This Week on In Stride

Sinead Halpin Maynard sits down with John Michael Durr, fresh off designing the FEI courses at a Calgary-area facility's first international event since the 1970s, to talk candidly about why eventing is inherently unsafe, how awareness (not fear) is the tool that actually protects riders and horses, and what he'd change about how the sport structures itself.

Meet the Guest: John Michael Durr

John Michael Durr is an international event rider and show jumper who has competed at the Kentucky Three-Day Event and, more recently, transitioned into FEI-level show jumping. He is an FEI course designer and serves on the USEA's Cross Country Safety Committee and Licensed Officials Committee, putting him at the center of ongoing conversations about rider and horse safety in the sport. Raised in California before building his career on both coasts, Durr now runs Durr Eventing, a training, competition, and sales business, with his wife, Kimmy Durr.

In This Episode, Sinead and John Michael Discuss:

• Why Durr believes the sport needs to stop pretending jumping horses is "safe" and instead talk openly about mitigating real risk
• The concept of awareness as a mental skill riders and coaches can train, separate from technical ability
• Frangible technology as an "airbag," a tool that softens a fall but doesn't eliminate the risk in the first place
• His course design philosophy of low jumps and hard exercises, and why cross-country schooling culture needs a broader rethink
• The personal loss, twenty years ago, that first shaped his focus on safety, and how he's carried that forward into his work as a course designer and safety committee member

Episode Sponsor

Connaway & Associates

The friendly and knowledgeable team at Connaway & Associates brings together more than 30 years of experience to offer a wide range of insurance services, including horse insurance, farm insurance, and liability insurance.

Visit www.connaway.net or call 501-868-8084 to explore your options.

Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide

Created by equine veterinarian Dr. Erica Lacher, the Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide app helps horse owners recognize the signs of a true emergency, know when to call the vet, and understand what to do while help is on the way.

Download from the App Store or Google Play at EquineEmergencyApp.com

In Stride Is Brought to You by Ride iQ

Ride iQ helps everyday riders ride with more clarity, confidence, and purpose through on-demand audio lessons from world-class coaches.

Members also get:

• Weekly live Q&As with equestrian experts
• Exclusive podcast episodes
• Dressage test prep resources
• A supportive learning community

Start your free 14-day trial at Ride-iQ.com

This Week on In Stride 

Sinead Halpin-Maynard sits down with Caroline Harris fresh off the FEI Eventing World Championships in Aachen to talk about the unlikely horse who carried her from a late start in the sport to two five-star wins, and the mental work behind staying grounded at the highest level of competition.

Meet the Guest: Caroline Harris 

Caroline Harris is a British international event rider who claimed her first five-star victory at Pau in 2024 and added a second at Luhmühlen in 2026, both with her partner D.Day. Those wins earned the pair a place on the British eventing team for the 2026 FEI Eventing World Championships in Aachen, building on a Nations Cup debut at Boekelo in 2023 and a selection to the British European Championships squad at Blenheim in 2025.

In This Episode, Sinead and Caroline Discuss:

• The unconventional path to a five-star debut at 34, and why D.Day, a horse bred to be a gentle family horse, was never expected to reach the top of the sport
• How a small ownership syndicate of friends backed D.Day one level at a time, with no pressure attached, all the way to Pau, Luhmühlen, and Aachen
• Working through self-doubt and nerves with a sports psychologist, and learning to enjoy competing at the top level instead of just surviving it
• Building a life and identity outside the barn, including training as a personal trainer, and what comes next on the road to Los Angeles 2028

Episode Sponsor

Connaway & Associates

The friendly and knowledgeable team at Connaway & Associates brings together more than 30 years of experience to offer a wide range of insurance services, including horse insurance, farm insurance, and liability insurance.

Visit www.connaway.net or call 501-868-8084 to explore your options.

Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide

Created by equine veterinarian Dr. Erica Lacher, the Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide app helps horse owners recognize the signs of a true emergency, know when to call the vet, and understand what to do while help is on the way.

Download from the App Store or Google Play at EquineEmergencyApp.com

In Stride Is Brought to You by Ride iQ

Ride iQ helps everyday riders ride with more clarity, confidence, and purpose through on-demand audio lessons from world-class coaches.

Members also get:

• Weekly live Q&As with equestrian experts
• Exclusive podcast episodes
• Dressage test prep resources
• A supportive learning community

Start your free 14-day trial at Ride-iQ.com

This Week on In Stride

Sinead Halpin-Maynard sits down with two-time Olympian Hawley Bennett-Awad fresh off an electric World Championships in Aachen to talk about building a career one horse at a time, learning to put her own wellbeing first after years of burnout, and the unexpected new horse now fueling her dream of a home Olympics in LA.

Meet the Guest: Hawley Bennett-Awad

Hawley Bennett-Awad is a two-time Olympian who represented Canada at the 2004 Athens and 2012 London Games, and has competed at four World Championships for her country. Her career has been defined by long partnerships with a small string of horses, including her first advanced mount off the track, and Jollybo, who she competed at the CCI4* and CCI5* levels for close to a decade. Based in Southern California, Bennett-Awad also runs a busy clinic teaching schedule around the country. She recently found an unexpected new partner in Levino, with her sights set on a return to top-level competition.

In This Episode, Sinead and Hawley Discuss:

• What it felt like to watch this year's World Championships in Aachen as a former competitor, and why she calls it the toughest competition in the sport
• Building a career one horse at a time, learning each horse inside and out, and the discipline that comes with limited resources
• The mindset shift that led her to scale back a packed teaching schedule and put her own wellbeing first
• How an unplanned encounter led her to Levino, and her plan to chase a return to top-level competition

Episode Sponsor

Connaway & Associates

The friendly and knowledgeable team at Connaway & Associates brings together more than 30 years of experience to offer a wide range of insurance services, including horse insurance, farm insurance, and liability insurance.

Visit www.connaway.net or call 501-868-8084 to explore your options.

Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide

Created by equine veterinarian Dr. Erica Lacher, the Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide app helps horse owners recognize the signs of a true emergency, know when to call the vet, and understand what to do while help is on the way.

Download from the App Store or Google Play at EquineEmergencyApp.com

In Stride Is Brought to You by Ride iQ

Ride iQ helps everyday riders ride with more clarity, confidence, and purpose through on-demand audio lessons from world-class coaches.

Members also get:

• Weekly live Q&As with equestrian experts
• Exclusive podcast episodes
• Dressage test prep resources
• A supportive learning community

Start your free 14-day trial at Ride-iQ.com

This Week on In Stride 

Sinead Halpin-Maynard sits down with Alizée Froment to talk about her path from Grand Prix dressage to liberty training, and how she teaches horses to recognize tension in their bodies and find their own way out of it.

Meet the Guest: Alizée Froment 

Alizée Froment is a French liberty trainer, performer, and author who competed internationally in dressage up to Grand Prix level and trained the French National Pony Dressage Team. In 2011 she made her international Grand Prix debut aboard her stallion Mistral du Coussoul, competing at that level for years before retiring him from competition in 2018. Since 2009, Froment has performed neck rope liberty demonstrations for hundreds of thousands of spectators around the world. She now works with sport horses sent to her for emotional and behavioral struggles, runs her own liberty and education programs, and has developed courses with fellow trainer Tristan Tucker on his TRT platform. She is the author of The Horses Who Made Me, released in 2024.

In This Episode, Sinead and Alizée Discuss:

• How she reads the physical tension behind a horse's fear, anger, or frustration, and teaches them to release it themselves instead of shutting the emotion down
• Her horses' daily bodywork routine, including stretching, massage, and natural therapies like clay and essential oils, and how it feeds directly into her training decisions each day
• The moment she stopped chasing performance in competition and started training for the horse in front of her
• Why she believes horse welfare debates need more listening and less judgment

Episode Sponsor

Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide

Created by equine veterinarian Dr. Erica Lacher, the Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide app helps horse owners recognize the signs of a true emergency, know when to call the vet, and understand what to do while help is on the way.

Download from the App Store or Google Play at EquineEmergencyApp.com

In Stride Is Brought to You by Ride iQ

Ride iQ helps everyday riders ride with more clarity, confidence, and purpose through on-demand audio lessons from world-class coaches.

Members also get:

• Weekly live Q&As with equestrian experts
• Exclusive podcast episodes
• Dressage test prep resources
• A supportive learning community

Start your free 14-day trial at Ride-iQ.com

This Week on In Stride

Sinead Halpin-Maynard sits down with Linsay Rosser Sumpter to trace the history of women in rodeo, the fight for equal opportunity and pay, and how a rodeo family legacy turned into a role leading the sport's biggest platform for cowgirls.

Meet the Guest: Linsay Rosser Sumpter

Linsay Rosser Sumpter is the Commissioner of Premier Women's Rodeo (PWR), the rebrand of the Women's Rodeo World Championship she has led since its founding in 2020. She grew up in a multi-generational rodeo family that produced rodeos for nearly 80 years, competed collegiately as a breakaway roper on scholarship, and spent more than 15 seasons as a college rodeo coach in Colorado. Under her leadership, PWR has paid out over $5 million to female rodeo athletes and secured a new media partnership with Scripps Sports to broadcast the sport nationally. In 2024, she received the Western Sports Foundation's Grit Award for her advocacy on behalf of women in rodeo.

In This Episode, Sinead and Linsay Discuss:

• The history of women in rodeo, from early trick riders to the tragedy that pushed them out of the arena for decades
• How Premier Women's Rodeo grew out of a push for equal pay and equal opportunity across every rodeo discipline
• What it took to step out of competition and into the commissioner's chair to build a platform for the next generation
• The family legacy of stock contracting and rodeo producing that shaped her from childhood

Episode Sponsor

Connaway & Associates

The friendly and knowledgeable team at Connaway & Associates brings together more than 30 years of experience to offer a wide range of insurance services, including horse insurance, farm insurance, and liability insurance.

Visit www.connaway.net or call 501-868-8084 to explore your options.

Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide

Created by equine veterinarian Dr. Erica Lacher, the Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide app helps horse owners recognize the signs of a true emergency, know when to call the vet, and understand what to do while help is on the way.

Download from the App Store or Google Play at EquineEmergencyApp.com

In Stride Is Brought to You by Ride iQ

Ride iQ helps everyday riders ride with more clarity, confidence, and purpose through on-demand audio lessons from world-class coaches.

Members also get:

• Weekly live Q&As with equestrian experts
• Exclusive podcast episodes
• Dressage test prep resources
• A supportive learning community

Start your free 14-day trial at Ride-iQ.com

This Week on In Stride 

Sinead Halpin-Maynard sits down with Laura Bruner to talk about the education gap she saw across 25 plus years in the horse world and the college preparatory academy she built to close it.

Meet the Guest: Laura Bruner 

Laura Bruner is the founder and executive director of Equis Amare College Preparatory Academy (EACPA), a nonprofit college prep high school for equestrian students opening in Penn Valley, California this fall. She spent 20 years on the Hunter/Jumper A circuit, training under Olympians Peter Breakwell and Miguel Leal, and has started more than 350 horses over her 25 plus year career. Laura built EACPA to close the education gap she saw across the industry, pairing core academics with hands-on horsemanship and industry credentialing.

Equis Amare College Preparatory Academy

"Every horse, every student has a story... The question is: what part of that story do you want to be?”

If you want to learn more about EACPA, check it out here.

In This Episode, Sinead and Laura Discuss:

• Why Laura built a bridge between the "real world" of school and the "real world" of the barn instead of asking students to choose one
• How EACPA's no phone policy protects the soul to soul connection between horse and rider
• Turning the horse industry's biggest staffing problem, professionals doing 17 jobs with no time to train the next generation, into a pipeline of educated working students
• Why the "bombproof horse" doesn't exist, and how a fundamental level of education protects parents and clients from costly mistakes

Episode Sponsors

Connaway & Associates

The friendly and knowledgeable team at Connaway & Associates brings together more than 30 years of experience to offer a wide range of insurance services, including horse insurance, farm insurance, and liability insurance.

Visit www.connaway.net or call 501-868-8084 to explore your options.

Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide

Created by equine veterinarian Dr. Erica Lacher, the Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide app helps horse owners recognize the signs of a true emergency, know when to call the vet, and understand what to do while help is on the way.

Download from the App Store or Google Play at EquineEmergencyApp.com

In Stride Is Brought to You by Ride iQ

Ride iQ helps everyday riders ride with more clarity, confidence, and purpose through on-demand audio lessons from world-class coaches.

Members also get:

• Weekly live Q&As with equestrian experts
• Exclusive podcast episodes
• Dressage test prep resources
• A supportive learning community

Start your free 14-day trial at Ride-iQ.com

This Week on In Stride 

Sinead Halpin-Maynard talks with Rupert Isaacson about how horses helped his nonverbal autistic son find his voice, and how that discovery turned into a therapeutic horsemanship method now used around the world.

Meet the Guest: Rupert Isaacson 

Rupert Isaacson is a horseman, author, and founder of New Trails Learning Systems, home to three therapy programs used with autistic kids, veterans, and trauma survivors, work that began after he discovered that riding a horse helped his nonverbal autistic son, Rowan, find his voice. He's also a classical dressage rider trained in the centuries-old "Old Masters" tradition. Rupert wrote the bestselling book and film The Horse Boy about the family's journey across Mongolia to help Rowan, and before that founded the Indigenous Land Rights Fund, which helped the Kalahari Bushmen of Botswana and South Africa win a landmark case for their ancestral land.

In This Episode, Sinead and Rupert Discuss:

• How he first noticed that a horse's gait directly changed how much his son communicated, and discovering the science behind it
• The three therapy programs he built and how each one meets autistic kids, veterans, and trauma survivors where they are
• Why classical dressage, not just a calm horse, is what makes a horse capable of this kind of therapeutic work
• His ride across Mongolia in search of a shaman, the journey that became the book The Horse Boy, and the land rights advocacy work that came before it
• Why he believes healing takes both hard science and a little bit of magic

Episode Sponsor

Connaway & Associates

The friendly and knowledgeable team at Connaway & Associates brings together more than 30 years of experience to offer a wide range of insurance services, including horse insurance, farm insurance, and liability insurance.

Visit www.connaway.net or call 501-868-8084 to explore your options.

Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide

Created by equine veterinarian Dr. Erica Lacher, the Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide app helps horse owners recognize the signs of a true emergency, know when to call the vet, and understand what to do while help is on the way.

Download from the App Store or Google Play at EquineEmergencyApp.com

In Stride Is Brought to You by Ride iQ

Ride iQ helps everyday riders ride with more clarity, confidence, and purpose through on-demand audio lessons from world-class coaches.

Members also get:

• Weekly live Q&As with equestrian experts
• Exclusive podcast episodes
• Dressage test prep resources
• A supportive learning community

Start your free 14-day trial at Ride-iQ.com

This Week on In Stride 

Sinead Halpin-Maynard sits down with professional event rider Booli Selmayr to talk about the grief that first sent her out for a run, the injury that nearly ended everything, and why she believes "treating yourself like an athlete" is the missing piece for riders at every level.

Meet the Guest: Booli Selmayr 

Booli Selmayr is a professional event rider and trainer based at Fox Race Farm in Millbrook, New York, where she runs Fox Valley Sport Horses, now celebrating its 10-year anniversary. She came up through Pony Club and fox hunting before completing her first CCI5* at 34, aboard her longtime partner Millfield Lancando at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event. She has since built a reputation for pairing serious horsemanship with serious athletic training as a runner, CrossFit athlete, and creator of the "Ride the Pace" cross-country clinic.

In This Episode, Sinead and Booli Discuss:

• Why losing her best friend to cancer, and later another close friend, first sent her out for a run, and how that grew into a full lifestyle
• Why treating yourself like an athlete, whether that means tracking your food or fueling properly for competition, matters just as much as time in the tack
• Her "against, on, and with the horse" framework for rider balance, and why real strength, not just being light, makes horses safer and more secure
• Building Fox Valley Sport Horses from a mostly fox-hunting string into a full eventing program over 10 years, and the confidence it took to bet on herself

Episode Sponsor

Connaway & Associates

The friendly and knowledgeable team at Connaway & Associates brings together more than 30 years of experience to offer a wide range of insurance services, including horse insurance, farm insurance, and liability insurance.

Visit www.connaway.net or call 501-868-8084 to explore your options.

Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide

Created by equine veterinarian Dr. Erica Lacher, the Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide app helps horse owners recognize the signs of a true emergency, know when to call the vet, and understand what to do while help is on the way.

Download from the App Store or Google Play at EquineEmergencyApp.com

In Stride Is Brought to You by Ride iQ

Ride iQ helps everyday riders ride with more clarity, confidence, and purpose through on-demand audio lessons from world-class coaches.

Members also get:

• Weekly live Q&As with equestrian experts
• Exclusive podcast episodes
• Dressage test prep resources
• A supportive learning community

Start your free 14-day trial at Ride-iQ.com

This Week on In Stride

Sinead Halpin-Maynard talks with Alec Lochore, who is serving as the official cross-country course designer for eventing at the LA 2028 Olympics for the first time in his career, about what the Games mean to the sport and how he ended up designing its biggest stage.

Meet the Guest: Alec Lochore

Alec Lochore is a veteran eventing official who has worked the Olympics in Beijing, London, Rio, and Tokyo in various technical and management roles. Raised in a horse family in Scotland, he competed through five-star level before shifting into event organizing, co-founding Musketeer with his brother Hugh, a business that has since run more than 150 events, including Blair Castle and now Scone Palace.

In This Episode, Sinead and Alec Discuss:

• What makes the Olympics a singular stage for a niche sport, and how Alec ended up as LA28's cross-country course designer
• His design philosophy, including building in options at varying difficulty and honoring what an MER (Minimum Eligibility Requirement) is actually meant to certify
• Behind-the-scenes details on building the Santa Anita cross-country track, from turf challenges to licensing restrictions on course "theming"
• The shared responsibility between course designers, riders, and officials for horse welfare, and his advice for lower-level riders on reading what a course is asking

Episode Sponsor

Connaway & Associates

The friendly and knowledgeable team at Connaway & Associates brings together more than 30 years of experience to offer a wide range of insurance services, including horse insurance, farm insurance, and liability insurance.

Visit www.connaway.net or call 501-868-8084 to explore your options.

Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide

Created by equine veterinarian Dr. Erica Lacher, the Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide app helps horse owners recognize the signs of a true emergency, know when to call the vet, and understand what to do while help is on the way.

Download from the App Store or Google Play at EquineEmergencyApp.com

In Stride Is Brought to You by Ride iQ

Ride iQ helps everyday riders ride with more clarity, confidence, and purpose through on-demand audio lessons from world-class coaches.

Members also get:

• Weekly live Q&As with equestrian experts
• Exclusive podcast episodes
• Dressage test prep resources
• A supportive learning community

Start your free 14-day trial at Ride-iQ.com

In this special call-in episode of "In Stride", Sinead is joined again by Tik Maynard for another listener-driven conversation.

Tik Maynard is the 2024 and 2025 Road to the Horse Champion and the author of In the Middle Are the Horsemen and Starting in the Middle. Along with Sinead, he runs Copperline Farm in Citra, Florida, and teaches clinics across the country.

Together, Tik and Sinead respond to a new batch of listener questions, diving into topics including:

• Building in connection and downtime for horses during a busy competition season
• Reading the milestones that show a young horse is ready for its first dressage test or show
• Reframing the decision to retire a horse from "giving up" to knowing when it's time to pivot
• How rhythm and tension in a horse's body are windows into what they're feeling

Episode Sponsor

Connaway & Associates

The friendly and knowledgeable team at Connaway & Associates brings together more than 30 years of experience to offer a wide range of insurance services, including horse insurance, farm insurance, and liability insurance.

Visit www.connaway.net or call 501-868-8084 to explore your options.

Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide

Created by equine veterinarian Dr. Erica Lacher, the Equine Emergency Vet Care Guide app helps horse owners recognize the signs of a true emergency, know when to call the vet, and understand what to do while help is on the way.

Download from the App Store or Google Play at EquineEmergencyApp.com

In Stride Is Brought to You by Ride iQ

Ride iQ helps everyday riders ride with more clarity, confidence, and purpose through on-demand audio lessons from world-class coaches.

Members also get:

• Weekly live Q&As with equestrian experts
• Exclusive podcast episodes
• Dressage test prep resources
• A supportive learning community

Start your free 14-day trial at Ride-iQ.com