The Total Podcast

Recorded at Road to the Horse in Lexington, Kentucky, this episode features Bobby and Jake from the National Center for Healthy Veterans (NCHV) at Valor Farm in Altavista, Virginia.

They share how their nine-month residential program helps veterans process trauma, rebuild community, and return home as healthier husbands, fathers, and leaders. Patriots live in tiny homes, do dignified farm work, and go through structured programming focused on physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and relational health.

A big part of the work happens with horses. Bobby and Jake explain why the horse is such a powerful conduit for men who struggle to open up—how working (and sometimes riding) with horses lowers defenses, reveals what’s underneath, and teaches trust, patience, and relationship-building that transfers to family and faith.

They also talk about the path forward: expanding tiny-home villages, rebuilding after a 2024 barn fire (arena is back; stall barns and more are next), creating sustainable event revenue, and plans for a family lodge with counseling space.

Their bigger goal is reshaping veteran care through community-driven, faith-based models that can be replicated closer to home.Learn more, refer a veteran, donate, or volunteer at healthyveterans.org.

Thanks for watching the @Totalfeeds YouTube Channel! Our mission to provide quality nutrition to people and animals puts us in contact with all manner of interesting folks.

Whether you're interested in our animal feed, or the people involved in the animal industry: you'll find it at Total Feeds!

Check out our line of Quality Animal Feeds here: https://totalfeeds.comIf you have any questions regarding our products email: [email protected]

On this episode of the Total Podcast, host sits down with two respected Texas horse trainers—Punk Carter and Jeff Williams (from Post, Texas)—who drove in for a cutting event in Weatherford. What starts as a conversation about how the two met (Jeff noticed Punk didn’t cross his reins at a clinic) quickly turns into a rich, story-filled discussion of old-timer methods versus modern horsemanship.They cover how they learned from hard-nosed cowboys who preferred snubbing up and getting on rather than extensive ground work, the value of one-handed rein handling, and the “treaty” you make with a horse when you’re out of the arena and away from the boss. Listeners get plenty of classic ranch tales: training on garden rows with a dog and family, early mechanical cows, working goats and even pigs, staking colts, and the realities of starting horses for sales on a tight timeline.Punk and Jeff also talk about horse quality then versus now (remount studs, Hollywood blood, Doc Bar influence, and the shift toward hotter, more refined modern horses), the struggles of going out on their own, breeding decisions that paid off, and the satisfaction of hard work passed to the next generation of young hands. Along the way there are plenty of humorous and colorful stories involving wild cattle, bucking horses, pickup men, and the occasional skunk or mange-covered pup.It’s an unvarnished, conversational look at a lifetime spent with horses from two men who lived both the rough-and-ready old world and the finer modern cutting scene—and who still love starting colts as much as ever.

In this episode of The Total Podcast, recorded at Jackie Crawford’s place outside Stephenville, Texas, the multi-time WPRA World Champion and breakaway roping legend sits down for an honest conversation about her career, horses, and the growth of women’s rodeo.Crawford recounts her recent season of roughly 60 rodeos, including a win at Puyallup and a run that put her in contention for the NFR into the final days.

She reflects on her humble start—hauling to high school and amateur rodeos in a single-cab Ford with no AC, sleeping in a lawn chair, and chasing lunch money at US Calf Roping Association events. She describes her breakthrough 2001/2002 win at the Stephenville finals, where she took home a trailer, saddle, buckle, and about $6,000—the biggest payday breakaway had seen at the time.

The discussion covers the evolution of breakaway roping from a low-money passion into a mainstream event that benefits the broader equine industry through increased demand for horses, calves, ropes, feed, and equipment. Crawford emphasizes that women are major consumers and that growing the event strengthens the entire Western industry rather than competing with other disciplines.

She shares her horse philosophy in depth: early on she bought affordable ranch horses, cutting rejects, and race-track prospects and learned to match each horse to the job it was suited for instead of forcing square pegs into round holes. Today’s specialized, higher-priced rope horses require the same respect. She prioritizes the horse’s well-being over winning, stresses consistent black-and-white cues, pressure-and-release training, and understanding each horse’s individual mind.

Limited resources early in her career, she says, made her a safer and more skilled horseman.Crawford also talks about the tight-knit community of women ropers who support one another on the road and serve as extended family for her kids (Creed and Journey).

She discusses raising children in the industry—whether or not they stay in rodeo—and the values of work ethic and responsibility that transfer to any path. Looking ahead, she wants to expand into coaching, including online programs focused on safety, horsemanship, and helping newer riders (many drawn in by shows like Yellowstone) match themselves correctly to horses and maintain them properly.Her core advice for young women ropers (and anyone chasing a hard goal): there are no shortcuts, you spend more time losing than winning, and the key is to fall in love with the daily process rather than only the outcome.

Thanks for watching the @Totalfeeds YouTube Channel! Our mission to provide quality nutrition to people and animals puts us in contact with all manner of interesting folks. Whether you're interested in our animal feed, or the people involved in the animal industry: you'll find it at Total Feeds! Check out our line of Quality Animal Feeds here: https://totalfeeds.comIf you have any questions regarding our products email: [email protected]

Ernie Wilson has been making and rebuilding saddles in Ontario for nearly forty years — and he started the only way that lasts: he took a cheap, uncomfortable saddle apart until he understood it.Recorded at the Ontario Equine Expo in Markham, Ernie talks about growing up on a farm near Millverton, the Emory saddle his uncle sold him at sixteen, three days with a maker in Ottawa, and the trade-show scraps that turned into his own way of building. He’s made roughly 600 saddles of his own and about 500 adjustable saddles for a customer in Alberta — then rebuilt the design when the hinges failed and the trees wouldn’t come in straight.He measures horses with Australian fit cards, sends trees out custom, and lets riders sit the seat two or three times before it’s finished. He also takes factory barrel saddles apart when the thin fiberglass lets go — one bear-trap tree arrived in three pieces — then levels the rebuild on a stone the size of a table. Daughter Jody now feels the bumps he can’t, sews what his eyes won’t follow, and keeps the tack side of the shop alive.This is a conversation about fit, tariffs, lost trades, square bales, a homemade forklift, a 1971 tractor that needed the snowblower for ballast, and why young people who want the craft still have to watch first. No more black saddles. Plenty of figuring it out.Recorded live in Markham, OntarioThanks for watching the @Totalfeeds YouTube Channel! Our mission to provide quality nutrition to people and animals puts us in contact with all manner of interesting folks. Whether you're interested in our animal feed, or the people involved in the animal industry: you'll find it at Total Feeds! Check out our line of Quality Animal Feeds here: https://totalfeeds.comIf you have any questions regarding our products email: [email protected]

Canadian horse trainer, clinician, TV personality, and pole bender Bronwyn Irwin sits down at the Ohio Equinox Fair for a wide-open conversation about partnership, performance, and why chemistry beats a perfect pedigree.

Bronwyn talks about finding Chief — the buckskin paint she spotted in a photo after ice cream in Toronto — and how bears, groundwork, obstacle work, and years of trust turned him into a 15+ year partner for rodeos, magazines, commercials, and TV.

She breaks down what actually makes a movie or film horse (personality plus willingness when an actor is holding the lead), why she still rides a snaffle, and how NCAA hockey visualization became her rodeo mental game: picture the arena until the crowd doesn’t matter, then just ride to the next point.They get into pole bending vs. barrels, teaching ordinary people on ordinary horses, Scamper and Charmayne, underdog stories, lemon water, gallons vs. litres, whiteouts off Lake Huron, and why she never sells the horses that grow with her. Plus what’s next: Jason’s colt-starting book, a Perlino mare in training, the next generation of liberty and film horses, and more TV.

Find Bronwyn:thehorsetrainers.comFacebook: Jason and Bronwyn Irwin HorsemanshipInstagram: @bronwynhartirwinRecorded live in Columbus, Ohio.

Thanks for watching the @Totalfeeds YouTube Channel! Our mission to provide quality nutrition to people and animals puts us in contact with all manner of interesting folks.

Whether you're interested in our animal feed, or the people involved in the animal industry: you'll find it at Total Feeds!

Check out our line of Quality Animal Feeds here: https://totalfeeds.comIf you have any questions regarding our products email: [email protected]

We caught Trevor Hirshberg at Art of the Cowgirl in Wickenburg, Arizona — Army veteran, former police officer, and the farrier behind Hirshberg Performance with his wife Carrie.Trevor talks about growing up on a Wisconsin dairy farm, riding horses four or five days a week while working law enforcement, and the day a farrier turned on a forge and he handed in his two-week notice.

From there he built a career on hard work, being on time, and solving problems under the horse instead of selling products.He also gets into what he actually sees every day as a farrier: shoes coming off, hooves falling apart, feet that won’t grow — and why most of his clients don’t need a separate hoof supplement once they’re on Total Equine. It’s not “more biotin.” It’s the combination of minerals.Recorded at the Art of the Cowgirl. Carrie was running a clinic that afternoon. Trevor was the safety officer.

Thanks for watching the @Totalfeeds YouTube Channel.Our mission to provide quality nutrition to people and animals puts us in contact with all manner of interesting folks.

Whether you're interested in our animal feed, or the people involved in the animal industry: you'll find it at Total Feeds.Check out our line of Quality Animal Feeds here:

https://totalfeeds.comQuestions:

[email protected]

Hirshberg Performance: https://www.hirshbergperformance.com#TotalFeeds #TotalPodcast #Farrier #HorseHooves #TotalEquine #ArtOfTheCowgirl #Wickenburg #Horseshoeing #MountedShootingThanks for watching the @Totalfeeds YouTube Channel! Our mission to provide quality nutrition to people and animals puts us in contact with all manner of interesting folks. Whether you're interested in our animal feed, or the people involved in the animal industry: you'll find it at Total Feeds! Check out our line of Quality Animal Feeds here: https://totalfeeds.comIf you have any questions regarding our products email: [email protected]

We caught Horseman’s Hot Seat hosts Kylie Bartel and Elisha Bradburn at Horse Expo Canada in Red Deer, Alberta—this time on the other side of the couch.Kylie and Elisha talk about meeting Cory through Noel Floyd and a shared half-wall in the sponsor aisle, why psychology made marketing feel less slimy, and how the same “don’t chase the outcome” idea shows up in sales, dating, and horses.

Elisha traces her path from English sport and years without horses to relationship-based horsemanship and The Frosty Pony in Langley, B.C. Together they talk about teaching as a pair, pursuer-withdrawer dynamics with people and horses, and why two friends having a good time on a couch can settle a room.

Thanks for watching the @Totalfeeds YouTube Channel!Our mission to provide quality nutrition to people and animals puts us in contact with all manner of interesting folks.

Whether you're interested in our animal feed, or the people involved in the animal industry: you'll find it at Total Feeds!Check out our line of

Quality Animal Feeds here: https://totalfeeds.com

If you have any questions regarding our products email: [email protected]

We caught Canadian colt starter Jason Irwin in the booth at Road to the Horse in Lexington, Kentucky.Jason talks about the long road from Ontario to the Kentucky Horse Park, why he looks for the hard horses, how liberty work changed the way he reads a colt, and why one of you has to be the calm one. He also shares advice for young trainers, the danger of mixing random methods off YouTube, and why colt starting is an art, not a science.Thanks for watching the @Totalfeeds YouTube Channel!Our mission to provide quality nutrition to people and animals puts us in contact with all manner of interesting folks. Whether you're interested in our animal feed, or the people involved in the animal industry: you'll find it at Total Feeds!Check out our line of Quality Animal Feeds here: https://totalfeeds.comIf you have any questions regarding our products email: [email protected]

Pam Minick sits down in front of Cowtown Coliseum for a conversation that spans decades of Western life.From a $300 horse in Las Vegas and the Brush Poppers 4-H club to Miss Rodeo America, she became the first woman to win Rookie of the Year in the Nevada Cowboys Association. In 1976 she was sideline reporter on a live CBS rodeo broadcast—years before most people recognized women in that role. She was there for the early days of ESPN rodeo, TNN, standalone bull ridings, and the founding of the PBR right here at Cowtown.Thanks for watching the @Totalfeeds YouTube Channel! Our mission to provide quality nutrition to people and animals puts us in contact with all manner of interesting folks. Whether you're interested in our animal feed, or the people involved in the animal industry: you'll find it at Total Feeds! Check out our line of Quality Animal Feeds here: https://totalfeeds.comIf you have any questions regarding our products email: [email protected]

In this episode of the Total Podcast, we’re on Exchange Boulevard in Fort Worth with Judy Wagner — recently retired CMO of Montana Silversmiths and the newest recipient of the prestigious Pam Minick Award.Judy shares the full story behind receiving the award from Pam Minick herself (joining an elite group that includes Reba McEntire and Billy Bray), her deep roots in the western industry, and what it means to open doors for the next generation of cowgirls.Thanks for watching the @Totalfeeds YouTube Channel! Our mission to provide quality nutrition to people and animals puts us in contact with all manner of interesting folks. Whether you're interested in our animal feed, or the people involved in the animal industry: you'll find it at Total Feeds! Check out our line of Quality Animal Feeds here: https://totalfeeds.comIf you have any questions regarding our products email: [email protected]#TotalPodcast #JudyWagner #PamMinickAward #MontanaSilversmiths #Cowgirl #WomensRodeo #PWR #WesternLifestyle