The Unicorn Within: Lana Schulenburg’s Journey of Grit and Grace

What happens when you lose your ability to walk just as your career is taking off?

In this episode, Lana Schulenberg takes us inside the high-stakes world of competitive equestrian show jumping and the surprising "magic" of pageantry.

 Lana shares her "darkest hour" story—a bad riding accident that left her stagnant and questioning her Olympic dreams—and the mindset shift that allowed her to turn an injury into a resource for growth. 

We explore how she manages an elite schedule, riding 50+ times a week, while building a mentorship platform for the next generation.

Key Takeaways:

• The "Make It Happen" Plaque: Why your hunger for a goal dictates its reality.

• The Discipline of the Arena: How riding 50+ times a week builds Olympic-level resilience.

• The Fellowship of Mentors: The role of family and elite coaches in navigating burnout.

• The Unicorn Mindset: Embracing the "magic" within to stay majestic yet humble under pressure. 

Tools & Weapons:

• Elite Discipline: A training routine involving riding 50+ times a week to match Olympic standards.

• Youth Mentorship: Leveraging the guidance of mentors like Alicia Burton to organize thoughts and prepare for high-level competition.

• Nature and Paddock Time: Using the "back paddock" as a grounded resource to rethink thoughts and solve problems when the world feels overwhelming. 

About Gold Dragon Investments:

At Gold Dragon Investments, our mission is to bring joy to others by helping them win the game of investing. Helping every client become the hero of their financial journey. We believe that wealth is a tool, but joy is the ultimate outcome. 

Through meaningful partnerships, we strive to empower our investors to create freedom, and build lasting legacies of purpose, fulfillment, and wealth. 

Join Us on the Adventure:

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Transcript

0:43

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to another episode of Dragon's Gold, the magic of mindset. Today we have the pleasure of having Lana Schulenberg, A competitive equestrian show jumper, the founder of Elevate U, a platform for advocating youth mentorship and lifelong learning, and a future Olympian in the 2032 Olympics. Lana, welcome to the show. Great. Thank you so much for having me, Justin. I'm so happy to be here today. Well, it's a pleasure, dear. Well, as I like to do, let's dive right in. Let's go to the origin story. Where did it all begin for Lana? Yes. So, um my earliest memory was definitely knowing as a young girl, I've always wanted something more in life. I've always been very drawn to animals and nature. So horse riding came about, uh, about 10 years ago and I do not have horsey parents and I did not live on a farm. So up until five years ago, I didn't, actually bought my first horse and we moved onto a farm and that's where it really all began for me. And. you know, riding the horses before school and just feeling this pull towards something bigger and something that combined my passion and connection is that I knew I didn't just want to live life on the sidelines. I knew I've always wanted to grow, to push myself and create opportunities, not just for me, but for others also. And that feeling has grown stronger as I've gotten older because I've noticed how many young people have struggled with confidence and direction as I have myself. And that was the beginning of everything. was the beginning of my sport competitions, my advocacy, my desire to build something meaningful, all generating from a bunch of lived experience from, you know, navigating the struggles of high school, navigating, you know, the struggles of sport, the ups and downs. And all of that really did start for me when I moved on to my farm and I got to bring horses to my farm and just live, live the life I wanted to live. m I love that. That's fantastic. And being able to have something you want and then experience that is a joy that will be in your mind forever, that you'll be able to look back and appreciate. along the journey and when you always knew that you had a love for animals and wanting to do something more for yourself and to help others. Did you know what field you wanted to go in? Did you know what adventure you wanted to go along? you just knew what, talk a little more about what your experience is there. Yes. So I navigated my direction of life into three main categories. And the first was of course the horse riding and with comes with horse riding. My instructors came from backgrounds of either training for the Olympics or just being incredibly advanced writers who had years of competition success. So that's something I knew I was so heavily rooted into myself that I wanted to achieve something with horses in a competition platform. Then alongside of going with the horses and stuff, I also discovered pageantry and modeling. And that came from a very, very different place because I've had this like organic passion for fashion, for personal growth, and of course sparkly gowns and tiaras. And that's completely different to, you know, being on the farm and in nature. So that really just started from having two grandmas on either side of my family who was in the fashion industry. My dad's mom was a fashion designer and my mom's mom had always been creating clothes from scratch for a very long time. So I'd always had the dream to actually be a model and wear other people's creations because I love the feeling of making things and to be able to bring that to life for someone else is so magical. And I've always had that just real desire to be on stage and I'm very much an extrovert. when I... discovered, especially through social media, that there is possibilities for modeling for me and for pageantry. That completely took off. Like I just invested so much time, money, resources into becoming a model and a pageant girl. And that really just took off maybe three, four years ago for the modeling and then pageantry starting about 12 to 24 months ago, where I found out about it online and then, you know, went straight into it. I love that. Well, and going in head first, finding that you like something really digging into it, going all in with passion and excitement. I'm curious, what are some of the hurdles, pun intended, that you had to overcome in that, both in the competitive equestrian world and in the pageantry world? And was there any aspect where the two worlds collided or overlapped? And how did you deal with That's a really great question. Obviously being so young and when I decided to take on all of these different amazing things, it was very overwhelming and the biggest struggle was balancing them. So I found the biggest struggles with of course, patentry and modeling, know, beautiful high-end industry and horses. They are both time consuming and I am trying to balance school as well and a social life. The list goes on and on. I truly did become quite burnt out person. And the only thing that I found was keeping me going through that with the horses because they let me reset my day. Modeling and pageantry are so different again. So the modeling I found was very up and down. was, I had so many highs and lows from, you know, being, you know, around the wrong people at the wrong time or not finding many jobs, things like that. so overwhelming and it's just upsetting because you're not going to get booked for every job and you can see your friends online, you know, they could be going international, making the big bucks. And I found myself just in a never ending loop of not being able to find jobs until I did, of course. And then similar to the pageantry, um, it's quite different again, when I found that there was a possibility to do a competition format and have a passion and have a platform that was amazing, but the negatives for that was trying to balance that with the horse competitions because appearances for the pageant and attending a horse show, it would clash into the same weekend. And I'd just be feeling exhausted on a Monday morning having to do it all again. And the other, I said probably the final hurdle for all of those things. And of course, these are at different time periods where they were more overwhelming and more consistent than other time periods was probably when I had a few horse riding injuries that permanently puts you out of the saddle and not being able to walk and do basic things, that was very tricky for me. So over a year ago, I had a bad riding accident where I completely tore my ACL and I couldn't ride for six weeks. And that left me very, very, very, very set back because I couldn't compete, I couldn't ride. And I went from being very busy person to stagnant. And that really reflected on how much I was doing. So, yeah, the biggest obstacle is combining all of these things and trying to make it work in the best way possible. But yeah, that was definitely the biggest obstacle by far. Oh, it sounds like, mean, what, what a, what a juggle, right? To try and push those things. And then when, and what you said about going so fast and then suddenly coming to a massive halt, right? You in life, people, we have 99 problems until you have a health problem and then you have one, right? And then in a situation like that, it makes you, it puts our fragility into focus. lets us realize how quickly everything can change in a snap and everything that we take for granted and expect suddenly goes upside on its head. That too also then showing your ability or tenacity to heal, to come back and then to keep pursuing your dream despite setbacks, right? Whether physical, emotional, otherwise in life, the idea is to just keep going, right? And learn from the experiences and do your best to mitigate the damage, but keep pushing forward. something Lana that you had mentioned I really, I'd like to touch on. You had mentioned that you hadn't gotten jobs as far as the modeling, the pageantry, et cetera. You hadn't gotten jobs until you did. And when you started, did you notice that once it started that it kept going? Yeah. So for me, it all took off this year. So at the end of 2024, uh, was when I started planning, uh, overseas modeling jobs and runways, et cetera. And then of course, preparing for the pageant, which I actually got to compete in earlier this year again, and I'm now a finalist between 26. So it all took off this year. So exactly kind of like you predicted, there was a moment in time where it did all become consistent. And that was 2025 for me. And that this year has been easily the most exciting up and down, but really rewarding here. Um, and how, how I actually got to find that it was consistent is that I'd been putting in the work long enough that when the moment in time clicked, it all took off at the same time. That's perfect. And exactly my point. So often I think that people put in that time, that effort, that energy, they don't see the immediate results and they decide to quit because they think they're not getting what they want. When, when really the thing that they want is just on the other side of that next step and the most difficult times once we press through very commonly allow clear skies. And I think it's fantastic that you've been able to push through and then and begin to see that success. so congratulations to you on that. Thank you. Lana, along the way, it's never alone and not based on my experience. And so I'm curious, we call this the fellowship. In your experience along the way, who might you cite as someone who's gone along your journey or that you've been able to bring along with you? Yeah, so I would definitely say my family are the backbone of all the things that I do. They've literally pushed me, supported in me, and believed in me before I could even believe in myself. And that is the most beautiful thing you can ask for from someone. And knowing just that I had my family to help me out with the horses or to take me to all of these crazy events across the world, it's a lot to ask, especially from your parents. But I am so truly grateful that I do have really, really amazing parents and my younger brother. They are just fully supportive and they're constantly reminding me of why I started and how much I've improved. um At the same time, they help keep me disciplined because they know I have such great ambitions. you know, they're just the constant reminder that I've got this, but I can still be sort of independent. They're just standing on the sidelines cheering me on. uh And then the other person I really do have to mention is my amazing mentor, Alicia Burton. ah She is a youth mentor and an amazing horse rider in my personal opinion is the greatest horse rider in history. uh Her background is another really amazing, beautiful, inspiring purse like journey. And she helped me with everything. So she was my biggest supporter for the horses. ah I have struggled so many various ways with the horses. in terms of trying to place it with them. And that training is a whole nother conversation in itself, but she was the person to follow up, push harder than she would for anyone else. And it literally just comes up in such beautiful ways, whether she's unwell and she'll still be out in the arena giving me a writing lesson in the hail, in the rain, really using her loud, strong voice. She's like, no, Lana, you've got this. You've got to do this. And then same for the pageantry and the modeling. She'd be messaging me like, so when do you miss the universe? Like all these funny little things that that's just what a true mental relationship can be. So she and my family, the biggest supporters I have, and they helped me with everything. There was never really a moment I felt truly alone, as you mentioned, because when we look back and I really believe that the lows were a good reflection moment to just kind of overview for me and my life to see, you all of these people have been here the whole time in such different, unique ways. I think what you've said there, so powerful on a few levels and one in particular I want to touch on is how your family said, reminding you why you started and then also telling you how much you've improved, reminding you of how much you've grown, everything that you've learned. I think sometimes we go along and we only see where we are. And sometimes it's hard to see how far we've come. I there's a lot of value in looking back and seeing where you were when you started the journey, reminding yourself of that why, to be able to help to give you that discipline or consistency to continue to move forward. The other thing I love that you talked about was the mentor, the coach. So commonly, the best lessons we learn can be much less painful when given and guided by someone who's been down that before, someone who can show us the road. It's still our journey to take, but if they can help to show us some of the things that they've learned from, or the mistakes not to make, or the things that make it more efficient in whatever the task is, in whether it's being more efficient in the way that you present on stage for pageants, on the way that you jump, or whether it's the way that you flip a burger at a restaurant, because you're a line cook. No matter what your job is, or your profession, or your experience, The idea being whatever you are be a good one. And if you learn from someone who knows beforehand, you can make that trek to greatness a much shorter journey. Lana, we talk about the darkest hour, maybe a moment that you recall as being incredibly difficult to overcome, some point where you may have been at your lowest. And ultimately, the question would be, what might that have been? And what is the mindset that you used to try and help you overcome that? Hmm. Yeah. So the, probably the main moment, or as you said, quoted the darkest hour for me was probably middle of last year in winter when I had my riding accident, because it was the most significant one that I had and put me out of the saddle for the longest time I'd ever had in maybe oh six or eight years. It was the longest time I'd stopped riding. And that for me was like, Oh my goodness. It's all just hit me now. Now it seems too hard to ever get to my goals because that's when the comparison and the self doubt truly set in for me because during that time, actually the, um, Olympics was on the TV. So I was watching, you know, all the amazing writers and you just feel so far away. And that, and that's such a negative way to overview it. And of course I will talk about how I overcame it, but that dark time for me was definitely when I was like, If I look at or even invest mentally into thought how far away I am from where they are for material achievements and their connection with their horses, I feel like I would never get there. It just simply, it's too hard to even fathom. But I think the greatest part about that is it needed to happen to me because I needed to know how badly I wanted this dream, how badly I want to. push through and learn and it's just a moment in time where you can go. I needed to have that moment to click and to reset. for me, I think it was maybe seven or eight days of not walking and mowing around the house and just looking at the horses in the paddock. And I just kept thinking they are so unaffected by how I choose to think they are just as happy as I am whenever I'm happy or they don't care if my dreams, the Olympics, they get fed. They're an animal. They just happy when I'm happy. So I just thought to myself, they don't know that I'm disappointed in my skills right now. They don't know that. They just think, she stopped riding a one-to-five. And I don't want to laugh too much about it, but genuinely they humbled me so much that I thought to myself, I can, can, really doesn't matter whether I choose to think negatively or positively. So after having this moment of looking at the horses in the paddock one day, I was like, no, it is possible. It's just how I choose to perceive it. Whether I choose to perceive myself, no, this negative injury is actually my place to learn how to bounce back so I can give this resource and learning to someone else, or it's my place to go. I'm actually ready to learn and grow and, you know, not make the same mistakes again. Uh, so that was definitely the darkest hour switched to a really more positive perspective of how I could overview my injury. Oh, so beautiful. And isn't it incredible that from that dark moment that it actually ends up being such a beautiful point for you to really realize how bad you want it and to really set in, right? Dig in your heels. Again, cheesy pun intended. But the idea being like really recognizing that this is something that you want and you can get it. But something that I think you said, Lana, that is so beautiful. Perspective and perception, the view that we see it from and then the lens that we see it through, right? You couldn't change the accident for what it was, but you could change how you saw it and the lessons you learned from it and what it. taught you for future to do better or differently or refrain from what to add or remove from that. But the idea about just reframing that same dark moment and seeing it in a different light. and how you came to that perspective. Sometimes it takes time, right? Seven, eight days, mulling about the house, right? Sometimes it's woe is me, we're human, like it's gonna feel rough when we're in that moment. But being able to find that reserve of strength or step back, having a little bit of time to let that go through, and then allowing your thoughts to come through and find uh whatever that gift is, whatever that perspective change, whatever that positive, that silver lining is, right? And then applying it. And I just think that was really well said. And thank you for sharing that. So Lana, we call this the Hall of Heroes. If there was a massive statue of Lana and it had a plaque that could say anything that you want to future generations, what would it say? This is an interesting one. I think I would want it to say, if you want it bad enough, you'll make it happen. Because that to me is one of the greatest mottos that I apply to myself and use every single day. Cause that's, what I say to people all the time. If you weren't bad enough, you'll make it happen. Yeah, that's definitely what my plaque would say. Um, yeah. and so great too because right whether you're talking about hey, we should do dinner. Yeah, right. If you really want it, you'll make it happen or if no, no, like I really want to be a 2032 Olympian like you will make it happen. Right. You it's that's you. It's the work and effort and time you're going to put in and the fact that you won't quit. Right. You if you want it bad enough, you will make it happen. And I think it's awesome. So what's the next quest? What's the next adventure for Lana and for ElevateU? Yeah. So the first thing that is kind of happening for me, the two big adventures that are twofold is definitely that I'm preparing for the Australia Galaxy pageant next year in April, May of 2026, where I hope to use my platform to elevate the youth advocacy to a national level. And the second thing is I'm going to continue my journey as a full-time equestrian show jumper with the long-term ambition to compete in the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. And both of those things are definitely going to require the discipline, the passion and the resilience. And I'm so excited for everything that's ahead because there's nothing necessarily specific that next year is going to unfold. Of course, I hope the pageant goes in every way best as possible and the horses, I really do hope they're going to go amazing at their competitions again. ah But I think next year is definitely going to be more growth, more opportunities. This year has been so much for me where a lot of things were pre-planned. I do love that next year there is so many potential possibilities. I haven't necessarily set things in stones. So I'm really allowing myself to kind of go on a little less predictable journey to, you know, find those lived experience moments, meet new people, network, and just to continue to succeed and find those moments of growth in any area, whether it be the pageants or the modeling and the horses especially. So yeah, next year's the year I'm gonna work really, really hard to grow, elevate you, do more programs. As we speak today, tomorrow I have uh my first ever writing retreat, which is the two-day weekend writing program I have for some young girls who are gonna do some writing lessons, we're gonna do a lifelong learning presentation. And this is the first event that I'm gonna do. So next year. who knows how many more I'm going to do. I could have even larger audience and you know, doing this podcast, really do hope I can, you know, entice a larger audience again to follow the journey and just to see where I go. Yeah, that's pretty much the next few things for me and my adventure at hand. I love it. love it. One of the things that you said that makes me so incredibly excited for you is the fact that you've already been putting in so much time, effort, energy and work. You've really been applying yourself constantly where you're getting strained and pulled multiple directions. And then you say that next year is going to be even busier. And that kind of foresight, that kind of forecasting, that positivity and that hunger, that growth to achieve more and to keep working. Right, not to shirk and say, I've been working so hard, I can take a break, but to say, I've been working so hard and I can do more. Right, incredibly powerful. And I think that's, that's really beautiful. Yeah. I, one thing that I think I should just quickly mention on that is the knowing that I've done so much this year and choosing to, you know, do more next year. comes from a place of being not only physically humbled where I am to the point of I can't physically do more work, but knowing that that is building my strength and tolerance to do more is something that I really, really do vouch for everyone. to just remind themselves that it can feel too much, can feel like a new kind of low, but it's a moment in time where you can actually choose, you can do more from that. You can grow and you can expand your ability to do more as a person for your work, your career, your passions, your hobbies, your family, anything. So well said, that's fantastic. Absolutely love that. Really, really well done. All right, Lana, we call this tools and weapons, things that may have come along that have helped you, perhaps books or courses or any resource that might have helped along your journey. What might you cite? Yeah, so one of the main things that have helped me achieve like so many different specific things has definitely been a disciplined training routine. When it comes to the horses, there is so, much involved. Like my days, ah I feed the horses before I even feed myself. They really do come first. And that's because what I put into them, they genuinely give me back. So being disciplined with not only just you know, the farm and the maintenance and stuff, but applying myself, I'm going to train this many times a week. uh I'm riding horses a minimum of 50 times a week. And that's holding myself up to the level that Olympic riding level riders do. They ride a minimum times a week of a vast different type of horses. They don't just ride top horses. They ride young horses. They ride clients' horses. They do so, so, so much. So I choose to put that discipline upon myself. to ride that many times a week, to work part-time at another stables down the road, even though I have my own four horses here on the farm, I choose to do more. And the other many tools that I have is also a mentor. So anything regarding like a sport, I really do vouch for people to have mentors and this applies to youth. I know so many adults that have sport mentors or sports psychologists. It's someone to put your thoughts into verbal, you can almost just like say what you're thinking to someone and they can help organize you and help better prepare you for things. So having like not only a mentor for me, but my two amazing horse riding instructors, they are very, very vital to my growth as a rider and just my general success. ah They really do dictate how well I'm gonna do at something because they're the person who is constantly reminding me and giving me the feedback. So a really important tool for any area of life is to get feedback from someone, of course, a qualified person who you value their opinion. uh And yeah, those kind of support networks are very important for getting feedback and ah just getting general knowledge from a really intelligent and lived experience person. uh I'd say another tool is probably the horses as well, actually. having them to be a place that I can become grounded again and just being in nature. And this is not to everyone who isn't a fan of horses, which I totally respect, but being in nature is a very, very, very like beautiful resource to have. So wherever you live in the world, coming to nature is one of the amazing places you can go to rethink your thoughts, to just kind of live a little quieter when the world can feel too busy and too overwhelming. um I love that I can have a place to just run off to and sit under a tree and to come up with new ideas and new ways to solve things. And that's a great resource to have. it's fortunate that so many of us can have a little walk around the block or to, know, for me, very luckily go into the back paddock and just be in nature again. So yeah, those are my tools and resources that I really, really, really heavily rely on and I advise others to do so as well. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing those. Alright Lana, I have one more question for you and this is the most important question I'm going to ask. If you could be any mythical creature, what would you be and why? That is very easy to answer. If I were any mythical creature, it would be a unicorn. As I've talked about many, many times in this episode is my love for horses is very strong. I think my spirit animal would be a horse, but my mythical creature is definitely a unicorn. The easiest way to explain it is a unicorn has, you know, magical abilities. They are so majestic. Any picture of a unicorn. is something that's so elegant and they are in sync with nature and they're harmonious and they just, they're just so beautiful to look at that you just want to touch the mane of a unicorn, fall asleep and right away into the sunset. Unicorns are such a symbolism of something beautiful, majestic and powerful. And I think that is really similar to who I am because I can hold myself in such a beautiful. presented way, but I'm still grounded like a horse. I'm still in nature like a horse. I'm still humble like a horse because trust me horses are so humble. I really wish people could understand it to the degree that I do. But yeah, unicorns, they're magical. And I do believe that I'm a little bit of a magical person as well because I do live life on the excited, the energetic side. So yeah, that's definitely why. And also, who wouldn't want to look like a unicorn. If you could choose, I would want to look like a unicorn. That could, if I woke up tomorrow as a unicorn, that would be amazing. That would be a gift. Like genuinely, it would be so cool. uh Yeah, that's definitely the mythical creature I would be and why? Because that's exactly who I am. uh I love it. a fantastic answer and incredible. Of course, there's no right or wrong answer. It's your answer, but I certainly appreciated it. And I think that it was a wonderful choice. Thank you so much for taking the time today, Lana, to join us and to share some of your story with our listeners. Incredibly inspiring. And I'm certain that people, everyone that listens to this is gonna think the same. Thank you so much, Justin. So it's been such a pleasure. My friends, thank you for joining us once again on our quest to inspire, educate, and empower you to turn your dreams into reality, one mindset shift at a time. We'll see you next time.