Train Your Own Horse

Stacy Westfall is the horsewoman who made the world believe in the invisible connection between horse and rider. Her 2006 freestyle reining performance at the All American Quarter Horse Congress — riding her mare Roxy bareback and bridleless in a ride dedicated to her late father, set to Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying" — went viral before viral was a word, eventually reaching millions of views online and earning her an interview with Ellen DeGeneres on national television. It remains one of the most-watched equestrian performances in internet history.

But that ride was not a stunt. It was the culmination of a lifetime spent developing the kind of horsemanship where trust replaces tack. Stacy grew up horse-crazy, sharing a love of horses with her mother despite neither of them having formal training. She learned through trial and error — she fell off more times than she could count, was bitten, stepped on, and run away with before she was old enough to drive. Those early struggles became the foundation of a teaching philosophy built on empathy: she knows exactly what it feels like to not know what you're doing, and she builds her instruction from that understanding.

Her competitive record is extraordinary. She won the NRHA Freestyle Reining Championship riding without a bridle in 2003, then went undefeated for two consecutive years in major U.S. freestyle reining competitions. In 2006, she won twice while riding without a bridle or saddle — a feat that had never been accomplished at that level. She was the first woman to win Road to the Horse, the premier colt-starting competition in the industry. In 2012, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas. Her competition resume also includes AQHA World Championship titles and accomplishments in mounted shooting, dressage, and western dressage.

After decades as a full-time trainer and competitor, Stacy transitioned into education. She founded The Resourceful Rider, an online training program, and launched the Train Your Own Horse podcast to share everything she has learned about the rider's mind, the rider's body, and the horse's experience of training. The podcast is organized into structured seasons covering topics from fear and failure to collection and maturity, with listener Q&A seasons woven throughout. Her approach is distinctive: she treats training as a conversation between horse and human, emphasizing the "why" behind every technique rather than offering cookie-cutter solutions.

Stacy and her husband Jesse Westfall built their horse business from the ground up — their first five years of marriage they earned under $20,000 combined. Today, she reaches riders worldwide through her podcast, online courses, clinics, and the kind of honest, vulnerable teaching that only comes from someone who has lived every stage of the journey herself. For any rider who has ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure of the next step with their horse, Train Your Own Horse is the voice in your ear that says: you can figure this out.