Horses Hope & Hustle

Ever walked out of the show pen, grabbed your scorecard, and thought "...okay, but what actually happened?" Same. This week we pull up a chair next to horse show judge Jan Dublin and break down how NRCHA and AQHA Versatility Ranch Horse classes get scored, so you can stay out of the penalty box. Jan got her first judge's card (NRHA) in 1998 and hasn't slowed down since. She now holds AQHA, NRCHA, and a long list of breed and stock horse association cards, and she judges a whole lot of ranch h...

This week we sit down with John Silva of 2Rank 2Ride — a 30-year professional bulldogger turned Mustang trainer out of Wyoming who's built a whole brand (and a wildly entertaining TikTok following) out of taking wild BLM Mustangs and turning them into tough, versatile using horses. We start with the horses — the painful learning curve of switching from rodeo horses to Mustangs, why John would rather over-reward good behavior than correct bad, and the origin story behind the name 2Rank 2Ride (...

Dave Shumpert used to run cattle and horses from Colorado to the Canadian border — until a broken irrigation pipe, a bad mood, and one honest question to God changed the entire direction of his life. Today he leads X2D Ranch Ministries out of Ault, Colorado, feeding families in crisis through a herd God built and meeting horse people — literally — on both sides of the cattle guard. This week on Horses Hope & Hustle, Dave gets real about identity, burnout, and what happens when the thing y...

Six words from a past guest just rearranged my whole brain, and I couldn't NOT make an episode about it. Charlotte Volt said something so simple during our anniversary recap that I haven't stopped thinking about since: "That is the cost of a wonderful life." In this solo episode, I'm unpacking what that means — for business, for relationships, for the messy, expensive, worth-it life you're building. I get real about my own darkest season, the years I spent rebuilding alone, and how every hard...

One year ago, Charlotte Vault of Colorado Horse Sale was Crystal's very first podcast guest. A lot has changed since then — for both of them. In this one-year recap, Crystal and Charlotte get real about the completely different directions their businesses took over the last twelve months. Charlotte doubled down, adding vet requirements and radiograph sessions to elevate Colorado Horse Sale into a more selective, reputable sale — even when it meant fewer consignments and a serious "slice of hu...