic or has energy.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: That's crazy.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: That is like and again, I don't know that much about all of the other disciplines because you get so into your own Right but there's vaulting, which is with a gymnast, basically on the top of a horse, and they're going around.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: There's somebody in the middle holding the horse and it's lunging around them like doing walk, truck or canter and to music and they're doing like a gymnast.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Like 14.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah On, like a gymnast, like routine, like 14.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah On top, which is crazy, there's Western.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Western stuff is not in the Olympics, I'm pretty sure, but that's a whole other avenue.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Like you see, like Yellowstone vibes Like rodeo stuff.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like you'll see, like they do reining, they do cutting, and that's a whole different breed of horse, totally different training.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I could go on and on about it.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Like there's tons that's really cool.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: So the most commonly recognized ones are show jumping and dressage.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Yep and eventing the three-day eventing Yep.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Gotcha, but dressage is for you and you described it as like the harmony between you and the horse Yep, with a dressage event, a competition, and what does that look like?
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: So basically there's tons of levels.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: There's like an entry level, which is very basic walk, truck, canter, which is like the basic gates of horses, and then, as you move up the levels, there's training level to fourth level and then what they would consider kind of like FEI, which is like our big national federation, what it's like a recognized show.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: That's called a small tour.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: It has some tests in it.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Then there's a medium tour and a big tour, and the big tour is what we call the grand prix, which is the highest level.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: And so basically you are trying to go through each test, a test that needs to be memorized.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: So imagine, like a gymnast doing like a floor routine, figure skaters going to music.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: We have like musical tests that you can do yeah, wow, yep, and you go in and the ones that need to be memorized, you're scored by a judge.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: So each movement that you're doing say, there's 25 movements in the test you're scored on each movement out of 10.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Obviously you're trying to get a 10 on everything.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Right, it's almost unheard of to get a 10, because it just is.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Again, you're working with a horse, you're working in an environment.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Every horse show is at a different location, different footing, the weather's different.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: There could be a baby crying, there can be crazy like a tarp flies off of something.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: So there's tons of factors that go in.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Basically, you go through the test that has been provided, that everybody at that level is doing and you're competing at everybody that same day, that same test.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: They add up the score of say there's 25 movements, say you got four, seven, seven, six, you get a two because the horse took off or went off the bit or whatever.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: You have no control and then they kind of divide that by the overall number and that's how you get your score and it's a percentage.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: So a typical like a test you're going to be super happy with is like between a 68 and a 72.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: And I know that sounds low because if you're trying to get into like Harvard or something, you're not going to want to have a 68.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: But for us, again, you have to take into consideration the horse and all the other factors, right?
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: So to get over a 70, that's where you're going to find all the top scoring, like at the Olympics, right?
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: You hope those horses that are going are getting over 70.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: You know the threshold is like starting to get a little high.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Some of the top competitors now are getting 80s and 90s.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Gotcha.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Which is scary, because where is the sport going to go?
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: What's next?
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: What's it look like?
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: What happens when we get to 100?
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Then what's going to happen?
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: So, but yeah, that's the basic.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: And as you go up the levels it gets harder.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Obviously, the movements get harder.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: They judge you a little bit harder as a rider too.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: The point is to look like you're doing nothing and but you're giving all of these aids.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: You're kind of whatever you're doing with your legs, your body, your reins, to make it look effortless.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: And as the movements get harder, it's harder for the horse, but it's also harder for the rider.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: No, of course.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: That's interesting.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: That's crazy.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Um so, with your training and stuff as a dressage competitor, um, what's that look like right now?
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: So for me personally as an athlete, so right now coming, I did have back surgery seven months ago so obviously I've toned myself down a little bit.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: But depends on the schedule in the sense of what is your showing schedule?
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: How many horses do you have going in the day?
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Because horseback riding itself is like a total physical workout.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: So say you ride eight horses a day, that's like being in the day because horseback riding itself is like a total physical workout.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: So say, you ride eight horses a day.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: That's like being in the gym all day long and especially outside in the heat in florida right it can be pretty rough it's a lot the horses, my horses.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Everybody does their own schedule with their horses, their own training needs, but I ride at least five days a week, at least four horses a day, and it goes up from there, it goes down from there.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: I try.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: I come here once a week.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Now it's gone down.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: I was coming here a lot more.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I try to go to the gym two to three times a week, maximum 45 minutes in the gym and I used to do a little bit more kind of weight training but but with my back right now I've kind of backed away from that, but a little bit more like you do a lot of stability work.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: You do a lot of balance work obviously needing to be on the horse and cardio actually, because, shockingly, you are working pretty hard, even though it doesn't look like it, yeah, but having to kind of work against the horse's movement and you need to stay very still and, look, you're almost like having to hold your breath a little bit.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: So all that posture, um, uh, yeah, I mean a lot of resistance, training of like stability and resisting against the forces that the horse is providing against you and gravity and you're fatigued.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Um, so definitely it makes sense.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: A lot of core, yes, and I would imagine I know for the equestrian athletes that we have worked with, um, low back is always going to be super common yes, like a mid back, because you're basically like it's like concussion, basically it's a lot of impact yeah what?
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: what happened with your?
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: if you explain with your injury so I can't pinpoint exactly when it happened.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Um, I do also have a 14 month old, so I don't know.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: If you know, having a little bit of the extra weight on my body, I rode until I was 37 weeks pregnant, so that's also a whole different dynamic, right, Like the balance of having your big belly in front and just the weight on your joints.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: I would say that you know everybody's different and everybody kind of learns to ride and with whatever their body type is.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: But typically I would say most riders are pretty fit and pretty lean type people.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: So having that extra weight on my body was quite hard on my joints and everything.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: But I think maybe just kind of getting back into riding.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: I was maybe a little aggressive, Like I was riding three weeks after giving birth and maybe pushed a little bit.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I don't know if something was a little bit preexisting.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: I've kind of always had lower back pain.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: What started to happen pretty quickly, though, is I just had paralysis in my left leg, so I stopped being able to move my my toes, and then I couldn't feel the bottom of my foot, and then it started to be that up the outside of my leg couldn't feel, and I just had like excruciating back pain.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Typical horse people, though we are a little bit of a tougher breed because you kind of just keep going and so kept kind of working in the barn and doing everything, but that finally couldn't really get out of bed, so had an MRI.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: I'm very thankful to be in the US for that, because if I was in Canada this might have not happened as quickly, not had the access to Dr Seville Shout out Dr Seville who did an amazing job.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: I've been trying to have him on this podcast for a while.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Shout out yeah, still going to schedule.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, get on here.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: So basically had my MRI and even the guy who initially looked at that was like yeah, you know you might need surgery.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Like I don't think any of us kind of realized how intense it was.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Went to Dr DeSaville he was great, very calm about it but he was like so you have like an eight millimeter herniation that is like has obliterated the L5 nerve, so that's why you obviously don't have feeling anymore in your leg.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: And he's like if you have any other symptoms, like if loss of bladder or anything like that, he's like you need to have a surgery immediately because that can be forever, right.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: So I was in three days later after seeing him and went in for the surgery Again.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: I think which was great that I didn't realize kind of everything going into it.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I would have been a little bit more nervous, but I came out and had no pain.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: It was amazing, yeah, he did an amazing job.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: My scar is like teeny tiny, yeah, so it was a micro-.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Dyssectomy.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Dyssectomy.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: And the recovery.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: He said he didn't have to take out anything besides the herniation, which was great.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: So recovery was like I had worn my back brace again, had like.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I remember seeing in here with her brace on yeah.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: I was like robo lady going around but I couldn't pick up my baby who at the time was like I don't know seven months old and just learning how to go like up, like to be asked to be picked up.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: That was tough, probably mentally tough too, because it was also looking to my season.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: That was supposed to start in December and it was October, and he was like you might not be able to ride for three or four months, like you just have to really let this.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: But I went back for my two week checkup, my six week checkup and he was like I think you're going to be okay, like at eight weeks to get back on Cool.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Yep, that's awesome.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, goodness.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: I mean the.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: It's interesting you mentioned that and the pregnancy thing definitely seems to make a lot of sense If there was a lot of previous impact and strain before from all the previous years of training and then with pregnancy a lot of changes happen.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Of course the weight distribution like you said, yeah, but then also like the instability that comes with it.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: And overcompensating and all these things you don't.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: With all the hormonal changes that happen, we have been finding there's a lot more hypermobility and instability in the joints because of the relaxin hormone especially.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: That's what the anesthesiologist said actually.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Preparing for it's preparing just for the events, you know, of everything involved the labor and pregnancy stuff, yeah, and it just sets up women for being more unstable and hypermobile, right.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: So if they're doing something super impactful like horse riding, it's going to expose underlying issues, right, and maybe exacerbate things if it's a lot.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: You know which it is, yeah, and then even more so afterwards too.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Same, and I think that's the thing I can say to anybody Like you.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Don't have to rush back into it, but I was just so like you already feel like you missed some training time already, like my level of training wasn't the same while I was pregnant.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: I know exactly what you're talking about you know like.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: so I was like oh my God, I feel great and I also.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: That was a level of hormones, I think, that are not real.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: So I like ran back into it and who knows Right.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: But at least now we're good, right, um, and then you can.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: You've been seeing us.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: We were doing with uh, stability, core stability, training, glute stuff, balance, all that all back into the full functioning high level competitor needling that has been oh, the dry needling yeah that has changed the game.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Like I'll come in here every couple of weeks and be like, okay, I need that, to basically have like the suppleness back in my foot that that my only little bit of kind of lasting thing would be, I would say a little bit stiffness on like feels like I have arthritis in my foot but it goes away with the needling.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Awesome, good, well, I'm so glad we made it able to help you.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Um, okay, gotcha, so that was the injury story.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, and now we're back.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: You're riding full go, no pain, zero pain, foot tightness occasionally.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Um, what's the next step?
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: For competitions and stuff.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: So basically for me, uh, again, this was all not the greatest timing of the back because this was a lead up season to the Olympics.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: So if I did have a horse that was kind of at the top level, this would be his first time going out to kind of go for a team to be able to do games, all those things.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Then October came around was like look, we don't know what you're going to be able to do, so that was too bad.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: But luckily I still could just continue on training and mentally I just went into the season being like, okay, I can then look forward to la, maybe with this horse.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: Like that's the one thing about horses in this industry you are just always looking basically to the next, to the pan ams.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: We have like world equestrian games, we have world cups, we have nation cup, things like that tons of competitions besides just the olympics yes gotcha, yeah, okay probably me
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: yeah, we're good yeah, I can hear I did hear that click.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I didn't think it was significant, and what's cool is like he edits as we go, so he can just split this out oh my god yeah sorry, no worries, of course it was mine I don't remember.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: I don't think you hit anything, like the one time we bring you in here.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Just breaking the place.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: I'm really sorry you guys are hearing it a little bit, yep.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm I can hear you.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Everything's solid.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, sorry, sorry.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: No no worries, but yeah, no, so you can edit stuff like you, splice these things in and out.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, not a problem.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Testing one, two, three.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I can hear everything Sounds pretty solid on my end, okay, okay.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: So what's the next step for you and your competitive training?
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: What's the next process?
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the next avenue.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: So again, there were the Summer Olympics that are coming up in Paris.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: That was a goal, Unfortunately kind of put on the back burner with my back Right, but it's just now looking ahead to the next thing, Like there's always a competition.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: That's one great thing about being in Florida Like year round there's always a competition.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: That's why we also used to travel back up north, because you could go there and kind of do your summer season.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: My life is a little different now with a young child, so it's not that I'm really planning on going over to Europe this summer.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: That would be a big thing.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: They have like a big summer series over there.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: So right now it's just basically all the horses that I have.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: I'm working on getting them to the next level.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: My kind of top horse.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: It's just maintaining and kind of fine tuning so that this upcoming season it'll be a bit of a gap year, because the Pan Ams just happened and then the Olympicsics happened and then we do kind of have like a little bit of a break here.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: But in a way I'm trying to look at that in a positive where okay, I can really get in and use this next upcoming season as like get all the kinks out yeah you just basically keep going all the time yeah, that's what it sounds like, yeah and there's always a horse show, you can always find somewhere to go, find something to do.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: That being said, with me not traveling so much in the summer anymore, I also I need to take a little bit of a.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: I don't need to take as much of a break as I normally would in the summer because I've had a kind of unscheduled break.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: But the horses also do need a break, like as athletes, they need to like have some downtime, get to rest.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: So in the summer if we take, like a family holiday or something for a week, then the horses will also get that week off cool.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good yeah that's.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: That's really cool.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, um, so have you in the past.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: You've olympic um travels and participation.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Which one?
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Which olympics?
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: so I was a groom, which that's a whole.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: This is gonna be a big thing.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: I'll try and condense it, but basically when you have a team, there's like a rider, trainer Sometimes you're both, or the rider has a trainer and then the biggest kind of associated person would be the groom.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: And so a groom is a person that, like, solely takes care of the horse, because when you get to that level of competition, it is like around the clock taking care of these horses.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: So I was a groom for a team canada, uh, at the 2012 london cool it was amazing that's awesome probably one of the best olympics to go to, I have to say, because even the setup of the venue, the horse park, was like right on the corner where all the pubs were.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: So when the horses would be done and be traveling out on their uh, their trailers, everybody would be like along the streets, like outside the pubs, cheering on the horse like it was very cool.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Let's go to the pubs.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: It's right here.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh my god, it was amazing that's cool travel around london and that it was awesome what was the uh?
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: All the other athletes were staying in the same areas so that's the only thing with the horses is, typically we are outside of the venues, like even you don't stay in the athletes village because you need to be so close to the horses, so you are kind of wherever the horse stables will be.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we stayed in like a military housing, so it was beside, like the I don't know the queen's house or something.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Like it was like very good.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: And.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Who was that?
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: This has never happened.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, it's funny.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this has never happened when you would like occasionally like some noises outside yeah no, no, worries, that happens.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Um yeah, so all right, so you guys stayed in the military housing housing and you.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: Basically they have like, as if it's like airport security, to go into the stabling every day and it was.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: It was an amazing experience and it just makes you hungry to keep going yeah, of course I feel very grateful to have gone and done it as a groom, because what happens is when you get to that level as a rider, it's impossible to do all of the jobs, it's impossible to also groom the horse, to be there feeding the horse at 3 30 in the morning hand and then to be mentally prepared right right to be ready to go to get into your zone, whatever your prep method is, um, but I'm very grateful that I got to do that and kind of experience that I got to, like you get to fly with the horses.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: So we went from Toronto they drove you, trailer the horses to New York and then out of basically JFK you fly the horses on an airplane.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: So we flew FedEx.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: I was going to say like what kind of an airplane?
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: It's either a big cargo plane or like the big FedEx, and it was amazing because there's people, regular people sitting in the front of the plane and so when you open to go check on the horses in the back.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: They're like neighing and people are like looking down the aisle like what?
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: was that an animal?
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: we just said it was very cool um that's really cool and I got to kind of see all aspects instead of just kind of showing up.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Not that that's a bad thing, that's also amazing to show up and just be able to compete but just like locked in, though you know, in that, and I, and I think that's a little bit the industry.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: You'll kind of find a lot of the top people.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: They've done every aspect of the horses.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: You know not just the riding, not just the training, but also the like in deep care of the horses have all aspects pretty dialed in a good understanding and experience.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: So that's well, that's cool.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: So London, I mean it was a great experience.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: You guys hung out like even though you were staying off uh campus, the village yeah, the athlete village, what they still could go, and then you could still go and watch some.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: The thing is that you still need like regular tickets.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: I thought like with my accreditation I could just like roll in wherever wherever you wanted to, no you have to still buy tickets.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: You still sometimes your federation, like the canadian federation, has like an allotted number of tickets, obviously for different events.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Interesting.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: So what did you go see?
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Nothing and that's the thing too On TV.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: We would watch it.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: We'd be in the barn watching like everybody else, but that was the thing Going there.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: You don't have any time to do anything else, I imagine.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: It's like an athlete right Like after they work, they need to be iced or they need to be walked or they need like all those things.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Interesting.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so the care for the horses?
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Completely different, conversation like totally different.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Again like it'd be a six hour podcast on care of the horses, but I mean icing massage.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Everything you do for a human athlete, you do for the horses.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: And your husband does, needling for the horses, yeah.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: So he's actually like a high performance vet so he only does, he does large animal but strictly horses like he's kind of found the niche here in wellington and everybody who comes in for the season and they're all here and they want to compete in 12 weeks and their horses need to be performing at their best for those 12 weeks right.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: They need treatment you gotta call the vet yeah and everything.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Like you know, we also use inject steroids.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: You do, we do like plasma treatments.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: You go to water treadmills like salt water treadmills that the horses go into.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: You have blankets with like all um the infrared treatments.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: It's wow.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Chiropractic osteopath, ac, acupuncture.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: That's crazy, anything you can think of.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: They get full treatment, just like a human athlete would, which makes sense because they're pushing themselves, like you said, all the time.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: They need rest time.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: How do they do with ice baths?
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Do they get ice baths?
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Are they icing down certain joints?
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we basically have these giant ice boots.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: It's like a rubber boot.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: It could be like kids wearing their rubber boots.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: That's what they look like.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: You put their feet in it, you fill it up with water and then you dump ice in, but that's.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: You have to train them to be standing in that for at least 30 minutes and to not be freaking out yeah, how do they do with it?
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: It takes time just different temperaments depends on the horse.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, some you will never get into it, so you have to find different methods.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: Methods Cold hosing you can take literally cold water.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: Stand there close your legs.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: They make ice boots.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: So it's basically like a big panel like this that you freeze and you just wrap it around.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Most effective is the icing we use like a, like pimp blankets, so it's like you put a blanket on their whole body and it's magnetic pulsing.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: That happens with heat.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: cool before, after riding again depends on heart yeah, so your husband, um, he'll participate in the treatment and direction of care for these horses athletes.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, um, and he administers the needles yep and they're like huge right so depends.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: I should have brought in like a acupuncture.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: It's honestly not that different.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: They're like a little bit longer just because it needs to get through more muscle.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Yep yeah, nothing is really that different.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: That's crazy, that's cool.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: If you need to like inject.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Sorry if anyone's queasy, but like, if you need to inject like a, like a back, those needles are pretty long you need to get in and down.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, interesting.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Very cool.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: How did your?
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: husband get into that.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: So he originally he's from Ecuador originally and he actually, I think, was going to get into being like a cattle veterinarian, but then kind of some of the people that he worked with while he was in vet school just let him a little bit more into the horses.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Then he did an internship in texas with quarter horses, which is more like the western type horses, and saw the high performance aspect of that.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: So he's worked with a lot of different horses.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: It just kind of you know how it falls into place.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: He's liked it, went into it more.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's how y'all met, I assume, then yeah when I, when I'd left to go back to school, I went back to canada for a few years.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: He had come here to do an internship in Wellington and basically made friends with all of my friends.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: So when I came back and we were like, wait, we don't know each other, but we all have the same friends.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: So we must automatically be cool with each other.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, if you're best friends.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: With my best friend, we're automatically best friends.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: Exactly, that's cool.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Well, that's awesome.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: We'll have to get him in here and chat more about the recovery and just the similarities between human and horse.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Well, and it's even things like lactic acid buildup in horses right.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Like tying up is a real thing.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: It happens to people but it happens to horses, but like to such an extreme level and you have to manage it.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: You manage it with food and supplements and all that.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: That's really cool, that's interesting, yeah All that?
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: That's really cool.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: That's interesting.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, is there a?
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: With your experience and knowledge right In your acuity, can you start to tell when, like a horse is like man, they're getting fatigued, they're out of it, they're mentally in a fog, something's wrong with their leg or their knee, their knee has to hurt or something.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and again, I think a lot of that has to do if you've kind of spent a long time being more of a groom, working more in the barn, of course riding you have a lot of feeling when you're riding.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: So if you're going to the left and you're like, hmm, that doesn't feel as even when I go to the right, and then you're going to try and pinpoint where it is, but on the ground you're feeling all their legs every day.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: You're going over their backs, their ne of see that it'll like your saddle could be tilting to the side or they could be a little bit sore where it's sitting right.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: Um, but I just feel like knowing the horse and you get to know, you know the more horses you have, the more problems you have.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: So having a smaller a smaller number of horses is better, because you don't just have like an intimate relationship with them, but you know their body, yeah, like you're essentially their therapist right there.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, you can see when there's an issue, though they'll have like a swollen area, they'll have.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: They can get like a skin infection down here because it's so humid, so it's like a fungus that they can get makes sense that can then lead to like a cellulitis.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: So there's it.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: It never ends there's and they're not the most.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: They're pretty accident prone animals like they're not the most.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: They're graceful when you're riding them and you're helping them, but on their own they can be a little bit clumsy they love to like get into trouble.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: They always have a cut, they always have something going like how'd you get that cut?
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: you know like I don't know every day.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: You come in and I'm like with the girl that I work with.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: I'm like like, okay, how are we looking this morning?
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: And you're just happy when there's nothing.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they definitely look very graceful and purposeful when they're riding and doing their thing.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: But they're clumsy and just accident prone.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, and they're scared of it.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: They're flight animals, right, so they're scared of everything.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: Some, again, more than others, but his are real.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Like the dynamic is just that's cool.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you feel like?
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: what was your moment when you were a kid and you were like man, I love this I think growing up my best friend had horses and I remember that they were building a barn and she was going to have her own horses at her property and I remember going there and just being like this is what I want, like this is what I really want to do.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: I've just really also been.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: I was always a competitive kid so once I was just kind of casually riding when I was younger, but then I think I went, whatever trainer I was with and the horse and they're like well, but you can go to a horse show and it was like the local fair but I thought it was the Olympic and my horse like probably bucked me off.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: It was awful.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: But I, just from a very young age, was like a super competitive.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: But like when you go to a show, it really is such a high, like when it goes well and you come out and you're like all that hard work and it worked.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah for sure.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, cause half the time it doesn't work.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: So imagine so everything pulls together, so you were able to mix in like man, I really love this the horses and just being a part of the barn and the animals, and then also competing.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, great marriage, yeah.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: And here we are today.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly that's really cool yeah.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: How old are you in that moment, when your friend had her horses being built?
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Very young, like I want to say eight or nine, yeah, and I was probably then probably competing around 10.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Again, nothing like crazy.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: But then I begged, and begged, and begged for my first pony, and then that's why be careful with your daughter because my parents are like what did we do?
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: We'll probably keep it, you know, we'll probably keep that.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: Keep that separate for a while.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: Or just very on holidays you get to go ride the horses on the beach.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: Do that.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Um, and that's man.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: That's really cool.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Um, so training demands it for you, right?
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: You simply go to the gym.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: You go to the gym three days a week.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: You come here for recovery work once a week.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Now that you're like out of pain, you're feeling good, back to normal, yeah, awesome.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Um, workouts wise.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Um, do you have a fitness?
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: You have like a strength trainer that you work with?
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: so I did a year.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: I was she was more of, I would say more like a CrossFit type trainer, which was great.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: I'm a little bit hesitant to get back into it again with my back.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: I will slowly.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: But also I used to do a little bit more Pilates and yoga because that's like us staying supple.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Also it's not just the horses, but like you're in such a like jarring tight position all the time and kind of the way your body sits on the horse, so you get super tight in your hips, super tight in your back.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: We all kind of get into this like unfortunate hunch position because you're like guarding a little bit all the time.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Totally.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: So I used to do that.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: I'm slowly again needing to kind of get kicked back into gear still, but again, like I said, even just riding the horses every single day you get off and you are just.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Wiped yeah.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: In the heat especially.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: So you do a lot of yoga and Pilates.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: Staying stable and supple.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Stability through the suppleness right, which is good, that's good.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: And then strength training.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, some resistance training and balance.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, balance and strength and core strength is probably the biggest.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: How do you and you're busy, right, so you have a lot going on and also traveling and doing the shows and stuff like that how do you feel like you're able to navigate and manage your schedule to still prioritize your own workouts and fitness and stuff and your sleep and your nutrition?
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: You know all that stuff.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: That's the biggest thing I have to say, and especially as I'm getting older here like sleep is like key.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: That's a big especially for the kid.
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, and I was like sorry about if you are asleep, I'm like there's, he'll be in bed by 6 37 and I'm like great, eight o'clock, I ought to go like and I never was like that.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: And again, with the horses you have to go back and check them at nighttime, so you go back at nine or ten and that's why you need help that's why you need people, because you can't do it all.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: It really is to the people that do kudos to them, but you get burnt out yeah you need to take like a dedicated day off, like a real rest day.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: I used to kind of do okay, my day off from the horses.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna like that'll be my hard workout day that is not that is not the way to do it, because we're similar with, like our kids.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: It's like oh, during nap time we time, we can organize, we can do a workout.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: We have two hours like plenty of time.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: No, chance no.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: It's like I'm immediately laying down and just like shutting my brain off, just rest.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: Just rest and drink some water.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: All those dishes, like all the cleaning, no.
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you just have to be like obviously pretty strict on yourself and you just have to like remind yourself okay, it's gonna be worth it, I'm gonna feel so much better, like that's for me in the riding.
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: It shows directly, like if I'm not strong especially for the younger horses that need a little bit more help, like if I'm not physically strong enough to stay balanced and to help them, then like what is the point?
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: You just go then through a 45 minute ride and you're kind of still at square one, instead of feeling like, okay, that was productive for the horse, like I was fit enough for the horse.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: So you just have to kind of keep convincing yourself and going along, even when you're tired, and doing something is better than doing nothing.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: Even if you just sometimes go and you can just go on the bike for 20 minutes at least you're loosening up a little bit you're doing something, so I would say after having a baby.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: It's been a little bit trickier, kind of getting to like a, and also I can't get up at 4 30 to go to the gym anymore, right like so it's finding it kind of in whatever little slot you have yeah, of course.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: So for like young, um, equestrian competitors that are in the same boat when you were 10, 11, 12, whatever what do you recommend to them?
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: What messages to convey?
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: Don't let yourself get burnt out, like that is the number one.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: It's so easy to do I mean, I'm sure every sport is the same but, like again, you can like live, breathe and be with the horses 24 hours a day if you wanted to, which is great and you're going to learn a lot but you are going to mentally burn out and then your body just starts to kind of and it's a super physical job.
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: So it's not just riding the horses, it's that you get up in the morning, you're lifting water buckets, you're moving hay, you're mucking cells, you're like there's.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: It's such a physical job.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: If your body hurts, you should go and get it looked at.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: You should get don't just keep pushing yourself.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: Drink more water like the biggest thing, um, and just try and get into like a program that again like well, just benefit your riding, like doing core work, doing kind of strength training, cardio you need to depends on the type of riding you're doing, but just staying healthy and taking care of your body, like that's a big thing.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: That makes sense.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's the same messages we hear from a lot of the other sport, athlete sports with football, soccer, basketball, lacrosse, like gymnastics, swimming, whatever.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: I've always been in my head.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: I'm always like durability is going to be the number one priority.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: If you can't get out and play or do your sport or compete, um, then you're not gonna be able to show, you're not gonna be able to do your thing, right.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: So being healthy is the number one thing that's gonna allow better longevity to actually do your stuff.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Do your stuff right and showcase yourself, you know, show yourself and what you can do, and if you can't, then you can't play right.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: So number one priority is to be healthy and actually be able to play.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um but for longevity and longevity, yeah, the biggest thing.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: And for us too, like it's a sport that people are still competing at the Olympics when they're 60, right, like you're still able to ride and compete when you're in your sixties.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: So that's not really.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: You don't hear that in a lot of other sports.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: It's a good point yeah.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: So being able to keep your hip health going until you're 60, like you do have to take care of yourself.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: That's interesting.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: You mentioned that.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: I would imagine the other.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: The second point I was going to make it seem, but I've come across like man.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: I just this is this is the game changer that a lot of competitors in your field, I would imagine, or other athletes they're all really good, so why is it that there's some people are a little bit better than other ones and they continually just have that edge, have the edge, yeah.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: And my just have that edge, have the edge, yeah.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: In my.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: In my opinion, I'm like it's the mental game, absolutely like if you're really physically a good athlete competitor, you have the skill sets cool yeah the skills then aren't limiting you, because you've got the same ones everybody else, maybe even better right then why are they out competing?
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: why are they outperforming?
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: It's got to be the mental game such a mental game.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: So it's the mental game um super impactful and like what, what ways for equestrian?
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: so actually, I think it's just become.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: I think it's like anything, probably any sport, but in today's day and age, also with social media, yeah, it's also giving people a lot more access to have help.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: So I would say a lot of the top riders now do.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: I'm sure some have always had it, but they, a lot of them, have mental coaches like show prep coaches because, you go in there and you have a bad ride.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: So say, you have a competition, you have three days of riding.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: You go in the first day and you bomb and you're like, oh, my god, that's it yeah, I have two days of this now or you go in and your horse is just like not on the same page, or you're not.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: You wake up with a migraine and you go and you know that your time is at 8 58 and you're like, oh my god, my head is like anyways, so right, there's so many factors that you need to be able to just kind of block everything out and go in.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: Like I always say when I go in, it's like the only time a that I can't talk, you get like points off if there's any noise and I like go underwater almost like it's that feeling of going in and you can just like solely focus on what's in front of you and that's really important because there's always people watching.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: Again, in today's day and age, people are videoing all the time.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: Keyboard critics, right, like it's a very, it's a pretty hard sport and because everyone just is so fast to tear you down right and you just have to keep going Like, even when it's not working.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: It's a sport that I would say most days are harder, like you once a week will have that like hallelujah moment or that hallelujah ride, and then the next day you're like well.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: So the point is to then also prep yourself and prep your horse to kind of peak at the competition.
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, at the competition, yeah, and that's a mental thing and that also comes from rest and taking care of yourself and having a regimen that works for you.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: So you're I liked what you just said Like you have to imagine yourself you have to go underwater for your when you're competing, which helps to drown out everything and muffle everything else.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: That's really good.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that that's really good.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: That's a cool one.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Um, where'd you get that from when your coaches?
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: it's literally the feeling, when you like, cause.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: The way that our tests work is that you have to come up the center line to the judges in front of you and you have to halt and salute to them to start the test.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes exactly, and you come up that center line and and like that's the start and that's the impression.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: So you really just have to be like super focused, like if you're about to turn in, you're too busy looking at whatever out or you're worried about who's doing something in the warm-up or what your competitor is doing or whatever.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: Like you're just and you're also throwing that, that mark away because you're you're right away judged as soon as you turn up.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: So you have to like put the blinders on fully, just.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that underwater.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: Um, that's really cool.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: Did you um so with?
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: If you feel like your mental game as a rider is definitely not, you're in a funk, right, not off.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: How does that affect the horse?
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: They're also like it's 100, yeah, and I think that's what's so amazing about this, for because I'm when it all goes really well.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: You're, every part of you is functioning properly because then it's just relayed to the horse.
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: yeah now, horses are amazing and some of them just like people, but some of them are real competitors.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Like they know when you turn up and they're like ears forward, they they go underwater like they're super focused, they love the job.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: You've been training that test so they can, like, anticipate the movements, so they're going to help you.
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: So sometimes you can be a little out of it and your horse is like don't worry, I got you, that's cool.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: Sometimes there's ones that are the opposite and they need so much support from you.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: So that's where it's really important again to be pretty mentally strong, physically strong, because if they're a little bit tense, you're trying to tell them to do something, but then to also relax while they're doing a movement.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: So Right, that's really interesting.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: So would the rider and the horse do any kind of mental prep together before a competition?
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: So and that's one thing too, of really having a relationship and working with your horse all the time, because if you're with your horse for many hours of the day, they're going to be super comfortable with you.
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: They're going to know it's you.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: Different types of training, like you know, there's training in the ring, but then you also.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: We do like a lot of cross training.
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: So you don't just ride over your test that you're going to do over and over cross training.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: So you don't just ride over your test that you're going to do over and over.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: You go outside and like hack them or like trot them out in the woods to kind of do like a cardio day for them.
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: There's no hills in Florida, but when you're up north you can do like hill training.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: Some people jump their horses, even though they're not jumping horses, like just mentally to kind of break it up for them so they don't get sour about it, right, but also to work all their muscles and of course just working and being with them.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: A lot of treats yeah, I'll imagine.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: That yeah what's the, what's your, your horses?
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: You have you said four I have?
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: I have three main horses yeah, what's their treats, what their go-to?
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: they love apples, they love bananas.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: We give them sugar cubes while we're riding as like the instant kind of treat.
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: It's like a high value treat, obviously a sugar cube.
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: They will eat anything Like an apple whole.
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: They'll bite it in half and eat it.
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: Yep Bananas, some of them will eat the peel.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: Peel yeah.
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: Some of them don't like the peel.
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: You need to take that off.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: My one horse loves Terra chips, like some off.
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: My one horse loves terra chips like okay, some will eat donuts.
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: Like you shouldn't give them that, but like they do love here and there, it's not gonna hurt them they are.
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: It just depends on the horse and they all.
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: You know basic though apples, carrots, they're good to go that's really interesting.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's cool, that makes sense, but in a whole, that's that's.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: That's interesting I eat a lot.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: So I remember you mentioned before.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: The other unique aspect to considering this is like the only sport in the Olympics where you're completely relying on other animal.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: Yes, as in like they have their own body and brain and their own moods and stuff and their own direction.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, whereas like a track athlete or a swimmer, like anything else Even a team sport it's a human or humans that can communicate verbally how they're feeling With each other.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they human, or humans that can communicate verbally how they're feeling each other yeah and they're not flight animals.
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right like convincing them.
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: If there's something that's really scary, like at the olympics, they have cameras beside the arena.
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: You're typically not practicing or training with cameras and like with a huge venue right of people.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: Umbrellas go up all of a sudden because it's raining whatever yeah, that's true it's a lot like you have to be pretty.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: You just have to be confident.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: You just like a lot of people too like.
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: You just have to kind of manifest that it's going to go well.
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: You need to like a lot of pre-ride.
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: You kind of envision your test right, so going through the mental imagery yep, that's a huge tool.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: Like that is really because, again, you're giving that feeling off to the horse.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that.
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: I mean it's like I know for mental performance coaches and stuff we've had in the past and other conversations.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: That's definitely I'm like man.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: I wish I would've known this stuff when I was an athlete in high school and college and stuff.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: The mental imagery is definitely a huge um.
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: It could be a game changer for just manifesting the performance and success you're looking for.
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: So when you were full, go in it, which we're now weaning into that more aggressively.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: Now that you're feeling so good, it looks like three days a week workout.
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: One day a week recovery.
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: Yep Five days riding.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: Five days a week, riding One day a week completely shutting it down or separation.
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, that has been a new thing that ever since the baby, that has been like, okay, we're going to do like just a family day.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: No horses, no anything.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: Okay, that doesn't always work Like sometimes you have to go, but that's what we're trying to do, totally yeah, so the seventh day then would be Depends.
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: And that's where, again, with horses, you never know how it's going to go.
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: So some horses you're like you know what?
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: We need a sixth day of riding.
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: Or for me it's like, oh no, they actually are going to have four days off because we just competed.
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: We can do that, so I can go and do something extra because I have a little bit of free time.
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: Generally it's filled with going and either teaching people or going and riding other people's horses, but I would say the majority of my workout routine regime, whatever is riding Like, that's the I mean that's your element.
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: So you were mentioning the really cool, unique aspect of the sport you can be 60 and it's competing.
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: Do you find that there?
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: So there's no like there's no peak sweet spot of age where, as an example, like basket, like super high intense, you know uh, sports like football or something like, there's not many athletes over the age of 35.
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: So there's a sweet spot between 22 to 29 years old.
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: And is that like because your body is also peaking and you're just getting better?
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: from experience and you're getting into a rhythm right.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: So there's like a supple you're still super resilient and young.
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: Like, super like into it.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: Into it, but then your body hasn't really caught up to it yet, right, feel all the aches and pains, right.
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: And the recovery isn't as quick, you know, when you're 29 versus 22, 33 versus 20, 22, whatever.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: So is there a sweet spot like that in equestrian dressage?
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: No, and it really also depends Like you can have, like everybody kind of has, like a lifetime horse, right, so you get a horse that you just have like such an amazing bond with that for whatever reason, it just suits you.
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: It's like the perfect size, the perfect temperament, whatever it is, and that horse might not come along until you're 50.
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: Right, so?
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: it's a good point because the horse wasn't even born yet when you were.
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: Whatever, the horse might not be 14 until you get it, or it's a horse that you start from really young, and generally horses are peaking around between 10 and 14.
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: So it's a long time if you're starting them when they're three or four.
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: It's a decade putting that in there and hoping that no injury happens to the horse, to you.
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: So it's pretty remarkable if, like, everything lines up where it's like experienced, developed, trained horse yeah, it's been healthy.
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, experienced, trained, healthy rider and they get each other and they mesh All the stars aligned, yeah.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: And then they like do well, yeah.
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: So, with that being said, like I mean, imagine athletes that are really experienced and knowledgeable and they've now entered that high level experience, age, demographic, now Bracket but they're still going to compete as the same level, yep.
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: So is there a huge advantage then for I would say yes, because it's a sport where the more knowledge you have, the more experience, the more people you teach.
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: The more trainers you've been with, worked with, the more horses that you've watched, you've ridden, you've, whatever, the more competitions you've been to, you're just constantly gaining more information, more natural feel your eye.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: eye gets better, you develop your eye to see things that are going on the best, like the gold olympians and all the older they're all like in their 40s and 50s yep and there's some young.
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: There's always the young ones that come in prodigies yeah and a lot of those will have worked with a lot of kind of the older group.
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: They'll be like the step under them.
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: So that's a little bit how the industry works too.
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: You want to kind of go and train with people who are the Esquire first yeah exactly Like kind of who are peaking and you want to kind of get into that.
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: It's hard, though, because you are then dedicating your entire life to just that right.
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: And that's what kind of differentiates.
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: I think it's a little difficult to go and have a family and take the time off and then still be peaking.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course.
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: It takes years.
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: It's just years, decades.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: So then we see, then the dominant competitors are older.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say so, that's really cool.
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and generally again the younger ones who are there, you know how young.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: And he's like a young athlete, a competitor, like mid to late twenties.
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: Okay, Um, they do have like pony classes.
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: They have like young rider and junior classes, which is really great because I think it's a little bit more a to help build confidence, but it's a little bit more of a fair playing field.
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: It really sucks Like when you go and you are like labeled as a professional and you're 21 and you're going in with the other professionals who are like 55 and have you know it's.
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: It's great to do that, but then it's a little bit nice to have categories that can help kind of build your career and your confidence Exactly Getting crushed every time.
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the big leagues.
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: Yep, you got to wait 10 years, so just keep going.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: That's really cool.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: So then for you saying like I mean, with the horse that you have, you get training back in the injury that you had.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: It's not like man clock's ticking, it's more like well, I got plenty of time.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: For you.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: But then you also have to take in the age of the horse.
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: So my horse this year is 14.
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: So then we'll be 18.
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: The next Olympics.
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: So which is fine, you know, and if they're good and they're healthy and happy, it's okay.
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: But a lot can happen in that time.
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: So you can then also can just kind of change your avenue, like, okay, maybe it's not going to be even a Pan Ams or an Olympics, it's going to be.
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: I, next summer, want to go to Europe and I want to do the European summer tour and go to those big competitions, right, and then it also can get to the point where, look, this horse maybe isn't going to meet my needs.
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: So you can also sell that horse to somebody who maybe wants to drop down a level, and it's a little bit easier for the horse as they get older.
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: And then somebody is going to get to gain experience on that trained horse.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's interesting.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: So I imagine there's a lot of trades horse trades.
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: Yep A lot of buying and selling Interesting.
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: Yep, yep, that's a whole other podcast.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: I didn't even consider that again.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: That's so crazy.
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: And part of what I do is train horses, so I'll buy younger horses or horses that are maybe a little bit difficult, and then you kind of put in the time and the money into them and then you sell them.
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: So you sell them for someone to enjoy or to.
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: then they want to continue taking them up the levels or whatever with watching yellowstone they're always talking about like breaking in a cult.
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: You know, you're I'm not doing that anymore.
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: How?
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: is that that's rough.
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: that's how, when I went to, I had my mri done and I want to.
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: I went to to Dr Seville and he's like, oh, and you've also like, fractured your upper back, like, and I'm like what?
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: No, I didn't.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: But because that is just that is a specialty to break in horses.
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: When they say break in, just as in, like wanting them to do what you want them to do, you know teaching them to wear a saddle, teaching them to not be afraid, teaching them to have a person on their back, pulling, kicking, whatever you know, not hard, of course.
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: But being not being natural, Like you're kind of then trying to teach them to do something that is amazing and they're bred to do, but but they're resisting.
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's like they're like hey, we would rather be outside like eating all day yeah for sure, get off me.
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: So what do they?
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: What?
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: They kick, they jump off, they're here, they bolt.
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: They are, they don't want to go, sometimes like they're like, hey, this is like a little scary.
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: So you just start like convincing is not the right word.
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: You can probably cut that out.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: You can help them see that what you would like them to do like is a partnership and we'll be better for them at some point.
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and also is going to help you get stronger, like I'm going to do this in a way that's going to benefit you.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: Interesting, yeah, so funny Did I tell you my son's name's Colt.
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: No way, that's amazing.
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, you are going to get into it.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: What a life.
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's funny though, but anyway, as I say, like watching Yellowstone, you know, as an example.
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: You know because I did not grow up in that life.
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: You know, I was just a lot of team sports and going to the beach and stuff, but so many aspects I had no idea.
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: And again, just depends on also what your kind of pick of the industry is too.
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: Like I chose dressage for whatever reason, but like if you do Western type, like the reining or that, like that's just a totally different world.
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: And I am actually like horse.
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: People are generally ignorant to the other disciplines because you're so sorry, you're so head on into your own discipline.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: You mentioned.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: The peak age for horses is like 10 to 14, maybe to 16.
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: It depends, and especially today, just like athletes today, like we have a lot more tools to kind of help them, we have a lot more.
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: There's information all the time right, like new kind of the water treadmills.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: I was talking about.
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: They have these new.
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: They're like trailers that the horses can walk into and it's like an infrared and it will basically scan over the body and it shows areas of inflammation.
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: So you're like oh, ok, like, here's where we maybe need to like, hone in, yeah, like focus on it.
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: Very cool, yeah.
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: What's the the end?
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: The end end game for the horse like age wise, like they like when they're like if they're pushing 20, we can probably Start to retire.
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: Retire Retirement age yeah, yeah, like you know, every horse is different.
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, some horses have like a career-ending injury when they're eight right, which is so.
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: It's such a heartbreaking sport in that way.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: But some I would say, if you know, if you can get them to 18, 19, like they've had a very great career, they've had a great career, great.
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: Just what we have here is gratitude and there is.
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: I probably should know this, but there is an age limit on the horses to be able to do high competition.
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure it's 21, oh okay because it does get to a point where you're like, okay, this is they've done they've done their duty.
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what's the uh?
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: What's the lifespan expectation?
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: horses, can you know, within 20s, like mid-20s.
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: Ponies can live until they're like 40 yep, if you can get.
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: But they everything starts to happen, like to us, like they start to lose teeth, because then they can't eat properly and then you know malnourishment yeah just their body, like there's some pretty like significant things it's called colic which, like can basically be that they their intestines twist or that they have like a displacement of their colon, all of these things.
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: Horses are like very fragile animals actually.
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: They have like it's called laminitis or founder, and that's basically where, like the, the bone will kind of remove itself from the hoof wall and it could start to come out like extremely painful.
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all of that stuff can happen overnight.
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: So lifespan expectancy is like 20-ish for horses, longer for smaller ponies.
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, interesting.
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, man, it's really cool.
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: There's so much we could dive into and just expand upon, you know, but I think the main thing like I'm super pumped and and um fulfilled to hear that your back is feeling so much better that a debilitating issue like that can be resolved get back to you know, to intense writing, competing and training and stuff like that and now, like all this stuff we can do to help prevent future injury and maybe hopefully be better off otherwise than you would, maybe wouldn't have been had not at this happened.
• 57:53
  Speaker 2: Well, and one thing I do have to say is, after my surgery and after coming here especially and like really honing in on my, it was my left leg that was affected, which I'm more right-sided.
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: I am a little bit, we say, like handier on one side than the other I was like, wow, this might've been going on a little bit longer than I thought, because now that I have like full movement and I'm working on the strength, I'm more effective off my left leg, which you need that.
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: You need to be fully the same.
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: Like you're, you have to be equal both sides to also tell the horse equally Right.
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: So it's been great Like it has helped me a lot.
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: That's interesting.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: Well, awesome, super pumped.
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: We'll have to have you on again.
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: Have your husband on too.
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: We have deep dive another aspect I have so many people you could get on.
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: No, I want the list.
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: This is cool, yeah, because we've been seeing a lot of equestrian athletes like yourself Especially in this area, and this area is great, yeah, and just really helping with we get it Um cause we've all had some issues and stuff where it's like, had we had this man you know, uncle Rico, moments from Napoleon dynamite, like today we would in one state.
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: And you feel like that, even as a rider, I feel like that Like I wish I had been doing some type like a little bit more therapies on myself, but also the knowledge I have for my horses.
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: I'm like, oh my God, that horse I had when I was 20, if I had it today and my kind of knowledge that I have now Right.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: So in everything that you do, I think that's the same but yeah, so you say you, you train horses and you coach people and then also ride their horses for them.
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: Um and then also ride horses to to be sold.
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: Well, if anybody wants to reach out to you, what's the best way they can hit you up?
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: I have an Instagram page.
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: That's probably the best way.
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: It's Ara Equestrian LLC.
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: You can look me up on Instagram.
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: How do you spell that?
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: A-r-a?
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: Equestrian?
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: Yep, yeah Cool, you can find me on there.
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: Awesome, We'll shoot Alexandra a DM and then y'all can link up.
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: But I appreciate you coming in again.
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: We'll definitely get you in, get your husband in.
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: We'll talk more, for sure.
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: Awesome.
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: And if y'all have any questions for us, we're always open to questions, suggestions, comments, conflicting opinions.
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: For sure, give us a call and if you want to reach us as a patient, you can also reach out for questions, and the best number to reach us is 561-899-8725.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: Or you can shoot us an email at team, at athlete rccom, and we'd love to talk to you guys if you have any questions.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: And thanks for coming in.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: Catch y'all next time.