Practical Horseman Podcast

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast episode, sponsored by Equi-Analytical, is with hunter/jumper trainer and rider Amanda Steege. We talked to Amanda in mid-March as the winter circuit was winding down for her, her clients and her horses after solid performances at the World Equestrian Center – Ocala.

To give you a little more background on Amanda, she grew up on her parents Red Acre Farm in Stow, Massachusetts. Amanda had a successful junior career in the equitation, hunter and jumper rings, then she went off to Boston College to figure out her future, only riding during the...

This Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Dechra, is with five-star show jumper Callie Schott. We talk to Callie about her special partnership with KWPN gelding Garant and their many successes, the wisdom she learned from working with Beezie and John Madden, how she keeps her horses fit for show jumping and why she’s so passionate about the sport.

About Callie Schott

Callie grew up in an equestrian family at River Mountain Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, with her dad Trey Schott, who’s an equine veterinarian and polo player and her mom, eventer and hunter/jump...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast episode, sponsored by USRider, is with five-star eventer Cosby Green. We talked to Cosby in early January at the start of a new competition year with new goals ahead for the world number 10 rider on the FEI Eventing World Athlete Rankings.

To give you a little more background on Cosby, she made her five-star debut at Pau in 2023 with Copper Beach. The following year, the pair completed the Badminton and Burghley CCI5*-Ls. 2025 was an illustrious year for Cosby, starting off with her senior team debut at the FEI Eventing Nations Cu...

This Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by USRider, is with top hunter, jumper and equitation rider and trainer Nick Haness. We talk to Nick us about his partnership with Cavaletto Loma Z and other horses who shaped his career, what drew him to hunters and jumpers and what he attributes to his success as rider, trainer and horseman. He also provides us with an update on the collection of rescue animals at his farm.

About Nick Haness

After a self-funded successful Junior career, hunter/jumper rider and trainer Nick started his own training and sales business...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast episode, sponsored by USRider, is with five-star eventer Sydney Elliott. She spoke with us in mid-November as the competition season was winding down after her CCI4*-L win with QC Diamantaire at The Event at TerraNova in Myakka City, Florida.

To give you a little more background on Sydney, she first competed at the five-star level at the Kentucky Three-Day Event with Cisko A in two thousand sixteen. Two years later, the pair made their U.S. team debut at the Great Meadow International Nations Cup, helping the U.S. to a thi...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast episode, sponsored by Dechra, is with leading high-performance coach and nervous-system expert Natalie Hummel. She coaches top professional athletes in all sports, but her experience as a former upper-level eventer enables her to especially relate to riders.

Natalie started riding at 10 and after moving up the ranks she eventually achieved three-star status and started working for Michael Pollard. But after back-to-back tragedies involving the unexpected death of several horses, her heart was too broken to continue in the sport and the energy and passion she’d felt for riding started to shift...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast episode, sponsored by Kentucky Performance Products, is with international show jumper and hunter rider and trainer Jacob Pope. He spoke with us in early September as he was preparing for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier in Traverse City, Michigan.

To give you a little more background on Jacob, he grew up on his family’s small horse farm in Columbia, Maryland. He had a successful junior career, winning the 2011 USHJA Emerging Athletes Program Finals, the 2012 USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals – East and the 2012 ASPCA Maclay Finals. After graduating from co...

Today's Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Equinavia, is with eventer Kaylawna Smith-Cook. Kaylawna, daughter of top five-star eventer Tamie Smith, has become a successful eventing rider and trainer in her own right and currently has a promising string of up-and-coming eventing mounts—Quinn HSR, Remember Me and Dealas—who proved their talent at the Galway Downs International Horse Trials last spring.

While she continues to help run her mom’s sales program at Next Level Eventing in Temecula, California, the 29-year-old now owns and operates her own training program, K. Smith Equestrian, with around 22 horses and has cultiv...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Equinavia, is with hunter, equitation and jumper trainer and judge Archie Cox. He spoke with us in late April as he and his students prepare for upcoming shows. They are competing on both the West and East Coasts at The Oaks Capistrano Cup 1 & 2 and the Devon Horse Show.

To give you more background on Archie, he grew up competing along the East Coast as a junior rider. He earned numerous equitation ribbons, including at the USEF Hunter Seat Medal Final and ASPCA Maclay Finals. Archie went on to ride for...

Today's Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Sentinel Horse Feed, is with Tamie Smith. The five-star eventer always has a lot on her plate, but her current sights are set on the 2025 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event in Lexington, Kentucky, that kicks off later this month on April 24. This year, Tamie will be competing in the CCI4* competition aboard 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood Kynan, following their stellar performance at the Galway Downs International Horse Trials at the end of March.

We last talked to Tamie at the Maryland Five Star this past October after she’d announced that she would be...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by EQUESTRIAN+, is with Olympian and horse show organizer Ali Nilforushan. He spoke with us in mid-February as he and his team prepare for the 2025 competition season at the Temecula Valley National Horse Shows in Temecula, California, and The Oaks series in San Juan Capistrano, California.

To give you a little more background on Ali, he caught the horse bug at an early age. He rode his first horse at age 12 once he and his family immigrated to San Diego, California, from their home country of Iran. Ali was drawn to s...

Today's Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by EQUESTRIAN+, is with Cornelia Fletcher. The five-star eventer made a remarkable comeback at TerraNova’s The Event this past November. After being out of the competition field for a little over a year to give birth to her daughter, Sparrow, last June, the 26-year-old eventer and her plucky Oldenburg mare Daytona Beach 8 claimed the CCI4*-L win on a final score of 41.4.

The pair, who placed 15th out of 17 horse-and-rider combinations during the dressage phase, delivered a powerhouse cross-country ride on Saturday to surge into second place overnight. One of only two...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Purina, is with this week’s episode is with hunter/jumper trainer Julia Collins. She spoke with us in mid-November about two months after her facility in Asheville, North Carolina, was affected by Hurricane Helene.

To give you a little more background on Julia, she coached her students at A and C circuit shows for several years. Eight years ago, she shifted her focus to predominantly collegiate equestrian shows. Julia coaches Western Carolina University's Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) team, growing the program from six to 25 riders. She also head...

This week's Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Cosequin®, is with the Practical Horseman 2024 Trainer of the Year Leigh Berman, owner and head trainer of Two Bit Farm in Boyertown, Pennsylvania.

The Practical Horseman Trainer of the Year Program is designed to honor the unsung heroes of our sport—trainers who work tirelessly to improve the education of both their riders and horses. Entrants were nominated for the contest by individuals in the horse community. Out of all the trainers nominated, 10 finalists were selected, with one earning the title of Trainer of the Year.

About Leigh Ber...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Purina, is with five-star eventer Lillian Heard Wood. She spoke with us in late October following her eighth-place finish at the Maryland 5 Star with her longtime partner LCC Barnaby.

To give you a little more background on Lillian, she has 16 CCI5* completions, including top-10 finishes at the Maryland 5 Star and top-20 finishes at the Badminton, Burghley and Kentucky CCI5*s. Originally from Poolesville, Maryland, Lillian developed a passion for eventing while competing in the United States Pony Clubs. She spent 10 years as a working student for Olympian Boyd Martin and...

Welcome to the PHOD pod, the Practical Horseman Podcast's Minisode series where we share audio clips from our subscription video site, Equestrian Plus. At Equestrian Plus, you can enjoy over 5,000 videos and get insider access to exclusive interviews and lectures, slow-motion demonstrations, and step-by-step tutorials taught by top-level pros in the hunter jumper, equitation, eventing, and dressage disciplines.

On this week's episode, dressage and event rider Chelsea Canedy leads a short, guided meditation to realign yourself before interacting with your horse. She helps get you to a place where you can find stillness and internal quiet and...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Purina, is with professional hunter/jumper rider and trainer TJ O’Mara. He spoke with us in mid-October during the busy indoor season.

To give you a little more background on O'Mara, he had a successful junior career, winning three equitation finals in 2016: the Excellence in Equitation Championship, the Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals - East, and the Pessoa/USEF Hunter Seat Medal Final. In 2018, he turned professional while getting his college degree at the University of Kentucky. Two years later in 2020, O'Mara joined Max Amaya's team a...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Horse Week, is with Hannah Sue Hollberg. The five-star eventer has a lot on her radar right now. Earlier this year, she took over the ride on Thoroughbred gelding Business Ben from fellow eventer Allison Springer and has spent the past nine months fostering a new partnership with him. The pair has some big dates on their competition calendar this fall—and hopefully another one in the spring of 2025. 

Among her other talented horses are Capitol H I M and Harbour Pilot. Hannah Sue retired her longtime partner Harbour Pilot f...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, is with health and wellness coach Ruben Mahboobi. He spoke with us last spring after the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event.

In this episode, Rubee talks about what riders need to do to have balance in their lives and how that balance is the foundation of overall health. A healthy person, he says, who is balanced in body, mind, and spirit is a better rider and has more chance of achieving his or her goals. Though Rubee’s clients involve those at the tops of their fields, including four...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by SmartPak, is with international show jumper Laura Chapot. She spoke with us in mid-September after the Devon Fall Classic, following a busy summer competing along the East Coast.

Laura comes from a prolific equestrian family. Her late father Frank Chapot was a six-time Olympian and longtime U.S. Jumping Team chef d’equipe. Her mother Mary Chapot is a two-time Olympian, and her sister Wendy is an active competitor as well. Gem Twist, a successful U.S. show jumping horse in the 1980s and 1990s, was bred and trained by Fra...

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Purina, is with international show jumper Katie Dinan. She spoke with us in mid-July after she represented the U.S. Jumping Team at CHIO Aachen in Germany. Aachen served as one of Dinan's observation events as a rider named to the U.S. Jumping Team Short List for Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Dinan has collected numerous top placings as well as represented the U.S. on several Nations Cup teams thus far in her career. She made her senior Nations Cup debut in 2013 and helped the U.S. earn a Nat...

Welcome to the PHOD pod, the Practical Horseman podcast's Minisode series where we share audio clips from our subscription video site, Equestrian Plus. At Equestrian Plus, you can enjoy over 5,000 videos and get insider access to exclusive interviews and lectures, slow-motion demonstrations, and step-by-step tutorials taught by top-level pros in the hunter jumper, equitation, eventing, and dressage disciplines. 

On this week's episode, hunter jumper trainer Kristy McCormack explains how to build a mental speedometer to control your pace on course to find better distances. She starts at a walk with "1 mph" and shows how to add and s...

In this week's Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Cosequin, Sentinel and Zoetis, we spoke with Olympic show jumping team silver medalist Karl Cook. He and his Olympic mount Caracole de la Roque traveled to Paris as the alternate combination for Team USA. But after Kent Farrington withdrew his horse due to an allergy issue, the team decided to bring in Cook and Caracole.

For his part, Cook and the feisty bay mare had a stellar Olympic debut. He and Caracole were the sole U.S. combination to collect two clear rounds in team competition. This unequivocally helped...

This week’s episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Purina, is with international eventer James Alliston.

In early July 2024, Alliston and Karma, his and Ric Plummer’s U.S.-bred Oldenburg mare, helped the U.S. Eventing Team earn a second-place finish at CHIO Aachen in Germany. Also, they finished as the highest-placed U.S. combination in ninth place.  

To give you a little more background on Alliston, his journey with horses began as a child riding in England to now representing the U.S. on the world stage. He has tallied numerous top i...

In today’s Practical Horseman Podcast, brought to you by Cosequin®, we’re speaking with chef d’equipe of the U.S. Olympic Eventing Team Bobby Costello.

Costello made his first Olympic team at the age of 35 for the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, where he took eighth place in individual performance aboard his career-making mount Chevalier. The pair also earned top three and four-star placings at Rolex Kentucky, Fair Hill International and the Burghley Horse Trials in the U.K.

In 2003, he represented the U.S. again at the Pan American Games, this time winning a team...

This week’s episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Zoetis, is with Olympic jumper Laura Kraut.

Kraut was a guest on the Practical Horseman Podcast back in 2020. She has remained at the top of the sport and was named to the U.S. Jumping Team Short List for the 2004 Olympic Games back in April.

For some background on Kraut, she represented the U.S. team at the 2000, 2008, and 2020 Olympic Games and was the team alternate at the 1992 and 2016 games. Kraut partnered with Cedric to earn team gold in 2008 and with Baloutinue to earn team...

In today’s Practical Horseman podcast, brought to you by Purina, we’re speaking with 24-year-old eventing phenom Mia Farley. At her young age, Farley has already established a name for herself in the eventing sphere’s upper echelons for helping develop and produce young eventing horses.

Farley grew up in San Clemente, California, and started riding at the age of 3 under the tutelage of her mother, hunter/jumper trainer Rebecca Farley. While eventing wasn’t as prevalent in Southern California as it is in areas of the East Coast, Farley got a taste for the sport after ta...

This week's episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Purina, is with top international eventer Caroline Pamukcu.  

Caroline was a guest on the Practical Horseman Podcast back in 2021—episode 47 if you want to check it out—but a lot has changed since then. She got married and has experienced change and growth in other areas of her life, too. In 2022, Caroline consolidated her sales business and moved to England to train with Olympian Pippa Funnell. She returned to the states and, in 2023, she represented her home country at the Pan American Games in Quillota, Chile, where she cl...

This week's episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Purina, is with three-time U.S. Olympic eventer Boyd Martin.

Boyd moved from Australia to the United States in 2007 in pursuit of his international eventing dreams. Then, in 2009, he became an American citizen. Boyd has since represented the United States at three Olympic Games, three World Championships and two Pan American Games. He’s also had competitive success at every five-star across the globe, including two wins—Adelaide in 2003 and Maryland in 2021. In addition, he’s been named the United States Eventing Association’s Rider of the Year sev...

This week’s episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Purina, is with longtime Kentucky Three-Day Event announcer, Charlotte Skinner-Robson.

This week’s episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Purina, is with leading hunter rider and top trainer, Geoffrey Hesslink.

This week’s episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by the Mustang Classic, is with five-star eventer and mustang trainer, Elisa Wallace.

On this week’s episode, hunter trainer Louise Serio talks about the importance of using your leg first, as well as using the seat and leg to communicate more so than the hand. She also explains the importance of using the inside leg to outside rein to help the horse balance properly.

This week’s episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Cosequin, is with Practical Horseman’s 2023 Trainer of the Year, Liz Reader.

This special episode, sponsored by Cosequin®, features the top three finishers of the $450,000 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Washington CSI5*.

This week’s episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by USRider, hear from top riders at the 2023 MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill.

On this week’s episode, the late and great Jim Wofford gives a lecture about horses’ vision and balance, including horses’ eyes and their line of sight. He goes on to talk about martingales and the concept of being on the bit, and how this can inhibit the jump. Wofford brings this back around to how, in the pursuit of contact or frame, riders can inadvertently disadvantage their horse's natural balance for the job at hand.

This week’s episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Purina, is with top hunter, jumper and equitation trainer, Berry Porter.

This special episode from the 2023 Capital Challenge Horse Show features interviews with top finishers including John French and Nick Haness.

This week’s episode of the Practical Horseman Podcast, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, is with international eventer Megan Kepferle.