The Road to Rome

Sri Lanka isn't known as an international equestrian hub, but Equine Mastery founder Wiranya Divitotawela didn't let that stop her from creating a digital platform dedicated to connecting equestrians and highlighting horse-and-rider partnerships around the world.

Growing up in a country where the equestrian industry is still relatively niche, she quickly realized that many of the traditional career pathways available in larger equestrian markets simply didn't exist locally, so she decided to forge her own.

If anyone can attest to the fact that there is no single path into the industry, it's Wiranya - but her story is an inspiring one for those ready to forge their own!

StableSecretary founder Kate Rice Nilan has loved horses ever since she can remember but she never thought taking a job outside of the horse world would provide the creative means to bring her back in a professional capacity.

After a stint in software development and some time teaching high school French and Spanish, she kept coming back to horses, working as a rider, barn manager, instructor, and trainer at various barns on the East Coast before launching StableSecretary in 2012 to try to solve the administrative and operational frustrations she experienced in these roles.

In an industry that still does many things the old-fashioned way, Kate's path proved highly technical and her story is an inspiring one for even the luddites in the crowd!

Learn more at https://stablesecretary.com/.

As the stable manager for the new urban equestrian center for Detroit Horse Power, Anthony Crummie finds himself in a unique position - but one that perhaps he has been traveling a path to since the very beginning.

A lifelong Detroiter who was introduced to the horse world through the Boy Scouts, he never imagined that the opportunity to work full time in the horse industry - particularly within a program that is so near and dear to the community he loves - would materialize. For a long time, he stayed near horses through work at the Bloomfield Open Hunt Club and Buffalo Soldier Heritage Center, then came Detroit Horse Power.

Tune into this powerful episode to hear not only about Anthony's journey to his dream job, but also how his faith proved to be the cornerstone of it all.

In this debut episode of "The Road to Rome," Randi is joined by Horse Spot co-founder Lindsay Lenard to learn how a one-time illustrator with her BFA from the American Academy of Art in Chicago became the creative mind behind one of the fastest-growing horse show management platforms in the country.

From the barn aisle to the show ring, from promoting household brands to start-up entities, Lindsay's journey started with "The Saddle Club" and has now taken her to places that even her extremely creative brain couldn't imagine.

Join Lindsay and Randi on this episode's road!