Podcast - Tips for Building Your Equine Career

Kayla Pragid: Thank you for joining us for “The Tack Room: Perspectives on Equine Law, Business, and Policy.” I'm Kayla Pragid. I’m a partner here at our Holland & Knight law firm, where I am proud to lead our firm’s Equine Industry Team, which is a full-service, multidisciplinary practice that supports clients across the entire spectrum of the equine world. At the heart of it, our team helps clients build, protect, and grow their equine-related businesses and passions—combining our legal knowledge with a true understanding of the equine and horse world.

While success starts in the barn, it doesn’t end there. From managing land to growing a training business or navigating competition rules, every step intersects with legal and regulatory frameworks. So as we talk training, business growth, and big dreams, we’re also laying the groundwork for conversations about how equine careers are shaped — not just by dedication and grit, but by smart policies, strategic planning, and also sound legal guidance. So saddle up — there’s more than one path to success, and we’re here to help you navigate those paths.

In today's inaugural episode, I’m joined by my colleague Tori Deal, a public policy advisor in our Tallahassee office and a policy advocate for both agricultural and equine sectors. We’re going to step into the arena with two inspiring professionals, Kara Lindenberger and Lindsay Barrack, whose journeys reflect what it really takes to build a career in the equestrian world. For our equine team here at Holland & Knight, this episode is especially exciting because Holland & Knight recently announced its sponsorship of Kara as an up and coming equestrian. Together, we hope to explore how equine careers take shape — and how legal and policy landscape can support (or sometimes challenge) that growth. Before we dive in I just want Tori to introduce herself to you all.

Tori Deal: Sure. Thanks, Kayla. I'm Tori Deal. I am a public affairs advisor here in Holland & Knight's Tallahassee office, which would make sense since I'm close to the capitol where the policy is made. I'm a government consultant and lobbyist. I do work across multiple arenas but have a strong focus, obviously, in the agricultural equine space and environmental space. So, for example, that could be helping with conservation easements, therapy funding programs for the equine space and also just helping with standards in the regulatory policy atmosphere. That's basically what lobbyists and consultants are doing, you know, to try to help the equine space. I also am an equestrian. I ride here in Tallahassee. It's a huge passion of mine. The more I got into my career, I realized how relaxing it was to actually ride again, and so that's what led me also to sitting on the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services' Equine Best Management Practices Committee, which is a mouthful. But ultimately, that's just a place where industry and the agency can work together, that we're setting standards that are making sense for the equine community that aren't over-burdensome, but also protecting the environment. And that led me to joining this group here with you, Kayla.

Kayla Pragid: So now the most important part, which is I want to introduce you all to Kara and Lindsay, who are just incredible people, great equestrians, and Tori and I have both gotten to them over the past little bit. And I really want you all to get to know them. So Kara, why don't you start out by telling us a little bit about who you are, where you're from and how you got to where you are now.

Kara Lindenberger: Hi, so yeah, I was born and raised in Ohio, where I grew up riding more in the what I refer to as "backyard riding and horses," meaning I didn't grow up in a big lesson or show barn. I grew up just riding what was available at the time with not a ton of show opportunities. I did 4-H, so that means basically you ride as much as you can throughout the year on whatever horse you have available and you spend the week going to fairs doing whatever classes you work towards. Mostly western-based as Ohio tends to just be predominantly western riding-focused. After doing that for as long as I did, I decided growing up that I wanted to commit to the horse world and be in the horse industry. It's something that I really loved and enjoyed. And so I went to The Ohio State University where I focused on my equine studies. So I have a degree in horse production and management from Ohio State. There, I learned everything from training, to breeding, to nutrition to business management. After that, I traveled and I moved to Virginia, actually during COVID, as I had nothing better to do other than finish my classes online. And the equine horses don't stop for illness, unfortunately. They still have to eat, they also have to work. So they can't self-suffice. I went there and I started at a training track where I started young horses, young thoroughbreds under saddle, train them to the track before they went off to the real races. I then moved back to Ohio. After being there for a while, I continued on in my career and came down to Florida, where I now work at Mahan Farm with Lindsay Barrack, continuing my career as a professional.

Kayla Pragid: Kara, with that background and everything you went through and the different moves and the different places you rode at, what was it or was there something that really made you fall in love with horses and equestrian sports? Because what I've experienced is most folks in this business or that have horses, it's because they have a deeper love for something. And what is that for you?

Kara Lindenberger: For me, it's the fact that I look at the horse as a puzzle. Each one is an individual, so they all learn a different way. Same with the students that I teach. Each one has their own method of learning, meaning that I'm always trying to continue educating myself to find a different way to teach the same thing, but what works for the individual. So nothing is ever black and white. It's never just, this is how it is. We're always continuing to learn so we can progress and become better teachers and better riders. So that way I can advocate for the welfare of the horse and give them what they need themselves. No day is just the same. Working with either the students or the horses, each one I have to find new ways to progress to be able to teach them in the best way possible.

Kayla Pragid: Insofar as everyone and every horse is unique, is there anything specifically that you've achieved, maybe a major milestone — whether it's training, whether it's with a student, whether it's a personal achievement — is there something you've achieved as a milestone that you're proud of that the listeners would want to hear about?

Kara Lindenberger: Yeah, so for me [it] was buying my very first personal horse. After I moved back to Ohio from Virginia, I decided I really wanted to have a project, I wanted something. And I didn't have a very big budget. And so I'm on Facebook doing all the things, looking for something within the small budget that I had. And I found a little mustang pony who had been handled for two weeks. So she was barely halter broke. And after communicating with the person selling her, she told me, you know, how much the pony was, how much shipping was going to be to get her from Florida to Ohio. And I said, OK, well, if you can get her on the trailer for the shipper, I'll take her. A few days later, this little gray pony got dropped off that was super under muscled, scared of everything, all the things. And I spent a very, very long time working with her. I spent months and months on the ground gaining her trust, working with her, developing all the things from the ground, which I truly believe is very important when starting horses under saddle and beginning their careers. Before I ever sat on her, spent just months of just sometimes just sitting in her stall just to get her used to my presence. I was able to get started under saddle, get her going, took her to a couple of shows shortly after getting her going. Tons of trail rides, tons of exposure. Through all that, I realized I really did want to continue developing my career as a professional. And so I found Lindsay down here in Florida. And I ended up moving myself, packed up my whole life, all my animals, the pony, drove down to Florida. And been here ever since. And with her, Lindsay helped me continue to develop the pony. And I was able to eventually sell her to a little girl and she's living her best life. She never could have asked for a better place to go. I couldn’t have asked for a better place for her to go. She's still here somewhat locally in Florida down in Gainesville. With that, I was able to have enough to purchase my first show horse, which was always a goal. My idea with the pony was she wasn't going to be a permanent horse. She was very small. She was definitely made for kids. So I wanted to get her trained up, hopefully be able to sell her for enough to be able to buy my future show horse. And that was what I was able to successfully do. And now I have a now 5-year-old — when I purchased her she was 4 — beautiful bay mare, who I am now working on competing with. We were able to go to WEC [World Equestrian Center] and do some events this year and continuing hopefully to develop her throughout next year and so on and so forth throughout the next couple years hopefully. And overall, that was just a very big milestone for me to develop my own horse, be able to make her the super safe desired pony and then be able to purchase my first show horse.

Tori Deal: Thanks Kara. As you mentioned, you moved down to Florida to work with Lindsay. Lindsay, tell us a little bit about who you are.

Lindsay Barrack: Hey guys, thanks so much for having me. I'm Lindsay Barrack. I am at Mahan Farm, which is in Tallahassee, Florida. And I was born in New Jersey. We don't tell everybody that because we moved down to Orlando when I was a baby. I did not have much of a horsey background at all. My mother was just not a fan of them. And so once I was in the Orlando area, I was able to at least attend summer camps. Once I was old enough to drive, I would drive out to the local farms and clean stalls in exchange for riding lessons. Once I was old enough, I was able to be a summer camp counselor at some of these barns. And I would just basically work my tail off to be able to earn some time in the saddle. My friends with horses would let me come over and, kind of like what Kara was saying, a lot of backyard riding and learning as we went. And then once I graduated high school, I moved up to go to school in Tallahassee at Florida State University (FSU) and rode on their equestrian team there. My main interest at the time was on their western team, but they also needed riders on their hunter jumper team. So I participated in both teams and had a great time doing that, making lots of friends. It was a really good social environment to meet other people with similar interests. And then I befriended the trainer of the hunter jumper team. There was a farm, a small farm in Tallahassee that had been closed for many, many years. She kind of reopened it. We spent about three or four months together, getting it ready for horses again. And then shortly after doing that she decided she just kind of wanted to start a family and asked me if I was interested in taking over that deal, and I did. And after a few years there I was offered the opportunity to take over the farm that I'm currently at and have been at now for 17 years, which is Mahan Farm. And we've been running our eventing team out of there along with jumpers, dressage and just some good old-fashioned pleasure riding for those that are not interested in jumping or showing as well.

Tori Deal: I think that's awesome. Tell us how it was when you started riding on the Florida State team when you first moved here. And like most of us, you were new to riding. Did you learn a lot from your friends or how did you get to that level? 

Lindsay Barrack: So I actually used a little bit of my student loan money to purchase a horse from down off of the racetrack in Tampa Bay. Honestly, I, looking back, didn't really have enough experience to own an off-the-track thoroughbred. However, he was an angel. He wound up being a lesson horse for the team at FSU. And so I got a lot of experience like that, and essentially a lot of the girls that were more advanced that were on the team were riding him in their lessons and things like that. Basically it worked out where my horse got a lot of free training in exchange for him being used for lessons for the team, and so that was a lot of how I got my start with the jumping side of things, at least, was the ability to have the other riders on the team that were significantly better than me riding my horse and helping with the training and things like that. And that was the start of this addiction.

Tori Deal: Right. Speaking of addiction, because that's what this industry is, if someone were to take your path and they, you know, go from on a college team, and they're now a business owner, they own a small farm, can you give a piece of advice of what you did not expect and maybe what you did?

Lindsay Barrack: So honestly, when I took over the smaller farm, it was about a dozen horses and I was 19 years old. I did not know what to expect. I didn't know what I was doing other than the fact that I had about six months working with my trainer at the time who had reopened this farm. And I just kind of followed in the path that she had set up as far as feeding and nutrition and farrier and veterinary, so I kind of almost blindly got thrown into it, and this was definitely before smartphones where you just had instant access in your hand, so it wasn't just "oh, I wonder what I should do about this, let me Google it." It was a lot more researching on my own time and things like that. So I basically just had to figure it out as I went and ask a lot of questions to people that I knew had a lot more experience in it than I did. And then as my barn grew and my lesson program grew, we were going to more and more shows all the time. And it's very humbling, knowing that you have to ask, you really just have to be humble and ask questions, ask a lot of questions. I always say there's a reason that Olympians still have trainers. You know, there's always someone that's a little better or a little more educated, knows a little bit more, and you just have to really be willing to ask and rely on the people around you that do know more than you. 

Tori Deal: No, that's perfect. Thank you for that.

Kayla Pragid: So Kara, what training philosophies or daily routines or processes do you have in place or do you employ to ensure that, for example, you can get Stella from point A to point B? And from how you got your pony from point A to point B?

Kara Lindenberger: Yeah, I really believe in listening to the horse. They're going to tell you what they are ready for and what they're capable of in that moment if we take the time to listen to them. And I think that that is often something that is missed currently in the industry. A lot of people are on this really tight timeline. We've got to get this done, we've got to this done, we've got to get this done, especially with these younger horses. And so I find that if we take a step back — so for, say we're struggling with something, if we can take a step back and go, OK, why might this be happening? What might be going on physically, mentally, emotionally with the horse and or myself or the rider? Because we struggle with things, too. We could be having a block ourselves that could be affecting the horse. Take a step back, look at the situation and go, "OK, what might be going on here? What can I change? What do I need to look at?" As we work on fitness and asking our horses to do more movement, more this, more that, we also have to take into consideration are they getting enough of a break? Are their muscles tired? Are their muscle sore? Do we need to do some physical therapy-type things? You know, chiropractic, massage, any type of therapy-type products that are out there because there's tons and tons of them. But being able to really listen to our horses is one of the biggest and most important things that I think we as professionals need and can do. And that more people need to be aware of and take time to do and learn how to do.

Tori Deal: Lindsay, how has it been to watch Kara develop?

Lindsay Barrack: Kara came to me. Basically, she's told you her background with the 4-H and the breezing the racehorses and things like that. And it was "Well, I want to event and I want to jump and this is what I want to do." And she came for a trial where she flew down and stayed for a week. I put her on a bunch of different horses, and the discussion went something along the lines of "Well, how much jumping have you done?" And she showed me a little five-second video clip of her jumping this really spicy red horse over a cross rail and she goes, well, that's about the extent of it right there other than logs in the woods when they were trail riding and things like that. And I was like "OK, well, we can definitely build on that," like a hundred percent. So it's been really, really fun.

And Kara is her biggest critic, as are most equestrians. We tend to be much harder on ourselves than the people that are actually trying to help us. And so watching her grow and develop, and it’s been really fun because she came with this little pony like she said, and I just remember seeing these pictures of her on this pony and not really realizing how small the pony is. Now Kara is a small person, so that wasn't a physical issue by any means, but she shows up and this little, tiny pony gets out of the trailer and I was just like "OK, this is what we're working with." And the pony, she did a very good job starting her and Kara definitely knew a lot about the basics, but again, neither one of them had a lot of experience jumping, but knowing that the ultimate goal would be to sell this pony so she can get a horse to compete on. And so, you know, we kind of threw both of them into the deep end pretty quickly. Teaching the pony how to jump and lunging the pony over jumps, and then getting Kara a little caught up to be able to go out in a field and jump, not just in the arena — cross-country is a whole other ball game when you're running out in the field and jumping solid fences and things like that. And it has been such an incredible journey.

And like I said, she's her hardest critic and she's only had her horse Stella now for a year, the end of September will be a year. And it's crazy because she bought this lovely young horse that had a great foundation, and they've learned so much together and it's been so cool. And they've gone from "oh my gosh, that jump is so big" to "oh my gosh, can we make the jumps bigger?" So watching Kara's confidence grow and watching the horse's confidence grow has just been a wonderful, beautiful journey and something to really be at all awe coming from somebody that, yes, she would breeze and train racehorses, which anybody that knows anything about racehorses knows that's not an easy task by any means. And then to just come along and be like "now I just need you to kind of calm down and settle," and you don't need that much adrenaline in the ring. You're not out on a racetrack. And everybody just needs to take a big, deep breath and just let the horse figure it out. That way your body can figure it out. And just like Kara was saying, every horse and every rider is different, and needing to figure out what works for them. For instance, with Kara, a lot of it was, I need you to stop hyper-focusing on every little, tiny thing, and I want you to sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" or say the word "avocado" repeatedly, just something to keep breathing and relaxing. And now, you know, here we are going, well, can I move up a level? I'm ready to move up a level. And I'm like, yeah, yeah we can, and we're there. And now, once you get to that point, it's easier mentally to progress a little bit faster. Now her horse is still really young, so obviously we're taking things very slow for the horse's sake, but giving Kara the opportunity on sometimes some older horses with a little bit more experience for her to be able to learn a little bit more. Not that her horse is not capable of jumping bigger jumps, but we just have to be very protective of the young horses with their legs and their joints and being very careful so that they don't wind up with long-term negative side effects in their older age as well.

Tori Deal: Right. Well, speaking of everyone being different and figuring it out, what are some of the challenges between running a barn, the business and being a trainer, what are some of those challenges?

Lindsay Barrack: So it's a bit of a constant challenge, juggling the business side of things. We are 113 acres of grass. So the constant struggle of keeping up with the machinery, the maintenance, the mowing, the weed eating, the constant scheduling and obviously in Florida, the rain, hurricane season, the fencing, things like that. And just the general fast pace of the daily upkeep of things. And then on top of that, scheduling the lessons. And I do all of the lesson scheduling for both myself and for Kara, just to simplify it. We keep a shared calendar, things like that. And then the upkeep and the maintenance of the horses. The majority of my lesson horses are in their 20s or pushing 30s at this point. So keeping up with the veterinary care and maintenance of them, quite a few of them have daily medications or allergy shots. And having Kara on board has just been a huge asset to our team at the farm. And just, you know, just even remembering to place the feed order on every other Friday. My phone has to set off an alarm: Oh yeah, OK, it's Friday, I have to place a feed order and I have place the hay order. And you know, the forage pellets come from a different place than the feed, and the hay comes from a different place than both of those. And just the constant juggling of things will make your head spin and then add over 100-degree temperatures and 100 percent humidity and thunderstorms every afternoon. So, you know. And that's one day.

Tori Deal: Right. It is a labor of love. That's the only reason, but we appreciate you for doing it.

Lindsay Barrack: Yeah, I always tell everybody this is what I always wanted to do, and I love my job. I love my job!

Kayla Pragid: It was great to hear, Lindsay, how you talked about Kara because I do think we are our biggest critics and it's always good to hear how other people perceive you because I think you can learn the best that way. So Kara, I want to ask you, what are your goals for this upcoming season, equestrian season? I mean, it sounds like you have a great foundation, you're in the right place, you have the right horse. What do you want to do?

Kara Lindenberger: So I'm hoping to be able to get out and do a bit more events this year. I'm hoping to move up to novice. And my biggest goal is hopefully being able to go to AEC. So that's the American Eventing Championships. This year it was in California, but for the next year it'll be in Kentucky. So it's much, much closer. So much, much more doable. And so there are some requirements and some things you have to meet to be able to go, but as of right now, that is probably one of my biggest competition goals for the next upcoming year or so.

Kayla Pragid: And do you want to take Stella to that competition, your current horse?

Kara Lindenberger: Yes. Yes, that is the plan.

Kayla Pragid: That's great. So then, I suspect you're going to be working with Stella on the things she's going to need to know to be successful in eventing, not just jumping. Is that right?

Kara Lindenberger: Yeah, so it will also contain, which is a lot of what we honestly focus on, is the flat work, the dressage. As that is very, very important, and the fact that your dressage is applied to your jumping. At the end of the day, flat work is what happens in between the jumps. And so that'll be a lot of what we focus on, on top of going and doing a couple more schooling opportunities at other venues to work on seeing different cross-country jumps because every place is going to have something just a little bit different.

Kayla Pragid: What advice, Kara, do you have for somebody who's an up-and-coming rider similar to you, somebody who maybe doesn't have a robust equestrian background but has a deep love and appreciation for equestrian sports and for horses and wants to do what you're doing? What advice would you give such a rider?

Kara Lindenberger: To ask. It's always just to ask, keep working. You've got to push through, you have to ask questions, take the opportunities, even the crappy opportunity where you're like well, I don't really want to ride this horse. Ride the horse. Because that horse is going to teach you something. You don't get to just ride the super nice fancy horses just because. You have to work towards that level. Somebody has to ride the not as nice horses to be able to get to that level. Ask for the opportunities, ask for help. There's no shame in it, and you're never going to get anywhere if you don't ask. If you're just afraid to ask, the opportunities aren't going to just be handed to you. You have to work for them, and you have to ask for them. And the more you do, the further you're going to go.

Kayla Pragid: I love that, and I love that because that is one of the reasons or the reason we created the equestrian sponsorship through Holland & Knight this year, was to find someone just like you who has the passion, the grit, the desire and obviously is a really good person and human being as well, to give you the opportunity that you might not otherwise have. And so we're just so thrilled to partner with you, Kara, and with Lindsay, with your barn, where Kara is at. And we had an amazing photo shoot. We'll be posting some photos with the podcast and just so excited to have you guys on today and hope that you guys continue to excel and advance. And I can't wait to see Kara, you grow and shine at the American Eventing Championships and elsewhere.

Kara Lindenberger: I appreciate you guys working with me. It's been a great opportunity. Thank you.

Kayla Pragid: And with that, I just want to say thank you to everyone listening to Holland & Knight's equine podcast and be well.