kristin lee – Sidelines Magazine

Road to the Triple Crown – How American Equus Went from Startup to the Winner’s Circle with Jockey Mike Smith

November 12, 2018 By Editor

David Shano, Triple Crown winning jockey Mike Smith and Chloe Shano

By Lenore Rees Phillips

Portraits by Kristin Lee

When David Shano decided to start his company, American Equus, in September 2016, he wasn’t thinking about Thoroughbred racehorses or their jockeys. In fact, other than being interested in racing during the six weeks in the spring when Triple Crown fever grips the United States, he knew very little about horses besides what he learned when he watched his daughter, Chloe, ride.

Chloe Shano competing Jax at Showpark in Del Mar, California, riding in stirrups created by her father.

A designer by trade, David knew about designing, machining and problem solving. When Chloe had repeated troubles keeping her feet in her stirrups, he knew he had found a project that they could work on together, and American Equus was born. In the two years since identifying that problem, American Equus has grown to a worldwide brand and this year the company’s signature stirrups carried jockey Mike Smith to the coveted Triple Crown title aboard Justify.

American Equus was born in Gilbert, Arizona, when David consulted with Chloe about why she had repeatedly lost her stirrups while riding. At 14 years old, Chloe was moving from ponies to horses and learning to jump, and her biggest difficulty was maintaining her balance and keeping weight in her heels. David analyzed Chloe’s every lesson, all while browsing the European stirrups available at the mobile tack stores at Chloe’s horse shows.

“I was looking at these stirrups, and I just knew that I could make something that was better and more effective,” David recalled.

A Solid Solution

David and his team set about to create a product that would both keep Chloe’s foot solidly in the stirrup as well as make sure that her leg stayed in line with her shoulders and hips. After several iterations, Chloe and David decided that they had built the perfect stirrup.

With his design perfected, David saw an opportunity in the stirrup business. With every new stirrup model he produced, he would post a picture to Instagram and Twitter explaining the engineering behind the design. After one fateful tweet, he was contacted by a young jockey apprentice who suggested that David try to make something exclusively for racing.

“I went back and forth with this young man several times, and eventually developed our first Thoroughbred Racing Iron with the traction pins,” David said. “The racing industry lives on Twitter, and every time I would post a photo I would hear from another jockey who wanted to try a pair. Eventually I was connected to Ricardo Santana, Jr., who rode in our irons in the 2016 Belmont Stakes, and after that the business really took off. I was taking calls from jockeys all over the country.”

2018 Triple Crown winners Mike Smith and Justify; Mike rode Justify in American Equus stirrups in all three of the Triple Crown races.

Many design facets make American Equus stirrups unique. All American Equus products are made from solid billet aluminum that is both lightweight and incredibly strong. A patent-pending footbed helps the rider find the stirrup without looking and feel secure. And, the stirrups’ traction pins help the rider’s foot stay grounded to the stirrup while optimizing their natural balance. To top it all off, American Equus products may be made in almost any color imaginable — perfect for jockeys who are always racing in someone else’s colors and rarely have an opportunity to express him or herself.

After a year in business, David was introduced to Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith by Drayden Van Dyke, a young jockey who was poised to become one of the riders to watch at Del Mar Racetrack outside of San Diego, California. Drayden had a locker next to Mike’s, and Mike took one look at Drayden’s American Equus irons and knew he needed a pair.

“I just liked the look of the irons and knew that they looked nothing like anything else available to us on the market,” Mike recalled. “Jockeys are in a unique position where we are doing something incredibly physical with very little gear. Everything has to be as light as possible, so I was really impressed by how light the American Equus irons were and how large the footbeds were.”

On a trip to watch Chloe compete in a horse show in Del Mar, David met Mike in a hotel parking lot and gave him the stirrups they had designed.

“Mike rode in the irons almost immediately and called me with things he thought would make the product better, and that’s how we came up with our Teardrop XL design that he rides in now,” David said.

Each pair of Teardrop XL irons is meticulously crafted out of a solid, lightweight billet aluminum alloy — the same material used to build airplanes — to provide extreme lateral crush strength and help to protect the jockey’s foot and ankle, especially in the gate. The footbed is extra wide and allowed Mike to stand up firmly and ride with greater confidence.

“He rode lots of races in them, including numerous Grade 1 stakes, and that’s when I knew that we had reached a whole new level,” David said.

Mike Smith has become great friends with the Shano family and Mike and Chloe spend hours talking about horses. From left to right, Mike, Chloe and David at Del Mar Racetrack

Good Standing

Inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 2003, Mike has been a top jockey in American horse racing since the 1990s. Before 2018, Mike had won all three of the Triple Crown races individually and had more Breeders’ Cup Championship wins to his name than any other jockey in the history of the sport.

In January 2017, Mike stunned the world by winning the Pegasus World Cup on Arrogate, and a few short months later the pair came back to sweep the Dubai World Cup. In May of that same year, he won the Kentucky Oaks on Abel Talesman. In June, another American Equus rider, Jose Ortiz, took home top honors in the 149th Belmont Stakes aboard Tapwrit. For the rest of the summer of 2017, American Equus jockeys continued winning races and, by the time the Breeders’ Cup Classic rolled around, 16 of the world’s most elite jockeys were riding in American Equus irons. Although Mike was the favorite on Arrogate, it was Florent Geroux on Gun Runner who took American Equus to the Breeders’ Cup winner’s circle.

When spring arrived the following year, racing enthusiasts and horse lovers began their annual buzz around the Kentucky Derby, the first step in the Triple Crown. There were rumblings of a young chestnut stallion named Justify who had been unraced as a 2-year-old, but showed such dominance in his single race earlier in the year in California that he would be the favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Bob Baffert, Justify’s trainer, knew he could rely on Mike to give the stallion a smart and strong ride.

On a soaking wet and gray day at Churchill Downs, Justify ran a near-perfect race, besting a field of 23 of the world’s best racehorses to become the first horse in 136 years to win the Derby after not racing as a 2-year-old. The race also made Mike the oldest jockey to win the Derby, at 52 years of age.

David, along with the help of his daughter Chloe, created the American Equus stirrups after watching Chloe having trouble keeping her feet in her stirrups.

“I really depend on my irons in conditions like that,” Mike explained. “I don’t have to worry about losing my stirrups when I get bumped or when it’s wet, which allowed me to focus on giving Justify the best ride I could. That was critical in the Kentucky Derby and proved to be even more critical when we came back in the Preakness.”

The Preakness Stakes, held in Baltimore, Maryland, at Pimlico Race Track, saw another wet, foggy and treacherous track. Based on his showing in the Derby, Mike was confident that the colt could handle the conditions if he gave him room to run. Although the race was more competitive than the Kentucky Derby, with Justify only narrowly beating out Bravazzo and Good Magic, it was still a win that put him one step closer to being the next horse to capture America’s heart by winning the coveted Triple Crown.

“Mike sent me a text right after the Preakness that said, ‘I wouldn’t have been able to ride that race the way I did without my irons,’” David recalled. “In that moment, I felt like we had done something special that was really making a difference. I also knew that we might win the Triple Crown. It really drove home how far we’d come.”

Stepping Into History

The pressure was definitely on at the Belmont Stakes, the last race Justify needed to win before he could claim the Triple Crown and take his place in sports history. Only two years prior to that day, Bob Baffert had trained the great American Pharoah to a Triple Crown win, and he knew just how hard the young horse would have to fight to achieve the same victory.

After breaking smoothly from the gate, Mike guided Justify to the early lead in the longest race of his career, and luckily the pair didn’t have to contend with bad weather as in the previous two races. Justify led the race the entire way with his characteristic fluid strides. In a time of 2:28.18, he immortalized himself and Mike by adding his name to the short list of athletes that have won the Triple Crown and, in doing so, helped American Equus to be part of the most important horse races in the United States.

“I think that I stood in front of the television in shock. Honestly, I was so stunned that I don’t remember,” David laughed. “It was an incredible achievement for a man that my family now called a friend, and I knew as a business owner that it would add so much credibility to our company’s mission. Things would never be the same, and that’s exactly what’s happened.”

“Winning the Triple Crown was a dream come true, not something I’m sure that I will ever top,” Mike said. “Justify is an incredible animal and it was an incredible opportunity. I am just so grateful that I was along for the ride and that I had so many people like the Shanos supporting me.”

The Shano family met Mike in Del Mar for dinner after his historic win and, although Mike had become one of the most famous athletes in the world, he and Chloe still sat closely together at the end of the table and talked about what they both loved more than anything in the world — riding horses.

“Mike has taught Chloe so much about riding and the art of getting to know a horse. They can talk for hours about riding, training, planning — the list goes on. She’s 16 years old now and turning into an incredible young woman. I’m so amazed that our family’s had this experience together. I think we have the gift of a lifelong friend in Mike, and I’m so grateful for that,” David mused.

Both the Shanos and Mike agree that the next thing to do is try and win another Triple Crown, and to continue being successful in the sport they love, aptly referred to as the “Sport of Kings.” Outside of Thoroughbred racing, American Equus has had the luxury of watching other riders, such as Victoria Colvin and Sharn Wordley, have incredibly successful summers in hunter-jumper rings, and is looking forward to what 2019 has in store.

For more information, visit www.americanequus.com.

Photos by Kristin Lee Photography, www.kristinleephotography.com

Carleton Brooks: Keeping Old Fashioned Horsemanship Alive

August 29, 2018 By Editor

By Catie Staszak

Portraits by Kristin Lee

On a Monday afternoon in the desert, there isn’t much going on at HITS Coachella to resemble the atmosphere of the horse show’s Indio, California, namesake. The loudspeakers are silent, the rings are empty and the most commotion one is likely to encounter is from the sand blown in by the strong wind tunnels that form beneath the Santa Rosa mountain range.

Carleton and Traci at their Malibu facility, where the barn and the riding ring boast an ocean view.

But Carleton Brooks doesn’t miss a Monday at the eight-week horse show circuit. While others are enjoying a well-deserved day off following a long week of showing, Carleton, who, along with his wife, Traci, runs Balmoral Farm in west Los Angeles and Malibu, California, is capitalizing on the opportunity to observe his horses in a quiet setting.

He watches, and more importantly, he listens, noting the tiniest of details. He mentally records the way his horses stand and move in their stalls — which leg is forward, which hind leg rests and which way they turn around. Throughout the circuit, he rotates his horses’ stalls so that they aren’t always leading with the same leg while eating, and he outfits every stall with a manger placed on the ground so that the horses eat more naturally and inhale less dust.

“The horse has to bend over to eat the hay, encouraging him to bring his hind end underneath him, bring his back up and bend his head and neck while he chews,” Carleton explained. “Isn’t that what we ask them to do [when we ask for shape] when we’re riding?”

Carleton, 60, and referred to by many as simply “CB,” is one of the most respected and recognized horsemen in the country — and he takes the title of “horseman” quite seriously. Operating Uphill Farm, Inc. in Atherton, California, out of the Menlo Circus Club for more than two decades before joining forces with Traci in the early years of the new millennium, he has trained four recipients of U.S. Equestrian Horse of the Year titles and 17 Champions at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show, Washington International Horse Show, and National Horse Show, where he has been named the competition’s leading hunter rider. He’s also an “R” judge and popular clinician; many top professionals from across the country also reach out to him for advice, coaching or training for horses determined to be difficult to figure out.

“I don’t know that there are problem horses — just horses that are not completely understood,” Carleton said.

The Handwritten Word

To talk with Carleton is to speak to a figure straight out of a novel — nearly every sentence to come out of his mouth is philosophically quoteable and worthy of being recorded in a book. Perhaps it’s because he, too, is writing down anything of note that he hears. For the past 30 years, he’s been taking notes of valuable tidbits he’s heard or learned from other professionals in the industry. He’s kept all of them. The majority is boxed up in his home, but he keeps his notes from the past year with him while he’s on the road.

Carleton likes to observe his horses in the quiet setting of the barn.

“Carleton is always studying,” Traci said. “If someone says something, he writes it down. He studies other sports — how they train and what they say. He’s always looking for a tidbit of knowledge. He reads a lot about coaching and teamwork. The book that [college football coach] Urban Meyer wrote, ‘Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season,’ is one of his favorite books.”

“I never go without pen and paper,” Brooks said. “If you write it down, you remember it. After they ride, I have [my students] write down the things that we touched upon that day or what they learned and what they have to do next. The handwritten word is very powerful.”

“Becoming the Horse”

Carleton’s horsemanship is deeply rooted, as he started out riding two horses bound for the slaughterhouse with his siblings in cornfields they cleared and plowed themselves near their Indiana home. Carleton credits that time for teaching him responsibility, work ethic and how to properly care for animals, at a young age. Eventually, he showed on the East Coast in the summers while he was in high school, and when he turned 18, he rebuilt a horse trailer from the frame up, loaded up his horse and drove with his brother Andy to California. To this day, he prefers to drive his own rig to cross-country horse shows like indoors and coordinates Traci’s and his shipping company, Uphill.

Carleton, with Green Conformation 3’6 Zone 10 Reserve Champion and Grand Hunter Champion Virtue, standinf with Lexi Wedemeyer and Green Conformation 3’6 Zone 10 Champion Mallory Square.
Photo by Jennifer Taylor

Carleton focuses his training methods on understanding horses and treating each as a unique individual. His program is the antithesis of “cookie cutter,” and he never forces a horse to do anything. More telling, he is not afraid to fail.

“It’s all about structure. You have to become the horse,” Carleton explained. “I have a philosophy of failing nine out of 10 times. Most of the time, I don’t fail 10 times before I figure it out. I used to laugh if I failed two or three times. I used to go, ‘That’s three down, that’s four down … I’m getting closer!’”

Carleton has used some unique methods to bring out the best in his horses. Neither Vested, the 1992 First Year Green Working Hunter Champion at Harrisburg, nor Penn Square, a top Regular Working Hunter, jumped in the schooling ring before showing. Clay County, a top ribbon getter at both Harrisburg and Capital Challenge, had to be ridden in a driving rein.

“Clay County didn’t like you pulling on his mouth. I rode him with a driving rein and he was butter,” Carleton recalled. “He had a special rope that he wore to the ring, which I got out of reading a book about a man who trained vicious and cruel horses using completely humane methods. I took him to the ring in that, trotted him up and down [the schooling ring], and then put him in the ring.”

“He’s a genius.” said Lexi Wedemeyer, Carleton’s assistant and rider. “I’ve worked with a lot of people, and there’s no one I’ve worked with that can think like a horse and put himself in that situation more than Carleton does. It’s amazing to work with him like that. Every day, I learn 10 things.”

Carleton and Traci enjoy their horse life together.

The Professional’s Professional

Carleton is kept busy with the day-to-day ongoings of Balmoral. Traci does the teaching at their West Los Angeles facility, while Carleton works with and develops horses at a newer Malibu facility, which the couple has worked out of for two years. The horses often rotate between facilities so that they can receive ample turnout on the sprawling Malibu property, where the barn and the riding ring boast an ocean view.

While he doesn’t show anymore, Carleton is still riding regularly and teaching riders of varying levels, and on any given day at Thermal, you can find Carleton anywhere from the pony ring to the grand prix arena, educating his own students as well as other professionals.

“Over the last 10 years, he’s started to become more in demand for other professionals,” Traci said. “It started out where he’d help them in the schooling ring and give them pointers. Now, whenever somebody can’t quite fully get something, everyone says, ‘Ask Carleton.’”

“Anytime I have any questions or need help at a jump, especially if Mom and Dad aren’t around to help me, he’s the first one there to lend a hand or bounce an idea off of,” said Olympic veteran Guy Thomas, who grew up under the watchful eye of Carleton while the horseman spent a time working for his parents, Butch and Lu Thomas. “He’s 100 percent about everything. If he’s going to help you, he’s going to give it his best shot.”

“Carleton taught me to think outside of the box,” said Mandy Porter, a three-time World Cup Finals veteran. “Each horse is an individual, and what works for each can definitely be unconventional.”

When amateur rider John Zambrano saw the success his partner, top hunter professional Peter Lombardo, was having at indoors with Carleton’s help, he wanted to work with him, too.

Carleton and Traci run Balmoral Farm in west Los Angeles and Malibu, California.

“I swear, he can speak to the horses in their language,” said John, who is also bound for the indoor hunter championships this fall. “The first time I worked with him was 2013, and he was helping me with a green horse. She was a little horse, and I’m a big, tall person, so there was a lot involved with balance and upper body control. Carleton put it all together so nicely in the way he explained it. I ended up champion that weekend. Ever since, he and I just clicked working together. I feel lucky to be able to work with somebody like him.”

“At indoors or a very big show, he helps me and my horse get ready from the ground, and it’s been really helpful,” said Peter, who rode to two championship titles and a reserve championship at the 2013 National Horse Show while receiving help from Carleton. “I do everything myself, and it’s such a luxury to have somebody like that helping you. My whole career, I’d have to ask the groom, ‘How did that look?’ To have somebody like that on the ground has been especially helpful.”

By the number of calls Carleton receives daily, it’s become increasingly apparent that his skill set is rare, his methods a throwback to another era.

“In our business today, the true horsemen are becoming fewer and farther between,” Mandy said. “A lot of people don’t understand the depth of his knowledge.”

Photos by Kristin Lee Photography, www.kristinleephotography.com, unless noted otherwise

Hannah Selleck: Enjoying the Process on the Way to the Top

July 13, 2018 By Editor

By Molly Sorge

Portraits by Kristin Lee

When her groom didn’t show up at the Del Mar National show in May, Hannah Selleck didn’t panic. She got to work.

Hannah had four horses from her family’s Descanso Farm showing at Del Mar and then the next week at Showpark Ranch & Coast, so she rolled up her sleeves and did what needed to be done — feeding, grooming, tacking up. “It was a crazy two weeks, but we survived!” she said. “All those years at Foxfield [Riding School] caring for my own horses came in handy.”

Doing whatever needs to get done is a hallmark of Hannah’s professional riding career. “She doesn’t want to do a mediocre job; she wants to do a great job,” said Olympic gold medalist Will Simpson, who helps Hannah with some horses and rides a few of the young horses her family has bred. “That’s what stands out the most to me. She’s determined and she’s going to make things happen.”

That determination is paired with a thirst for knowledge and a willingness to explore new avenues on her career path. Hannah, 29, has big grand prix show jumping goals, but she’s also focused on developing the young horses her family breeds. And she’s not afraid to add a hunter to her list of horses to ride.

Hannah’s current show string includes her grand prix horse Barla and four young horses bred by the Selleck family’s Descanso Farm, all out of mares that Hannah competed in the past.

“You learn to love the process. At the beginning, it was hard to imagine having horses at the show with all these little foals being born at home,” Hannah said. “But now that those foals are in the show ring and winning, it’s like, Oh, they can make it to the big ring, and this is going how we want! The way the market is, even when you have a very large budget, finding those very special horses is difficult. So why not try and use these nice, well-bred horses and produce your own.”

Learning From The Best

Hannah, whose parents are actors Tom Selleck and Jillie Mack, grew up in a world full of Hollywood and entertainment. Hannah didn’t have an interest in the entertainment industry; instead she found a path to a much less high-profile life. Hannah knows how to walk a red carpet and pose for the cameras, but she’s more at home in breeches and boots in the barn.

Her parents have always been supportive of Hannah’s riding career. Hannah grew up surrounded by animals at her family’s ranch, and Tom had a few horses for pleasure riding as a result of his time riding in Western movies. Hannah made the transition from backyard fun to showing thanks to lessons at Foxfield Riding School in Westlake Village, California.

Students at Foxfield do all their own horse care, so Hannah got a good foundation of horsemanship that stood her in good stead when she started riding with top trainer Karen Healey at age 16, but she still kept her horses at home. “I was used to doing a lot myself, knowing their grain and schedule,” Hannah said.

Hannah’s junior riding tenure with Karen included a win in the Platinum Performance/USEF Show Jumping Talent Search – West in 2008, second place in the 2007 Pessoa/USEF Medal Finals (Pennsylvania) and team and individual gold medals from the 2008 North American Young Riders Championships (Colorado).

Hannah continued showing as an amateur while she studied communications at Loyola Marymount University (California) and she had every intention of combining horses with a professional career in the public relations industry. But after she graduated in 2011 and started work with a public relations firm, she knew she needed to change course.

“Once I was removed from the horses and riding, it made me realize how much I loved it and how happy and fulfilled it makes me,” she said. Her parents agreed to help her get a start as a professional rider, but they guided her toward a series of jobs learning the trade instead of just starting her own stable right away.

Hannah spent a year as an assistant for Karen, riding client horses, setting courses for lessons, and teaching students. “It was interesting since I’d been a client and a junior there with a nice string of horses,” Hannah said. “I never really realized how big of a team works to get you to the ring, from the grooms to the trainer to setting the jumps, and the hours it takes. You see it with different eyes when you’re on the other side of it.”

After stints with show jumping legends Laura Kraut and Katie Prudent, Hannah stayed on the East Coast as a professional rider under the umbrella of dealer Ilan Ferder’s stables. “It was good to see that side of things,” she said. “They’re good at figuring horses out, finding different techniques or bits to help problems. Ilan’s stables had some of the best management I’ve seen; he runs a very tight ship.”

All of those experiences under veterans in the sport gave Hannah the tools she needed to set up on her own, so she moved back to a California base in 2017. Her horses live at El Campeon Farms in Thousand Oaks, and she also rides and shows sales and client horses for Meredith Herman’s Burgundy Farms. She’s eager for any kind of ring time; this spring she rode Lightfoot Show Stables’ Bayou to the 3’6” young hunter circuit championship at the HITS Coachella (California) winter circuit. At any given horse show, Hannah can be found at the young jumper classes, the grand prix course walk or the hunter ring.

“I want to win, no matter what ring it is,” Hannah said. “It’s very satisfying, especially when you’ve brought a horse along. And ring time is good no matter where it is. If you can master the accuracy in the hunters, that’s only going to help you on a jumper course.”

Hannah has a strong competitive streak, but she gets just as much joy from the process of seeing horses learn and improve. She was emotional the year she was second at the 2007 Pessoa/AHSA Medal Finals with a green horse, but they weren’t feelings of frustration. “She said to me, ‘I’m so happy!’” said Karen Healey. “She didn’t want people to think she was upset — she was honestly so happy to be second. She’s always been that genuine, appreciative kind of person. The satisfaction of making a horse, not just buying one, was always important to her.”

From the Ground Up

It was when Hannah’s former grand prix horse, Tosca van het Lambroeck, retired in 2010 that the Sellecks decided to start breeding. They had been contacted by European breeders interested in buying “Tosca” as a broodmare. “We thought that if she was that valuable as a broodmare, why don’t we breed her ourselves,” Hannah said. Tosca’s 2012 foal by Lamarque, Elita Toscita DF, has become a winner in 6-year-old Young Jumper classes.

The Sellecks also have three horses competing this year out of a former equitation horse of Hannah’s, Bella (registered name Alvarina), including Rumpleteazer DF, a 5-year-old by the World Cup Final winner Flexible. Hannah has a few young horses on the ground by embryo transfer out of her current grand prix mount Barla.

“It’s exciting to see someone that’s connected to the show ring actually doing some breeding because a lot of times there’s a bit of a disconnect between the two,” Will said. “She’s done a great job at breeding mares that were successful in the show ring. A lot of the Europeans say we can’t make horses over here due to the cost and the way we’re at the shows five or six days a week. It’s really positive when a top rider like Hannah gets involved with young horses from the ground up. It’s a real asset for our country’s system.”

All of Descanso Farm’s offspring are U.S.-bred and by U.S.-standing stallions such as LioCalyon, Flexible, and Cacique. “We want to show that we can produce the horses in the States, having them on the ground as foals and bringing them up through the young horse classes,” Hannah said. “We’re not a huge breeding operation, but it’s not common here. I think it should be encouraged.”

After the Descanso-bred foals are weaned, they’re sent to Rancho Corazon Ranch in Lemitar, New Mexico, where they live in big grass fields with groups of other young horses. Then, when they’re ready to be broken, they go to Colts Unlimited in Wyoming, where they learn the basics. When they’re ready to start learning the ropes of jumping and showing, they join Hannah at her base in California. “We have to outsource, but I like to try and find who’s best to do these things and have the best people work with them,” Hannah said.

“I see qualities of the mares that I love, that have been such special horses for me, in their babies,” Hannah continued. “As you start to get closer and you’re seeing their natural ability, that’s very motivating.”

Hannah and Tosca van het Lambrocek at Spruce Meadows
Photo by Anwar Esquivel

Success Is More Than Results

Hannah starts her day at the farm at 8 a.m., and while she has grooms to help with the day-to-day tasks of caring for the horses in her string, she manages all their care herself. She rides in the morning and spends the afternoon meeting the vet or farrier or planning for the next show. “There are always calls and emails and office work worked into the day — coordinating the shipping, checking on the horses in Wyoming, packing for the next show,” she said. “There’s always some sort of moving part that’s going on. The day gets jam-packed easily!”

The busy days don’t leave much room for hobbies, but Hannah’s mental break is a varied exercise regimen with boxing, spin classes and running. “I’ll get a workout in with my trainer,” Hannah said. “I try and have balance, but it’s not very balanced, I have to say! I always say I’d like to do tennis lessons again, but it just doesn’t happen. My racket came to Florida with me and lived in the closet. The horses can’t do things for themselves, so I have to!”

Hannah travels from her home in the more urban Los Angeles area to the barn; when she’s back in the city in the evenings, she’ll often meet up with friends for dinner. And on weekends that she’s not showing, she heads to her parents’ ranch near El Campeon Farms for some down time.

Managing her business and competing at the international level means multi-tasking, but working with her young horses is what has brought her such satisfaction in the sport. “Anything from standing in the cross-ties to getting on them at the ring and going in the ring can be a challenge,” Hannah said. “You have to really enjoy the process and remember that each stage is a huge victory or accomplishment. It’s quite rewarding. It’s not just results-based success like it is with a more advanced horse. That’s been a learning process, and it’s a full-time thing.”

While the horses are 24/7, Hannah still feels like her favorite time of the day is “when everything is done for the day and put away,” she said. “The horses are quiet and eating, the aisle is swept, and blankets are folded. It’s always a nice feeling. Everything’s at peace.”

Photos by Kristin Lee Photography, unless noted otherwise

Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave: Real Housewife, Real Horse Life

April 26, 2018 By Editor

Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave with Symphony, owned by Maci and Sadie Anderson

By Britney Grover

Portraits by Kristin Lee

As the daughter of Hall of Fame rock star John Mellencamp and now a star of her own on Bravo’s reality TV series “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” one might expect Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave to be a model of glamourous entitlement with an idealistic life and a flare for the dramatic. While she can certainly pull off glamour and knows how to deal with drama, anything idealistic about her life is only because she’s worked hard to make it so and the only attention-seeking she’s doing is to spread awareness and empowerment with those lessons.

Teddi and Slate at Balmoral Farm with Merlin the Magnificent, owned by Maci and Sadie Anderson

Her father’s fame didn’t make Teddi’s parents’ divorce any easier on her, but horses helped her get through it. They taught her about dedication and commitment, lessons she implemented later in life when she struggled with her weight. She’s proud to call herself a mother and is a devoted wife, sentiments that seem to be dwindling in today’s society. Teddi balances her family life with her accountability coaching business, where she openly uses her fitness journey experience to help others become the best versions of themselves.

“For me,” Teddi said, “everything that I’m doing and the reason that I joined the “Real Housewives,” other than to learn from all these different women on the TV show, is because there’s a big piece of what I do for a living as an accountability coach that I want other people to see: I want to empower women to make positive changes in their lives.”

Growing Up Horse Crazy

Teddi was “born with the bug” — her parents had never been into horses, but she was crazy about them from a young age. “I was 4 years old when I started riding, and it was back when I lived in Indiana,” she said. “My next-door neighbor taught little up-down lessons on Shetland ponies, and from the second I started doing that, I was hooked. As I got older and we moved to South Carolina, my parents put me in different sports, in addition to riding. I was like, Can’t I just ride on more days? Why do I have to do anything else? It was always in me; it was what I wanted to do.”

Through her parents’ divorce, riding kept Teddi centered. “There are some kids that when that happens, they get a little lost, but riding gave me so much to focus on and so much positivity in my life I was unable to ever feel those moments,” she said. “My parents were very supportive and understanding. They let me travel on the road — I grew up riding with Don Stewart and Jack Towell. I’d go on the road with them, their wives would take care of me, their daughters were my best friends, I was just like one of their kids. My parents understood that that’s what I wanted to do, and I was lucky to have trainers that kept me safe and organized and helped me reach my goals.”

With such adept trainers Teddi’s passion, dedication and talent turned into results. By her last junior year, Teddi was competing and winning at the largest shows on the East Coast including Devon, Madison Square Garden and The Harrisburg Classic. On one of Don’s horses named What Goes Around, Teddi won all of her classes at Capital Challenge was Champion at the Washington International Horse Show, being named Best Junior Rider at both.

After traveling so much as a junior, Teddi felt she needed “some life experience that isn’t just living in the bubble of being in the horse world.” She moved to Los Angeles, where she got a job and supported herself for about eight years before the pull to horses became too strong. “I called Don and I said, I don’t really remember a ton of people from California, is there someone who would let me just come ride one day? And he said, ‘Call Archie Cox, he’ll remember you.’ I sent him a text and just said, Hey, do you remember me? I haven’t ridden in a while; can I come out and ride? He said yes and within two months I quit my corporate job and was working for Archie on the road riding and showing horses for him.”

Teddi with her husband Edwin Arroyave and children, left to right, Cruz, Isabella and Slate
Photo by Jorge Bautista Photography

New Roles

Within four years, Teddi was back on top of the hunter world, this time as a professional. In 2009, she claimed either Champion or Reserve Champion at every World Champion Hunter Rider (WCHR) show on the West Coast, including at Thermal, Del Mar and the Menlo Charity Horse Show, resulting in being named the WCHR Emerging Pro Regional Champion for the Southwest. But by 2012, she was ready to make another change, trading in her life as a professional rider for an arguably more demanding profession: motherhood.

When Teddi decides to do something, she does it all-in, which is why it wasn’t the right time for her to get back into horses after having her daughter, Slate. “I tried to get right back into the horse show world and travel with a babysitter, and it wasn’t sitting well with me. I felt like I had one foot in, one foot out — I couldn’t 100-percent commit to her and I couldn’t 100-percent commit to riding. It wasn’t feeling great. I stopped and at that point, I was just focusing on my family. After I had my son, Cruz, Slate had gotten old enough and had started expressing interest and wanting to ride.”

It was Slate’s interest that ultimately got her back in the saddle. “There’s a place here in L.A., in Griffith Park, where there’s a million kids and they ride these ponies Western and they just run around like chaos, and every time my daughter did it she was like, ‘Mommy, I just really want to ride, I want to ride!’” Teddi said. “Balmoral Farm, which is Traci and Carleton Brooks’ business, has a great kids’ program where they start and work with little kids from a young age. Traci and I were friends, so I called her and said, Would you start my daughter riding? She said of course, so I took Slate out a couple of times and I was getting the itch again. Traci said, ‘Do you want to ride?’ And I said, ‘Can I?’”

Riding Balmoral’s horses, Teddi once again began excelling, culminating in the 2016 National Champion Hunter Rider Reserve Championship. Meanwhile, she was using lessons learned through life and riding in a new endeavor: helping others change their own lives as an accountability coach.

Teddi and Slate with Merlin the Magnificent, owned by Maci and Sadie Anderson

Making a Difference

“I had fluctuated with my weight throughout my life,” Teddi shared. “When I first moved to Los Angeles and got a regular job, I gained a bunch of weight, and then by the time I started riding again, it fell off naturally, but I was in my early 20s — It’s a whole different ball game. When I got pregnant with my kids, I was doing IVF and all this stuff and so I gained a lot of weight even before I got pregnant. What kind of changed my mindset was something that I learned from horses: It’s one thing to be motivated, it’s another to be committed. You can be motivated, and that can get you so far, but once you commit to something, then everything shifts.

“Riding taught me that,” Teddi continued. “If I say, ‘I’m motivated to win this class,’ but I’m not practicing, I’m not going to win that class. If I say, ‘I’m committed and I’m going to practice and work hard, I’m going to follow these steps,’ then I’m ultimately going to accomplish my goal. It’s a mindset that I had learned from a very young age: If I didn’t practice and I showed up at a horse show, I was going to chip. It’s the same in regard to health and fitness and finding that balance in myself: I would work out really hard and then I’d eat like crap, and then I’d be like, ‘Why am I not losing weight?’ It was because I was motivated, where I needed to be committed to changing my life, to changing my pattern. Riding teaches you discipline and gives you a good balance for your life.”

Teddi began her business to review fitness classes in Los Angeles as she went through her own transformation, but it soon became more. Now, Teddi works as an accountability coach, helping others reach their health and fitness goals by having someone to be accountable to. It’s developed into a strong business with other women, who graduated from her program and became coaches as well, working with her to change lives. In 2017, she took it to the next level, hoping to spread empowerment and accountability through her example on reality TV.

Isabella, Slate and Cruz getting ready to ride
Photo by Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave

In the Spotlight

Being a cast member on “Real Housewives” has brought its own set of challenges, but Teddi hopes it will be worth it if she expands her influence for good. One adjustment has been the limelight: She’s experiencing publicity like she never has before, even with a famous father. “The East Coast is different,” she said. “I lived with my mom, but growing up with my dad and going to horse shows with him, nobody really made a big deal about it. So the press is all new to me.”

Though she hasn’t been able to ride as often since joining the cast, Teddi still takes Slate to ride every Saturday morning. Teddi rides when she can, and horses are still a big part of her life. In fact, one episode of “Real Housewives” has already featured Teddi showing one of Balmoral’s horses. “It’s funny because you’re surrounded by people you know from the barn, and they’re all your friends but they see the cameras and all of a sudden they’re like ‘I’m not talking to her; I don’t want to be on camera,’” Teddi shared with a laugh. “It’s definitely a funny thing to go into a place where you’re used to being around all the people that you chitchat with but there’s this blight around you at that moment. Of course, my competitive nature has me thinking, ‘I’d better not mess this up; this is going to be on national television!’”

It was a nerve-racking experience for the out-of-practice Teddi, but was one she was good-naturedly willing to endure to share the sport with the masses. “I was giving it to God with that one, and I said, let’s just stay steady, stay the same pace, you’re not going to make any big errors and you can probably pull this off. It was fun and I love being able to show that side to the girls on the show, plus I think it’s such an important sport for the rest of the world to see and how great it can be for families, how great it can be for kids, especially in my case when my parents were divorced.”

Between being a wife, mother, rider, accountability coach and reality TV star, Teddi’s schedule is jam-packed, but she’s figured out how to manage it — and how to focus on what’s most important. “I’m a list person: Every night before I go to bed, I organize my to-do list. I plan out my week; I’m not a last-minute person. I like to be able to take my kids to activities, I like to be able to work and be there for my clients, but I’m not going to spread myself so thin that I’m not able to take care of my kids, or my husband, or my horses, or my clients or whatever it is. A lot of that is just time management. As long as I am making time for myself to manage how to prioritize everything, I can do it.”

Teddi’s love of horses began when she was a child

The Bottom Line

With her down-to-earth attitude, one might wonder how Teddi deals with all the drama brought on by “Real Housewives.” “As it plays out and you’ll see throughout the season, even if the drama is surrounding me, I’m just being honest,” she said. “That can rub people the wrong way — sometimes when you’re honest, people have to see something about themselves that they don’t really want to see. That’s gonna cause drama. The only way I can look at it is that if I’m true to who I am, I’m not pretending to be something I’m not, there’s nothing I can regret. Yeah, there are going to be days that feel bad — when I watch TV and see someone say something bad about me, I don’t love it; it’s not like I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. But I can go, Okay, you know what, I’m still being me, and I can live with that.”

Teddi sticks it out because she has an important message she wants to share: “That we’re worth it; we are all worth it. We’re all worth all the things that we want to be able to do. I want to empower people that whatever it is that you put your mind to, whether it’s in your riding or in your career or in being a mom, you’re worth it. You can fight for your worth. As soon as you believe in yourself, everything shifts in your life. It’s the same for riding, it’s the same for business, it’s the same for being a mother: As long as you’re fighting for you, everything else falls into place.”

And, of course, she keeps turning to horses. “For me, being able to ride and being able to go to Balmoral or to a horse show, living in Beverly Hills, in Los Angeles with all this chaos, that’s where there’s a little bit of light; that’s where everything lifts,” Teddi concluded. “Being on a horse, you get to have that connection and kind of forget where you are. It’s amazing to be able to have that. You hope that your kids find something they love that much so they have that escape as well.”

Photos by Kristin Lee Photography, unless otherwise noted