S3 E4: She Set a Top 10 Goal and Achieved It: Stephanie Parkot’s 2025 RRP Thoroughbred Makeover Recap | OTTB Competitive Trail & Freestyle

S3 E4: She Set a Top 10 Goal and Did It: Stephanie Parkot’s 2025 RRP Thoroughbred Makeover Recap [00:00:00] Hi everyone, and welcome back to OTTB on tap. I'm Neve. And I'm Emily. Hey, niv, what's on tap today? Today we are finally catching up with one of our RRP contributors from last year, Stephanie Ott, who lives in Corfu, New York, and you can catch up on the rest of her journey up until the makeover on our regular feed.
And you can hear all about my journey and with my retired racehorse Oscar, AKA Go Green over on our Patreon account. So if you haven't checked that out yet please do. You can listen to little previews of various episodes, and we have two different tiers there for you to check out. So yeah, welcome back Stephanie.
It's been a while. Yes, I'm glad to be here. Awesome. Let's jump right in. Can you just give us a quick, since it has been a minute, a quick refresher about your horse and what discipline or disciplines you [00:01:00] were going to be training for at the makeover? Yeah, so the 2025 makeover was my second year going and this year I went with my horse, Sterling Honor.
And we competed in freestyle and competitive trail. Competitive trail was a repeat for me. I did that in 2024 with my horse bestie or best idea. And freestyle was a new discipline that I tried this past year. And what was your original. I guess you would say vision when you entered and when you chose those disciplines.
Competitive trail was a personal goal for myself to see if I could be in the top 10 with a different horse because I was in the top 10 with best bestie in 2024. And then freestyle was just because I was a little braver this year. I'd done it once and I really loved that event.
When I watched it in 2024, I got to [00:02:00] volunteer and I just thought it paired really well with competitive trail and matched my horse's personality and I was able to do it with my son who was old enough this past year to participate with me gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, it was, not to jump ahead, but it was really interesting to be there and to watch and see how those two disciplines really do play well together.
I thought. Yeah. I feel like if a horse is well suited for one of those, they're probably well suited for the other in some ways. They like that kind of curiosity, bravery, attention piece. I think so, yeah. And can you just really quick refresh our listeners me memories about how you acquired Sterling?
Yep. So I adopted Sterling from New vocations and I ended up getting him in 2024 when I was down there for the makeover. I did with [00:03:00] Bestie. He also came from new vocations, so we went to the open house and he was there and we, just really liked him. He's also my honor code, and he was what I was looking for, even though I wasn't really looking for a new horse at the time.
He came home with us. No regrets. He's been amazing. And yeah, so he came, home with me in October of 2024. Awesome. I'm getting confused on the years. I know, because it's just, it's hard to keep track time's flying, it seems so long ago. 2024, right? What? I'm like now it's 2026. Okay. It's wild.
So just before you left for the makeover how are you feeling in terms of your prep? Were you feeling okay I've, there's no more training to be done. I'm as trained up as I can be. I know that the, in the weather, gave us some setbacks this summer. Were you feeling pretty well?
Okay. I'm ready to go. Yeah, I was I. A few weeks before he had this weird lameness thing, [00:04:00] which this happened with bestie too. It was like both of my horses decide to just give me a heart attack like a few weeks before we leave for Kentucky apparently. And he just randomly came up three-legged lame and we're like pulling a shoe.
My fares, like pulling a shoe and thinking it's an abscess and we're wrapping and soaking and doing all these things and no abscess popped out. But, he eventually was sound and I don't know what that was all about, but bruise is my best guess. That was just a stressful, week or so as he was improving from that.
But at that point I was kinda like, w we're as good as we're gonna be, there's nothing else to do. So I just wanted him to get through that. And I think I remember you saying that the last couple of weeks that. Just everything came together. You had gone to a couple of competitive trail obstacle course, competitions and just everything was just clicking into place and you felt okay we're like a real partnership [00:05:00] now.
Yeah. Yeah, it definitely did. He was a struggle early on with things like just his anxiety and he was, only three when I got him. And keeping my horses at home, I had a trailer out to, do a lot of things and, that was stressful for him, but, we worked through it.
But yeah, everything just came together at the end. He really started to get it and, really relax. Yeah. Yeah. Are, do you have more questions ne or should we move? I think we can move on. Move to the next section. Okay. Didn't wanna cut you off if you had more explo exploration.
Also, I noticed you didn't try to say back slash for our Patreon anyway. Sorry, off topic as usual. I kept saying backsplash, I could not stop saying
anyway. So let's fast forward a little bit to your arrival in Kentucky [00:06:00] and now you'd been there obviously the year before. What was that feeling that you had when you do the long drive, you've done all this preparation and you're finally pulling in to the Kentucky Horse Park. Yeah, it's just so exciting.
It's you finally made it, it is just the best feeling and I trailered down this year with a friend and her horse. So Sterling got to have a buddy to trailer down with. Oh, that's so nice. And so that was really good for him. To have that and yeah. Drove down with my husband, a dog, the three boys, and we pull into that, the horse park and you see the big sign and you're driving in and there's all the signage for the makeover just is really cool.
And then having done it already the year before, it just felt really familiar and I felt so much more confident going in than I did obviously the first year where it was. A lot of unknown. Yeah. So it did not feel overwhelming. Just exciting, 'cause we already knew what to do, what [00:07:00] to expect, and we definitely had a game plan going in.
My husband and I like, what did we do? What did we learn from last year? What are we gonna do differently this year? So it, and everything went really well. Our game plan actually worked. We pre-ordered our groceries through the campground and picked them up at Walmart and knew where we were going to eat for dinner.
And the camper was set up last year. We went and got it, which was not good. So we had the guy come set it up, but we also knew where to tell him to set it up 'cause we had been there, so it all just fell into place really nicely this year. This past year. Yeah. And that I do think.
There is a learning curve, right? Not only to the makeover, but also the horse park. Yeah. Of just like, where Yeah. Where the heck do I have to go to if I wanna lunge my horse? Yeah. Like when can I ride in these rings and there's a lot of rules, but also a lot of flexibility.
And I think they do try to accommodate everybody, but it can be certainly easier, I'm sure the second time around. Yeah. We already knew the lay of the land and where our barn was and stall was [00:08:00] one over from where I was last year. So it was all very familiar. Yeah. For sure.
Good. I was gonna ask about the rain. Oh, that's, do we have anything about that rain? No, we can get to that when we talk about competitive trail though. Maybe okay. I'll wait. And then, how was Sterling in, in terms of, getting there, settling in and just taking in the atmosphere?
Yeah, he was good. The first day or two, he really did not love the stall. He didn't wanna go in the stall. Like he just stop and stand there and ask someone to kinda shoo him, he's pretty good about all of the show stuff. I had taken him to a lot of shows and, he had been out off property a lot.
So he was good. And I feel like where your barn was, even though it's busy in that area, you're a little bit away from the chaos. It was probably both to my detriment and like a good thing that Oscar was in a place where it was so busy. 'cause he was such a nosy horse. But the first day or two I was like, [00:09:00] eh, this, I don't know if this is gonna work out.
Yeah. There's a lot going on. And like yours, you could really see off into the distance and the other rings, there's a lot. Yeah. Mine had only looked out at the other barn. It gave you a little more focus. Yeah. Not like overseeing the warmup arenas and all that stuff.
Yeah. Yeah. And then what did you do the first day or so, did you just hand walk him around or did you decide to hop on him and take him for a little hack or anything like that? I, no, I did not hop on him. We got there Monday later afternoon. Yep. And yeah, he just hung out in his stall.
I think I hand walked him around. And I had found from taking him places that he definitely does better when he's walked around for a while first and he didn't. Ever do great with lunging. I tried a little bit of different things, but lunging him first didn't, just seemed to work him up more.
Yeah. So hand walking and just doing some groundwork at the walk and just getting his attention on me and then putting him away for [00:10:00] a while, picking him back out in a couple hours, a little walking, so we, I did that and just kinda let him settle and then, got us settled in the campground.
I think there's really something to be said for, and we talked about this a little bit when I recapped my experience there, but, we were there with a non OTTB person and it explaining to her like the process of teaching the horse to be able to self-soothe themself because there's only so much you can do to hold their hand.
So like you're saying, just the combination, figuring out the combination of what works for the horse and saying okay, he's not gonna graze quietly. He is constantly wanting to just. Break free and go visit with the other horses. So what can you do to, yeah, and it's also like about if you've done enough of that stuff with them, is reinstating the familiar to them and say, just because we're in a new and exciting place doesn't mean you don't know how to access some of the stuff that's very familiar to you.
Yeah. Yeah. And that's always been a big piece for him. He definitely likes to be [00:11:00] micromanaged. Like he wants me to hold his hand 'cause he's not always the most confident horse. So that gave him that security. Yeah. So Emily was about to bring up the rain, but we got a colossal amount of rain on the Tuesday and that's when we did our competitive trail course walk.
And we all did that together. Can you talk a little bit about that? Gosh, yeah. So Tuesday, I'm trying to think when it started raining, did we know it was gonna rain? We, I think it was forecast but not five inches of rain in one day. Yeah. So I think I knew it was gonna rain. And so my game plan was, and I'm definitely a morning person, so my game plan was, I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna do something with him in the morning.
And I was glad I did because it rained much harder as since we went on. So I don't exactly remember what time I got on. It was probably like, I was probably done riding in by 10, I would think. Because it was only lightly raining and I decided I, you get the, like the schooling tickets, right? So I was gonna use one [00:12:00] for the covered arena.
And I figured, that's, I'm not gonna get soaked in there. We're gonna need to be in there anyway for freestyle, so I'm gonna take him in there. And I also was needed to get my anxiety out about the covered same. I did the exact same thing. Bestie was not good in there. He lost his mind in there and.
Couldn't even. Also too, I took him in there when it was the practice for all the obstacles. Did you go in there Neve when it was, when that was going on? They had a couple of obstacles set up in there and then they were also dragging the arena when I was in there. Okay. But they were like ranch people riding around Uhhuh and Oscar loved it 'cause it was so busy, but.
Who knew. Okay. Yeah. So that was the first time I had taken Bessie in there and he lost his mind. I had to get off and I literally walked him around there as he bucked in place, like next to me as I was leading him. And I just like the walk of shame, like around with my bucking horse and then walked out.
So I was like I'm gonna get Sterling in there right away. But Sterling didn't care because they're totally [00:13:00] different. And so went in there Tuesday, there was only a couple people in there. It was lovely. It was quiet, like they played music, and I had that moment of, oh, this is real.
Like I'm doing it. I'm doing the thing right now. And I literally started to cry. I teared up as I'm trotting and chattering him around in that covered arena. And he's just like being wonderful and oh, you're just getting all that anxiety out and all that stress from all the months.
I'm here, I'm doing it. And so that was like, that was a really cool moment. And then I saw somebody there that I had been chatting with online and I introduced myself and she was super sweet and she, said, Hey, do you wanna walk back to the barn with me? He had a buddy to walk back with through the pouring rain on all the concrete.
Oh, nice. Yeah. Being a good boy and he was great. So it was just a really great start, to our time that Tuesday morning, no, that's amazing. You never know, like you were saying with your other horse, that. [00:14:00] I don't know what it is about that covered arena. It's large, right?
But it's not enormous, but it's got open sides and then seating, but it's also covered, so there's a lot of screen, the screen that's lighting up and you don't really even see that until you get in there. And then if there's music playing or they're talking over the loudspeaker to make announcements.
Yeah. It's yeah, the echoing is a lot. It's a lot. It's very intense. Yeah. I did think it was better this year though, without the vendors around the outside. I see that they moved that, and that was really smart because the vendors made it feel much more claustrophobic because they were there and blocking the outside view.
Yeah, the outside view. And then obviously there were more people and noise and just commotion. Yeah. Yeah, I think that definitely helped. I remember walking that competitive trail course in that, in the pouring rain. How? Yeah. So that was later in the day. Yep. And by then it was pouring.
It was pouring. [00:15:00] I had my field boots on for that, so that was great. I don't think they still dried out.
We couldn't even hear her talking. No, we were talking about that. I was like, we couldn't hear her. And Emily had a person that was trying to share an umbrella with her, but that was like even making it harder to hear. I know. It was like, I'm okay. I'm wet. Guess what? I am wet in terms of as wet as I can be.
In terms of the course that was set up, was it similar to last year easier, harder? What did you feel like? Yeah, I actually had to go back and write down what the obstacles were so I could remember. But the theme was. Kentucky. Yeah, like famous things. It was like famous things in Kentucky.
So yeah, I thought it was, ver very similar. Some of the things they keep from year to year. So the water obstacle is like a permanent thing. The dismounting in mounting, 'cause you have to do that if you're part of a team to let the [00:16:00] other team member get on. And yeah, there was, similar things, bridges, and, you have to show all three gates.
So there was a cancer portion as well. So wasn't anything yeah, when I initially looked at it, it wasn't, there wasn't anything that made me concerned. So was there anything at all that you were worried about or were you just we've schooled all this, we can do all this. It should be fine.
The water for sure, because that's always been a tough one. For my horses. I don't know. I try to practice the water and there's something about that water. It's pretty spooky. And it was also like five inches deeper the next day. Yeah. And that was the thing too, was I knew, we had this torrential rain and I was gonna have to canter on the grass.
So that did worry me. Is we gonna be okay with that? Are we gonna slip and then the height of the water, and then how muddy is it gonna be going down the bank [00:17:00] into the water? And just to describe that water, you have to come up a slight hill. And the water just don't really see the water in here at the top of the hill.
And then there's quite a steep grassy bank down into the water, but it's grass right at, which then turned into very slippery mud. Yeah. There's no real deviation between the entrance and oh, you're in the water. It was like a little tiny bit of mud, but it was like there was no place for the horse to understand like, there's a deviation.
Yeah. Like a flat spot there. Yeah. It was some stone dust or something, yeah. And I, what got both my horses, both ears was Yeah. The hill approaching it. And I remember, I think I tried to, I trotted with bestie and we crested the hill and he went, put on the brakes as soon as he saw the water.
'cause it's not expected. And so with Sterling, I made sure I walked well before, so we had a little time to, to see and process that. Gotcha. So the water was definitely one thing. And then Sterling was never really great about dragging anything, so I was hoping there wasn't a [00:18:00] drag portion and there wasn't, there was a pulling a cart which ended up being, he was a little goofy about it, but it really didn't get scored that.
I'm not really sure how you would practice for that. Yeah, it wasn't a traditional drag. I had dragged all sorts of stuff at that stage and I was like, okay, this is a little train on a track. Yeah. It was hard to get up to it and it was hard to grab it and hard to hook the rope. That was more of the issue was me managing, getting the rope and then putting it back where they wanted it.
Yeah. I feel like a couple of horses were trying to eat the decorations on it when they were trying to get the ropes put back on. Yeah. Yeah. Sterling did take a bite of the corn when we were doing the cake on video. Something that really struck me about that day of the competition was just. You went from that torrential rain the day before [00:19:00] to a very bright day, but it was so windy.
So windy. And there were flags. There were like 1000 flags on that course. And they were all whipping Yes. So hard. Yeah. 'cause even in the rain the day before, I was like, those flags aren't that big of a deal. It was a little bit windy, but it was brainy and everything. And I was like, that those are, that's easy.
And then the next day it was like, gust, no flags are everywhere and they are like snapping. Yeah. How did his kind of brain hold up to the ask on the day of the competition? Yeah, he did great. I took him up to. The warmup ring, like between the hunter and jumper area, the warmup ring there and just to, like a quiet walk trot canner.
And he really gave me some of the best rides I've ever had on him there in that ring. And it made me super happy because I wasn't able to do that with bestie. I could not take him near any of the rings because the atmosphere was too electrifying for him. And I had to keep him out. I [00:20:00] never took him to the covered arena.
Wow. Yeah. I did, obviously it didn't work. And or any of the rings, I only schooled him out in the cross country fields and on the grass. But this year, Sterling being opposite, he likes to be. With the other horses and like buddies and stuff. So that was a comforting area for him. So anyway, he schooled beautifully and I just okay, we just walked over to the course and they said it's not your time yet, but the other person's not here.
You wanna go? And I'm the type of person that's like, all right, I'm not gonna sit around and stew about it. Yes. Just let's do it. So yeah, I went right in and I don't even know, were you guys up there yet? Or were you like running over some? I feel like somebody was running over because I was already Yeah, I was up there.
Yeah. I think I read up 'cause I remember taking some pictures of you in your during your routine. Yeah. And he just seemed so just with you, just so good. Yeah. Yeah. He was, his mindset was really great about it. So the [00:21:00] first thing was. I don't know if you want me to go through the whole thing.
Can, yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's the was since I didn't make it past the first thing, Steph. Oh, I know. But it's tough up there because it's on a hill. And you're looking out on this expansion, people jumping across country jumps. Yeah. And the, and there's no place to warm up. Oscar. Oscar didn't stand a chance up there.
You literally have to just go. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, if they just said, okay, you're ready. Okay, sure. I'm ready. So the first thing was side passings over a pole, which I knew we would crush it because that was always his best thing. So that was, boom. Did that, no problem. Then it was the Teeter Bridge. Again, not a problem.
Rope gate, that was great. He didn't give me any issue or hesitation there. Then we had to pick up the flag, try to circle. Yeah, that all went really well through, I think we had to throw a beanbag. Was it a beanbag or [00:22:00] a ball or something? Yeah, we had to throw that and so I knew he would be great about that, so I tried to really lob it like right by his face.
Yeah. To show, 'cause I think they said that in the the walkthrough, showing that your horse can really tolerate that instead of turning them, going right by your face shows a higher level of difficulty. Pulling the cart, I had trouble with the rope in doing it and he wiggled around a little bit.
He was definitely better on on the left, like me taking things with my left hand off of his left side than his right. And that was one you had to do on that side? I think. So that he got a little wiggly and goofy, but I mean it was still fine. And then the dismounting and mounting and then we had to canter the quarter poles, which was great.
And then it was the water. And he actually did not go through the water in the preliminary. I tried and tried and eventually I just had to pass on that one. And [00:23:00] I thought for sure I was done. I was like we're not getting any, getting to the top 10. We're not gonna make the finals.
Like he didn't even do this obstacle. I'm not even sure if he put one push in the water. He said no. So I had to go around and then the next thing was the back through the poles. And that one I was probably the most disappointed in. 'cause it's such an easy thing. Yeah. Like literally. Two poles on the ground, you just back your horse through.
But he and I were so flustered from the water. Yeah. And then asking them to back up when they're already tense is so frustrating for them. Yeah. I was just so annoyed with myself for that one that I should have maybe taken a breath or something there. But anyway, he didn't back through very straight.
He hit the poles. And then the last thing was just circling inside this little, I don't know, it was almost like what a boxing ring type thing. And then you ding hit the bell to say that you're done. And yeah. Everything except the water was great. Yeah. And I thought for [00:24:00] sure we were done. But I we watched a lot of rounds and there were a lot of, it, I think it was a very difficult course, one because of the weather the day before, but also just because of the weather the day of.
And obviously I don't, like I had watched so many videos of them doing it in the covered arena and I would've loved to have done it in there. But I think being up in that space is incredibly difficult when your horse is just like looking for other stuff. I do wanna say though, you your point about the little coal cart that you had to pull, that's a really good point about dragging it on the off side of the horse.
When I was dragging stuff with Oscar, I wanted to. Drag stuff on both sides and drag stuff where the rope would go behind him and the thing would hit his back legs. Because you don't know, like for, they see everything so differently out of their left eye and their right eye.
A lot of people will say it's one brain and another brain, but I think because we do everything on their left side, they're so used to noise and activity and things [00:25:00] say like somebody coming up to adjust your stirrup or your girth or like whatever. Yeah. So I think to ask a horse, and maybe you only, it just doesn't even dawn on you to p to practice on the off side.
And I wonder, 'cause a lot of people struggled with that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I definitely tried to do both, but he just never was really that great on that side. 'cause I'm sure I just didn't do it as much. And then I think also when you're leaning off of the right side of them, they're like, what are you doing?
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Quick question about scoring. So you said that you didn't get to do the water in the preliminaries and you thought that would mean you'd be pretty much out of it for the finals. Yeah. How can you just do a brief, like rundown so listeners know , a little bit about how the scoring works and even though you didn't No, I do an obstacle.
Can I like walk away for a second and grab it? Yeah, totally. Okay, so what did they say here?[00:26:00]
Which number obstacle was the water? I think it was eight. I wanna say seven. Seven or eight. Seven or eight, something like that. The, it was, 'cause there was three after it, right? Yep. Yep. Okay. It was eight, so that's, I got a two. Oh, they gave me a two. 'cause you tried both. So two outta 10 both on that one.
So that must have been, at least I attempted it. So I got some score, gotcha. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting 'cause a lot of horse sports, I feel if you're jumping a show jumping round and you skip a fence, you'll be eliminated. So I think it's great that in this Yeah.
Discipline. Yeah. And they did say in the walkthrough, as long as you attempt it, right? You get a partial score and all of the scores were out of 10. So I got a lot of sixes, sevens, eights and then, I had the two. And then they also get scored for responsiveness to aids, evenness [00:27:00] of pace and demeanor.
Which I scored a six from one judge in an eight, eight and a half with the other one, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah. Cool. And then, so those all kind of come into play as well. Should we talk through how the next round went or what happened? What happened after the prelim round, do you wanna stay on competitive trail?
'cause I did the freestyle the next day. Oh yeah. We can just go in order, I guess of in order, yeah. How the, and then go back to competitive trail. Okay. Which, just to a quick question. If you could get one obstacle completely out of competitive trail, which one would it be? Oh, maybe the water. Yeah.
Yeah. Because that's always been a tough one. I wish it was a more, I also think that one's really hard to practice. It's, I had to have my hu my husband dug me a hole in my yard and obviously not everyone can do that. Or I had to trailer out to, [00:28:00] the park or in a place that has a cross country.
Field water. And I feel like even if they're really good at it and they go into every water, it's just different there. I do think you're right. There's something about that water. You definitely can't see the bottom of it, that's for darn sure. Yeah. Yeah. And some of the horses just went right through, so I'm like, tell me your secrets here on how you're doing that.
I know. Yeah. I watched, in the finale the other horses went. And they just went right through and they said, we'll give you higher points if you trot or cantor through the water. And some horses did. Just really amazing. Yeah. Moving on to freestyle. When did you have your practice?
What day and time did you have the practice for that? Was it nighttime? Gosh, was it was really late at night. It was like night, oh my god. Night. And I can't remember now if it was Tuesday night or Wednesday. I feel like yours might have been Tuesday for some reason. Yeah, I think it was. Yeah, I think it was.
So [00:29:00] you talked a little bit about, why you were interested in freestyle, but what was like, what was the pull there besides the fact that you were gonna get to do it with Ethan? Did you just think, oh, Sterling just seems like he's got the right aptitude for this, or had you thought about it ahead of time and picked a theme and everything?
Sterling is definitely the type that, kind of likes his hands held and he likes to be told what to do and he likes the predictability of things which is surprising that he was, did so well with the obstacles.
But I feel like that just shows how trainable thoroughbreds are and how smart they are because he would, I would not say he was a natural at obstacles at all. I think he is very happy to never do another obstacle in his life. He just yeah, he wants, just like the predictability. I always say he will be very happy in hunter land where he can go in and do his two minutes and his eight fences and know exactly what he does needs to do and come out of the ring, the freestyle obviously we can practice [00:30:00] that. We make a routine and we practiced it for, months or at least pieces of it for months. So he knew exactly what we were doing. He had heard the music, he knew Ethan and I. So I think that was a really great choice for him. And it was also just really fun and a challenge for me to do two disciplines and something that I hadn't tried the year before.
Yeah. There is so much prep for both of these disciplines that you chose. Yeah. I dunno why for my first RRP I decide to do two that are just so labor intensive. I know. And you did a lot of props and stuff, that was my research. How am I gonna get all these props down there?
Yeah. And what, yeah. Did you walk us through your kind of concept of your freestyle yet? No. So I ended up doing an eighties theme and it morphed into an eighties workout. I thought it was so fun. I don't even know. Was so fun to watch. Know how we got there. Oh. I think because I started with the jump roping idea and I had [00:31:00] saw, seen somebody do that on Instagram or TikTok and they were jump roping, while they were riding their horse at the Canter.
And I just thought, why not? That looks amazing. I'm doing that. So then it just all went from there. We found some fun music and then, Amazon, you can just get anything, so it was just buying all the cool eighties track suits and headbands to, we just had a lot of fun with it.
I love that. Absolutely. So yeah, it just went from there. And your son, Ethan, helped you, right? Yeah. How much fun was that and how much did he really get into it? Yeah, he got, he definitely got into it. Yeah, we had a lot of fun when we went in there. We got to practice the night before, so I ended up meeting a couple friends that were there and assigned them like, okay, you have to run in.
'cause you only have so much time. Was it like eight minutes or something? So you gotta have all your crew run in and I don't know how you did it Neve, 'cause you [00:32:00] had a ton of stuff. You had to take a truck and ride. Yeah, it was wild. Yeah. So I just had, I think we had the golf cart.
I don't even know, but we've, everybody ran in, put the things out, ran, run out. And then Ethan and I went in and when they announced you, which I thought was really fun, right? And they say my name, they say the horse's name, they say, how much he raced and what he earned and all of that, which is really fun.
And then the music can comes on and it was really loud. It's really loud when that music course came on. And poor Sterling, he jumped in place. But luckily he was good because our first thing was Ethan. I had a lunge line attached to Sterling, and he had to stand in place. And Ethan had, then I was at the other end of the jump rope, and Sterling was like the other person holding the rope.
And Ethan had to jump rope, but Sterling had to stand by himself with no one holding him. So thankfully when the music came out and he jumped, he just jumped and then stood still and said, and started lunging himself. Yeah, I had him, he wasn't gonna [00:33:00] go anywhere, but yeah, he stood there. But yeah, it was like d so loud and yeah, we got started and, we had done it enough times.
We, we had it down and we were just going through the routine. And everything went really well at the beginning. I felt it went really smoothly. We got to the cantor portion. And we had to do big circles at the trot, at the cantor. And then at the very end I had to take the jump rope from Ethan, which was just two lunge whips tied together in the middle.
And I had decided the night before I was just gonna go for it. Even though we had never really done a full circle of cantoring jump rope, I said, you know what? I'm gonna go for it. I could have just done it at the walk, probably easier at the counter to get that rhythm, yeah.
So I decided to go for it. So I got one, revolution of the jump rope and I got a little [00:34:00] overexcited. And when I came around again, I didn't give myself enough 'cause you really had to f fling it over his head. And I hit him with it. I hit him with the rope, which I didn't realize at the time, but I realized I saw it in the video afterwards.
And so when I hit him in the face with the rope, the poor horse, he, he didn't buck, he got a little annoyed with me and I had to, go back to the trot. Okay. Get him contained and I think we trotted and jumped, roped and then eventually walked and jumped roped.
But I can't even jump rope myself. I know. I can't imagine. I know. Trying to, it was very impressive. Like fling, two lunge whips over horse, his head, it was more me than him. Like he didn't care. Couldn't have cared less. But it was just like the coordinating. 'cause a lot of times in practice I would get stuck as tail Yeah.
If I didn't go back far enough and then hold it and he's a big horse. Yeah. So it might be easier and then calm around with a kind of flick to get it all the way up and over [00:35:00] front him again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we have some good videos of your routine, I think, so we'll have to post those for sure.
Yeah, it was really fun. It all just went really smoothly and I was just so thrilled. The videos, I'm just get the biggest smile on my face, cantering around, there is also like something really cool about, like you were saying about being announced and going in there. I felt so immensely proud when I walked in there thinking of all the preparation that I had done and then seeing the people surrounding me that had, offered to help me out and were just there by my side.
And I'm sure you felt that as well. And it, I also as somebody that was in the crowd watching you, I was just like, I know her. Look at them, go it's so cool, because we'd, been with you every step of the way. And I don't know it, it's hard to explain how special it is when.
You're doing it with other people and you're all going through the same thing together. Yeah. It's really great to have [00:36:00] that kind of moment in the spotlight after all that hard work. And was he good with the crowd? Because I know he gets pretty crowded when, yeah. He didn't have any problems with any of that, going in, going out that little like warm up outside the covered arena.
That's pretty brutal. I'm pretty relaxed with that. Yeah. He was really good in that atmosphere. That's amazing. He definitely seemed like from the outside, just like a chill, like cool dude. I know that's not always the case, but he definitely gives off that. Just not always, but he's very good at shows, I will say.
He definitely rises to the occasion. Yeah. Which is just so impressive knowing where we started and, yeah. So if you were to do the freestyle again, is there anything that you would perhaps do differently? Knowing what I know now, and I think Neve would agree, less is more Yes. On freestyle.
And I didn't have nearly as many [00:37:00] props, but they definitely scored, just the compulsory movements a lot more than the theatrics. Yeah. Props and all the other stuff. Yeah. And they didn't care so much about if you picked up the wrong lead, I noticed. I think they more wanted to see relaxation and like a partnership with your horse.
And they gave a lot of leeway for wrong leads or. I don't know, things like that because they're obviously green horses, so that wasn't scored. I was very surprised by that. Negatively, as you would think. Yeah. Yeah. I was a little bummed though because they said that I didn't back up and I did back up and I wish that I had gotten my my scorecard soon enough to contest it because they gave me zero for backup.
Four steps. Oh yeah, I remember that specifically. 'cause you did. It was a very deliberate, they said it was not [00:38:00] performed and I was like, are you kidding me? I don't know if they were just sitting in the wrong spot because it was part of a movement. Yeah. And did you back up towards the judges?
Like away from them? Away from them? Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know if it just didn't look like I was purposely backing and it was definitely four steps 'cause I knew I had to do it and I specifically, made sure it was. It's a bummer. Did you have a favorite freestyle routine that you saw during the makeover?
Did you get to watch many of them? I didn't actually watch any, I watched the, a lot of the practices. But no, and we did, we watch, yeah. Always watch them together. And then I watched some of the practices. Yeah. The one with the police. Yeah. Do you remember that one? What was the, it was just like a police thing and they were arresting.
There was a mob. Yeah. That was really cute. The horse had the goggles. It was really good. Did that one make it in the finals? Yes, I think so. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. [00:39:00] Yeah. That one was really good. That one stands out to me. Yeah. For sure. I think I liked the beauty and the Beast one. I thought that was good.
I don't know if you caught that one, but Yeah. That was a more simple one. Yeah. I thought, but you did a lot of the, like the. Pre prerequisites. Yeah. Yeah. And her horse a beautiful mover. Yes. Yeah, she just looked really lovely. Yeah. I think that girl was there last year. I think she does it a lot.
And she is, she always brings really nice horses. Yeah. Yeah. And then, oh, the dinosaurs, which the blow up and the people were running around. Do you remember that song? Didn, imagine it was very cute and I think like it was very fun and silly, but it took away from, it was distracting to the horse.
Yeah. No, no bounds to the creativity, but really interesting though that the, you've gotta really nail. The other movements and very much less on the props because I think the top placers really didn't have very [00:40:00] many props at all. Yeah. And the woman that won, I actually saw her practicing and I remember thinking, wow, this is like really simple.
Yeah. She just had some signs and just, and her horse was beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful. And she just did the most beautiful, compulsory movements and figures and, really used her whole space, which I think they were rewarding a lot using the whole ring. And yeah, she was the one that won and she had, obviously she had a beautiful message with hers as well, but I think I wish they did a better job of explaining some of that. I definitely got way more involved in gosh, costume making. But that's just where, that, that's where I live. You're gonna make costumes regardless. Neve, so come on now. Yeah.
That is all amazing, Stephanie. And it sounds like you had a lot of fun with the freestyle. Can you tell us a little bit about what your proudest moment of the week was?
My proudest moment would have to be on Saturday [00:41:00] morning before the the finals was, I decided that we needed to have a little refresher on water, on walking through the water because. I didn't wanna have to get to the finals and not be able to go through the water again. So I decided I was gonna take him for a little hack around the horse park 'cause I hadn't done that yet.
And so Sterling and I just went by ourselves and we, rode out down toward the Rolex Arena. There's like a water obstacle down there, you can ride all around the horse park. So we just kinda went off on our own and it was just such a beautiful morning. We walked down by the water and I worked on getting him to go through the water, WA road all around.
And we just had a, this really fun like moment and like connection and I was super proud of him because he is not always the bravest, but he was just like a total rockstar just going out there on his own in a new place. And I felt like [00:42:00] we were really confident going into the finals after that.
Oh, that's awesome. It's great when you have that. Breakthrough and beautiful peaceful ride. And I know you mentioned he likes to be with other horses. Yeah. So that was felt incredible. Yeah. Yeah. So awesome. So how did the finals go? Yeah, so finals was Saturday and we walked up there the same thing as the preliminary, we just went up, we had a scheduled time.
So we walked up there a little before that. Kinda same thing again. I got up there. Oh, hey, do you want to go? The person's not here, or whatever the case was. Sure, yeah. Let's just do it. It was a shortened course too, right? Slightly shortened. Yes. Yes. So the obstacles there was 1, 2, 3, 4, there was six obstacles.
And the first one was a rolling bridge. So instead of teetering. Slid when your horse walked on it. That was fine. That was [00:43:00] totally fine with him. Then we had to rope a steer. Picking up the lasso, going around, over your horse's head and throwing it over the fake steer head.
That was an issue for me, not him, because I'm an English rider. I don't know how to rope or swing a lasso. And so we had a walkthrough and we got to handle all of the props. Oh, that's good. All of the things. And I tried to practice, but I don't know. I got on and I just kind. Through it.
So you gave it all you got though. You weren't just you didn't just fling it. You like really tried to delay. Yeah, I tried to show that he didn't care about the rope being flung over his head, but it was certainly not well, executed. So we got through that. And then again, there was a cancer portion, so they had like a clover leaf pattern that you had to cancer through.
And he did that beautifully. I was super proud of him. Like he didn't, I was worried he would [00:44:00] break and that we wouldn't be able to keep the canner because it was on a hill that was hard and grass and all of that. And no, he was great. And I guess that's one good thing with keeping my horses at home.
And I have a grass ring that they ride in, we ride out in the field. He was like. Yeah, whatever about that. And then after that it was the water done. And I was bound and determined that I was not going to have to skip that obstacle this time. So we walked down to the water and he, even though we had practiced in the morning, he said, no, I'm not doing this water.
'cause that water is possessed, I'm convinced. And he was like, no, I'm not doing it. So somehow in my brain, it popped into, popped in, back him through the water, just back him in. I was so proud of, never was with him before, ever. I don't know where I heard it. If I heard it, someone told me that, or I heard it in the walkthrough.
I have no idea, but I [00:45:00] just said, I'm gonna back him in. So I did that. I turned him around and I backed him in. And at first he stepped out of it. I didn't back him in far enough. But we went, turned him around again, immediately backed in further and he stayed in the water. And all I had to do then was just turn him and let him walk out.
Which once he was in the water was like, he was like, oh, okay. And he walked out on a loose rain. But I was just so happy because I didn't make it all this way to not go through this obstacle. So we got through the water and then the last part was just trotting over like a clock. Yeah. With holes like a circle and then a mailbox and just raising the flag.
Your time was up. I think if on Mike's video, 'cause I think we were standing close to him. I'm sure you can hear Emily and I like, come on. Like clucking and just I know. Like you got it. I have to tell you though, I give you a lot of credit, I think I tried to get you to consider doing something cross country and you were like, no, I'm a hunter rider. And then you're [00:46:00] backing your horse down this muddy, steep embankment Yeah. Into the water. And I'm like, all right girl, go for it. Yeah. That kind of stuff does not bother me. It's the jumps that hit.
Yeah. There was no jumps in cross country. Yeah. But yeah, no, I just turned around and backed him in. That was amazing. Yeah. So we were able to complete every obstacle and I ended up coming in 10th in the finale. But I was just so proud of him. So you met your goal, right? Which was to Yes. To be top 10.
Yep. That is, that is such an accomplishment to do that two years ago, I think. Yeah. Really? Yeah. It's really amazing. Yeah. I was six in the preliminary, so even with not doing the water, even with having to skip that completely. Wow. I still came in sixth in the preliminary and then, 10 in the finale and in 2024 they did not have a top, like a finale.
It was only [00:47:00] five that went on, and this year they did 10, which was a wonderful change because it allowed so many more people to move on. Yeah. No because I still, if they had not changed that, I still wouldn't have been able to go on the finale being sixth. Yeah. It was only the top five.
But with it being 10 in 2025, then you know, so much, so many more. Got to do it, which was awesome. I think that also made it more fun for the spectators and the families and, support teams that came with people to get to see, 10 top 10 of each discipline compete. Yeah. Yeah. And I know I was able to go around before I had my finals and I watched the field hunters 'cause they were in the morning.
I watched the show Hunters later in the day because one of the boys from the barn where I ride was, in the finals for show hunters. So yeah, I got to see a lot more. They used to just have it in the covered arena, but yeah, I think the way they did it was a lot better in 2025. I [00:48:00] think too, you have an advantage by staying on the property in the campground.
I've never done that, but it seems like it gives you, you're able to just zip back and forth and see more stuff. It's not such a like commitment to go back to your hotel or your Airbnb or something like that. So Yeah. Fun way. Yeah. Having the golf, I love having the golf cart. It's and just to be able to get around and, yeah.
You can go back to the campground. Come back. Yeah. I'm sure when it was raining cats and dogs, you weren't loving it, but Yeah. Yeah. It was a little muddy, but luckily it dried out pretty quickly. I was surprised. Yeah. And pretty good drainage and footing in the arenas at the horse park, right?
Yeah, though I think a pipe broke, near where we were staying, like overlooking where we were staying and they, there was just water going everywhere at one point. But they, oh yeah, I forgot they got it under control. They had to dig it up down by those schooling range. Yeah. So while people are trying to do their dressage tests and school their horses, there's just a backhoe just digging [00:49:00] a new trench out there.
It's for a little additional flare.
Since the makeover, what do you think is like your big kind of training takeaway in terms of Sterling?
Wow. I think just, consistency. I always go back to that. I think that just can do so much. And I think too, like the details of things are super important. I think so many people are so big into, I gotta do, I have to. Get these jumps down, I get my horse jumping.
And by details, can they get on and off a trailer really well? How do they feel about trailering? Do they stand quietly for mounting? Do they, stay relaxed for bridling? I don't know, just all these little things I think, [00:50:00] and those are the pieces that I really enjoy doing and that I can do.
And I think I'm led to doing them because it's easy for me to do those things at home. I don't have a facility where I can ride year round. But I can make sure that it's easy for, everyone to work with them, that they can get on and off a trailer. So I think that's like something really important that I continue to like, instill in my horses that I think is really important.
Yeah. If you could give one piece of advice for someone entering either competitive trail or freestyle or both, what would it be? I think I would say just go for it. Just try it. It's really a lot of fun. Even if you've never done it before, even if your horse is a dressage horse, or you usually ride hunters.
I think cross training is so important and you know it, it's good for your horse to try something new and for [00:51:00] you as well. I think that's a great point. Something we talked about on the Patreon series with Neve's Horse is he had never really jumped. I think he jumped, what, a crossrail or something like that.
She did all of this obstacle training for him. And for the competitive trail and then. A rider took him across country schooling as what his second jump school. Really? But he immediately figured it out because he knew, oh, I've got to, it's a puzzle. It's a puzzle.
I need to figure this out and get to the other side. So even though he hadn't really, it all clicked into place. So it was like a duck to water. He was like, yeah. No, exactly. And like with the obstacle work, it's just, you gotta go through it, right? You gotta work through it and it just translate to jumping or, yeah.
Whatever else. Even if you do dressage, you're gonna go to a horse show and there's gonna be weird things and, I think it all just translates. Or you could be at Devon and there could be a big puddle between you where you're stabled [00:52:00] and like your ring that you need to get to, and, you gotta figure it out.
Yeah. Yeah. I think also doing obstacle work and I wanna start doing some of it with my quarter horse and doing more of the emotional regulation stuff that I did with Oscar because I, you really just find out so much you, and one of the things you find out for better, for worse, or where the holes are in their understanding and their communication with you.
And I think it's really good to identify those shortcomings and figure out a way to bridge the gaps there. 'cause I think it deepens the connection that we have with them. And then when you're on their back and you're asking them to do something challenging, they're like she's never put me in a compromising situation before, so of course I'm gonna try it.
Yeah. Yeah. I think it's all, it all goes together, for sure. I know you're sitting this year out, but would you do it again? I think I would, my [00:53:00] husband really wants me. I know he does. He's of course he's not the one that's doing it all. He would support me, if I wanted to do it again and maybe someday.
Definitely not in the next, I didn't, I'm not doing it this year for sure. I didn't apply. I really just like the training aspect of it. I really do, but I also would wanna keep the horse afterwards. I don't wanna sell. How many do you end up with? So but and it is a lot of pressure to do it and I'm definitely the type of person that if I'm gonna do it, I'm doing it.
Yeah. I'm not just gonna be like, oh we'll see. So I think I would just have to be in the right mindset to say. Yep. This is what I'm focusing on because it, it's a very short timeline. It's a commitment and you really need to, yeah. It's a commitment. You really had to do it.
And last winter I was trailering out every week, multiple times a week. I was really, structuring my time to prioritize training with him. And this [00:54:00] winter's been nice. 'cause, I haven't had to do any of that. I can just enjoy your horses, be, just, be right. Enjoy your nicely trained horses.
Yeah. Speaking of that timeline, that pressure, did you feel like you maybe succumbed to any of that pressure in the way that you trained or any of the decisions that you made along the way? Or did you hold true to yourself and your horses? Yes and no. I think maybe I would have given him a little.
A little more time just at home riding instead of taking him out so much. 'Cause he definitely experienced a lot of anxiety because of that, but I tried to listen to him the best. I could keep it short and sweet, make it a positive experience, but I think maybe in hindsight maybe establishing my relationship with him a little more at home for maybe the first six months and really get a good baseline before then we, traveled off would [00:55:00] maybe be really the only thing I would change.
But, it did work out in the end run, just continuing to get him off property and do things with him, he's awesome about it. So yeah, for sure. It's always hindsight's 2020, right? But it sounds like it all worked out. Yeah. I think, I don't think I hurt anything by doing it, but maybe if I had, if I was doing it differently, I would change that part. Yeah. Yeah. Let's switch gears, I think, and talk about a little bit about life after the makeover and what's next. How did, what happened once you wrapped everything up, you got home. Did he get time off or did you keep riding him?
Just tell us what, how that all Yeah. Yeah, we, so we got back and back. My plan was like, oh, we're gonna take some time off. But I don't know. I was thinking maybe like a month, I don't know, after a week. I was, he was fine. I don't know. There was nothing, there was really no reason to.
And let's see, we got back. I don't know, what was it like the second week of October? So there's always this [00:56:00] horse show here in Erie County there, it's called the Trick or Trot Horse Show. And at the end of October and it's the last like big show that people go to in this area.
And it's a super fun one because, it's a Halloween theme and there's a costume contest. And so I was like, he doesn't seem any worse for wear. Let's go to Trick or Trot. He's a hundred worse now we're done with the takeover. So I took him to Trick or Trot and he was amazing. Oh. He just was like, okay, I'm a show horse.
This is what I do now and been in the stall for the weekend. He schooled in the ring and this was the show. I don't know if you remember me talking. It took him to the same show plaques, like indoor arena in April. It was his, his first big outing and I said he was a combination of a freight train and a PO stick.
Yeah, I like analogy. So it was amazing that he was not those things. He [00:57:00] was That's great. Just lovely. We went around that ring on a loose rain and just was super, so it was a really great like bookend to my year of where we started and where we're ending. That's great. We went in, we did, I think we just did crossrail, so it was low and slow.
And I was terrified because I'm just not the most confident jumping. I will back a horse into water and pack around the horse park alone, but put a crossrail in front of me and I'm freaking out. But he had it down. He just went around beautifully and quietly and was awesome.
And I think we got a couple ribbons and that's how we ended it for the year. That's amazing. So it was really great. Yeah. That's so good. And so have your goals, it sounds like your goals have changed. What's your new goal for him? For him I really would like him to get in the hunter ring and right now he's been struggling with some lameness this [00:58:00] winter. We tested him for Lyme. He doesn't have Lyme. I'm not exactly sure what's going on with him right now, unfortunately. He's just hanging out. Gotcha. But hopefully we'll give him a little time off and kinda see where we're at in the next couple weeks, sounds good. Yeah. Yeah, that's winter I think has been really hard on them and I think if they've got any kind of little thing going on, it's just gonna be highlighted right now. Yeah. Never ending. Yeah, never ending. I know. I think we're getting three more storms. I heard. I can't, I just yeah, but he's just hanging out in the pasture and Yeah.
He's getting his nice little winter vacay and Yeah. He's getting a little vac now. He's getting his break. Yeah. But he didn't, have, in October you can have his breakdown. Have you been scouring the internet for any more honor codes or you, are you done? Are you done collecting? Or is Mike is still sounding, I think I'm good.
Mike is, yeah. He's fine with whatever I wanna do. I have to be the voice of reason here. Yeah. I am sure you heard this on [00:59:00] our episode on Patreon, but one of the highlights, and I can speak for Emily, I think here it for the makeover for us this year was getting to meet you finally in person and Mike and your whole family.
And we just had such a wonderful time getting to know you in person and it just felt like old friends immediately. And it's just really also shout out to Mike for cooking for the barbecue that we had. Oh my gosh. Incredible. Yeah. That was definitely one of his highlights. Oh, he really enjoyed that.
No, he really did. Yeah, that's his thing. He loves cooking, he loves getting people together. Yeah. So yeah, it was fantastic. Yeah, no, I had a lot of fun at this makeover and I think I'll, if I can swing it, I think I might end up trying to. Get down there with somebody that's going this year, but I don't know, last year just about killed me.
So
need a, maybe you're off in between. Yeah, I was thinking too, should I go and volunteer? Just [01:00:00] watch. Yeah. I don't know. We'll see. I was also thinking it would be really fun to maybe go to the Upperville, like the big is it the a derby that they're having there in, in Upperville? Yep. So if I was gonna do like a trip.
Yeah. I know that Madison and Caden, that we're on our Hunter Jumper episode they're gonna be competing at that. So if you drive down this way, we will just, just come get us and we'll go with you. Yeah. We have friends in Virginia. Perfect. Yeah. And we can just kidnap Chelsea.
Yeah. Yes. We'll have a little reunion. Oh my gosh, that would be really fun. That would be so fun. Alright, Steph, thank you so much for this long overdue update. Hopefully our listeners will be eager to hear it. We have to catch up with Chelsea at some point, but she is now right in the throes of Foing season.
I think she's already had a couple babies on the ground. You have eight I think. Yeah, she's had a bunch. Yeah, they're coming even though they're snowing and whatever, so [01:01:00] Zero degrees. They don't care. Not does not sound like fun. No. Really does not. Any final questions? Emily, any final thoughts?
You guys? I think I'm good. Stephanie, is there anything else you wanted to cover or say? No, I think that was really it. Awesome. Yeah. Cool. Do you want to, I'll have to give you guys a picture or something to put on too. Yeah, if you can get a couple pictures and if you have any videos or anything that you wanna share, we can include those as well, maybe.
Okay. I think I might have a video of you backing down the bank. I'll have to see. I'm not, I don't know if I was in like a great vantage point, but Yeah. I have one, I know I have a professional photo of from the Trick or TRO show if I'm jumping a little crossrail. Cute. Okay. Then I obviously have some of the makeover.
Okay. Yeah. So you know Yeah. Can show what he's doing now and what he did and that'd be great. Perfect. Kind of stuff. Yeah. Or the backing. The backing might be good. I don't know if I have a [01:02:00] photo, but Yeah, I think I took a photo of you doing that too. Yeah, actually, maybe we could We'll find it.
I'll look through and I'll send you join in. She's gonna do it no matter what. I'm so glad he did it. I didn't know what he would do. I wasn't sure if he would leap out as soon as his feet touched the water. That's always a scary part. It actually worked. If you enjoyed today's episode, we'd love it if you left us a five star review on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Facebook. And don't forget if you leave a review, we'll send you some OTTB on tap stickers as a thank you. But you have to send us your address.
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