Whitney Pierpont: Training Horses for the Olympics

In this episode, Pat sits down with Whitney Pierpont, a chance airport acquaintance turned fascinating conversation, who trains horses and riders at her farm in Aiken, South Carolina. Whitney is an eventing and dressage specialist with a quiet reputation as something of a horse whisperer, able to take anxious, unruly, or rehabbing horses and transform them into calm, confident partners. On a typical day she rides five to six horses, and during competition season that number climbs to eight...everything from a neurological rehab case to an Argentine import being groomed for a shot at the Canadian Olympic team.The conversation traces Whitney's path from a childhood riding lesson in Bernardsville, New Jersey (a Wednesday highlight she and her best friend could barely wait for) through a college riding team at St. Lawrence University, a detour through New York City publishing and graphic design copywriting, and finally landing, almost by manifestation, as she describes it, on a 65-acre farm in Aiken that she now co-owns and runs. Along the way, she and Pat explore what actually makes a horse trust a person, the deep bond between women and horses, the blurred and rewarding line between clients and friendship, and lessons learned the hard way (like never changing your socks mid-marathon).The episode turns toward mindset and resilience, visualization and manifesting the life you want, choosing to "celebrate what's right with the world" even when things go wrong, and pushing through adversity in competition, whether that's a triathlon in the rain or a marathon run on bloody blisters.