About the Podcast
Reining champion, horse trainer, international speaker, and author, Stacy Westfall is a cowgirl dedicated to helping people get a rock-solid understanding of their horses for training and riding. Her podcast provides practical applications for riders of every discipline and experience level.
Listen NowReady to be your mentor and friend, Stacy packs each episode with insight into riding and training that’s relatable and inspiring. Her focus on the mental and emotional structure of horses makes her advice stand out from the rest.
Key Players
- Stacy: Stacy isn’t just a champion trainer and international equestrian star. She’s the mentor you’ve always wished you had for understanding hiccups with your horse.
- Podcast Listeners: Stacy features her listeners’ comments and voicemails as constant inspiration for her episodes.
What does she wish she’d known in her youth? Read Stacy’s Letter to Her Rookie Self.
10 Reasons to Subscribe
- This podcast is totally bingeable. Stacy has structured her podcast to serve the rider’s needs based on specific issues. Each episode explores a different aspect of a bigger topic covered by an entire season, including: the rider’s mind, the rider’s body, the horse’s mind, the horse’s body, tack & equipment, and practical application of all these topics. Stacy connects everyday elements of riding to relatable mindset shifts and inspiration from outside the horse world. (Seriously, what other equestrian podcast would reference The War of Art in reference to riding?)
- Stacy isn’t afraid of adversity. In fact, time and again her career has thrived through her toughest challenges. In 2003 when her and Jesse’s horse business had become a burden almost too great to bear, Stacy won the NRHA Futurity Freestyle Champion bridleless: an unprecedented feat that propelled her career forward into teaching others how to do the same.
- No stranger to smashing through barriers, Stacy went on to win the Road to the Horse Colt Starting Competition. Up until then, no other woman had ever been invited to participate.
- Stacy is in the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. After losing three influential horses in a matter of months, Stacy had reached a low point in her work — to the point where she could hardly bear going to the barn. But her life’s work of helping horses and their riders carried her through and she was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2012.
- A cowgirl of many talents, Stacy not only enjoys coaching riders and training horses, but she also loves to write. Check out her book, Smart Start, to learn the methods Stacy used in the Road to the Horse Colt Starting Competition. This book covers emotional training for horses, a method that helps establish communication, trust, and self-confidence in young and mature horses alike.
- Stacy bought her first pony for a penny! Stacy bought her first pony, Misty, for a penny. But soon, she had a huge desire for a full-sized horse of her own. She learned early on that horses mean responsibility when her dad required a straight-A report card as a prerequisite for her first horse.
- She’s a cowgirl with love that rivals the measure of her courage. Stacy’s heart fights for the wellbeing of the horse and the rider. Bridging gaps in equine training and communication has been her life’s calling — a task that she continues to fulfill in every endeavor, from her training and coaching to her books, international speaking, and podcast.
- You can leave a voicemail for the podcast! Stacy cares about her community’s success first and foremost. You can leave a “voicemail” for Stacy on her website! She often uses these voicemails, listener questions, and comments to springboard her podcast episodes.
- All riders are welcome. You may think that this is just a place for reiners or western horse riders in general, but Stacy does a stunning job of connecting to the core of the horse’s emotional structure and communication. Her advice easily applies to all riding disciplines.
- This podcast doesn’t shy away from fear or failure. Stacy maintains that this is all part of the process of excellent horsemanship. She deals with these issues head-on because we’ve all been there!
*If you want to learn more about reining, check out our 5 Weird Reining Stop Tips That Actually Work.
Horse Rookie’s Top 5 Playlist
Not sure where to start? Here are 5 episodes that help give you a sense of the content and decide if this podcast is right for you.
- 5 Tips for Finding the Motivation to Ride
- Make Mistakes in the Right Direction
- Horses Can ‘Learn How To Learn’
- Locking and Unlocking Traits in Your Horse
- Beyond Prey Vs Predator: You’re Underestimating Your Horse
Sample Episode
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How to Listen
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Listen Now Return to Media Guide Shop Riding Essentials on AmazonP.S. If you enjoy this podcast, you might also like:
[…] Some of them are going to turn out great. […]