The Proud Horse Girl Podcast : Episode 2
When I started the podcast, I immediately knew that I wanted to have Laura as my first guest. She and I started our riding journeys together at Duke Ranches and she is my oldest riding friend, not to mention one of the biggest supporters of my business, so having her on the podcast was a given. I knew that I wanted this podcast to be a way to reflect on my own journey and experience as a horse girl, and what better way than to reflect and come full circle than getting to have a conversation with one of my oldest friends?
Laura was an absolute pleasure to have on the show and I am so grateful for her honesty and candidness in our conversation! We chat about everything from lesson barns to leasing out your horse, from building positive barn communities to tackling mental health. I felt like I got to know Laura even better in this conversation and I’m sure you will too if you tune in to the episode! It was great getting to learn about her riding journey and what is next for her, as well as hearing her perspective on some challenging topics, like wealth in the equestrian world and balancing competitive dreams with pleasure riding and adult responsibilities.
I feel so lucky to have Laura as a friend and to get to share her wonderful knowledge, opinions and stories with you all in this episode! It is one that you don’t want to miss and I’m sure it will remain one of my favourite episodes, even down the line when I’ve recorded and interviews dozens of people!
Click the link below to tune in and don’t forget to Follow us on your favourite podcast software, you can find The Proud Horse Girl Podcast on both Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
Show Notes
“So thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today, Laura, I'm so glad to have you as my very first guest, given that we started our riding journey together and you're my oldest friend from the horse world” (00:46, Annakah)
“I bought him as a project and then he ended up wiggling his way into my heart. No surprise there.” (2:17, Laura)
“So he's definitely giving me a run for my money, literally. But yeah, the goal is to do the big stuff. I love being competitive, but I honestly definitely enjoy the pleasure side to it a lot more.” (3:03, Laura)
“I thank Lindsey a lot, because she's she opened up a whole new world for me when it came to horses. She took me from Lesson Barn to leasing Electra and it was just like this whole new world opened up.” (5:37, Laura)
“I feel like everyone gets to the point where they need to move on and continue learning.” (7:16, Laura)
“It's crazy how going to these different barns just opens up every place you go to opens up something else for you,” (9:45, Laura)
“Embarrassing story. I puked in the middle of the show ring, like I had to jump off my horse, who was like jump bouncing around like an idiot.” (10:47, Laura)
“No, I, I have no shame in saying I was not a popular person in school.” (13:01, Laura)
“I think having a close-knit barn community is so important” (15:15, Laura)
“It doesn't matter what you ride, it’s just you ride horsea or you're into horses.” (15:37, Laura)
“I actually didn't really like him when I bought him. Was not a fan. Same thing with Electra though.” (16:48, Laura)
“And then he kind of started showing some potential and then it kind of has only been within the last like couple of months, like maybe like eight or nine months, that I really noticed the potential he has” (17:53, Laura)
“Yeah he's too sweet and he just has too much personality as bad as the sounds. He's just too difficult of a horse to sell.” (19:21, Laura)
“It's always nice to see your older horse no acting their age.” (21:02, Laura)
“Like, honestly, if I didn't have to lease out, I never would.” (23:25, Laura)
“It's nice seeing her take other kids to that next level and teaching them. But at the same time, it's just kind of like that's my horse and I don't want to share.” (23:30, Laura)
“It (leasing) took a lot of the pressure off like I was always feeling bad that I couldn't be out at the barn.” (26:24, Annakah)
“Well, yeah, it is hard to share your horse one hundred percent, I still struggle with it sometimes, even though I love his leaser so much like you still sometimes think about it and you're like, oh, you know, someone else loves my horse as much as I do.” (26:56, Annakah)
“I was very fortunate and was given Electra” (27:59, Laura)
“If I didn't move from a lesson barn or if I didn't get the opportunity to move from the lesson barn, where would I be now?” (28:01, Laura)
“So that was definitely the hardest part, was not being in contact with a lot of those people when I left.” (28:35, Laura)
“I'm not really expecting to get my hopes up for showing up in school to be a nurse.” (30:30, Laura)
“The goal was to actually be in California in February of this year but with covid and then with Beanz and everything. That is obviously not happening.” (30:50, Laura)
“Somehow when I think of Beanz, like I think of him as being more experienced than like just three shows.” (31:35, Annakah)
“I'm just like oh my God, that is a completely different horse.” (32:10, Laura)
“I was like, wow, I didn't think we'd ever be at that point with this horse. (32:40, Laura)
“I definitely have changed my view on skinny horses” (33:12, Laura)
“Honestly, the one thing that I would definitely like to see more put out there in the horse world is mental health.” (34:00, Laura)
“Yeah, I myself deal with a lot of mental health issues, so. I like I feel for the people that also deal with them, and I think it just, again, needs to be more recognized.” (Laura, 34:30)
“And I wish it wasn't so much about like having the brand names, having the fifty thousand dollar horse, one hundred thousand dollar horse” (35:35, Laura)
“It's nice having the finer things, but I'm it's kind of like appreciate what you have, be grateful for what you have, because at the end of the day, if you can afford horses in the first place, you're already winning.” (36:40, Laura)
“Yes, the horse world is big, but I think the horse world is very small and I think we should all get along and be kind to one another and do what we can to make the equestrian world a very positive place to be. And that kind of goes right back to the mental health.” (37:40, Laura)
