Unbridled and Legendary: Equine Stories
Unbridled and Legendary is a podcast for people whose lives revolve around the equine world and the pursuit of mastery within it. It goes beyond training, competition, and care to explore the mindset and values that define true connection between people and horses. Through in-depth conversations, listeners gain a rare look into the habits, struggles, and philosophies that shape those who have devoted their lives to horses.
Yes, you'll hear about training breakthroughs and competition strategy. But more importantly, you'll discover how the discipline required to connect with a 1,200-pound athlete translates directly into leadership, resilience, and purpose that reach far beyond the barn. These conversations explore what it really takes to forge genuine partnerships with horses, and why those same principles apply whether you're building a business, raising a family, or pursuing any form of excellence.
Hosted by Dr. Chad Hewlett, the show brings together voices from every corner of the equine world: riders pushing limits, veterinarians solving impossible puzzles, farriers who understand biomechanics like artists, coaches shaping champions, competitors who've tasted both victory and defeat, and other industry professionals. You'll discover insights that sharpen your craft with horses while transforming how you approach challenges in every corner of your life.
Unbridled and Legendary isn't just about success in the equine world, it's about people who've made excellence non-negotiable, period.
Unbridled and Legendary: Equine Stories
The Quiet Discipline That Nobody Sees and Every Champion Practices
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What separates the average from the legendary when talent is the same?
Dr. Chad Hewlett shares a powerful early career story about how humility, mentorship, and relentless repetition shaped his journey as a young veterinarian.
Working in Oklahoma under the guidance of farrier legend Mark Milster, Chad witnessed firsthand the discipline that true mastery requires.
Night after night, Milster forged horseshoes, often discarding hours of work in pursuit of improvement. Through these experiences, Chad learned that excellence is built quietly through practice, observation, and the willingness to admit what you do not know.
The lessons extended beyond horseshoeing, revealing a universal truth about growth.
Whether in veterinary medicine, sports, or life, greatness is rarely born in the spotlight. It is forged through repetition, mentorship, and the humility to remain the student in the room.
Listen For:
:00 What actually separates average performers from legendary ones?
2:02 Why is admitting what you do not know the first step to mastery?
6:39 What did a giant pile of handmade horseshoes teach about discipline and repetition?
9:05 Why is perfection an illusion but excellence still achievable?
12:51 How were farriers discussing advanced hoof science decades before it became mainstream?
CONNECT WITH CHAD HEWLETT, VETERINARIAN | OWNER OF ENERGY EQUINE
Dr. Chad Hewlett (00:00)
The gap between average and legendary is not talent. It is how willing someone is to listen and learn. And sometimes it happens when nobody is watching. Hi everybody. Welcome to today’s episode of Unbridled and Legendary. I am going to talk a little bit about the beginning of my career when I was in Oklahoma working for Dr. McCarroll at Interstate Equine. I was a young veterinarian and just starting to understand what was going on. Luckily I had been brought up to believe that sometimes it is worth listening and learning from people, being careful about it, having humility, and being willing to look around and sometimes be the dumbest person in the room while you figure out who is there. Sometimes you do not become legendary by talking. You become legendary by listening. It is always on my mind and some days I am better at it than others.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (01:10)
After five kids it definitely brings some humility to life whenever your twelve year old can teach you something. Inside of this I have talked quite a bit about Mark Milster and the day that he found me in the clinic. As a young person working there I did not have many clients, so people were not coming to see me as much as they were David. David was busy all the time. I was running around looking for something to do. Some people would use me and some would not. Milster came up while he was down shoeing horses. David had built a small shoeing podiatry center. Again, this guy was so far ahead of his time. Mark came up and said to me, “Hi, my name is Mark Milster. What do you know about horseshoeing?”
Dr. Chad Hewlett (02:02)
I said, “Actually, I know very little.” He laughed and looked at me and said, “Well, it does not surprise me. Most veterinarians do not. At least you are willing to admit that you do not.” Then he said, “If you come down and spend some time with me, we will shoe some horses and talk about life. It might even help build your veterinary practice a little bit.” He said he had a lot of faith in me because he had worked with David for a long time and David was very good at what he did. Usually the people around him were pretty good as well. He told me I was just at the beginning and suggested we give it a try and see how it went. That made me comfortable in that moment. Somebody simply came up, talked to me, and wanted to take me under their wing.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (02:56)
It was the acceptance of my lack of knowledge and the fact that I was sitting next to someone with tremendous knowledge. As we go through this story you will realize this guy became a world champion. He was on the American competitive blacksmith team several times. To this day when you say his name he is considered a legend. At that time he was just a young guy. I think we were about the same age, maybe a year younger or older. He was from Dibble, Oklahoma. If you do not know where Dibble is, it is not too far from nowhere. But it is a nice little town in Oklahoma. I am not even sure he does not still live there. He was so passionate about what he was doing that it was inevitable he would come back time after time.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (03:56)
He would say to me, “When you put a shoe on a horse, watch where it wears. Then you correct it the next time.” Every six to eight weeks he would get feedback on what he had done. Sometimes it was right and sometimes it needed serious adjustment. But the feet never lie and they always give you feedback. Mark was really good with the discipline that nobody sees. We will talk a lot about that in this podcast as we interview people. The things people see in the spotlight are usually the result of hours and hours spent working when nobody was watching.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (04:58)
He really brought to light that champions are built after hours. He would shoe all day long, the same as I worked all day. Then he would say, “Hey, how about you come over and help me beat up some steel tonight?” I think he was doing it for two reasons. One was that he needed someone to swing the other hammer. He had worn out everybody else in his friend group. Other horseshoers would help him sometimes, but they were competing with each other. I also think he was trying to help me culturally in the community. It was a welcoming environment. This happened two or three nights a week.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (05:50)
He would work all day, eat supper, and then start again. Oklahoma gets hot. We think Alberta is hot in the summer but it is nothing compared to Oklahoma. I would go over to his house and he had a big anvil outside with the forge ready. His steel was already cut and ready to go. Beside the forge there was a huge pile of handmade horseshoes. I would guess there were thousands of them, maybe three thousand. They were stacked several feet high.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (06:39)
That first night I learned why there were so many shoes in that pile. We built three shoes that night. Every time we finished one he would examine it carefully. This was back in 1995 or 1996 so there were no smartphones or quick photos. He would study the shoe, measure it, analyze the design, and decide whether it would be used in a contest. Then he would throw it on the pile and say we would make another one. I remember thinking how much work went into making that shoe only for it to be tossed onto the pile.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (07:21)
We made the same shoe four times that night. He was working on speed and perfection. I had seen repetition in sports like basketball, but I had never experienced this level of repetition. We started around seven in the evening and I left around ten. Three hours making shoes simply because that design might appear in a future competition. And he did this two or three nights a week.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (08:16)
He also worked on shoes during the day, but he still came home and kept practicing. Watching him taught me something. I started wondering how this idea of repetition applied to the rest of us. When interns or students are working with me now, I sometimes talk about practicing with an orange or a banana and a box of needles. I tell them to take the needles home and practice inserting them. Repetition builds skill. I do not think I understood how much Mark taught me through that example.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (09:05)
Thirty three years later Mark is still doing the same thing. When I talk with him or other competitive horseshoers they are still refining their skills. I believe perfection is an illusion, but excellence is not. I think that is what Mark was chasing.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (09:55)
Listening and learning is a lifelong competitive advantage. My father used to say the same thing. A close friend of mine, Scott Lees, who managed Solder Glen Ranches and later owned a ranch in southern Alberta, would often say it is sometimes nice to be the dumbest person in the room. What he meant was that you get the chance to listen and learn from people around you.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (11:11)
My father said the same thing. He would tell me to sometimes just listen. As I have gotten older that has become easier. Once you fall off a pedestal a few times you learn humility. Watching and listening allows you to notice things you might otherwise miss.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (11:59)
Mark invited me to clinics he organized. As a young guy I did not realize the people attending were legends in the industry. One of the first clinicians I met was Jim Keith from Tucumcari, New Mexico. He asked me to take radiographs of horse feet to help them understand where the bone sat inside the hoof. These horseshoers wanted feedback so they could refine their work.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (12:51)
This was in the mid 1990s and they were already discussing podiatry concepts long before they became widely discussed in veterinary medicine. They would build shoes, analyze them together, and learn from one another. There were maybe ten of us there that day. Instead of tearing each other apart they leaned into the learning process.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (13:45)
At the core most horseshoers truly love horses. Mastery for them is about serving the horse. That is something I saw clearly that day. I also met Jim Poor and his son Bill Poor through those lectures. Their family has contributed incredible innovations to the shoeing industry.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (14:37)
The gap between average and legendary is not talent. It is the willingness to listen and learn, especially when nobody is watching. What do you do during the hours when you are not in front of clients or audiences? Do you challenge yourself? Do you maintain the same level of discipline you would show on stage?
Dr. Chad Hewlett (15:36)
Listen, learn, and repeat. I say this often when working with interns and veterinary students. I enjoy helping young people, but I also learn from them. Mentorship is a two way street.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (16:35)
I ask them questions like who they want to become, who they listen to, how they accept feedback, and what systems and habits they follow. Repetition matters, but so does learning from mistakes and improving.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (17:41)
One of our clinic’s core values is being humbly confident. Recently I heard a discussion of the Sermon on the Mount where the phrase poor in spirit was explained as people who are not boastful but attentive and observant. That idea connects well with what we are discussing here. Stay humble and keep putting in the repetitions.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (18:34)
I am not trying to preach here. If you are listening to this podcast you are probably already on that path. Sometimes it is simply good to pause and reflect on it.
Dr. Chad Hewlett (19:31)
As we close another episode, I really appreciate you taking the time to listen, learn, and reflect. We are all chasing excellence. Perfection might be impossible, but excellence is always worth pursuing. Thank you for spending time with me today. If you can, please leave a rating and a review and follow the show so we can continue making more episodes. Thank you.
