Finances are tough to navigate to begin with. It’s a skillset that many of us aren’t taught in school (hi, I have never used pythagorean theorem in real life, but a high school course on taxes would have been nice?). Now, add horses into the mix and suddenly you find yourself completely bewildered about how you ended up living off ramen noodles for a month just so that you can pay off that 2-day horse show.
Whether you're an amateur or professional, whether you compete or ride for pleasure, and no matter what discipline you ride – the equestrian world is expensive. While being money-savvy isn’t going to change that fact, I’ve wondered if there’s a way to make money work for me rather than against me.
But, is that really the hardest part about managing your finances while pursuing a life with horses? I think even beyond the practical side, the emotional side of finances takes way more of a mental toll on us than we may realize. It's the thing nobody likes to talk about, but so many of us feel: the financial pressure, stress, anxiety, and overwhelm that comes with having horses in our lives. You're not alone.
This was a lightbulb moment for me recently while I watched a video interview that Erin Lane, CEO of On Course Equestrian, did with finance expert, licensed CPA, and globally recognized speaker, Selina Gray. Selina said, “What if you could be at peace with your relationship to money?” I think if you polled a room of equestrians to describe their relationship to money in one word, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who responded, “peaceful.”
In effort to better equip the equestrian community with practical and emotional tools around money, and make money discussions less taboo and more mainstream, NOËLLE FLOYD and On Course Equestrian are hosting a 30-day intensive, kicking off with a two-day live virtual event, Horses and Money: The Workshop. The live event runs this weekend, October 22-23.
Here are the details on this first-of-its-kind workshop:
- Two deep, honest round table panel discussions with top experts and pillars in the horse world, including Olympian Margie-Goldstein Engle, motivational speaker Courtenay DeHoff, and mental skills coach Tonya Johnston.
- Two one hour long interactive keynote seminars with globally recognized finance and money mindset expert, Selina Gray.
- 30 day access to the video replays from the live workshop to watch again and again
- Downloadable audio recordings from the live workshop that you can listen to from the barn, the car, or the horse show
- 30 day access to the in-depth, ultra practical and results-driven self-paced course, Equestrian Finance 101 taught by licensed bookkeeper Christa Myers
- Lifetime access to the 30 Day Roadmap to Money Management for Equestrians with daily action steps to get your finances organized and optimized
- 30 day access to the exclusive community group where you'll have accountability and peer-to-peer support during your journey
“How we choose to spend is a direct reflection of how we choose to love ourselves. There's nothing wrong with loving what you love. It’s about giving yourself permission to do it differently and building strategies around it that’s unique to you.” - Selina Gray
In a preview for her keynotes on Saturday and Sunday, Selina shares just how crucial healing your emotional relationship with money is in order to move forward and create actionable steps to achieving your goals. Not only will participants leave with the tangible, actionable tools and techniques you need to reprogram your beliefs around money for good, manage your equestrian finances like a pro, and make your money work for you.
Here's the schedule for the kickoff event…
DAY 1
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22ND
- 8a PT / 11a ET - Welcome from Caroline Culbertson, host of the Equestrian Voices podcast
- 8:15a PT / 11:15a ET - Round table discussion on Guilt, Shame, and Stress: The Equestrian Money Problem, hosted by Erin Lane and Alle Justyn of On Course Equestrian. Featuring expert panelists: Margie Goldstein-Engle, Courtenay de Hoff, Megan Cameron Muscarella, Tonya Johnston, and Paige Jardine.
- 9:30a PT / 12:30p ET - Break for coffee, matcha, mimosas (no judgment), or horse snuggles
- 10a PT / 1p ET - Keynote: Healing the Equestrian Money Wound & Breaking Past the Bulls**t with Selina Gray
DAY 2
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23RD
- 8a PT / 11a ET - Welcome from Caroline Culbertson, host of the Equestrian Voices podcast
- 8:15a PT / 11:15a ET - Round table discussion on Making it Work: Defining Your Own Identity as an Equestrian, hosted by Erin Lane and Alle Justyn of On Course Equestrian. Featuring expert panelists: Brianna Noble, Christa Myers, Bethany Unwin, Emily Urban, and Marie Wold.
- 9:30a PT / 12:30p ET - Break for coffee, matcha, mimosas (no judgment), or horse snuggles
- 10a PT / 1p ET - Keynote: Intentional Spending, Aligning Financial Priorities, and Taking Back Your Power with Selina Gray
Participants should leave feeling seen, connected, empowered, relieved, and like you have a clear roadmap of how to take control of your finances and focus on what really matters (your horses, of course). They’ll have a daily action plan, an in-depth self-paced guide to budgeting, quickbooks, accounting, and goal setting, a completely reprogrammed money mindset, and a community you can lean on for direct support and accountability so you can get real, major, actual results you can feel and measure.
“This (equestrian) life isn’t without struggle, but that doesn't need to be a badge of honor. I want equestrians to have the strategies and tools to follow their passion without burning out. I promise, it IS possible.” - Christa Myers