Meet My Trainer: Andrea Harry, Owner of Meraki Farm

In this episode of The Long Ride Home, Alex Husner sits down with her trainer, Andrea Harry, Owner of Meraki Farm, for a conversation about horsemanship, timing, and the journey that brought them together.

As a key part of Alex’s return to the saddle, Andrea shares more about her own journey in the American Saddlebred world and the road that led her to become a trainer. She reflects on her early start in the industry, the horses and experiences that shaped her, and what it has meant to build her own barn and community. 

The conversation also explores how her path came to intersect with Alex’s at this chapter of her return to the saddle. Together, they talk about young horses, returning amateurs, memorable wins, and the perspective Andrea brings to both the sport and the people within it.

In this episode:

00:33 - Alex welcomes her trainer, Andrea Harry of Meraki Farm

01:20 - How Andrea got her start in riding at Mercer Springs Farm

03:50 - What it looked like to start her own barn in 2019

05:23 - Building an all-women training barn and client community

09:12 - The story of Johnny Boy and the horse that changed everything

14:26 - Why returning amateurs are such an important part of Andrea’s program

16:15 - How Andrea matches riders with the right young horse and path forward

19:39 - What Alex and Andrea are watching for as Chapstick begins his show journey

20:44 - A fun but real conversation about bringing more visibility to the sport

21:53 - Why awareness remains one of the biggest challenges in the Saddlebred world

23:23 - Andrea’s perspective on participation, breeding, and the future of the industry

26:53 - What it means to find the right trainer, the right horse, and the right home barn

Connect with Andrea:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_ladyharry/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.wolkoff 

Connect with Meraki Farm:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/merakifarmllc/ 

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesaddlebredpodcast/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesaddlebredpodcast/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thesaddlebredpodcast 

#americansaddlebredpodcast #saddlebredindustry #equestrianlife

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to The Long Ride Home. I'm your host, Alex Huisner. This show is about honoring where we come from, pursuing what still calls us forward, and trusting the power of timing in both life and in sport. Through honest conversations with riders, trainers, and leaders in the American saddlebred world, we'll explore the stories behind the horses and the people shaping the future of this industry. Come on this journey with me.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Welcome back to the Long Ride Home. I'm your host, Alex Housner, and I'm joined today by Andrea Harry at Meraki Farm. Andrea, so good to see you. Good to see you. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Thanks for coming.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

So this is a special episode because this is episode one. I got to talk a little bit about my journey and why I've come back here, but you've been a huge part of that journey, and this farm has been a huge part of it. So um really excited just to learn a little bit more and share your story with listeners about how you got into the saddlebrot industry and the barn that you've built here. That's just, I mean, literally where we are, where it's spectacular.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Amazing. Amazed. So maybe take us back. How did you get into riding? So my grandfather bought a horse and he wanted my grandmother to learn to ride. And he signed her up for lessons, and it was at Marcia Springs Farm in Quentin, West Virginia. And I saw her lesson schedule on the refrigerator. And I was like, Your wrist and show. Oh wow. I was like, that's what going around Wednesday. I'm coming. And then she she signed me up. The rest is history. I grew up at Mocia Springs Farm, started my career there, worked most of my career there, and decided to hang my own banner. And wow. Here we are.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

It's so cool. And there's so many times I think in our history that we could have crossed paths also that I mean, you're just a little bit younger than I am, but we went to the same horse shows and I went and started riding at Smith Lindley's for a little bit in college. And like it's just it's crazy. But I'm sure we crossed paths at some point. Yeah, I have had to. Had to. It's uh it's definitely a a small world in in this industry for sure. Um, but so the decision to become a trainer, it's interesting because I've never I loved horses growing up and I love them now, but I've never had that inclination that I would want to train them. So, like what hit you that you wanted to do this for a profession?

SPEAKER_00 2:33

So in college, I started working for Smiths again. And I actually I spent a summer working for Rich Campbell and I loved, I loved working for them at Majestic Oats. We had so much fun, but it was a lot, like a lot of traveling, a lot of ponies, and I loved the horses. So I went back to work for Smith and I just I was riding a colt one day. I would go and just ride the things that no one else wanted to ride and or like the stuff that I was the the right size for. Yeah. And Sandy looks at me one day and she's like, You should do this professionally. And I was like, That's all I needed to hear. Sign me up. That's I mean, that's really I just like I always wanted to be, but I just didn't have that extra boost of confidence, yeah, that I needed from someone that I admire. Yeah. And she said that and I was like, see right, I should, you know, should and I'm not good at anything else, so I find that very hard to believe.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Um and you went to Virginia Tech. So that also we could have possibly been around each other at the same time then, too. I went to Radford, which is right up the road. So another strange coincidence. It's crazy because you had the confidence now you were gonna do this. Like, what does that even look like to start your own barn? Like, did you just hang your flag and then hope some riders would show up?

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Or so I decided to open my business in May of 2019. And I told Smith, gave them a very large notice. Yeah. And we opened November 1st, 2019. And Smith sent he sent a horse that he owned with me and another customer at Smith's Natsi and Alialy, they sent a horse with me. And then they ended up sending another one just to like ease her into her retirement. And I just called, I I went out. I guess in the months leading up to leaving Smith's, I felt comfortable enough to go and tell people while leaving, please send me horses. Yeah. And, you know, it was all with their blessing, so it felt right. Yeah. And people respected that. And they also knew that I had a good foundation. And I worked a lot of young horses for Smith. I worked a lot of amateur horses. So, you know, it was people saw that I was capable over the years, and they decided to serve me a bun, which was awesome. And some of them are still here. Yeah, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

And I mean, that's one thing I've noticed just getting back into this too. It seems like there's actually a lot more women trainers than there used to be, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah, it's it's awesome. You know, a bunch of women just getting out there with a guy.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Yeah. I mean, because it back in the day it was always husband and wife, or you know, and and there's still a lot of those barms out there too. But I think it's it's cool to see how many more women trainers there are. And at your barn, it's an all women trainer blogger.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

So yeah, all girls.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

All girls crew. It's great. Yeah. And honestly, like all of my customers are females too. I mean, yeah, with their husbands, but like yeah. Okay, all the customers that come and ride. I do work for some men that just own horse. Yeah, like all of my riders are female. Yeah. Parker comes, but he doesn't have a horse here, so he doesn't count right here. Yeah. He can count later.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Well, that's awesome. So training the young horses, wanted to ask you more about that. I I I remember, I mean, this is only three months into this, but like when I first got into it, again, had asked people about you, and and the one thing that kept coming up was that Ender is really good with the younger horses. Like, I know you had the experience with Smith, but is there anything in particular about like why you feel that you're really good with the young horses?

SPEAKER_00 6:08

I think it's very amount-level patience. The young horses are so spongy and you can make them. Yeah. You can literally create something. Yeah. I love that. Like, if you do it right, it's something that someone else is impressed by. Right. And they'd like to follow you because you're easy to follow and they they're impressed by the skill set that you put on your horses. So I just think like it is such a good representation of you as a horseman. And I just love the young horses because they transform. It's a transformation. It's so much fun to be a part of and to teach them something. I mean, they can learn something new every single day. Yeah, and that keeps it exciting for me too. Yeah. Because I'm I'm always teaching them something. And yeah, they have the all three five days of horses, but it's it's just fun to mold them and then watch them transform, you know, get their tail up, get them in the curfew, watch their shoeing change and their, you know, their athleticism changes and they get stronger. And it's just it's so rewarding. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

It's almost like it's like a blank canvas, you know, to start with. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's great to get a beautiful finished horse, but in a lot of cases, you can get a horse that now you've got to also correct things that maybe are not right. Yeah, and that that can be a struggle. But no, that's really cool. And we're definitely getting to put that to the test now with chapstick.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

We love chapstick.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Which has been really, I mean, that that aspect of it of uh buying a a young, unfinished horse has been fascinating for me and for my husband Michael to just understand it because that I had never done that before. The horses that I showed in New Hampshire, they were one was young, but he but she was finished, and the other one was older and he was finished. And uh it was just about okay, we got this horse. Now it's about horse and rider coming together and you know, really polishing the picture. It's going to be about that, but not yet. You know, it's like we've got he's got to get trained, I've got to get trained, and it's it really is such a process. And I think uh for Michael to see this, I think to see it from somebody that's not in this industry and his interpretation, it's even more fascinating because he's seeing like this really is, it takes so much just dedication to it, and but also an eye to know, like, you know, you believe in this horse and you believe in the young horses that you have, and like you can see their potential before a rider or an owner probably can get it.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Mm-hmm. It takes experience just and also knowing like their family helps a lot. Yeah. And happen to know Top Six family pretty well. So I just I think there are certain parts of memories you have to look at. You have to look at their attitude, where their neck comes out of their shoulders, where their legs, where they're I mean, honestly the angle of the slope of their shoulder. And, you know, what does their back end do? Yeah. And, you know, if it's all positives, great. But if you know, some of them aren't gonna be the whole right picture. But you can get them stronger, you know. Can out can I live with this? Yes, great, let's do it. No, nice.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

Yeah, yeah. Let's talk about Johnny Boy a little bit because I think that's like such a great story. And Johnny Boy was Chapsux or is Chapsix brother, but um, tell us a little bit about your journey with him.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

So Johnny Boy was bred by Justin Calley and Damie De Or. And Justin and I used to be so tight. He would send me videos of the school literally as a yearling, two-year-old, early two-year-old year, and I was just like, he's so cool, like, yay, good for you. What up? Like, and then I would say, Comes. It was she we watched, it was 2020. We watched School Together here because I didn't go that year. COVID, yeah, just no reason. Did they have it that year? They did. Okay. They did wow. Uh-huh. So after that, she texted me the next week and she's like, I kind of want to have a horse in North Carolina. Do you have room for me in your barn? And I was like, Well, yeah. Yeah, I do. So I knew that because he was at Daryl Cruise's at the time, and I knew he was getting ready to go back to Kentucky to Tammy's. And so I just started harassing Tammy. He'd be like, I want to come see Chubbs. I want to come see Chubbs. And she was like, Well, I'm not home and he's not here yet. I was like, Okay, well, let me know when he gets there. And so, like, the next wake up, like, is he there? Don't forget about me. Oh, I think. Don't let anybody and so we went and so on, and then we looked at so many nice weapons that day. And he was the first thing we looked at. Yeah. And it was not fair to any of the others. Yeah, I'd be he he was a two-year-old, he was still weak, but he gave me chills, just going up and down straightaway. And we sat down at dinner that evening. I was like, Well, what do you think? She was like, I can't stop thinking about chubbs. Yeah, like me neither. Thank God, we're on the same page. And then he we called me. Wow. And Tammy cried. She was like, I didn't think you would buy it. And she said to me, She said, Andrew, I hope he makes all of your dreams come true. Oh and I'm getting chilled. Yeah, I just got chills. Yeah, because he did, he made all my dreams come true. And it was just like the most wonderful creature. And everyone's like, Oh, he mark with stagens. I had a really good stallion. Yeah, yeah. So never gonna turn down an opportunity, but like, yeah, he was an anomaly, he was an angel. That was so cool.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

And you guys went on to win at Louisville in was that the following year, 2021?

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Yeah, we actually so we went to like there's a lot of hypernominums I posted pictures of I'm like I know that. Like, yeah, I'm all about social media, yeah. So we went, our first show was Shiny Doah, and I think we were four to five, and he did all of his gates, he just wasn't really, he kind of just like cleaned up. Yeah, he went in there and he bup, and then he kind of just was like this. And so I actually I went to Bert Haneker after the class and I was like, What can I do to help them? Because Burt you know Bert owns his dad and knows the family and the edge at home too, and said he was like, you know what, what Andrea? I think you need to back off. Really? He said, You he wears a bridle, he does his gates, he needs to like himself more. Oh, wow. So go home and turn him around on Mondays, let him play. Wow. And so that's what we did. And then we went to the little Astral show before Blue Rage and won. I don't think there's anyone in the class. There may have been one. Actually, there's one other horse in the class, and we won that. And Peter Thyrot came up to me and he's like, What did you do different? What did you change? I was like, I just let him start playing. Wow. And I was like, Really? Yeah, yeah. And then we went on and on unanimously crowned favorite. It was just like the coolest experience.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

That's a really short time, really, to I mean, to have made that much progress and to think just turning him out in the ring one day a week to just be a horse, you know, wouldn't make that much of a difference.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yeah, he needed that first experience. I would much rather have laid an egg on the first experience. Yeah, oh for sure. Yeah, because he figured it out. He'd say and I figured out how to warm him up, how to because he was different. Like he would play him up in a warm up ring. You had to just be patient with him. Anytime anyone was helping me warm up, like he would I would put on stretchers and he would just do this mystery gate. The six gate. People helping me to be like, um we can read up the gate, it's fine. Yeah. And I you know, then we just hit the rain and he did his thing. And it was wow. He became more professional about it. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

And for anybody watching or listening that doesn't know the voice, mate, he he was spectacular, but he was also he was gray. Which is fairly rare in South Red So you don't see a ton of them, but yeah, he was he was just phenomenal. And watching the videos was so cool. And I remember when you would text us, it was right after Christmas, and you said, I think I found a horse for you guys. He's at Northern Case Staples, and it's you know, we're like one of Bert and Neerim's horses. And we saw the video and we're like, wow, he's that's a really cute looking horse. But I remember you you saying that he was full brother to Johnny Boy, and when you sent me the videos of Johnny Boy, in my mind, I'm like, I don't see the connection at all, but it was so funny because we went to dinner with Allison a couple weeks ago, and she showed me videos of jobs when he was the same age as Japstick. All of a sudden I'm like, oh my god, I totally now see literally poured chocolate milk on tow.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Yeah, literally. Yeah, it's crazy. They are so similar, just they're shape every curve is so, so similar.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yeah, well, that's gonna be a super fun journey. And one of the other cool things about your barn that I like that you told me when you were first kind of figuring this out was that the majority of your riders are returning amateurs too. So there are people like me that are yeah, did this for a long time, but then didn't do it for a way longer time. And, you know, I think that's a different kind of rider to teach than one somebody's been doing it the whole time or a child, you know, and that's brings, you know, different levels of complexity. I'm sure I have way more questions now than I did it as a kid because I didn't know how to ask those questions. But I mean, what's what is your like kind of perspective on returning amateurs of like how you are getting me ready, like how you train somebody to get that confidence back, you know, after not doing something for so long?

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Well, I always like it's if someone comes me, you know, I've got some role that I judge who they are as a rider now and you know in the past because then you know I know what am I working with? Right, yeah. Like what can we accomplish here? Yeah. And, you know, if it's someone who's not super confident and they still want to buy a young horse, I buy like a young horse that's definitely gonna turn into a kid's horse. Yeah. And you can always tell with what their brain's like when they're young. And if it's someone who's like, I want to do this, like, I wanna be good. You know, I buy something nice that can I can really grow with. I want a challenge. We go out and get a chest day. Yeah. I've got another lady who just came, she used to train Arabs, and she came and rode, and she's a really good writer, and I was like, okay, and so she bought an old three-year-old also. So I just look at, you know, I want to see what kind of writer I have to work with, and yeah, what their confidence is and what all what they want to accomplish more than anything. Like, what are we intending to do a year?

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

What what is the end game? And that's very important also.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Yeah, and I think, you know, remembering back to our early conversations, you know, I think we came into this thinking we'd probably want to get a younger horse, you know, just knowing even from a budget standpoint, like we want to get something that is gonna be, you know, semi-affordable at least. But something that I do have the opportunity to grow with. And, you know, I'm not in a rush to run back to the show ring. I don't even have a suit yet. I have a saddle, not a suit. But I think that's been the fun part of it, just being like, you know, we want to do this right. Yeah, I we trust you, we trust having trained Chapstick and all the horses here, and knowing that even though we only come up every couple of weeks, that like, you know, he's working every day and he's improving every day. But and to see just the difference with if you're watching and you see my hair is a bad I rode today. So I just have to shape for sure and worked many, many horses. But even just seeing the difference today versus a couple weeks ago, like it's so cool because when they're this like kind of malleable, you really notice those differences.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Exactly. That and that's the but that's the coolest part about the young horses. And it's like you can do something as much as just putting a different bit in our mouth and there. I have one pillet that Sarah wrote today that we started working on in a bar bit versus a broken bit, and Renee is like this much higher, just well, she's just going, she likes it, makes her more supple, which makes her whole body horse supple and she can use it better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

That's one thing that I forgot getting back into this is like just how many details there are and like how many little things can be tweaked both as a rider and the horse. I mean, like it really is just fascinating, is the best word I can use to describe it because that it's just it's so many things that as a kid you don't think about, but you know, now understanding like why is the horse doing something, why am I doing something? Like, how do we fix this or how do we make it better, or you know, or if it's perfect, like why is it perfect today? You know, like there's just so many questions. And I I probably drive you nuts with all like the other questions I asked and like the training devices and these things that I found on Instagram to try and teach me to keep my shoulders back again. Yeah, yeah, I I've definitely been uh targeted by all these ads, you know, just a physical standpoint coming back. It for me it's been interesting of like, okay, obviously 26 years later, my body is very different than it was as a kid, but the mobility thing is a big thing. I mean, I'm sitting most of the time in my office, and you know, how your your literally your mobility, your muscles, your spine, like everything changes that like your body has to relearn that, but you also have to do the right exercises and the things to that are going to support it. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that can relate to that for other people coming coming back into this. That's the fun part, you know, yeah, is figuring it out.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

The best thing about the being an adult, or for me to coach adults, to you know what your body parts are doing, you know what's yeah. Like I cannot do kids because they don't know their body as well as an adult. I think that's why I drive with adults because, like, yeah, like everyone's has a little more self-preservation, but they also know that their wrist is attached to their elbow, it's attached to their like you know, it's it's not like yeah, I got told my little boy to put his hands up one time and this is what he did. And put his hands in the air. I was like, okay, you need a new instructor. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

So yeah, not not quite as literal, I guess. So this year, we're our clan with Chapstick. We're gonna go to a couple of the shows, just kind of bring him and uh do some practice riding and see how he does. Again, I gotta get a suit, but um, I think you're probably gonna show him before me. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

He's gonna be that. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see what he does at the first horse show. That's gonna tell us like more about what our timeline's realistically gonna be. Yeah. Because I think he's gonna love it. But the first time you take a young horse off the farm, it's always exciting. Oh gosh, yeah. It's gonna be very exciting. Yeah, and he gets excited when you know a leaf blows by.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

So I think he's definitely gonna enjoy it. Looking at this show season, what are you most excited about? Or what I guess just in general, what's like your favorite show to go do?

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Probably Okala.

unknown 20:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

And I love Shenandoah, I love all the shows in Ashville. It's like they all have their own special something.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Yeah, and Ocala was not around when I used to arrive. And I've seen videos of it and not just even for sport, but I've seen it for Puncene and other disciplines. And once once I finally realized that's the same place, I thought, oh my gosh, like that. Talk about world-class kind of facility. It's like yeah, unlike anything else. Yeah, that's gonna be super cool. And so we have an idea we've been talking about. Speaking of speaking of Gala.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

I think we're gonna try to get Sneak Dog there. Of course, like why not? Right. My opinion is I think we need to do something drastic to revamp our sport, maybe some revival. Then why not sneak dog?

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Yeah. Well, I mean, he he did an incredible job. I get all the TikToks now. Now that I have a horse again, everybody's sending me when he was doing the the Summer Olympics and saying it's equestrian. You the horse is crip walking. So um oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

So if Snoop Dogg likes the American saddlebread.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Oh my god, I can't get a better endorsement of like you know, modern Age America.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Exactly. So if anyone wants to support our cause, yeah, shoot me a message. Yeah, we have a lot of money to raise. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

And we are legit looking into it. I mean, like, and and you picked this up. Yeah, like that this is a legit thing. They actually offered me a job the other day.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Are you serious? I was like, I'm gonna raise the money up on it. It's like you sound like you're on it. Do you want a job? Oh my god, that's hilarious. Yeah, exactly. At the same time, I have so many questions.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

No, I think it could be huge, and that's coming back now, 26 years later. I feel like there's there's just Still not a lot of visibility for this industry. And it's I wish there was more because obviously we all love it so much and are so passionate about it. But a lot of people don't know what saddle seat is. They don't, they've never heard about a saddle bread. You know, I'd have to tell most people that I write English, you know, and then they're like, oh, okay. But it still takes a lot of explaining of what they are. And right, I I was reading, um, I don't tell you this yet, but I, as I'm trying to relearn everything that I used to know, I bought a book that used to be in my bedroom as a kid, the Helen Crock Tree Saddle Seat Imputation book. And I literally read it from cover to cover one Sunday, and it was fascinating. I never read it as a kid because I'm like, I didn't I already knew all that stuff, right? But I didn't. I know it. Uh but I'm literally like glued to each page. And not just because I'm trying to rise like an amputation rider, but to remember why you do certain things and like how important different, you know, your legs are and your hands and your signals and all that. Um, but in reading her book, she's got some you know pictures and flashbacks, and there are classes back then that she was referencing where there were like 55 horses under class. I mean, this is like in the 70s and 80s, and I think. Are there any classes that are that big these days?

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Not that big. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

I can't even imagine.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

I can get like a classic. Right. Yeah, there are classes that have to be split. I mean, I guess at Louisville there's like that many entries because they have to have several splits. Yeah. But as far as like any regular workshow, you're not gonna find a glass that size.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

And it just it seems like, and I don't know the numbers, so this is just me off the cough. I don't I don't know if the numbers have gone down drastically. Have they? Yeah. Drastically.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Why do you think that is that because people just aging, trainers aging out, riders aging out, or I think there's enough trainers to accommodate everyone because there's a bunch of young professionals that are gonna do this, and there's really just not enough horses and people that want to do this. And I think breeders are getting discouraged because people aren't buying horses and the ones that are selling, great, but I think we just we need more people to breed, even if it's just like one horse. Yeah, like that's one more horse. Yeah, and we I wish that we could have a better structure, right? Judging, yeah. But we don't, yeah. But like I don't I don't have kids that like get beat if their feelings are like I just pretty much tell everyone have fun because this is too expensive to not have fun. Oh, that's we might it's for yeah, we might win everything, but yeah, have fun no matter what.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Yeah, yeah. And you're right, because I think as a as a kid, that is really hard to understand. And I I think um there were several classes I remember like that that you know we had a great ride, and you know, you don't you don't know as a rider what's going on with everybody else in in the ring. That's the one hard part. And I think now the judges see things that even people on the rail don't necessarily see. So I know being a judge is is a hard job to have. Um, but it is difficult. And for me coming back into this, even explaining that to my husband, he's like, this doesn't make sense. He's he's a classic car guy, and he's like, when you enter a classic car into a competition, it's based on like how much that car is actually worth, but you wouldn't have like an entry level car, and and I don't know about cars, but I'm saying right terminology, but like you wouldn't have that discrepancy to be able to go to competing against each other because it wouldn't be fair. But I do think, I mean, uh obviously the shows there are requirements for each different division of what they're supposed to be looking for, but some way to have more of a metrics to it, you know, I I think it would be good for the sport.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

It would be amazing, and I think that it would also help open up our sport to the outside world. But again, I don't even know how much, you know, that's another reason why I'd sell it. We can have fun. Yeah. And I don't know what like what we could actually do about you know having it a friend system. Yeah. So it's like something that I think everyone would kind of agree on, but we don't know how to change it.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

Yeah. Well, maybe Snoop Dogg knows. I mean, maybe he'll come and he'll just have a whole new take on how we can do this. I'm not sure overall. I think it's it's an aware awareness and it's a visibility uh issue to a certain extent. Um, and the more eyeballs that you can get and the more ways for you know younger kids or returning amateurs or new amateurs to get into this in in an affordable way. I think it also makes it more realistic of how the sport can grow. But we are fingers crossed that this works out and and definitely have people reach out to you if they're interested in supporting. It's it's not cheap, but it's on the table and it's possible. And that's it would be huge. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

I just think we'd have to do something drastic. That's like I was talking to Laura Kenry who, you know, she's on the board for a ballot and she was like, Oh my god. I told her how much it was gonna cost. She'd be like, Oh my god. And I was like, we can do this. Yeah, we can do this, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

So we need a lot of money. Yeah, but it'll be worth it in the end. Well, thank you for sitting down with me today. I definitely wanted to make sure that we did this interview early on, and I'm gonna interview many more times which are in in this journey, but and thank you for everything that you've done for us and for chaffstick so far. And we're super excited. I mean, this is like we found we found our home, we found the horse, like we found you, and like it's just it's been it's been great. So we're very grateful.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

I'm so excited. Yeah, it's meant to have find people or have people find me that are literally such a good fit. Yeah, like it's just like okay, this is meant to be. Yeah, it's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Yeah, no, alignment is is key in anything, and I think it's so important in choosing all the things we've had to choose in this process. Yeah. Well, thank you for tuning in, everybody. And if you're enjoying the show, please go ahead and subscribe to wherever you listen to podcasts, and we'll be bringing more episodes and interviews and updates along the way. And until next time, thanks for tuning in.