Hitting Your Stride -- The Equestrian Elements Life Coaching podcast with Tracey Mitchell Tracey Mitchell

Life is full of choices we all have to make. There are times when those choices are easy and are made without hesitation, and then there are those fuelled by tears and pain that are forced upon you.

Lori Shaw knows about painful choices, but she also knows about determination, second chapters and pivoting. The former owner/operator of Sunbridge Equestrian had to make the tough choices while recovering from injury, but they've led to a new career as a freelance coach who is just as driven as ever to help students succeed.

Lori learned how to communicate her knowledge with some help early on, and has never stopped her quest for improvement. She got into horses early on and did whatever she had to in order to make them part of her life - she's showing that same can-do attitude now.

There is a lot to learn from this episode and from Lori Shaw's story. You can find Lori on Facebook to find out more about her coaching services.

Ontario Equestrian's Danielle Glanc joins the show and lets her inner light shine brightly as she talks about her love of horses and her commitment to them in every imaginable way.

Danielle is able to take the analytical half of her brain she uses for her day job as a farm policy analyst with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and meld it seamlessly with her passionate championing of horses in her private life and with OE. Her natural inclination towards service helps her be a better advocate for horses and a better horsewoman for herself.

Tracey and Danielle talk about how big a factor priority setting is for her, and her biggest motivating factor is seeing the results of her hard work rather than trophies. In short, it's her desire to be realistic that echoes in her ears when it comes to finding her inner touchstone.

She is partially responsible for helping OE establish the Equine Welfare & Advocacy Committee, something that helped save the equine community during the COVID pandemic and continues to provide guidance today.

Danielle keeps in mind that all of her experiences in the saddle and around the barn have been a privilege and will hold that gratitude in her heart forever. Well, that and a little grit, too!

You can follow along with the work that Danielle and Ontario Equestrian are doing at www.ontarioequestrian.ca.

For Sarah Steenbeek, horses have been a saving grace for as long as she can remember. They have given her validation when she needed it most, and have been a constant in her life since she was a girl.

In joining the podcast, Sarah shares her story: dealing with hearing and speech impediments and how horses helped get her through that, to learning about driving during her first date with her future husband, and then to seeing the fruits of her work as a coach come to fruition by witnessing the resilience grow in her young students.

Working with husband Jordan at the family's Stonecreek Friesians, Sarah has learned a lot about the sport of driving and what it takes to shine. But it's also given them the chance to be the Governor General's Horse Guard as well as participate in the King's Plate ceremonies.

It's been non-stop learning for Sarah along the way and thankfully, she says, friesians have a patience to them that's given her the room to learn the lessons in full.

Sarah and the Steenbeek family can be found online at www.stonecreekfriesians.com, as well as on Facebook.

Tracey is joined on this episode of Hitting Your Stride by the Modern Day Dolittle herself, Meg Vickell, as she opens up about her path to becoming a well-known animal communicator.

Meg doesn't waste time, diving into her passion by telling us that all animals speak the love language of the heart and that all humans are wired to intuitively hear them as long as they use and flex that muscle. She goes over her early days as an animal communicator and how she slowly built her skills and business by working on it and spending the time reading thousands of animals along the way.

When it comes to horses and how equestrian athletes can build a better relationship with their partners, Meg has some simple advice: listen more and be open to hearing. She acknowledges the playful nature of horses but points out they're capable of shaking things up unlike most other animals.

It's taken a lot of focus on where she's felt valued to tune out the extra noise while following her path, but it's afforded her a window to the world very few get to look through. As she says about horses - something that can be applicable to most things in life - you get what you need and not what you want.

Meg Vickell can be found online at www.moderndaydolittle.com as well as on social media.

Ericka Rusnak loves the small things about horses just as much now as when she was a little girl. It's helped to shape her in many ways, not the least of which being her career path to one of Canada's premier horse breeders.

As Ericka joins Tracey on this episode of Hitting Your Stride, she talks about all of the elements that have mixed perfectly together to bring her to this point: breeder of a Queen's Plate champion and one of the new generation of horse breeders in Canada. She talks about how she made the switch from competitive rowing and how closely linked the two sports are, to what it's like running her two-farm operation that's nearly non-stop.

An important revelation comes when Ericka mentions the equality she applies to lessons learned from both success and failure and how it takes practice to make progress. There have been hard lessons, but everything she's learned guided her to the highest highs she's experienced.

Forging her own name and success has been an intentional journey filled with challenges and choices, and she chooses to see the good that always follows the bad.

Ericka Rusnak is the manager at Hill'N'Dale Canada and can be found on both Facebook and Instagram.

Tracey welcomes her brother, Rob Mitchell, back to Hitting Your Stride for an in-depth discussion about mental resilience and its preparation. And as you might expect with a conversation between these siblings, the banter is backed up by some in-depth idea exchanges.

Rob talks about building mental resilience like you'd build muscles in that it takes time and training, but never loses sight of staying focused on the positives and remembering that we need to see things for what they are.

After years of being an elite athlete with the McMaster University football team, and later as a CrossFit competitor and gym owner, Rob has continued to expand his knowledge on mental resilience - both by choice and by chance with life experiences. He has worked with athletes across the sporting spectrum, including helping equestrians chase down their goals in and out of the ring.

In his current role as an educator and principal at a First Nations school in Northern Ontario, Rob talks about how he tries to incorporate concepts like gratitude into his routines with staff and students, while also how he tackles the ebb and flow of motivation. And while there are some who believe that self-improvement is an constant all-out effort, he reminds us that giving yourself a break at times isn't a bad idea.

Tracey and Rob continue to explore the topic, covering ideas like reflection, perfectionism, setting priorities and developing trust and how they're all related to building a better version of yourself.