S2 E32: More Than a Rider: Shannon Riley on Body Image, Online Criticism & Mental Health in the Saddle (Pt2)

S2 E32: More Than a Rider: Shannon Riley on Body Image, Online Criticism & Mental Health in the Saddle (Part 2) Transcript
[00:00:00] Hi, and welcome back to OTTB on Tap. I'm Neve. And I'm Emily. Hey Neve. What's on tap today?
Today we're talking to Shannon Riley, a talented event, rider and trainer based in Aiken, South Carolina. Shannon runs Infinity Sport Horse where she retrains and sells everything from OTBs to Warmbloods, and she's no stranger to the competition ring. Having competed up to the FEI level in eventing, we're so excited to dig into her training program, her approach to resales, and some important topics she's been speaking about lately on social media like Rider Fitness and dealing with online criticism.
This is part two of our two part series. If you haven't already listened to the first part of this episode, please go back and listen to part one and on with the show.
So yeah, we're gonna get into the real talk portion and social media and how that's all been working out. Oh boy. Obviously both of us follow you on social [00:01:00] media and I think Emily and I are both people that have a lot of opinions, but try to stay out of a lot of stuff online.
But that doesn't mean that we're not realizing the conversations that are happening. Occasionally I'll pop in and say something here or there, but I try to just see what happens. But most recently you've opened up on social media about rider fitness and body image, and what led you to speak up about that?
Oh that's a good question, but so I think for me a lot of it was for myself, right? I started going to the gym more and I saw the difference in my own body, how much it changed, how much my riding improved. And I've been 160 pounds, 155 pounds since I was probably a freshman in high school.
I was like a potato of a small child doing dance. You see these pictures of me and I'm this hippopotamus of a small child, I LeBron all these itty bitty little girls in [00:02:00] these ballerina outfits and I'm only laughing because I always describe my body as a potato with toothpicks coming outta it.
Oh. I was just this absolute unit of a small human. And I was in ballet for a long time, so I remember my mom is God, she did such so right by me because she was so comfortable in her own body, and she was so good to me about being like no, you just have big bones. It has nothing to do with anything else.
You just have big, heavy bones, so I never got hung up on it as a kid, as a young rider. And I think as I got a little older, it always felt like a benefit because I wasn't getting tossed around in the tack because I like had enough oomph behind me. I could ride the horses that people said were more for guys because I had enough upper body strength.
That I had the stability. Because strong doesn't mean skinny. Exactly. [00:03:00] And I think there's such a culture of this, I remember again when I was like a kid and I rode at a hunter barn and my mom was like, so how are you judging these people? And the judge was like you wanna see and she made the mistake of being like, who looks pretty a thumb?
The horse? Oh my God. Because she was like trying to dumb it down for my mom. And my mom was like, yeah, we outta here. We're not doing that non, so that's how are some other things we can do with horses? I world early and young because she was just like, I'm sorry you care that she has a green coat.
Get outta here. And you know that's it though is we have these images of these tiny. Long-legged riders and that's what we should aspire to. I could not eat for the next 60 days on the, I'm still gonna look like a potato. There's just no changing how my body's gonna look.
So I'm either okay with it and I do the best that I can with what I have, and I make myself as fit as I can be. And I give myself every ability to bounce back from an injury. I remember , I played a lot of [00:04:00] sports in high school and my dad was always like, injuries keep you out of the game.
And so it's always been very important to me to do what I can to avoid getting hurt, right? And when you're soft and you're not fit, it's so much easier to take that funny, pop off and land wrong because like you aren't strong enough to brace against it. Or you could just be trying to make a content video for your podcast and you take a weird step out in the patio of the barn and you tear a calf muscle.
Stuff like that. No. It's cool, it's fine. I'm thriving. Yeah, no, it's, but that's exactly it, right? The more that I am, keep myself in shape and I hate running so much. Yeah. I like so much time alone in my head for so many thoughts no, thank you. I but I do recognize that when I ride four horses at preliminary on cross country in a hundred degrees, I sure don't wanna be gasping for breath by the third one.
[00:05:00] Yeah. I wanna feel like I can ride to the best of my ability. And, I think sometimes top riders get badly hurt because they're, riding that. That last horse of the day, and they're tired. They're Yeah. They're outta gas fatigue. Yeah. And they don't recognize it. Yeah. And suddenly something that would've never gotten you off, gets you off and then you're just really hurt and you didn't need to be.
Yeah. Yeah. Because you could've called it or you feel that pressure of owners maybe. And there's a lot of different things coming into play there. For sure. But yeah, and obviously that video of Rose and I on cross country and the lovely gentleman who told me I was too big for her. Certainly those are the things that you're just like, fuck that, I think if one person has the guts to say that to me in a Facebook comment I think that's, you should never be the reason someone doesn't wanna get on a horse. Yeah. There's a an Instagram person that I [00:06:00] follow, her name is Tova Lee, like L-E-I-G-H, and she does a lot of different posts about women empowerment and things like that.
But one of my favorite things that she does is she'll post celebrities Instagram posts and then all of the trolling comments, particularly by men that comment on body image. And then she'll, so she'll post the comment and then she'll post their actual social media profile pics profile, PIC profile.
And it is, oh yeah. Oh, it is just chef's kiss. It is just so good because you know these people that are commenting about whatever, thing about your body have no business whatsoever saying anything. And oh, and that's the wild part, is that's like, where did you find the audacity?
It's wild to me because I just I made a point myself since I just started to like, comment on someone's posts and be like, even if it's something like silly, right? I watched a friend of mine's dressage video the other day and God, she looked great.
She was [00:07:00] riding great. Her leg looked great. So you comment on it because it just, too many people, the only thing they have to say is something shitty. And when all it takes. And again I've been in a dark place a time or two, and I do know that all it takes for someone not to wanna get back in the saddle, is that one more negative comment?
Sure. Echoing in your brain. Yes. That's the thing that people don't realize is oh, it's, oh, they just typed something and they hit return and they think, I just left a comment. It's but guess what? That actually plays on repeat, rent-free in someone's brain now. Yes. And you talk about the positive self-talk it to me, it's like we talked about earlier, but it's all of that.
But then you're like, okay, this is all of my negative feelings about myself. Someone else sees them. Yeah. And how, and when someone just put a microscope on those and now is just showing them off to the entire world. Yes. And all those things I thought about myself negatively in my darkest moments.
They're true. Yeah. And you're, they're not [00:08:00] right. That person is just the self embodiment of my own personal bad thoughts. And that's how I've started to think about it is just sometimes I'll comment and my husband gets mad when I do because I can't help myself.
But I try and just rephrase it in a funny way. Yeah. If I can. Yeah. Like somebody commented and they're like, this, that, and the next thing I was like, oh, if your opinion was so good, I'm just, oh wait. No it's not. But you just wanna write back who hurt you?
Like what is this? Yes. That's what I'm starting doing. And like people whatever, they're not gonna care. I can't change somebody's opinion about me. Nothing I'm gonna say is gonna change their opinion about this one moment in time. And so you have to just try and.
Make light of it so that it doesn't live front free in your head. Yeah. I was talking to my boyfriend, last night, and we were out to dinner and somebody complimented me on something. And first of all, it's just impossible for women to take compliments regardless, but we're all guilty of that to some degree.
But I was like the [00:09:00] power of a compliment from a woman to another woman somebody should study that and figure out a way to take that power and put it in jars or something and use it to bottle up, bottle it up and power the universe with it.
Because if you've gotten a compliment from another woman unsolicited just, or you're on the street or you're out to dinner or whatever and some woman has come up to you and been like, you look incredible. And not for any attention. They've just said it. And I was like, I will live off of that feeling for days.
But at the same token, getting the negative comment. Is 10 times worse. And I think it's why every time I get a negative comment, I try and go on a comment streak on friends and whatever. Whoever I see, I'm just gonna just go champion everybody. Yes. I'll be the voice of, for every negative comment I need to give 10 positive comments to other people.
Be the change you wanna see. Be the change. Love it. Yeah. I want more people to do the sport. I want more people [00:10:00] to love horses. I want more professionals in the industry to stay in the industry. Yeah. I want us to be able to have a healthy work life balance. I want us to be able to, like this average rider, feel like there's no pressure to change and you wanna get stronger because you wanna be a better rider and improve yourself.
Not because you're gonna look better in a Yeah. Pair of breaches. Exactly. What would what would a piece of advice or something that you would say to somebody struggling with confidence or body image in the saddle? I think my biggest piece of advice, and I watch so many videos of myself and so many pictures get things that make you feel comfortable and make you feel good. I don't think that every pair of breaches looks good. I have a pair of one brand of breaches and they have these stupid pockets and they make me look like I have a pupa. I hate all of it. Terrible. Every time I wear 'em, I'm like, what is this nonsense?
And I need to just throw them away. I hate them. I [00:11:00] digress. But I have a pair of these back on track breaches that fit me. Chef's kiss, right? Yeah. They make me feel good. I pair 'em with the right belt and the right sun shirt and like they put together like I can, yeah. But it has taken me time to realize what. Brands that make me look good and make me feel good. You don't have to wear these tight fitting, horrendous body suits to ride better. It's not gonna affect anything, but find a helmet that makes you like that.
You like the look on yourself. That's also safe, obviously. But I had one that like, every time I wore it I was like, I look like a duckling. And so it doesn't matter how like safe it is, I like never wore the stupid helmet. Yeah. And I find I bought a silly troxel that has the MIPS or whatever, but I put a brim on it and looks fine, right?
And so it, it's not the first thing I notice when I watch a video of myself anymore and if you have to splurge on a pair of boots because that's what makes you like, be like, oh, that's a such a pretty picture of me. Yeah. Then [00:12:00] that's what you need to do, right? Find the clothes that flatter your body and your in like.
And if you have to find someone who's better at that sort of thing, have a friend go shopping with you. Or like size up and take your stuff to a tailor and get it tailored a little bit. It's not as expensive as people think. So if you have a Choco and it's busted, like I have big boobs and it's so while I might fit me in the shoulders, it's like that thing's never gonna button.
And then it's I don't know, size up. And then you could get it tailored and feel comfortable in your body and that kind of thing. And I just wanna add to this, 'cause I'm a photographer and I photograph a lot of horse and riders I know that there's a lot that you can do to make yourself feel good about yourself, but I'm definitely someone who's guilty of looking at old photos of myself and being like, I didn't like how I looked back then either.
And so one of the things I want to get across is that. Don't ever tell someone not to take a photo of you or get a video of you because you're worried about how you look, because you're never gonna get that memory back. To me, the special thing about [00:13:00] the accessibility we have to taking photos and video is that we get to freeze time.
And yes, maybe you didn't like the way that you looked, but go back and look at yourself 20 years ago and remember how you felt when you were like I didn't like how that pair of low rise, Abercrombie and Fitch jeans fit me either. It's just, we're all doing that a little bit, but I just want to say I wish we were all just a little bit kinder to us ourselves and say we're women that are going through different stages of our lives and our bodies are gonna look different.
And sometimes that's out of your control and I don't wanna look back at a period of my life and not have photos of it. 'cause I was I didn't like how I looked. No. And I think that's such a good point because I have had so many horses come through my life and I have thankfully pictures of so many of 'em granted, I laugh at some because they're horrendous pictures, horrendous angle.
But again it's a matter of I have that memory, I have that moment in time, but what's happening when that was going on? Yeah. And you can lose a horse in a split second and you don't [00:14:00] wanna not have the pictures to remember the goodbye. What would you wanna have would you rather have 600 photos of you feeling uncomfortable in your britches on that horse or none at all, exactly. And I like take the pictures, get a good professional photographer to come out. You will never regret that. Yeah. I'm your girl. I'll hire me, I'll come to Aiken. Yeah. See, that's exactly it though, right? I think a good photographer can find your right angle and make you feel great about yourself.
Yeah. That's the thing when you're like talking about, struggling with them. Find the clothes that make you feel good. Find someone that can take a great picture and make you like, find your right angle, find the right color, find the right, whatever it is. And don't lose the memories because you didn't feel comfortable in the moment.
Yeah. How would you say, you talked about the video of you and your horse Rose and some of the commentary that you got on that, and how has that been to navigate for you with the [00:15:00] online negativity or even bullying? Because it seems like. For some reason you get a lot of it.
And I don't know why. 'cause I've watched some, yeah, I've watched every video that you've ever posted. But I've watched the videos, they've gotten these comments and it's wild. What are they even talking about? But as the person on the receiving end I just can't even imagine.
I can't even imagine the people that have a real following and a real social media presence, like the negativity they have to see. Sure. But I think I'm at that weird place where I have more followers, more tension than maybe most. But not enough to ignore all of it completely.
Yeah. I think some people that have gone five star or whatever, I think, there's some that, that get negative comments, but they just don't care because whatever, they have their clients or have their money. For me, it always feels like maybe that one person that doesn't like me would've been the one person who owned a horse for me, and that's how I would've gotten to Kentucky.
And it's not true. That's such a weird false narrative that I put in my head sometimes. But I do, for [00:16:00] me, I'm incredibly fortunate that, I have a great support system. My husband thinks it's ridiculous when people make comments and he is the first one to be like, that's bullshit.
No. And reframe it and remind me that. I'm like, but I cried about it. When I saw that video and that guy was like, you're too big for it. Again, it's all the thoughts I've had in my own head. And. Maybe he's right and maybe I am and no amount of going to the gym and no amount of better riding is going to make me less, I have less boobs.
It's still going to make me top heavy no matter what I do. That's actually not true. I guess I could do something, but I am not common problem around here. But God, I was at a show when one of the videos went. Bananas. Oh yeah. And my phone's like banging and I was crying about it, in between rides.
And I was like, why am I letting these people have this space in my head? Yeah. Yeah. They don't know me from Adam. Like I know. And again, like I go back to then I have to just be like, God, this is [00:17:00] ridiculous. And I have to look at who they are, go, I'm guilty of going on their page and being like, oh, they haven't gone to the Olympics yet.
Oh, that's funny. That's weird. You haven't gone five star. Okay yeah. That's weird. You're not actually angry. Clumpy, and remember that like Angry Clinky doesn't have time to be stalking my social media and telling me how to ride better. My, she had, there was a video of her riding like without Stirs.
No, I know. And in a warmup and people were criticizing her for it, for her ride. I was like, are you kidding me? You know what? I bet she doesn't read the comments. No, and that's right. That's the thing is she doesn't have time to read the comments because she's busy.
And I have to just remind myself that I have to have something. You have to have a space outside the horses that also brings you joy. Yeah. Yeah. So that the, when people try and take away the joy that is your horses, it's not everything that they're trying to take away. And sometimes that means that I put my phone in the car and I lock my phone in the car, and we go to dinner.
Ignore [00:18:00] it. Yeah. We just, yeah. And that I, remember that words can't hurt me. That sounds silly, but that person's opinion isn't going to sway someone else's opinion of my riding. Yeah. And if I just didn't, you're not gonna lose all your clients because this one troll decided to say that your boobs were too big, yeah, exactly. And I turned the one comment like somebody, responded to me about Rose that she was just average or whatever. And I turned it around for my own benefit. And spun that for a syndicate. And that's the only way I think that I can handle those sorts of things Yeah.
Is to try and find what can I do with them? So that guy says, I'm too big for Rose. Okay, then I'll do that's two more miles I'm gonna push myself to do over the next month. Yeah. I'm gonna walk out and do this rather than drive the golf cart or something.
Yeah. And I know that's maybe not a healthy mentality per se, but it is what works for me to be like, you know what? Forget that. I am gonna be [00:19:00] the best version of myself, whether you appreciate it or not. I can be better. This is me. Being better. Yeah. And you can let it drive you or let it tear you down.
And I think your approach is really smart. And I just wanna say from my point of view, if you're not ruffling feathers and you're not causing some controversy and you're not getting bad comments on your platform, then you're not sending a message to anybody. So take it as a blessing. Are you telling people to leave us bad reviews on the podcast?
I'm not. I'm not. Sounds like it. No. What I'm saying is that you're not having an impact if you're not ruffling feathers and you're not like that. That's the beautiful part of it, right? There's beauty in that ugliness and that you're having an impact whether you're impacting people negatively or positively it's impact.
And so yeah, that should sound like success to you to be like. I've got enough people here that enough people are willing to chime in and yeah, you're gonna get some negativity. But that just means you're impacting people and like you [00:20:00] can, if you wanna let that drive you and to do a couple more miles of the gym or whatever, or just make you feel more empowered to, do more or try harder next time or whatever.
I feel like your impact on your platform is because you're creating this controversy a little bit. For me it's like that I think I said it at the beginning, is that there's like a degree of transparency, right? Yeah. I love what I do.
I love the good days. I love the bad days. I love the long days. I love the hard days. I love every aspect of it, but I also have seen every facet of it, right? I've seen the good days. I've seen the bad days. So I sometimes think that people get into this industry and think that they can't do it from scratch.
Yeah. Because we don't see people who suffer and struggle. Yeah. You only see the highlight reels. So why am I gonna give it a go Because had all this bad luck I can't possibly still be able to do it. I almost fell off this horse, or I fell off this horse.
Like, how could I possibly get clients [00:21:00] to own a horse for me? And for me it's the level of when people send a horse to me, they know what they're getting, right? They know, they see videos of me riding every day. They see the good days, they see the bad days, they see the decisions I make, I like try and leave the sound on a lot of my videos.
'cause I think it's important. I think I talk to the horses on cross country, you hear me coming, going sideways I think that's important. But then. That's genuinely who I am behind closed doors too. If you walked into my barn on any Tuesday with an invisibility cloak, I would want you to see the same person.
Yeah. That I portray like I am online, right? Yeah. The authentic version of myself, the authentic version of me is going to make a mistake. Yeah. And I'm still gonna run another preliminary. Yeah. I'm gonna make a mistake. I'm still gonna sell that horse. Yeah. That horse is going to make a weird decision.
It's still going to go up the levels, this horse can , absolutely Biff at a crossroad. We were laughing [00:22:00] at it the other day, right? I was riding a baby thoroughbred over one of those first few jumps and I thought he was gonna leave the ground and like soften my shoulders, and then he put his foot down and you see my nose nearly break.
Yeah. And you see the moment in which I realized how bad of a mistake I had made. Yeah. But my girls are like it's just nice to see that you make those mistakes too. Of course. And here's the thing, we can get so hung up on the optics of the industry to protect everybody's ego and identity at all costs.
That then we all live in a vacuum, right? Yes. So what is that's the danger is that we decide. No videos at clinics, no photos, all of that kind of stuff. I am someone who will be very careful about posting audio on videos that I take because sometimes I'm just rambling in the background.
Yes. But I do think like there's danger in taking it to the other side of that, which is that everything's protected, everything's, in a vacuum. And then nobody actually gets to see behind the veil because I think that's where like the learning comes [00:23:00] from is people wanna know that these superhero riders that they love are human too.
Yes. I think, not for nothing. Boyd has done an incredible job and an incredible thing for our sport. Sure. Some of his, yeah. You can feel however you wanna feel about Boyd as a rider or as a human, but I think he said an incredible thing for eventing because he's made it a lot more real transparent.
Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And I think it's transparent with the pair of rose colored glasses are a lot times. That's story. Yeah. But I digress. But to me it's that I think we have to know that there are so few cross-country courses that go around without a mistake and like you learn.
Yeah. But I think sometimes people are afraid to go and make those mistakes in public. They don't think anyone else makes those mistakes 'cause they haven't ever seen, they only see the good times that it goes by and God, I can pick apart some videos and you can't even tell I took that rail 'cause I am good at videoing.
But there's value in the [00:24:00] highs and lows and the successes. And if you get tied up into like only that pretty image, God, you will be sitting at home jumping cross rails until you're 110. Yeah. I a couple of months ago I picked up William Fox Pitt down in Maryland and I drove him up to PA for a clinic.
And this poor man, I've interviewed him before for the podcast, but he didn't know what he was getting into being in a car with me for three and a half hours. But we talked about so many different topics and we talked about horses a little bit, but one of the main things that we talked about was online bullying and Really, yeah.
And it was really interesting to hear him talk about what an absolute epidemic it is in the uk that, people don't wanna put anything about themselves online riding or, whatever. And he's got, a couple of kids that are teenage years and he is just it is just.
It's unfathomable to think that like the cruelty that will go on between people behind a screen and it was just so fascinating to listen to somebody like Kim, who, truly has always been at the top of his sport and talk about [00:25:00] that and in such an open way. And I was like, yeah, that really is where so many of these problems come in because this online bullying is and it doesn't need to be a persistent bullying. It could be just one really awful comment. Yes. One really awful comment that you pick, that you see on a day where you've maybe had to let a horse go that day or you just had your top horse have a bad injury that could like, push you over the edge.
And I think that that's what people don't realize by hitting return and sending a message out into the ether. It's that could be like a little blip on the radar or it could be the thing that really just sends somebody, like you said I don't wanna do this anymore. I think that the online bullying and the epidemic that it is at least a part of why I don't wanna have kids as an adult, honest to God, because I cannot imagine bringing a child into this world and.
It starts when they're in middle school now. Yeah. I have two [00:26:00] stepsons that I CORAs and they are 15 and almost 19. And even as boys, they get it all the time. And it is wild. And I cannot imagine if they were girls. Yeah. Oh, that's exactly it, right? And I just think that on any given Tuesday, I could be convinced with very little argument to sell all the horses and move to Puerto Rico.
Okay, if you're gonna do that, can you just let us know so we can just come with you? I love what I do. We'll open a bar down there. It'll be fine. Exactly. Oh dude, I have my bartending skills. I am set. I love, oh my gosh, perfect. I'll thrive. But like all of that to say but that's exactly it. I love what I do. I'm successful at what I do. I have a great career. I have a great support system. So any given Tuesday, I'm a hairs breath away from sending it all down the road and that one comment could be what does it, right? Yeah. And that one, because it's never something that someone said to [00:27:00] my face, oh no.
And it's always the thing someone says behind a screen. Yeah. And it just I wish people would seriously before they hit return. Be like, what is this bringing to the world? What I wanna be productivity, be like, say it to my face or write that shit down in your journal where it belongs.
Knock off. Yes. It's so fine. If you feel that I am the worst rider that has ever existed on God's screener, put it in a letter and burn it. Totally. Don't come at me with your unresolved childhood traumas. You un therapized troll. Stop it. , But that's exactly it, right? I think having the business coach when I did was at such a key time in my life because it was she was just like, okay, but , why does this comment bother you? Yeah. What's at the root of why this comment bothers you? And you're like, okay that's a thought I've had about myself. Yeah. Okay, so how can we address this thing, right? Okay, so is Rose too small for me?
Okay. So maybe, [00:28:00] and if that's the case, okay, do I want to pivot and make something positive it and make a, make her great show jumper or it's not gonna really matter that she, that I won't make a mistake that could. Hurt her in the same way, because I'm too tall and a little too top petty. I'm not gonna push her over the edge of a cross country jump.
That doesn't fall down. You know what I mean? Yeah. If you wanna go down the whole rabbit hole, then maybe she just quit a venting. 'cause you know you're gonna make a mistake at some point. And that's what she said. It's do you hear how this sounds like you've put, you've projected the comment so far down the rabbit hole, right?
And when you talk it all the way through, or you talk someone's comment all the way through, it's a little easier to see that. But again, I was in a good place talking to someone in a supportive situation with good people around me. Yeah. And I think that if you, if someone doesn't have that around them and they're in a dark place, it would be really hard.
They're having a rough time why make those comments? Yeah, it's very cruel. It's very, I don't know, [00:29:00] I don't know what the answer is really, but I think we're doing the right thing by talking about it and, just casting a little bit of lens on how it does affect people and in the industry and what the optics do look like and everything.
Looking ahead for you, Shannon, do you have anything coming up? Do you have any big shows coming up? Are you coming up to Fair Hill? Anything like that? Plantation? It's funny because I am a transitional point, as I will say. I was laughing at the friend because two months ago I had five preliminary horses, and today I have one sail horse in my barn that's going preliminary and I'm selling my top horse.
I have Rosalie sell to a friend to help get her C3. Oh, nice. Yeah, I like my four year old's coming back into work, a really big group of very nice sail horses at the moment. And I'm really, I'd like to buy a farm and so I'm really trying to focus on making and selling everything that's not nailed to the ground.
Sure. Yeah. They can happen. So I [00:30:00] think I have a really nice sail horse for a client right now that we moved at the preliminary recently, and I'm looking forward to trying to get him to a two star this fall. Hopefully if or convince someone that they should buy him for me and keep him with me 'cause he's really cool.
Yeah. But yeah I'm dabbling a little bit more in the jumpers. Because I think it's good to diversify. Sure. And I don't think that, I think some of our, watching, going back in time and all, like Marilyn Little came in and stormed through our sport. Like Brandon, she had some great money in financing, but you can say a lot about her, but that woman could really ride a horse to a good distance.
Also look at Doug Payne, same thing, Alexis. He was like, how would I just show jump when I'm like, not eventing. And I, and now he's completely switched over, but it's like he is, he kinda rocked the world a little bit where he is oh, I'll just show up in Wellington and just win this Grand Prix.
And you're like, all right, Doug. Just, yeah, get on with your bad self. But that's exactly it, right? I've been watching Waylon creaming around on a little 15 hand like thing winning Grand Prix, and I'm like, that looks like a cool thing. That's amazing. How tall is Waylon? He, if [00:31:00] he's five 10, that's pretty cool though.
Yeah. It's funny we actually kept our horses at a barn where he had been previously, and that's just a random fact. But he, his old tack trunk was there, I think, 'cause he just left it behind and just knew it was safe there. But it was one of the rolling kind with the double doors.
And it was so cool because it had stickers all over it from all the different places he had been. And then when you opened it up, it had signatures from riders from all over the world. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, it was pretty cool. All right, so now we're gonna move on to a quick fire wrap up segment. And I actually have a bonus question to add to this oh boy.
Because of course I do. All right. Am I allowed to ask the questions? Yes, go ahead. I'm gonna add my bonus one at the end. Okay. So one word to describe OTBs. Brilliant. I love it. I don't think anyone said that one yet. I don't think so either. Yeah. What is a favorite success story from your barn?
I have a couple girls that have [00:32:00] gone on to work in the industry and found some success in kind of their niche. And I think that's a success to me that I've produced people that still love the sport after Yeah. Deal. Having, worked for somebody. Yeah. They're not, they're, it sounds like you do such a good job giving them a foundation though, of not only like the hard work of it, but also.
Fun you give them. No, but you give them like the business background. Yeah. And then also let them do, give them that kind of like length of leash a little bit. Yep. Yeah. That, to learn how to show horses to people, and that's a real art. It really is. Very cool. I think. Yeah. No, I, but I do think that they, that if people can leave my program and horses can leave my program and still love the job that they're doing, I'm doing the right thing.
Yeah. That's awesome. All right. Dream horse to ride. Any breed, any discipline, any era Winsome ante. That's a good answer. That's a pretty good one. [00:33:00] And then the most underrated part of retraining an off track thoroughbred. Ooh, the first cross country school or the first sub school when they get it.
I love that. That was always my very favorite thing to do, was their first cross country school and just get to introduce them to all the new little things and Yeah, and just seeing when that like clicks and that they find what they, you said it earlier I think, and it, that's actually like thinking it's when they find what.
What they're good at. Yeah. Yeah. And I think being curious, being enthusiastic, when you find that moment, that's the most underrated part. Yeah. No, that's so cool. My bonus question was your, if you had to composite your perfect OTTB lineage, top and bottom, who are we looking at? Oh boy.
There's some dancing in there. Oh, this is, you're gonna have to gimme a half a second for this because I have to, that's a big question. It's a big question. It's a great question. I've been thinking about, [00:34:00] I wrote it down earlier and I was like, I gotta ask her this before we let it go.
I can tell you. So my, Jag horse was like the prettiest, most beautiful, most well put together with the best canner. So I like, but it gulch, that's some old school. I like some of the old school, Yeah. Best turn. Sha what was his Jockey Club name? I was curious when you were talking about him before Jaguar of Palatine, he was owned by a car dealership.
Again, that is a name that shoulda have been asked that really adds to the story. Story I think. Wow. Oh my God. That's amazing. Yeah. The, I like the old school. Big bone, thorough broads. I have to. I've worked with Jess a lot over the years and like her input, I like the Galileos.
Yeah. I like some of the foreign bread. Yeah. Caro yeah, I think I like a lot of the European [00:35:00] bread types. This is really so we can keep her eyes peeled for you. Oh, please. We're really good at enabling, she's selling everything. Didn't you hear her? Oh, that's right. Yeah. Don't worry.
I'll need more things to, again, on any given Tuesday, I'm also trying to buy it. I made an offer on a canara thing that seemed like a good deal today, so don't worry. Wait was it Jessica's? No. There was, I found one on this girl like has a top gun baby. Oh, okay.
Pretty inexpensively. And I was like, I would, I could do that. Yeah., I've never, ever actually had a kamara in my barn. Yeah. That would be a fun adventure. Yeah. I figured I could do something new and exciting, but somebody's already pre-purchasing it, yeah. Oh geez. Maybe they'll be too picky and then you can just swoop in and take it.
I saw Jess just got one that she claims is not for sale, which I know she loves the Connie Crosses, but she does. She'll sell it. Yeah, she'll sell it. She's as bad as I am. I know. [00:36:00] Shannon, where can listeners find you online? My Facebook is Infinity Sport Horse. I have, my Instagram is the same.
My website is infinity sport horse.com. Yeah, I have a fair deal on all of those. If you Google Infinity Sport Horse, you can find me. I did have a a follow up comment for you because Emily's can we just wrap this shit up? Jesus Christ. No I am not thinking that. Okay, good. So my follow up comment for you was regarding running music and Yes.
Do you know the band or the DJ girl talk. Oh no. Okay. So he's a mashup artist. And it's so funny. I was listening to my running mix. I used to run a lot, and I was listening to my running mix today, and I was like, oh. I was like, this is so fun. It's like little clips from like really fun songs that you know really well, but they're all mashed up.
So just listen to any Girl Talk album. And I love this. It's great for running because it's it'll give you like [00:37:00] five minutes of like really energetic music. And then it'll switch to some country music song for a second, and then it'll go back to something else and it's just really fun.
So I love it. Yeah, I love it. I'm guilty that the girls gimme a hard time that my dressage, my pre dressage playlist and my pre cross country playlist is pretty much just Taylor Swift on repeat. That's fine. I am also there with Tiller Swift, so it's okay. But anyway, but if you want like that and it's all good because it's really just beat specific music.
So I have a warm up mix and then I have the, okay, now I'm really running mix. And it was just so funny how I would just find so much encouragement. 'cause the songs were not full length songs. They're these little, like vignettes I think you'll like it.
I love it. I am gonna have to find it. I obviously put music to a lot of my Instagram videos. Yeah. And there's like a nineties mashup and I ended up downloading half the songs because I like the song and it's catchy. And then that's all. Then you're gonna love Girl Talk there.
He I saw him do like a show in Philadelphia and it was the most fun show to go to, oh, I love it. Shannon, thank you so much. This has been a real [00:38:00] treat for both Emily and I. We really appreciate you. Welcome. And we'd love to have you back on again. There's, between you and Jessica it's really nice to talk to people that can talk endlessly about whatever.
Horse repeat topic and with a strong opinion, so I do hope that I have been accused of that. We like that here. Alright if you like what you heard today, please leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts so you can follow OTTB on tap on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
And contact us with interview candidates and topic suggestions at o ttb on tap.com. We love hearing from you. Until next time, cheers.