You are listening to the Horse Radio Network, part of the Equine Network family.

This is episode 756 of the Dressage Radio show on the Horse Radio Network, brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products.

The Dressage Radio show is the official podcast of the United States Dressage Federation.

On today's show, Kate Fleming Coon shares with us her great year in competition arena and raising youngsters.

And we start with Endel Otz's Olympic experience.

Enjoy.

This is Reese Kopler Stanfield in Georgetown, Kentucky.

And I am Megan McIsac in Oregon, Wisconsin.

And you're listening to the Dressage Radio Show.

Well, hi, Megan.

And we have special guest Glenn.

Hey, guys, Good to see you tonight again.

Yeah.

Hi, welcome.

Good to be here.

And Megan has so much to talk about.

Oh, my God.

I saw your posts.

There is a lot going on.

We just got back from regionals.

I'm a little bit horse show hungover, but I took three horses to regionals, region four.

I took baby horse.

So she was third level and third freestyle and she was reserved at the freestyle, which was so exciting.

Meaning you're coming to Kentucky and y'all, we're having a listener meetup.

We're already excited.

We're already excited, so.

And I interrupted your flow.

So tell us about the other two.

No problem, no problem.

I also took my sales horse, Sheila N and she competed in pre St George.

I won and the freestyle and she qualified for nationals in the I1.

We're alternate for the freestyle.

We got a little excited in our freestyle and then my amazing horse AJ for 10 years and competed him, I think the last four years Grand Prix.

I had planned this was going to be my last show with him and I didn't tell anyone and I.

I got actually really emotional.

We.

I saved him for my freestyle, which is my favorite.

It's developed by Melanie McKayak and it's really Reese.

You know when you're competing a horse that you love so much and he's a little bit lazy and to ride the Grand Prix, putting all the pieces together is really hard.

So I was in the middle of my test and we like the first third of the test, we got to our ones and I started bawling because I nailed them without a whip.

It was so crazy.

I really didn't think I emotional was.

And I started bawling in the middle of the test and I was like, you gotta pull it together, get it together.

You got a drum?

Yeah.

And he was like, mom, what's going on?

We're having Fun like always.

And finished the test and I was still bawling and.

And he punched a ticket for finals and that's always been a dream of mine, to go to finals and do the Grand Prix Freestyle.

So we're going to do it one last time and then, then it's over.

So I'm going to be even more emotional.

Like hold your hand before you go in there.

Like, hold it together, sister.

Finals, all three horses.

Congratulations.

That is a huge deal.

Thank you.

And I can't wait because I get to just come and, you know, bring my, bring my happy little joy cup and walk around and watch it all ride.

It's gonna be great.

Best finals for me.

Well, I can't wait to see you.

And I can't wait to ride in the All Tech arena.

I'm very, very excited.

So.

Yeah.

And you have some news too.

I do.

I have also some bittersweet news.

Yeah.

And everybody has followed my journey with.

Follow me.

Big Mike.

Big Mike actually went to his new home last week and shout out to his new mom.

I don't know if she listens to the show, but I could not have picked a better place for him.

His owner is absolutely adorable.

She built her own barn.

Her trainer is wonderful and it very bittersweet, but that's the job he wanted to do.

And you know, again, it was hard.

It wasn't going to, you know, I can't keep every horse and I think that's for us trainers.

It's.

It is what we do.

And so it was very bittersweet, but actually mostly sweet because we put a ribbon on his neck and I just gave him a kiss and I just told him, you know, he was ready for this journey.

And he did.

He was ready.

He was like, okay, this is great.

I like this lady a lot.

And it was really fun.

So I get to see him.

He's not very far away.

He's not in the same state, but he's close enough and so I get to see him.

And truly, it was wonderful.

So, yeah, I'm actually going back now.

I'm getting a new youngster, hopefully not quite as young as the one I bought last year.

Four year old year is a little rocky for me.

I'm so excited for you.

I cannot wait to hear about your adventures.

I know Megan gets to get all the horses that we're looking at, so we're going to be there for a week.

And I also have a client going over, so lots of fun news to talk about.

And it's again, you know, when you have a Grand Prix horse and it's kind of like what you're saying, Megan, like at some point the ride ends and you know, Mike was 12, so he, he was ready to go on and teach someone else and go be somebody else's main man.

So.

Yeah, but it's still hard.

That's the.

One of the hardest things to be in a professional.

Right?

It's very hard, brutal.

But even I would be honest.

I mean, I think we talk a lot about on the show of when is it time to move on with a horse.

And you know, you know, there's goals that every writer has and my goals are very specifically to ride Grand Prix and ideally International Grand Prix.

And that was proving to not be what Big Mike really wanted to do.

He really was a machine at the small tour.

I think he won Westphalian Horse of the Year by a young woman, Mary, who catch rode him and did a beautiful job.

Like he loved that job.

And so, you know, it was actually my sister who we talk about on the show, you know, she's also a Grand Prix rider and she was the one that said, hey, you know, it may be time.

And.

And I was like, because I love that horse so much, but, but truly it was the right thing for him too.

And I think sometimes it's hard to move on, but if your goals aren't aligning with your horse.

And my mom was always very good with us when it was time to sell horses, we needed to sell them.

So if anyone struggles, your sister is.

The right one to have that conversation with you.

Yeah, yeah, my sister.

Yeah.

I mean she's like my, my best friend and my confidant and my biggest cheerleader and also I'm very.

Also lucky.

My parents part of.

They own Big Mike with me, so they're very excited about our next adventure together.

So I still have a very supportive family and inner syndicate worked.

I didn't put on Facebook, you know, I.

Big Mike we got as a very gangly four year old and I remember telling you guys about him and, and he wasn't expensive at the time, but you know, he proved to be an expensive dude and, but also very well trained and I enjoyed every step.

So it is bittersweet for us riders.

But, and it's like you said, Megan, like that ride will come to an end at some for everyone if that's where you are.

And sometimes it's time for them to go on to new homes.

So it was bittersweet.

But gosh, I'll let you guys know about My new journey as we go through.

And I'll tell you yes about our travels.

So it's going to be great.

But I go in another week actually before finals and Megan and I will get a time together and we'll do a meetup finals and anybody feel free to reach out to me.

I actually had a listener reach out about how to get some hay in the area when they're at finals and I love that.

So feel free to reach out.

You have any questions?

Sometimes we do where to go to dinner and that kind of stuff.

So seriously, I live about 12 minutes from the horse park, so it's my local town and I love to show it off.

So we're excited about finals in a couple weeks.

So feel free to reach out.

Well, I am so happy for you too, Reese.

I know how hard you work at this job and how hard it is to do things like this, but.

And we've all lived through this horse with you.

Yeah, he's been a fan favorite for sure.

And by the way, Phil's very happy you got this done too, because Phil lived through this horse with you more than anybody.

So.

Honestly, this, this writer was Canadian and I kind of look up at Phil and you know, yeah, I definitely feel Phil's around kind of.

I feel like hopefully when I go over he'll be, he'll be with us for sure.

So he'll be there.

Speaking of which, one of the things that he always did with us around the holiday time was radio Thon and also he did the all host shows with us at holiday time too.

But we are doing Radiothon again this year like last year.

We're doing it video and audio.

It's going to be December 1st.

It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so December 1st, we'll be doing it from 3 to 9pm Eastern Time.

Holidayradiothon.com has all the details.

We're giving away thousands of dollars in prizes again.

We're going to have the fun submissions from the listeners, singing songs and doing poems and all that kind of stuff.

We have something planned for the last hour when a bunch of the hosts, including Reese show up.

So we're going to do something really fun that hour we have.

Reese doesn't even know about it yet.

No, it doesn't involve singing.

You're fine.

It doesn't involve singing, so you're good.

Last year we tried that.

It was a miserable failure.

So I think it was quite late.

And we all maybe had holiday beverages.

I think I had a bottle of two Prosecco by that point.

So you did.

But it's a lot of fun and we hope that you can join us.

I'll have more details on how to enter for the prizes and how to get all that done over the next cut, probably in the next episode of the Dressage Radio show.

I'll have all the details for you.

Right after this break from Kentucky Performance Products.

We're coming back with Endalots.

We're going to hear all about his amazing experience at the Olympics.

And just a clarification.

Later in the interview he talks about his sponsor Heidi Humphries of Zen Elite Equestrian.

Just to clear that that for you.

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Well tonight this is really an honor to have Endelots.

He was the alternate for the Olympic Games this year and we were just laughing.

Endel, we've had you on at every stage of the game now at the dressage radio show and oh my goodness, it's such an honor to have you back on the show.

Welcome back.

Oh it's hey, what a long time interviewee, you know.

But it's been wonderful.

It's been really nice.

We've known each other for such a long time.

We have remember many, many funny stories that I can't tell on here.

I just thought of which we'll talk about afterwards.

You'll never know.

I think you'll remember it.

I think you'll remember it.

It's pretty funny.

We leave it up here.

We're so happy to have you on.

Oh my gosh.

First of all, tell us about Bohemian because you started to write him and just such a joy from the beginning.

So tell us about him.

No, he's, he's great.

He reminds me the most of.

I used to help Chase Hickok on Sagacious years ago and it reminds me the most of Sagacious.

You know, you have to have a lot of respect for him.

You like he does fight for you in the ring.

The first couple times that I was on him and showing and stuff.

I mean, I'd ridden him for two weeks and then we did a national show and then I think another two weeks after that.

Then we did like the first cdi.

But that was the timing.

You know, you don't have always get to, you know, plan stuff out how you want to.

It's just what it is.

But no, he's a, he's a, he's a great horse.

Like he, you know, to really respect him and how he works and not always to expect everything to be perfect, I mean, it's, you know, it is your, I mean, you, it's you and your horse kind of against everybody really.

And to, you know, when he's out there and he, you know, we're doing the warm up or competing or doing the schooling rides before like Aachen or any of this stuff, I just, I have to just trust what I feel, he tells me.

And you know, a lot of times in the ring it's the, I'd say the only test that I wasn't super happy with was in Kronberg and qualifying stuff.

And Marcus had a super, super ride in the, in the special and Bohemian felt great.

I was going right after Marcus.

Everybody was screaming in the crowds and the crowd was really close to the arena and I had a lot of energy in there and I just, I tried too hard and I like pushed him too much and there was just too many mistakes.

I mean, it was a 69.

It was still good, you know, but it was like I went and I'm a competitor and like I want to win.

And I should have just said, no, no, no, be happy with your 72.

Like just, you know, it's all good.

And he's the kind of horse, I mean, you can, you can make it worse in the ring.

Like you can really make it worse.

But he knows where to go.

You have to think a little bit ahead of him.

On certain things, not always halting at sea.

But he knows the drop down to trot.

You know, I mean, I just do a little quiet in my voice and he boop.

Right, right at M.

Drops down to trot pretty much every time, sometimes before I ask him to.

So kind of getting.

Sometimes getting that part kind of together is, you know, getting him on your side where, yeah, he fights, where he tries for you and getting him to wait for you.

And that's.

That's always.

I mean, I think with any horse, like, a struggle.

But for.

For me, it was really important that I just really respect.

I mean, the same as Sagacious.

I mean, Sagacious had more grand print.

Robert, if he hears this, will be probably annoyed that I say this, and maybe we'll disagree.

But we checked back when they had the website where you could check all the rides.

I mean, they still do somewhere, but, you know, just had more Grand Prix rides than Robert Dover had in his whole entire life.

And, you know, it's like, you gotta respect the horse like that and then say, all right, let's try to tweak one little thing to make it a little bit better.

And then also to fight the urge of not making drastic changes.

I was say, that's the biggest thing that I learned over in Europe.

And everybody, like, everybody's, you know, everybody wants all the, you know, to give you all this information and really to help you and everything, but to really just go down and just, I mean, for right or wrong, just really trust your gut and.

Yeah, that would be the biggest thing that I learned over there.

Because every time I trusted my natural just instincts, like on the horse and being on him, I was really happy with it.

I mean, you always want to do better.

You always want to get higher scores.

Like, it's never enough.

But I.

My.

Yeah, my favorite moments are.

My favorite moments in Europe were, I would say, after the halt and salute at the final end of pretty much every test, and then, you know, the walk back.

The walk back, everybody's happy, everybody's getting high fives, everybody's all nice.

Devin's.

Everybody's all great.

And then as soon as you get off the horse, you gotta think about the next test and the next thing, and you're on this roller coaster that you.

I mean, literally before, pretty much before every single ride, I gotta keep.

I had to keep telling myself, this is fun.

You wanted to do this, you wanted to do this, you wanted to do this.

You know, this is fun.

It is fun, but it's.

It's.

It's a lot of.

It's.

It's a lot of pressure, because I know you.

You go over there, you basically lose all your clients when you're gone, because you're gone for four months.

You don't make, you know, you don't make any money.

You know, you're, you know, washing your.

You know, you're washing your clothes in the back in the bathtub, and, you know, people that you rent and, you know, it's a humbling experience.

And, you know, it's.

It's great.

It's great, but it's.

I learned a lot from it.

And, you know, just going in there with.

I think I went in there with certain expectations that ended up being true and then other expectations that, you know, again, you can't know.

And I really, you know, you really try to get all the information you can from, you know, your other teammates and everybody there, and everybody's kind of in the same boat, you know, but if, like, you haven't, you know, I haven't been on a team with, you know, Stefan and Adrian before.

Like, I've known Marcus forever.

So, you know, everybody, you know, like, I've known Stefan and Adrian for a long time, but, you know, I think once everybody kind of relaxes, and it's a good group and a good team, and it makes all the difference, you know, the beginning, everybody's a little bit wary, you know, of everybody else, and you don't just, you know, want to keep their head down and work hard.

Yeah.

And I think that's so good to hear.

Like, we see the glory of you at Versailles, but I mean, like, really, what you have to go through again, losing basically your income and living in apartments that are, you know, not as nice as home.

Let's be real.

You miss ice.

You miss ice.

Air conditioning.

Yep.

It seems like such a little thing, but it's.

No.

And I never, you know, like, I don't want to, like, you know, Heidi is a really, really great sponsor and client and friend of mine, and she's always super great, and the federation, you know, I don't want to ever.

I don't want to put any.

Like, you know, that they're not supportive.

They're, of course, supportive, you know, and they do everything you can and they.

But, you know, stuff comes up you didn't think about.

I mean, the biggest thing was laundry, you know.

I mean, you know, that's awful.

That's awful.

I mean.

Yeah.

You know, I love it.

I love it.

Well, let's talk.

Okay.

I am sitting on my couch and I see you on the set.

I'm like, oh, my God, tell us what that was.

Like, that was so cool.

I'm like, it's Edna.

Stefan.

I, like, took as many pictures as I could and rewound.

Like, it was so exciting.

That was the best that was on everything.

That was a moment where everything, like those, man, I think it took us.

We were there at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and then, you know, we left.

We ended up staying at a.

Just a little tiny hole in the wall in Paris, and we didn't get done till like 3:30 in the morning.

And it was.

That was just such a wonderful experience.

And I mean, staffing was so cool.

I mean, and, you know, we kind of reminisce about things, you know, long time in the past.

Like, when I was 25, I was the alternate for the Guadalajara team for Pan Ams.

That was, of course, the only year that they didn't bring the altern, which sucks.

But, you know, hey, it was what it was.

But I reminded Stefan, I was like, you know, I said, just, you know, take this as a compliment.

Don't take this that you're old.

But I said, when.

I said, I don't know if you remember, but I was alternate.

You remember?

I was.

I think you remember I was the alternate team.

But I said it was my birthday.

And I said, you bought me a beer and I'm 25 years old.

And I said, you bought me a beer at the hotel bar, you know, because he said, I heard your birthday today.

And I was like, yeah, actually it is.

And I said a lot to me, and he's been super nice, but it was just such a real wonderful experience and just getting.

Just getting to know, you know, like just another rider as a person and, you know, being able to, you know, I mean, Stefan is very open with his, you know, struggles with anxiety and, you know, depression and things.

And I have the same things.

And we talked a lot about.

I mean, we talked years ago about it and I'd send him some books that I thought were helpful and, you know, but you don't spend that much time.

But when, you know, we.

We really had just such a wonderful time and, you know, like, meeting Steph Curry and LeBron James and everybody was really cool and all this.

All the sprinter.

Yeah, I mean, all the sprinters for the US Olympic team and the track and field, it was.

It was really, really fun.

And like, it was real camaraderie around the athletes.

And one of the coolest things Which Stefan noticed and I noticed really as well.

So they had.

The US Boat, of course, is very gigantic boat with a lot of athletes on there.

Yeah, it was.

Yeah.

And we were second to last on, you know, in the, you know, whatever the ferry line, you know, going through the Zen.

And we every.

Pretty much, I would say it was 98% of the boats, and they were.

Sometimes there was just like one little tugboat with, like, two athletes on there, or it was like a gigantic boat.

Every.

Almost every boat that went by the US Boat.

I actually get goosebumps thinking about it now.

Like, they all chanted like, usa, usa.

Every single one.

Some of the.

Some of the communist countries.

No understandable, you know, but like.

But.

But all the other ones, I mean, just.

I mean, random.

I'd never even heard of it.

And US Team, like, we didn't really want to chant USA back, so we just cheered and yelled back.

Some of us didn't even know the names of some of these countries.

And it was just a really cool experience, just, you know, being there and then being able to see, like, you know, all this garbage and, you know, things that you hear off and these wars and all these horrible things that happen to people.

Like, most of the people are just people.

It was amazing.

They had the athletes from China right next to the little athletes from Jamaica in the athletes village.

So you had these Jamaican guys out there dancing and singing and stuff, and you had the Chinese athletes all organized and in line like an hour and a half before every uniform looks perfect.

I mean, it was.

It was.

It was either a beautiful, glorious accident or a.

One of the smartest things that they did.

It was really cool.

But the boat was.

The boat was amazing.

We were.

We were soaking wet, and it was really fun to, you know, to hang out with the, you know, the jumpers and everybody.

And Carl and McLean were really awesome and really nice.

And so now I was.

That was soothing by far.

And I told Stefan that this is the best moment of my entire life so far.

I said, I'm really.

I'm really happy that, you know, hey, I can spend this with you, my friend.

Like, and we have a.

We have a nice text thread that, you know, we text and check on each other all the time, but it's.

It was just really fun, you know, and also to have somebody that, you know, you've, you know, looked up to for so long and to be able to be on a team with him and, you know, I don't think he'll mind me saying it, but, yeah, There was talk at the training camp that we were not going to be able to do the opening ceremony.

And they told everybody because they.

Because there was a opening.

There was, like, one riding session we could have in the stadium before.

And I knew Bo didn't care, you know, I mean, he's going to be fine.

You know, it's no problem.

And, you know, and, you know, Stephanie, really.

He really wanted to do it, you know, and, you know, they asked all the athletes and, you know, Stefan, you know, raised his hand and said, I really want to do the opening ceremony.

So then when I got the nerve, when he raised his hand, if Stefan says he wants to, I really want to.

I just don't have.

I don't have the guts to say it on my own, you know, And I don't want to cause any problems.

I'm not going there on my own.

Like, I need a buddy to come with me, you know?

You know, I don't want to.

I don't want to be the, you know, one jerk that doesn't go.

But was.

It was really, really, really.

It looked amazing.

The Federation was great about also, like, coordinating it because it was a lot.

I can imagine getting you there and getting you back and.

Oh, my gosh.

Well, we.

I have to ask about the Hot Topic because.

Yeah, dog.

Hello.

I gotta know.

I gotta know everything.

Tell me all the things.

What happened?

The Hot Topics with Snoop Dogg.

Oh, Snoop Dogg.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

No, it was cool.

They.

They.

I think I can.

I can probably say everything, but they.

I had heard.

They.

The press officer came up to me and said, hey, how's your horse?

With crowds?

And I said, I mean, pretty good and doesn't really care about anybody, you know, I mean, like, he's always pretty fine and he's seen a lot and.

Okay, I got something for you and Stefan to do tomorrow.

There was, like, rumblings and stuff, and you kind of hear some stuff from people and we'd hear some stuff.

We weren't really sure.

And they didn't really tell you.

Like, they didn't tell us even.

Till they didn't tell you.

Wow.

No, they didn't.

They didn't tell us.

Yeah, they kept it super quiet.

And then, like, I felt bad because they just.

They didn't tell me.

But I kind of had an idea and then, like, I didn't want to, like, also tell anybody else.

I felt guilty, like, I'm holding the secret and whatever.

But.

No, it's really.

It was really cool, you know, I mean, we.

They, they.

They wanted to get.

I.

I guess they wanted to get Snoop there before and, you know, and Martha Stewart there.

But during the actual riding stuff, they were.

Because of how strict the drug testing is on the horses, they were worried.

Snoop and his, you know, contact, you know.

Yeah, his.

Yeah, his.

His medicine that he uses.

Yeah, they were worried that if he, if he touched the horses that maybe they would test positive or whatever.

Because, like, they're so.

I mean, they're so.

So.

Yeah, so they didn't have them while we were, you know, riding.

And they waited, you know, you know, until we were basically all done.

And it was really cool, you know, I mean, they cart Snoop up and Martha Stewart and I mean, Martha Stewart is my God, I hope I look half as good as she does at her age.

Like, oh, my God, she's my unbelievable.

40 or whatever.

Well, yeah, it was really funny.

They had the, you know, so we were standing McLean, Stefan and I and Junior were sitting there, and Martha, because they had us, you know, we braided our horses and everything.

And she asked us, she goes, what kind of braids are those?

And I look at Stefan and I go, do you know the name of these braids?

He goes, I have no idea.

And then I looked at McLean, I'm like, do you know?

What do you call these braids?

And goes, I don't know, braids.

And so, like, she wanted to know the specific type.

I'm like, I had no idea.

And Snoop was pretty funny.

He's like, I gotta do that to my hair.

And no, it was cool.

Like, Mopsy's very in your face with, like, he's a super personable horse.

Like, it reminds me a lot of Lucky.

Like, Lucky the bull in a china shop.

Like, he'll mow you down for a carrot.

And Bo is way more gentle.

Like, he says he's the slowest chewer on the planet.

Like, if you give him a character there for five minutes, you know.

And so, like, Snoop like that, that he was not as aggressive as Mopsy.

But, yeah, I mean, you know, Martha Stewart, she knew.

She knew a fair amount about horses.

But she owns horses.

Yeah, she does, but.

And I've seen her Conan O'Brien thing, you know, on the Friesians, which was really funny.

And.

But, you know, she.

She showed a small of knowledge.

She called both of them chestnuts.

And I'm like, that's a Mopsy's a bae.

You know, look at the legs.

Like, you know, all right, strike one, Martha Stewart.

And then, you know, so.

But no, they were.

They were really really kind.

And, you know, Snoop was just a kind of cool character and, like, really fun.

And, you know, we got a couple of his Snoop pins, which.

Yeah, I gave Heidi one.

And then I just.

I have.

I have one, but I kept it required.

Tell anybody I had one.

I did, actually.

I was.

Yeah, it's.

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

But, no, it was.

It was really fun and.

Yeah, it was, like, really nice for the sport.

And then, you know, I wish I was there when, you know, they were in the stadium.

And just like, you kind of like a hard schedule, like, your time is not yours, like, so you're, you know, you're organized.

You're gonna go here to here, and then you do this, and you check in with, you know, everybody, make sure you're doing all the right stuff, and, you know, everybody's happy.

And, I mean, security was crazy.

They had four.

They had four police officers for every athlete, you know.

Wow.

Yeah, and I thought they said.

Yeah, I thought they were.

Said they were like 1500 athletes or something, or 15.

I don't know, something like that.

And so, yeah, they had four.

Four.

Four police officers per athlete.

So you walked down the street.

I mean, it was the safest city that, you know, that we've ever been in.

Whole European kind of tour.

And that was really fun.

That was one thing, like.

And again, I'm butchering whether it's 1500 or 15,000, you know, not great with numbers.

But Stefan, he.

We were sitting in the boat and he's like, hey, how freaking a.

Freaking cool is this?

He goes, you know, think of how many people are in the world.

Think of how many athletes are here.

You know, think of what percentage of the population of the entire world you are in right now.

And I was like, that's pretty cool, Stefan.

Thanks, man.

I won't.

You know, it was nice.

And he's filled with things like that, you know, so that's pretty.

I mean, I can't even imagine.

0.00001% or something crazy.

I think I did.

I get up and it was something ridiculous.

I did look it up, and I sent it to my dad because my dad, he's a.

He's a nurse surgeon, and he did not want me to do this.

You know, he didn't have the best experience with horse people when I grew up and stuff.

And there are some not nice ones, and there's plenty of nice ones just like with anything else.

But he wanted me to be a doctor and all that, so.

But he was very proud.

He Came there with my mom and everybody.

That was a really nice.

That's amazing.

Can you tell us about the Zen elite grant that I've been seeing on Facebook?

Yes.

So Heidi is.

Heidi's big thing is, you know, that the drizzage community supports itself, you know, and she really, you know, like that, and she wants to not just support her riders and, you know, the people that ride and campaign horses for her, but she's just.

She really wants to really help out, you know, all dressage and, you know, in the U.S.

you know, at every different level, you know, and it is.

It is a, you know, expensive sport.

And that's why we need, you know, people like, you know, Heidi and Kiko and all these intent.

All these other great, you know, sponsors and owners and stuff in the sport.

And she just, she's, you know, this very successful businesswoman and, you know, her thing is always about, like, positive vibes and, you know, she really wants to give back to people.

I think that, like, maybe it was.

I was texting with her one evening and just, you know, talking about how some of her horses are going and stuff.

And, you know, she's like, oh, my God, you have.

I forget what you said.

I think she got like couple thousand emails and stuff.

And I was like.

I said, that's after 24 hours.

I said, you're going to get a lot more, you know, so it's, it's a.

It's, you know, and it's.

It's a lot of, you know, like, I think it's also.

It's like, really important, you know, to, you know, even apply and do that stuff, like, you know, know to put stuff into words and then, you know, be able to, you know, write up application on, you know, why you need it and what it'll help you with and what it means to you and all that.

Like, I think a lot of times, like, you know, us just, you know, riders and trainers, I mean, you gotta be so many things, you know, a rider, a trainer, a businessman, an accountant, a VR person.

You do all this stuff and some, you know, sometimes when you kind of do.

And I know when I've, you know, applied for grants and different things, it helps you to sit back and look at, like, all the things that you have accomplished and then also, you know, really put it into words and it's, it's even just doing the application, it's.

It's a really nice.

I think it's a nice thing for riders, you know, I mean, because when you, when you put those Together and you get, I mean, you know, some of the, on some of the grants and stuff that, you know, they do, you get letters from different coaches or trainers or other riders.

And it's always really, it's always really positive.

I mean, whether you get the grant or not, just getting all this stuff down, you know.

Yeah.

And there are grants out there and this is such a great one.

And so Endel, how can our listeners find more information about you and your training?

Because you have your own business, but also the Zen Elite grant, how can they find that?

You know, I would say the best thing for the Zenelite grant is if you go to on Facebook that, you know, Zenelite equestrian.

And I mean, Adrienne, you know, has some, always tagged on all her stuff.

Same, same as me.

And then if you go on that Zene Equestrian Facebook Facebook page, she continuously posts stuff on that and she has a lot of that grant information on there.

I think they were redoing her website and so I'm not 100% sure the name of the website or, you know, if that's on there, but the Facebook, like, you know, Heidi's, you know, very active on Facebook.

Yeah, it's, it's pretty easy to find and you know, it's, you know, Heidi is just such a cool person.

I mean, we, we talk a lot where, you know, I'm like, I knew you in another life.

And when I met her in the beginning, she called me about a horse I have for sale.

I think it's 112 now.

Still alive, still down there.

He's living his best life in his wonderful air conditioned barn.

But I was a friend of mine wanted me to sell her horse and listed it and she came with her entourage, she always brings.

And the vet rode the horse.

Heidi rode the horse.

I think her son came and rode the horse that day.

It was a whole party and it was just really cool vibes.

And yeah, I just like, you know, everything worked out.

She ended up buying the horse and everything.

And you know, when she bought the horse and put all the stuff together, you know, I just shook her hand and I said, we're going to do something, we're going to do something really cool someday, you know.

And I just, I want us to stay in touch.

And I think it was maybe, you know, five years or so later, maybe four years later.

And I would just kind of send her some stuff on Facebook here and there about, you know, different accomplishments and different things.

And then, you know, then we started doing more and more.

So she's just really has such a good heart and really, really wants to uplift dressage community.

And she's not.

She's a very, very special person just for dressage in general in the U.S.

i mean, for her to get so passionate about all this.

She's very, very passionate about animals.

And I mean, the amount of animal rescues that she has.

I mean, she has every girl's dream.

Like, she has got this huge woolly mammoth of a cow.

She's got like all these geese and duck.

I mean, it's.

It's so cool.

And she's got like cat rescues and duck rescues and llama.

I mean, it's amazing.

And then for her to, you know, just really see the beauty of the sport and the beauty of the training and how, you know, how much she, you know, really appreciates it.

I mean, it's.

There's.

There's not many people that, you know, come in and see that as clearly as she does.

And I'm very, very thankful for that.

Yeah, that's amazing.

And Endo, how can our listeners find.

You online if you just googled my weird name, you know, Endel Odds.

I have a website and, you know, Facebook, Instagram, the usual stuff.

I mean, my phone number is up there somewhere.

I think it's on the website or whatever.

And I would say what's easiest.

Yeah, I mean, like a message on the.

Any of those things.

Sometimes it gets a little bit hard to get back to.

I have to do a talk for like, I think it's like a kindergarten group or something.

And I can't figure out which Facebook, which like, nesting thing it's on.

And I feel bad because they're really nice to reach out about, like, following goals and all this stuff.

You're gonna do great.

You'll figure it out.

Yeah, I'm not good at it.

You'll do great.

The.

I hope so.

I hope so.

I do my best not to swear in front of the kindergartener.

You're not edited then.

There we go.

Thank you so much.

You're so kind to always come on our show and be such a gem.

And we so appreciate it and we.

I can't wait to see what you and Bohemian have this year.

I can't wait and see you guys in Wellington very shortly.

Looking forward to it.

And you know, Rhys, you've always been such a really, really kind, kind person.

Like, I think you're.

There's a lot of nice people in this sport and there are justice in anything that some, you know, not as kind people.

It's you know, like your reputation in this sport is just in stellar way as being just a perfect person that uplifts everybody that is kind, you know, is a good rider, a good trainer, but even more so like a really kind person.

And I mean, you were.

You've been nice to me for I don't even know how long, so I.

Really appreciate you kind of made me tear up a little bit.

Thanks.

It was so sweet.

And I'm.

You could see me at Ollie's and I won't wave weird back.

I'll come sit with you at the bar.

Perfect, perfect, perfect.

Yeah.

We were just discussing before we were recording about how bad I at trying to say hi to women.

It doesn't work well.

I'll be your wingman.

It's pretty embarrassing.

That would be his own YouTube show.

Thank you so much, Endel.

And we can't wait to see you this winter.

Even under the best circumstances, travel is stressful for horses.

We've all been there.

Stuck on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

You can make the journey knowing that.

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7 roadside assistance coverage for both you and your horse.

Join today@usrider.org well, tonight we are so excited to have Kate Fleming Coon.

She is a fourth level certified instructor faculty member.

She also is an FEI rider and trainer at her Star west farm with her husband and she just came back from the Region 4 championship with four championships on her horses.

Kate, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

Oh, my goodness, girl, you had quite a championship.

So you've got to tell us all about it.

Well, it was, it was really exciting for me because the horses that, that Martin and I brought were all purchased as, as foals and raised here at our home farm and started here and have just been developed at the level with Martin and I.

And it's really neat when you've, when you've been involved in a horse's life for that long and, and to be within a partnership that has that kind of longevity is really neat to get out there and see that rewarded.

That's so.

It was.

I competed against you.

It was so fun to watch you ride and try to, to keep up and.

Are you going to nationals?

Do we get to see you at nationals?

Yes, yes.

I'll be there with the three and then Martin will have his horse there as well.

Fantastic.

I can't wait.

I love it.

Well, Kate, tell us.

I Mean, I think this is a big topic in dressage right now in the United States about us raising our own horses and training our own horses.

So can you kind of talk us through the process?

I mean, talk us through the process kind of all the way to festival and regionals because you've been having an amazing summer.

Yes.

So it's, it's, it's a bit of a long game.

I look, looked it up, but it has been.

The last time that I had a horse of my own that I, that I did not start was 15 years ago.

And 15 years ago I had, I had sold three sales horses and, and took this, you know, what I thought was this enormous chunk of money and flew to Europe and looked at a bunch of horses and thought, I'm going to come home with, you know, with my next star.

And it was, you know, in my mind, this enormous sum.

And I got there and we probably looked at maybe 40 horses in the course of just a few days.

But every single horse I looked at, there was something like one gait that wasn't good, or the X rays weren't good, or the temperament wasn't good.

There was something in each one.

And I was commenting to somebody about that and he said, well, with the budget that you have, you're going to have to have some imagination.

Like you can't, you're not going to be able to afford a top horse and that.

So I went home thinking, how do I do this?

How do I afford the quality that, that I want with the resources that I have?

And so that, that really started.

We, Martin and I ran a breeding program for several years that was not so successful for us.

I love breeding.

I have a real passion for it.

But we lost a lot of foals and it was very heartbreaking.

And so I thought, okay, there's got to be a better way.

And that turned into buy, buying foals and all from us breeders.

So we didn't have like the cost of import and it was an affordable way to get what I hoped would be the quality that I wanted.

And that has really, that has been very successful for us.

May I interrupt?

What do you look for in a foal?

Because I've always purchased three year olds, I'm always like shy of raising them.

So what, what do you look for?

Because you've picked really great horses.

Yeah, I think having an eye for being able to see the gates in a young horse is something that needs to be developed.

And then so I always look like the first the breeding because I really research the lines.

One of the things I think when you're buying unstarted horses that you can't know is what their work ethic would be like.

Right.

But if you really study the lineage, you can have a certain probability that a horse will have a work ethic.

But I like a horse that, you know, that has a lot of desire to go.

So if a horse is too, a little bit too calm or a little bit too like as a young horse, maybe not the most kind of sensitive type, you know, those would be horses that I would, might sell as amateur horses and that, you know, they might be perfect for that, for that market.

But so looking at the foals like the breeding obviously is the first thing I look at and then looking at the confirmation and the movement and when we buy foals they go through a three part critique.

So I'm normally one that, that you know, that finds them first and then when, if the breeding is good and the gates are good and the confirmation looks good.

And the fourth thing is kind of, I'm going to say the magic piece for me is the, what I'm going to call the it factor and that, that sense like that there is just this presence that a horse has and I think that in a good form you can see it.

Interesting.

Yeah, that makes sense.

So after you choose your foals, you bring them to your farm and you guys own a great farm, a beautiful farm and then what happens kind of do you turn them out till they're three or what's your process with that next stage of life?

Yeah, so we live on property and our home is surrounded on three sides by Pat.

And so the foals come home and they go in aged groups.

So I normally, if I'm buying one, I normally buy two or maybe a student will buy one in that age group.

And then they go in age segregated groups, they live out 24, 7.

They get kind of minimal hand handling, their feet trimmed and their vaccines and warming and other than that they are just out playing and growing and in pasture space.

And when they are three then we then things get rolling in terms of getting them that three year old year is just getting them started.

It's not very serious, any kind of serious riding.

I don't start them at two and a half.

We wait until the spring of their three year old year and just starting with groundwork and just getting them, getting them kind of acclimated into being ridden and then if they're good enough and the temperament is good, we might do you know, try for festival with them, but only if they are really saying that they're ready.

And that's at 4.

At 4 years old, you go.

You start to festival to think about festival.

Fantastic.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

For you guys, it's actually.

When it's at Lamplight, it's not too long of a trip, right?

It's.

It's fairly close.

Yep.

Just over three.

Three hours.

Yeah.

So that part, it is really nice.

And we can show there through the summer.

So the young horses get that.

That ability to get.

Get exposure to that venue.

That's perfect.

Yeah, that's awesome.

And then once you go to festival at four and then you're ready to rock and roll.

Right.

Then you kind of what your.

What's your next process?

Kind of figuring out where they go.

Yeah, a little bit.

They tell us, like, some are clearly young horse candidates, and if they, if they have, like, the training progresses in line with being able to do those tests and they've got the quality of the gates, then we pursue that.

And if not, then we might just keep training at home.

And, you know, sometimes, like, the horses, you know, will be good.

Fei horses are not really a horse that you think will be a young horse candidate, which is.

Which is fine.

Then we.

Then we stay home and just keep training.

So, Kate, tell us overall, how many horses do you have sort of in rotation?

Because this is.

This is very much a European model.

I think when you.

When you start looking at the European farms and that kind of stuff.

My.

I have a limit, like a top number that I say, okay, it won't be more than that.

And I'm a little bit over that number.

Yes.

So.

Oops.

Yeah.

Yeah, oops.

I try, you know, to stay under 10 in total.

Okay.

And some of those are like, they're.

I mean, they're in the field and just growing up, so some of you know that they're not all under saddle at once.

That would be a lot.

And keep in mind, there are two of us, so that's divided between Martin and I.

Yeah.

Your husband's also an amazing Grand Prix writer.

Yes.

And he.

So we, like.

I try to choose horses that I also think, like, will fit, you know, a tall man.

Yeah.

Yes.

Martin's tall.

And you're.

You're.

I'm not going to say you're average height.

You're not short.

Right.

Compared to Martin.

Martin's very tall.

So, yeah, we had this, like, we have two three year olds this year and I'm really excited about.

And there was One particularly, I thought that one.

I really want to ride that one.

So I went out and I looked for a sec, I thought, it's all one Martin.

Martin can ride that one.

Sure.

They're both his.

There's no question about that.

And you also have a riding school, right?

We do.

We run a StarWest Academy, which is a beginner program with school horses.

And we have five instructors that are a part of that.

And yeah, it's been a great, really great way to bring good horsemanship and learning, just the beginning parts of dressage for our community.

And there's been a lot of excitement, both with kids, but also I'm going to call them re riders, you know, adults that have come back to riding later in life.

That's fantastic.

And that's a big population, right?

I mean, that's a lot of riding schools.

That's when to get back in.

They have had their kids or they have some extra time and that's sometimes a hard time to find a riding school or a place to ride.

So that's incredible.

I think it's really important to, you know, I think this gets back to a little bit, this conversation of like, how do we, how do we afford to do this?

And having the riding school, I think is really important to me because there is such a need for an affordable way to get people started riding.

And that may be riding once a week on a lesson horse.

That may be the furthest they will ever go with it.

But they are getting this connection with horses.

They're learning in a safe environment on a school horse that is, you know, has good education and is appropriate for their level.

But again, it's affordable.

And I think that's so.

Is something that I, like, feel passionate about because I think horses just as a general rule are just everything about what we're doing is getting more expensive.

So providing a way that people can learn and be a part of it, that's.

That is affordable, I think is really important.

It's fabulous.

How do you find your instructors?

Because I also have a riding academy and finding people who want to teach, I find are limited now.

Yeah, all of the instructors are students that of Martin and mine that have had an interest in teaching as well.

And I have one that does it full time.

And everybody else that is in the program has, like, it might be their day is Saturday morning mornings that they teach and they work in another industry Monday through Friday or they teach.

I have somebody that might teach in the evenings after they've worked another job so that the instructors are for the most part, they are doing it part time.

Okay, that's awesome.

That's great.

No, I think it's an amazing program and hearing about your entire program and how you're making exact affordable but also growing your own horses, I think it's a great model for all of us.

So, Kate, how can our listeners find you online?

They have any questions and want to see your program.

How can they do that?

StarWestOnline.net is our website and then on Facebook, StarWest would be the Facebook page for like Martin and like has a bit more about what Martin and I are doing.

And then Star West Academy Facebook page has the lesson program information.

Well, it also looks like a lot of fun because I am on that page and I think it's really fun.

So what you guys are doing is great and congratulations and we can't wait to see you in Kentucky.

Awesome.

I'll see you.

I'll see you both there a couple weeks.

Yay.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me on.

Well, we are so excited just to remind you guys about the book club.

Janet Foy, the not so perfect horse.

And you can get it on horseandriderbooks.com and Megan and I will be at convention and the book club discussion.

Right, Megan, we're going to really enjoy this.

I can't wait.

Yeah, so it'll be a little bit.

Also a meetup at convention.

So we're really looking forward to all that.

So meet up at finals and meet up at convention.

I don't know, you guys may get a little bit tired of us, but we're excited about doing it and we'll have lots of laughs together.

As always, you can find our show notes and links to today's guests on our page@horseradionetwork.com just search dressage radio show.

Like us on Facebook.

Just search dressage radio show.

My website is maplecrestfarmky.com and my email.

Is reeseradionetwork.com and my website is lindenhoff.com and my email is lindenhoff llcmail.com we'd like to thank our friends and show sponsors, Kentucky Performance Products.

If you'd like to support our show and the horse radio network network, you can do that through the auditor program found@horseradionetwork.com keep on kicking on until the next show.

Talk to you soon.