Stable State with Nicole Creed

About This Episode

David Shoobridge takes us through two of his horses at completely different stages of their training journey. This one is less of a formal interview and more of a genuine conversation between two riders - the kind you’d have standing in the stable. Honest, practical, and full of the kind of knowledge that only comes from decades of working with horses at the highest level.

About David Shoobridge

David Shoobridge is one of Australia’s most respected Grand Prix dressage riders, coaches, and breeders. He runs Salisbury Dressage, his purpose built equestrian property just outside Lancefield in Victoria, where he trains, coaches, imports, and breeds horses at an elite level. David is known not just in Australia but internationally for his classical approach to dressage and his eye for developing horses from the ground up.

In This Episode We Cover

• Two horses at completely different stages of their training and what that looks like day to day
• How David structures a training regime for horses at different levels
• What he focuses on in the early stages of a horse’s education and why getting the basics right matters more than anything else
• How he reads a horse and adjusts his training approach accordingly
• The patience required to bring a horse through properly without rushing the process
• General chat about the reality of working with horses at this level every single day

Connect With David Shoobridge

• Instagram: @davidshoobridge
• Website: www.davidshoobridge.com

Connect With Stable State

• Instagram: @stablestatepod
• Host: Nicole Creed @itsnicolecreed
• EquiCare: @equicare_app
• Try EquiCare free for 14 days here

About This Episode

Madi Sanders left a successful corporate tech career in 2024 to build something the equestrian world was missing. In this episode she gets honest about what that leap actually looked like and what she's building on the other side of it.

About Madi Sanders

Madi Sanders is a lifelong hunter jumper rider and the founder of Elite Equine, a modern marketplace built specifically for the equestrian world. After nearly a decade in tech sales, Madi recognised a significant gap between the sophisticated technology she worked with during the week and the outdated systems her industry still relied on. She left corporate life in 2024 to build a platform that uses modern matchmaking technology to connect horse buyers and sellers in a way that actually makes sense for the equestrian community.

In This Episode We Cover

• What made Madi walk away from a stable tech career to start from scratch
• The gap she saw in the equestrian market and why nobody had fixed it yet
• Building a platform in an industry that is resistant to change
• Why technology should amplify equestrian relationships, not replace them
• The reality of solopreneurship versus what she expected it to look like
• Where Elite Equine is headed and what the future looks like

Connect With Madi Sanders

• Instagram: @eliteequineofficial
• Website: www.eliteequinemarketplace.com

Connect With Stable State

• Instagram: @stablestatepod
• Host: Nicole Creed @itsnicolecreed
• EquiCare: @equicare_app
• Try EquiCare free for 14 days

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About This Episode

Jess Somerfield has competed at the highest level of eventing and in this episode she holds nothing back about what it actually took to get there. From chasing a dream with no guarantees to standing at the start box of a CCI5*L, this is one of the most honest conversations we've had on the podcast so far.

About Jess Somerfield

Jess Somerfield is one of Australia's leading event riders, currently competing at 5 star level out of her property Wildfire Equestrian in the Hunter Valley, NSW. She is an EA accredited Level 2 coach, was named EA Coach of the Year, and has competed at some of Australia's most prestigious events including the Adelaide Equestrian Festival CCI5*L. Jess runs a full training, coaching, and competition operation while managing a string of horses at varying levels.

In This Episode We Cover

• The real journey to five star and the setbacks nobody talks about
• Why Jess believes it's a privilege to be doing what we love regardless of the scoreboard and what that mindset shift means
• The mental side of eventing and why more people need to be honest about when it goes wrong
• How social media's highlight reel culture is making the sport harder than it needs to be
• Managing a full string of horses, a coaching business, and competing at elite level
• What it actually takes to build a sustainable career in eventing

Connect With Jess Somerfield

• Instagram: @wildfire_equestrian
• Website: www.wildfireequestrian.com.au

Connect With Stable State

• Instagram: @stablestatepod
• Host: Nicole Creed @itsnicolecreed
• EquiCare: @equicare_app
• Try EquiCare free for 14 days via our website

Most people know Ulcer Armour+, but very few people know the story behind it.

Yseult Newton founded High Horse Performance and built one of Australia's most trusted equine gut health supplements companies from the ground up. But what doesn't get talked about is what that actually looked like behind the scenes.

Yseult gets incredibly honest in this conversation about how High Horse Performance started, the moment she knew she needed to pivot, and what it actually feels like to watch one product take on a life of its own.

We talked about the 2am days, the burnout, and what has kept her going through all of it. We also got into how hard it is to build a business in this industry, where there are no quick fixes and success rarely comes on anyone's planned timeline.

This was honestly one of my favourite conversations on the podcast so far.

Comment '🤎' and we will send you a link to this week's episode!

There's a version of this industry that looks effortless from the outside. Ally O'Neill will be the first to tell you it isn't.

Ally rides, breeds, coaches, and judges at an EA level, all while working full time. From the outside it looks like she has it all figured out. But this conversation gets into the real side of what building that life actually looks like.

We talk about the rollercoaster of breeding, the patience and heartbreak that comes with bringing young horses through, and what it feels like when a horse you have poured everything into starts to become the horse you always knew they could be.

We also get into judging, what Ally sees from the judge's box that most riders never hear, and how stepping into that role has changed the way she rides and trains.

This one is full of the kind of honest, grounded advice that only comes from someone who has genuinely lived it.

Listen now via the link in bio. 🎙️

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Growing up with non horsey parents in suburban Melbourne, Steph had no connections, no blueprint, and no shortcuts. What she did have was an obsession that never went away and the drive to turn it into something real.

Today she runs Lancefield Bloodstock with her partner Mitch from their property in Merton, Victoria. Training, coaching, sales, buyers advocacy, and a community around her that she is genuinely proud of. But the road to get there wound through riding schools, cattle ranches in California, the racing industry, the Australian Brumby Challenge, and competitive reining at a national level.

In this episode Steph gets really honest about what it takes to survive in this industry, how you keep going when it's hard, how you set boundaries in a business that is also your whole life, and why despite everything, it is absolutely worth it.

She gave some of the most practical and grounding advice we've had on the podcast so far. This one will stay with you.

Listen now via the link in bio. 🎙️

David Shoobridge has spent decades doing something most people only dream about, building a life entirely around the horses he loves.

At Salisbury, his property just outside Lancefield in Victoria, David trains, coaches, imports, and breeds at an elite level. He is one of Australia's most respected Grand Prix dressage riders and the kind of person who has built something genuinely his own in a traditional and often unforgiving industry.

In this episode we did something a little different. Instead of sitting down across from each other, we walked through his property together. We talked about what he looks for when importing horses from Europe, why he chose to breed his own, what a real day at Salisbury actually looks like, and what it has taken to build something sustainable when your whole life revolves around horses.

This is the behind the scenes that most people never get to see. The decisions, the reality, and the mindset behind one of the most respected names in dressage, not just in Australia, but worldwide.

In this episode I'm sitting down with Hannah Basetti, founder of Equestrian Trade and Business Australia, creator of the Equine Business Summit, and the woman behind The Riders Pod, an equestrian app she built from scratch and sold to international company Equilab.

We get into the reality of building and selling a business, what the equestrian industry gets wrong about community and connection, and why Hannah got tired of feeling alone in a space she loved and decided to do something about it.

This one is for anyone who has ever felt like the odd one out for wanting more from this industry.

Listen now. 🎙️