Today on The Trainer’s Wife, I’m sitting down with Sam Gallentine of Belle Plaine, Minnesota, where she and her husband, Ryan, have built a successful cow horse training business.

Ryan’s NRCHA earnings are just shy of $400,000, and most recently, he earned his first qualification to The Run For A Million Cow Horse Challenge in 2027 aboard One Ata Time.

But today, we’re talking about Sam—and she is a horsewoman in her own right.

Sam didn’t grow up in the horse business. She was simply a kid who loved horses and wanted to learn. She tells us about watching old RFD training videos, studying what she saw and then heading to the barn to try it herself.

That determination eventually led her through starting colts, cutting horse programs, working for accomplished trainers and ultimately building a life and business with Ryan.

Sam rides, trains and shows, but what struck me most was what she loves beyond the arena.

She loves caring for horses—figuring out how to feed them so they look their best, noticing when one isn’t drinking or feeling right, doing the vet work, even running fluids and putting in the time to make sure they feel as good as they possibly can.

Today, she does all of that while raising and homeschooling their two children.

And although Sam loves to show and loves to win, she told me she could be happy never showing another one—as long as she could still care for them and be part of making those horses great.

This is Sam Gallentine—and her story on The Trainer’s Wife.

SHOW NOTES:

Gallentine Performance Horses

Sponsored By:

Two Sisters Ranch

The Jennifer Journals

Hey everyone, and welcome to Season Two of The Trainer’s Wife.

If you’ve been here for a while, thank you for walking this journey with me — and if you’re new, I’m so glad you found us.

This is where I sit down with the wives of professional horse trainers in the Western equine industry to share their stories — not just in the arena, but in life.

We talk about how they show up for their families, their careers, their communities, and for other women.

This podcast is a place to celebrate strong, brave, beautiful women whose roots run deep — and whose impact reaches far beyond the show pen.

I’m so glad you’re here.

McKenzie Parkinson has spent most of her life in the horse industry.

She grew up in a horse-training family, started her career teaching middle school, and stepped away more than fifteen years ago when she became a mom.

Today, she's built an impressive career of her own as the Event and Sponsorship Manager for Kimes Ranch—and she absolutely loves what she does.

She's also married to accomplished horseman Shadd Parkinson, a multiple World Champion whose career spans several disciplines with collective earnings nearing $1 million.

Together, they've built a life that includes two careers, two kids, a horse-training business—and some seasons when all of it seems to need attention at exactly the same time.

McKenzie told me she believes you can have it all. You just can't have it all at once.

And I love where that takes our conversation.

We talk about the very different ways she and Shadd handle the chaos, what she's learned from his quiet, steady approach to life, and why not everything that feels urgent deserves our energy.

But underneath the careers, the horses, the wins and everything they're trying to fit into one life, McKenzie keeps coming back to what really matters:

The relationships we build along the way.

This is McKenzie Parkinson.

SHOW NOTES:

Parkinson Performance Horses

Kimes Ranch

McKenzie Parkinson

SHOW SPONSORS:

Two Sisters Ranch

Finding Center Retreats / The Jennifer Journals

Hey everyone, and welcome to Season Two of The Trainer’s Wife.

If you’ve been here for a while, thank you for walking this journey with me — and if you’re new, I’m so glad you found us.

This is where I sit down with the wives of professional horse trainers in the Western equine industry to share their stories — not just in the arena, but in life.

We talk about how they show up for their families, their careers, their communities, and for other women.

This podcast is a place to celebrate strong, brave, beautiful women whose roots run deep — and whose impact reaches far beyond the show pen.

I’m so glad you’re here.

The Trainer's ~ Fiancée

I invited Christi Milburn onto the podcast because she's a trainer's fiancée instead of a trainer's wife.

I thought we'd talk about what it's like to stand on the edge of that next chapter.

We did...

But somewhere along the way, the conversation took a completely different turn.

Christi shares a journey that began with a childhood spent horseback, shaping the woman she always hoped to become.

Fast forward to becoming a single mom at 19, and life looked very different. Horses disappeared from her world for a time, but when she found her way back, they became part of her own healing—and a way to help others find theirs.

Today, she's building a life with BJ Avila while growing a business dedicated to helping horses and their athletes perform at their very best.

This conversation is honest, hopeful, and a reminder that our hardest seasons don't have to define the rest of our story.

SHOW NOTES:

Christi's Cryotherapy & Performance Horses

BJ Avila Performance Horse's & Prospects

Episode Sponsors:

Two Sisters Ranch

Finding Center Retreats

Hey everyone, and welcome to Season Two of The Trainer’s Wife.

If you’ve been here for a while, thank you for walking this journey with me — and if you’re new, I’m so glad you found us.

This is where I sit down with the wives of professional horse trainers in the Western equine industry to share their stories — not just in the arena, but in life.

We talk about how they show up for their families, their careers, their communities, and for other women.

This podcast is a place to celebrate strong, brave, beautiful women whose roots run deep — and whose impact reaches far beyond the show pen.

I’m so glad you’re here.

There are seasons in life when supporting someone else's dream quietly becomes your entire world.

For Colie Lowndes, that season lasted years. Colie is the wife of NRCHA professional Trapper Lowndes. She grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, and today they make their home in Whitesboro, Texas.

In today's conversation, Colie shares what it was like to leave behind a career she loved, move across the country, raise a daughter far from home, and help build their training business from the ground up.

Along the way, she opens up about marriage, motherhood, sacrifice, and the moment she realized it was time to make room for a dream of her own.

This isn't just a conversation about sacrifice. It's about identity, marriage, and having the courage to ask for a place in your own story again.

SHOW NOTES:

Trapper Lowndes Performance Horses

The Jennifer Journals

Hey everyone, and welcome to Season Two of The Trainer’s Wife.

If you’ve been here for a while, thank you for walking this journey with me — and if you’re new, I’m so glad you found us.

This is where I sit down with the wives of professional horse trainers in the Western equine industry to share their stories — not just in the arena, but in life.

We talk about how they show up for their families, their careers, their communities, and for other women.

This podcast is a place to celebrate strong, brave, beautiful women whose roots run deep — and whose impact reaches far beyond the show pen.

I’m so glad you’re here.

What do equine vaulting, psychology, professional bull riding, and reined cow horses have in common?

Lizzy Horve-Clark.

When Lizzy met Australian bull rider Brendon Clark, she was finishing graduate school and building a very different future. Today, she's the wife of an NRCHA trainer, a horse trainer herself, breeding manager for Red Arrow Ranch, and the steady force helping keep two thriving horse businesses moving forward.

But this conversation isn't about Brendon.

It's about Lizzy.

It's about the woman behind the scenes—the daughter of a determined single mom and a disabled Vietnam veteran, the psychology student who chose a different path, and the wife who found herself building a life in an industry that asks so much of the families who support it.

This is another story about the women who stand beside the trainers... and the lives they're building together.

SHOW NOTES:

Lizzy Horve-Clark

Clark Performance Horses

Red Arrow Ranch

Finding Center Retreats

Hey everyone, and welcome to Season Two of The Trainer’s Wife.

If you’ve been here for a while, thank you for walking this journey with me — and if you’re new, I’m so glad you found us.

This is where I sit down with the wives of professional horse trainers in the Western equine industry to share their stories — not just in the arena, but in life.

We talk about how they show up for their families, their careers, their communities, and for other women.

This podcast is a place to celebrate strong, brave, beautiful women whose roots run deep — and whose impact reaches far beyond the show pen.

I’m so glad you’re here.

Today’s guest is NRCHA Hall of Fame horsewoman Dema Paul.

With nearly $700,000 in NRCHA earnings, multiple Futurity Championships, and a lifetime spent competing at the highest levels of the cow horse industry, Dema has earned her place among the most accomplished women in the sport.

Raised in California by parents who knew little about horses, Dema taught herself by watching trainers from the grandstands, studying what worked, and then going home to try it herself. Long before online videos, clinics, and social media, she learned through observation, persistence, and an unwavering desire to improve.

In this conversation, Dema shares stories from her early days showing horses, buying and selling horses as a young girl, finding success as a self-taught competitor, navigating marriage and business in the horse industry, and the lessons she learned over a lifetime spent doing what she loves.

We also talk about retirement, knowing when it was time to step away from competition, financial realities in the horse business, and why letting go of yesterday's arguments may be one of the most important lessons of all.

Please enjoy my conversation with NRCHA Hall of Fame horsewoman, Dema Paul.

Show Notes:

Dema Paul Clinics

Shortys Caboy Hattery

Finding Center Retreats

Hey everyone, and welcome to Season Two of The Trainer’s Wife.

If you’ve been here for a while, thank you for walking this journey with me — and if you’re new, I’m so glad you found us.

This is where I sit down with the wives of professional horse trainers in the Western equine industry to share their stories — not just in the arena, but in life.

We talk about how they show up for their families, their careers, their communities, and for other women.

This podcast is a place to celebrate strong, brave, beautiful women whose roots run deep — and whose impact reaches far beyond the show pen.

I’m so glad you’re here.

On this episode of The Trainer’s Wife, I’m sitting down with Kim Lyon. Professionally, Kim is a commercial real estate executive specializing in office and industrial properties, where she has built a successful career rooted in relationships, business development, and strategic leadership.

In the western industry, Kim is married to AQHA, NRHA & NSBA professional horseman Bud Lyon, whose program has become one of the most recognizable names in ranch riding. Bud has earned more than $500,000 in NSBA earnings while setting records and earning Horse of the Year honors along the way.

But as you'll hear in this conversation, Kim’s story extends far beyond being married to a successful trainer.

We talk about growing up outside the traditional horse world, walking on to the Texas A&M Equestrian Team with little idea how much that single decision would change the course of her life, building confidence through challenge, learning business and sales from the ground up, and creating a life with intention along the way.

This conversation is thoughtful, honest, funny in all the best ways, and full of insight about relationships, ambition, mentorship, and the people who shape us throughout our lives.

Please welcome Kim Lyon.

SHOW NOTES:

Bud Lyon Performance Horses

Newmark - Kim Lyon

Hey everyone, and welcome to Season Two of The Trainer’s Wife.

If you’ve been here for a while, thank you for walking this journey with me — and if you’re new, I’m so glad you found us.

This is where I sit down with the wives of professional horse trainers in the Western equine industry to share their stories — not just in the arena, but in life.

We talk about how they show up for their families, their careers, their communities, and for other women.

This podcast is a place to celebrate strong, brave, beautiful women whose roots run deep — and whose impact reaches far beyond the show pen.

I’m so glad you’re here.

Today’s conversation is one I will treasure for a very long time.

This week, I had the privilege of sitting down with Marilyn Peters — horsewoman, trainer’s wife, NRCHA and AQHA judge, mother, horse trainer, and truly one of my personal heroes.

At 76 years young, Marilyn is still riding horses, breeding mares, and continuing the life she and her husband Pete built together over decades in the horse industry here in Oklahoma.

But this conversation became so much more than horse training.

We talked about the early days of AQHA and cow horse culture… how west coast influence eventually met Oklahoma and Texas… life on a historic Oklahoma homestead now being surrounded by a rapidly growing city… and the kinds of relationships that become much bigger than business and go on to shape generations within our western horse industry, both here and abroad.

We also spent time talking about their friendship with legendary western artist Orren Mixer — a friendship that quite literally left its mark on their home and on their lives.

As I sat surrounded by original Mixer artwork and stories from a generation that helped shape this industry, I kept thinking: this is why these conversations matter. To preserve the history, the people, and the heritage of the western equine industry before those stories are gone.

Marilyn carries the kind of wisdom that only comes from a lifetime of showing up, working hard, loving horses, loving family, and staying rooted through changing times.

It is my honor to share her story.

SHOW NOTES:

BAR JP Quarter Horses

Episode Sponsors:

Shorty's Caboy Hattery

Finding Center Retreats

Finding Center Brochure PDF

The Jennifer Journals

Hey everyone, and welcome to Season Two of The Trainer’s Wife.

If you’ve been here for a while, thank you for walking this journey with me — and if you’re new, I’m so glad you found us.

This is where I sit down with the wives of professional horse trainers in the Western equine industry to share their stories — not just in the arena, but in life.

We talk about how they show up for their families, their careers, their communities, and for other women.

This podcast is a place to celebrate strong, brave, beautiful women whose roots run deep — and whose impact reaches far beyond the show pen.

I’m so glad you’re here.

This week’s episode is a little different — and really special to me.

Over the last 35 years, today’s guest has helped shape the western equine industry - both literally & figuratively - one hat at a time through craftsmanship, consistency, relationships, and showing up for people.

I’m incredibly thankful for partners like Shorty's Caboy Hattery, who believe in what I'm building through The Trainer’s Wife and Finding Center Retreats, and who continue to support women in the western industry.

So today, I wanted to turn the microphone toward her story.

Please welcome Shorty Koger to the show 🤍

SHOW NOTES:

Shorty's Caboy Hattery

Finding Center Retreats

Hey everyone, and welcome to Season Two of The Trainer’s Wife.

If you’ve been here for a while, thank you for walking this journey with me — and if you’re new, I’m so glad you found us.

This is where I sit down with the wives of professional horse trainers in the Western equine industry to share their stories — not just in the arena, but in life.

We talk about how they show up for their families, their careers, their communities, and for other women.

This podcast is a place to celebrate strong, brave, beautiful women whose roots run deep — and whose impact reaches far beyond the show pen.

I’m so glad you’re here.

One of the things I hear over and over from women in this industry is this:

“We love this life… but it’s a lot.”

It’s a lot to support it.
To build around it.
To raise kids in it.
And to figure out who you are inside of it.

Today’s conversation with Kailey Gay is one I think a lot of you are going to recognize yourselves in.

Kailey and her husband, Jason, have built their life in the Western equine world—balancing his career in the show pen with everything that comes with raising kids, managing a household, and the day-to-day behind the scenes.

We talk about family, career, moving away from where you started, and what it looks like to grow into this role—not just as a trainer’s wife, but as a woman building a life alongside it.

If you’ve ever felt the weight and the beauty of this lifestyle at the same time…
this one will feel familiar.

SHOW NOTES:

Jason Gay Training

AniCell Biotech

Show Sponsor - Shorty's Caboy Hattery

Finding Center Retreats

Hey everyone, and welcome to Season Two of The Trainer’s Wife.

If you’ve been here for a while, thank you for walking this journey with me — and if you’re new, I’m so glad you found us.

This is where I sit down with the wives of professional horse trainers in the Western equine industry to share their stories — not just in the arena, but in life.

We talk about how they show up for their families, their careers, their communities, and for other women.

This podcast is a place to celebrate strong, brave, beautiful women whose roots run deep — and whose impact reaches far beyond the show pen.

I’m so glad you’re here.