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Frankie was three years old on a pony at the fair, and that was the end of any other plan. Raised by white adoptive parents and riding first in Oakland, then Oregon, Frankie spent years as the only Black rider in the barn. Then a 2020 lockdown scroll through Black in the Saddle showed Frankie Black horse folks in every discipline, and the question of where Frankie belonged started to change. Today Frankie is training to become a therapist who opened private counseling this year, partly to get back to the barn, and shares life with three big geldings under the name Seventeen Hands of Color. Abriana and Frankie talk through the shame that can come with access, growing up a transracial adoptee in white horse spaces, and the boundary between educating barn friends and simply enjoying your horse. Then come the horses. Tito, the blue roan Percheron cross who carried Frankie through grief. River, the warmblood who flew in from Alaska. Rory, a five-year-old spotted draft who is teaching Frankie to let the horse lead. The episode closes with a case for more nuance online, because shaming people for their questions keeps them isolated, and isolation is where horses and people get hurt. Find Frankie on Facebook, Instagram and Threads at @17handsofcolor If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like and subscribe! It helps get the podcast out to new listeners. I mean, while you're at it you should share it with a friend! I'm sure they'll enjoy this episode as much as you did. Join Us at Kinship Conference Mark your calendar: November 6–7, 2026 in Greensboro, NC. Kinship is a two-day gathering for Black horse folks across every discipline. The FIRST event of its kind, Kinship is built on connection, mentorship, skill-sharing, and honoring the stories that shaped us. If you're looking for real community and real pathways forward in the horse industry, this is where you belong. ✨ Grab your ticket(s) TODAY: https://www.blkinthesaddle.com/kinship Let's Keep in Touch: Support the podcast on Patreon→ @blackinthesaddle Join the newsletter to be the first to know EVERYTHING BITS : https://blkinthesaddle.kit.com/3e1170... Follow Black In the Saddle on Instagram @blkinthesaddle Follow Abriana on Instagram @theabrianaj Advertising Disclosure Some links or mentions in this episode may be promotional or include affiliate partnerships. We only share what aligns with the values of Black in the Saddle and serves our community.

Imagine growing up in Lexington, Kentucky, but never touching a horses. Now imagine getting a call from the city's tourism board asking whether you can make sneakers for them. Marcus Floyd said yes before he knew what that meant. Four months later, Horse Kicks went globally viral, Nike's lawyers came calling, his Instagram was deleted overnight. Despite all of this, a door opened to the equestrian world that he's been walking through ever since. Marcus is the artist behind Infinite Customs and Horse Kicks, with custom work for the cast of Power, Nelly, Coach K's Nike retirement send-off, and Luka Dončić through an approved Jordan Brand collab. We get into how he built the first prototypes on a medicine boot, why he partnered with Equine Fusion to make his mass-produced design safe before making it stylish, what it takes for an outsider to earn trust with horse people, and what he learned only this year about his grandfather's work as a groom. We also talk Paris Fashion Week, the Black cowboy moment in mainstream culture, a dream Disney collab, and his new podcast, Bad Mares Club. Mentioned in this episode Horse Kicks (@horse.kicks) and Infinite Customs (@marcus_floyd_infinite)Horse Kicks website: www.horsekickslex.comVisit Lex and the 2022 Breeders' Cup campaignEquine Fusion (manufacturing partner)Bad Mares Club podcastConnect with Marcus on Instagram at @horse.kicks and @marcus_floyd_infinite If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like and subscribe! It helps get the podcast out to new listeners. I mean, while you're at it you should share it with a friend! I'm sure they'll enjoy this episode as much as you did. Join Us at Kinship Conference Mark your calendar: November 6–7, 2026 in Greensboro, NC. Kinship is a two-day gathering for Black horse folks across every discipline. The FIRST event of its kind, Kinship is built on connection, mentorship, skill-sharing, and honoring the stories that shaped us. If you're looking for real community and real pathways forward in the horse industry, this is where you belong. ✨ Grab your ticket(s) TODAY: https://www.blkinthesaddle.com/kinship Let's Keep in Touch: Support the podcast on Patreon→ @blackinthesaddle Join the newsletter to be the first to know EVERYTHING BITS : https://blkinthesaddle.kit.com/3e1170... Follow Black In the Saddle on Instagram @blkinthesaddle Follow Abriana on Instagram @theabrianaj Advertising Disclosure Some links or mentions in this episode may be promotional or include affiliate partnerships. We only share what aligns with the values of Black in the Saddle and serves our community.

Preshuslee Thompson came to horses with no background, no gear budget, and no one in the barn who looked like her. Six years later she's an equine-assisted psychotherapist who can name the shift from calling herself "green" to handling horses with confidence and supporting clients thorough that same transition. Abriana and Preshuslee met at a HERD Institute conference, and this conversation picks up where her session left off. She walks through her work as a clinical and occupational social worker, her path from implicit bias research to trauma-informed care, and the session with two mares, Heidi and Joy, that finally let her answer one question honestly. They also dig into cultural humility, who gets credit for experiential knowledge, and why belonging to yourself is how you belong anywhere, including in a horse world that doesn't always make room. Preshuslee is speaking at the Kinship Conference, November 6–7 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mentioned in this episode HERD Institute and Dr. Veronica LacKirwan Institute for the Study of Race and EthnicityEAGALA model of equine-assisted psychotherapyCultural humility frameworkKinship Conference, November 6–7, 2026, Greensboro, NCConnect with Preshuslee Thompson on LinkedIn and with Preseli Equity Consulting Group If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like and subscribe! It helps get the podcast out to new listeners. I mean, while you're at it you should share it with a friend! I'm sure they'll enjoy this episode as much as you did. Join Us at Kinship Conference Mark your calendar: November 6–7, 2026 in Greensboro, NC. Kinship is a two-day gathering for Black horse folks across every discipline. The FIRST event of its kind, Kinship is built on connection, mentorship, skill-sharing, and honoring the stories that shaped us. If you're looking for real community and real pathways forward in the horse industry, this is where you belong. ✨ Grab your ticket(s) TODAY: https://www.blkinthesaddle.com/kinship Let's Keep in Touch: Support the podcast on Patreon→ @blackinthesaddle Join the newsletter to be the first to know EVERYTHING BITS : https://blkinthesaddle.kit.com/3e1170... Follow Black In the Saddle on Instagram @blkinthesaddle Follow Abriana on Instagram @theabrianaj Advertising Disclosure Some links or mentions in this episode may be promotional or include affiliate partnerships. We only share what aligns with the values of Black in the Saddle and serves our community.

At five years old, Mikhail Proctor went for one pony ride at a fair and spent the rest of the day brushing horses and asking questions. Nobody in his family rode, so he found his own way in, cleaning stalls while friends took lessons and copying what he saw once the owners let him ride. That do-it-yourself grit carried him through show jumping, into equestrian vaulting, and eventually to co-founding Fleurs de Lis Vaulters, a nonprofit competitive vaulting club built on one rule above all others. The team is a family, and the horses are the MVPs. Mikhail gets candid about why he'd never recommend his own path to anyone, how he coaches kids who talk back to their parents, and why he'll hold a team out of the ring until the horse is properly warmed up, whatever the schedule says. He also traces a career that ran from equine anesthesia to property management to equestrian marketing and now full-time photography, and explains what changed when he finally took the blinders off. The conversation closes with a preview of his Kinship Conference session and a challenge for parents of horse-crazy kids. When your child names a big dream, skip the reasons it won't work and ask how they plan to get there. Mentioned in this episode Fleur de Lis Vaulters, Mikhail's nonprofit vaulting clubMikhail's mentors and coaches who pushed him for moreGoliath, the rescue horse who chose vaulting for himKinship Conference, November 6–7, Greensboro NCConnect with Mikhail on Instagram at @mikhail.proctor If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like and subscribe! It helps get the podcast out to new listeners. I mean, while you're at it you should share it with a friend! I'm sure they'll enjoy this episode as much as you did. Join Us at Kinship Conference Mark your calendar: November 6–7, 2026 in Greensboro, NC. Kinship is a two-day gathering for Black horse folks across every discipline. The FIRST event of its kind, Kinship is built on connection, mentorship, skill-sharing, and honoring the stories that shaped us. If you're looking for real community and real pathways forward in the horse industry, this is where you belong. ✨ Grab your ticket(s) TODAY: https://www.blkinthesaddle.com/kinship Let's Keep in Touch: Support the podcast on Patreon→ @blackinthesaddle Join the newsletter to be the first to know EVERYTHING BITS : https://blkinthesaddle.kit.com/3e1170... Follow Black In the Saddle on Instagram @blkinthesaddle Follow Abriana on Instagram @theabrianaj Advertising Disclosure Some links or mentions in this episode may be promotional or include affiliate partnerships. We only share what aligns with the values of Black in the Saddle and serves our community.

Jamon Turner is back on Black in the Saddle three years after his first appearance and Just Believe has grown well past where it started. What began as half-day and full-day horsemanship camps is now a full youth development pipeline: a Western Playgrounds program that pulls in welders, fabricators, cattlemen, and cryotherapy coaches alongside horse trainers, an intern program where kids manage and pay other kids, and a colt-starting curriculum that teaches gun safety, critical thinking, and horsemanship ethics side by side. This episode is a masterclass in running a mission-driven organization without burning yourself out funding it. Jamon breaks down the actual math of nonprofit horse programs, why leasing horses will bankrupt you, and gets honest about what it takes to bring on coaches and clinicians who have to see the vision of the program. The technical skills are great, but Jamon creates ways for students to practice leadership, community economics and team building. Starting with just a stock trailer in a small Texas town, Just Believe has evolve so much since our first conversation. I think you'll enjoy hearing just what the process requires. The conversation closes with a preview of what Jamon's bringing to the BITS Kinship Conference this November in North Carolina and why he said yes to it. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like and subscribe! It helps get the podcast out to new listeners. I mean, while you're at it you should share it with a friend! I'm sure they'll enjoy this episode as much as you did. Join Us at Kinship Conference Mark your calendar: November 6–7, 2026 in Greensboro, NC. Kinship is a two-day gathering for Black horse folks across every discipline. The FIRST event of its kind, Kinship is built on connection, mentorship, skill-sharing, and honoring the stories that shaped us. If you're looking for real community and real pathways forward in the horse industry, this is where you belong. ✨ Grab your ticket(s) TODAY: https://www.blkinthesaddle.com/kinship Let's Keep in Touch: Support the podcast on Patreon→ @blackinthesaddle Join the newsletter to be the first to know EVERYTHING BITS : https://blkinthesaddle.kit.com/3e1170... Follow Black In the Saddle on Instagram @blkinthesaddle Follow Abriana on Instagram @theabrianaj Advertising Disclosure Some links or mentions in this episode may be promotional or include affiliate partnerships. We only share what aligns with the values of Black in the Saddle and serves our community.

Dr. Letitia Mason has spent over two decades living in two worlds most people assume don't touch: elite academic admissions leadership and a horse program she and her mother ran out of High Point, North Carolina for 25 years. In this conversation, she traces it all the way back to a conversation with her grandfather about "a horse of a different color," through the founding of the HUD-funded Eagle Mounted Scholars Inner City Youth Initiative in 1982, into her PhD research on leadership self-efficacy, and finally back to the barn where she's now applying the very model she built in academia to youth equine work at Green Pastures Still Waters Barn. In this episode we cover why she kept her horse life separate from her career for decades, the outcomes her program produced (zero dropouts, zero teen pregnancies, 25 years of kids going on to college or a trade), the story behind the Mason Leadership Self-Efficacy Model, and a real conversation about wild horse roundups, BLM policy, and why the internet's outrage cycle rarely tells the whole story. Dr. Mason is speaking at the Kinship Conference this November. In this episode: The origin story behind Eagle Mounted Scholars and its 25-year runBuilding the Mason Leadership Self-Efficacy Model from lived observation, not a labWhy she hid her horse work from her academic colleagues for most of her careerWhat she's looking forward to sharing at the Kinship Conference

Samir Geiger didn't grow up around horses. He grew up in the Bronx watching the Harlem parade go by, catching a glimpse of Black cowboys and cowgirls at the tail end of it, and soaking up Westerns at his grandparents' house. That glimpse turned into Be Worthy Horsemanship, a program built for kids in the New York and New Jersey school systems who'd never so much as touched a horse and in some cases, don't see one for the first four weeks of the program on purpose. In this conversation, Samir walks through the injury that changed how he approaches horsemanship, the "goldfish club" icebreaker he uses to get kids thinking differently before they ever meet a horse, and the frameworks that turn a riding lesson into a lesson in patience, focus, and self-trust. He talks about building relationships with riding academies, running a roping clinic in the heart of Newark, and what it means for a kid to watch a Black man teach him how to read a horse. He's speaking at the Kinship Conference in November, and this episode is just a glimpse of what he's bringing. Mentioned in this episode: Be Worthy Horsemanship 101Federation of Black Cowboys (Keisha Mars)Fletcher Street Urban Riding ClubJersey High School RodeoTom and Bill Dorrance, Ray Hunt, Buck Brannaman

Ifa Simmonds is back on the podcast after four years. That's a long time. When he was last on the podcast, he was training clients in a cold New Jersey barn and had just launched Equestrian Fitness Academy. Today he's studying equestrian sport science at Hartpury University in England, expanding his business internationally, and preparing to bring his work to the Kinship Conference this November. In this conversation, we talk about what it took to leave everything behind and go back to school across the world, not just logistically, but mentally. Ifa gets into what entering equestrian culture as an outsider taught him about asking questions no one else is asking, and what it's been like to find community with Black equestrians in the UK through an organization called Cool Ridings. We also get into what he's looking forward to at Kinship, what he wants attendees to walk away from his session feeling, and the moment at the end of the episode when he pulls out a note he's kept on his desk since listening back to their first conversation. Topics covered: Returning to school after 10+ years and why he had to go to England to do itEntering the equestrian industry without growing up in it, and what fresh eyes revealRider fitness vs. horse fitness: why the industry consistently prioritizes one over the otherCool Ridings UK and Lydia Haywood's work building Black equestrian community in EnglandBringing it all to the Kinship Conference, the morning wellness session and what he's most excited about Find Ifa: www.ifafit.comwww.instagram.com/ifafit If you enjoyed this episode, take a quick second and leave us a 5 star review! It helps get the podcast out to new listeners. I mean, while you're at it you should share it with a friend! I'm sure they'll enjoy this episode as much as you did. Join us for the Kinship Conference: blkinthesaddle.com/kinship Mark your calendar: November 6–7, 2026 in Greensboro, NC. Let's Keep in Touch: Join the newsletter to be the first to know EVERYTHING BITS Follow Black In the Saddle on Instagram Follow Abriana on Instagram Subscribe to BITS on Youtube Advertising Disclosure Some links or mentions in this episode may be promotional or include affiliate partnerships. We only share what aligns with the values of Black in the Saddle and serves our community.

Mathena Washington grew up on horseback. From pony rides at three years old to volunteering at ranches in Georgia as a teenager, horses have been a constant thread through a life that's taken her from Boulder to Amarillo to Denver and back again. Now she's channeling everything she's built, an athletic background, a broadcast journalism degree from West Texas A&M, and years of community work, into one of the most intentional campaigns we've seen come through this community. Mathena is currently running for Miss Black Rodeo USA 2027, and what she's building around that campaign goes far beyond the title. She's also founding the High Plains Legacy Riders Foundation and its youth program, Lead the Legacy, which is bringing inner-city kids in Denver face-to-face with horses, agricultural education, and the confidence that comes with it. This episode is about what it looks like to build a campaign with mission and a program supported with strategy, faith, patience, and a very good calendar. Resources & References: High Plains Legacy Riders Foundation (in development)Lead the Legacy youth programMile High Equestrian and Rescue — Centennial, COMiss Black Rodeo USA 2027 — pageant in Little Rock, AR, August 20–21Justin Great — hat designer and campaign sponsorKime's Jeans — riding apparelJordan Peele's High Horse documentary (2025) If you enjoyed this episode, take a quick second and leave us a 5 star review! It helps get the podcast out to new listeners. I mean, while you're at it you should share it with a friend! I'm sure they'll enjoy this episode as much as you did. Support Our Next Level on Patreon Your support means we get to build connections with fellow horsefolk, pathways in our industry, and events that will change how we connect to our horses. Join us on Patreon to support Black in the Saddle and get access to bonus content, behind-the-scenes updates, and more ways to connect with the community. → patreon.com/blackinthesaddle Join Us at Kinship Conference Mark your calendar: November 6–7, 2026 in Greensboro, NC. Kinship is a two-day gathering for Black horse folks across every discipline. The FIRST event of its kind, Kinship is built on connection, mentorship, skill-sharing, and honoring the stories that shaped us. If you're looking for real community and real pathways forward in the horse industry, this is where you belong. ✨ Join the waitlist + learn more: www.blkinthesaddle.com/kinship Let's Keep in Touch: Join the newsletter to be the first to know EVERYTHING BITS Follow Black In the Saddle on Instagram Follow Abriana on Instagram Subscribe to BITS on Youtube Advertising Disclosure Some links or mentions in this episode may be promotional or include affiliate partnerships. We only share what aligns with the values of Black in the Saddle and serves our community.

Coach Kamerra Brown didn't set out to be a coach. She set out to be a veterinarian mostly, she admits, because she couldn't figure out another way to afford her horse habit. What she found instead was a calling she'd been living out since she was nine years old, cleaning stalls just to stay close to the thing she loved most. In this episode, Kamerra walks us through a journey that spans a childhood barn family in the Midwest, a Division I scholarship to Delaware State University (the only HBCU with a Division I NCAA equestrian team), a career-defining pivot away from vet school, and a season of professional hardship that tested everything she thought she knew about herself. Through all of it, the wins, the firsts, and the messy middle, horses and community kept showing up for her. Now she's building something new: the Nokomis Farm Foundation in Orange, Virginia, a place designed to make horses and equine education accessible to people who've always been told this world wasn't for them. Coach Kamerra is also joining us at the Kinship Conference this November, and after this conversation, you'll understand exactly why. Resources mentioned: Delaware State University Equestrian Program (only HBCU with a Division I NCAA equestrian team)Nokomis Farm Foundation — Orange, Virginia (near Montpelier/James Madison Museum)The Difference Maker by John MaxwellCrossing the Line — polo memoir (title confirmed in episode; author not fully named)Kinship Conference — November 6–7, 2026 | Greensboro, NC | blkinthesaddle.com/kinship If you enjoyed this episode, take a quick second and leave us a 5 star review! It helps get the podcast out to new listeners. I mean, while you're at it you should share it with a friend! I'm sure they'll enjoy this episode as much as you did. Support Our Next Level on Patreon Your support means we get to build connections with fellow horsefolk, pathways in our industry, and events that will change how we connect to our horses. Join us on Patreon to support Black in the Saddle and get access to bonus content, behind-the-scenes updates, and more ways to connect with the community. → patreon.com/blackinthesaddle Join Us at Kinship Conference Mark your calendar: November 6–7, 2026 in Greensboro, NC. Kinship is a two-day gathering for Black horse folks across every discipline. The FIRST event of its kind, Kinship is built on connection, mentorship, skill-sharing, and honoring the stories that shaped us. If you're looking for real community and real pathways forward in the horse industry, this is where you belong. ✨ Join the waitlist + learn more: www.blkinthesaddle.com/kinship Let's Keep in Touch: Join the newsletter to be the first to know EVERYTHING BITS Follow Black In the Saddle on Instagram Follow Abriana on Instagram Subscribe to BITS on Youtube Advertising Disclosure Some links or mentions in this episode may be promotional or include affiliate partnerships. We only share what aligns with the values of Black in the Saddle and serves our community.

Sydney Steverson didn't grow up in the show ring. She got bit by the horse bug at summer camp, had to put it down when life got complicated, and then made a beeline for the barn the day she crossed the graduation stage. No plan B. No "let me ease into this." Just: here we go. In this episode, Sydney, an adult amateur eventer training in Virginia with her horse Superman, brings that same energy to the conversation. If you've ever wondered what it's like coming into a high-stakes discipline in your mid-20s and being told you're already too old, Sydney shares her candid but vulnerable take. We talk about the trainer search, the ego death that horses require, and what it actually feels like to be drift compatible with a 1,200-pound animal who thinks he knows better than you (and is usually right). We also get into her fall at her last show, the video she almost didn't post, and what the outpouring from her community revealed about what vulnerability can build. Look forward to hearing more about: Growing up with horses, losing access, and coming back on her own termsThe trainer search as a Black woman in a white-dominated disciplineRelocating to Virginia to train, and what it cost and requiredWhere she's headed: five-star aspirations, a lesson program, and getting inner-city kids near horses Find Sydney: TikTok & Instagram: @bookipsies / @bookipsies_Facebook: Sydney Steverson If you enjoyed this episode, take a quick second and leave us a 5 star review! It helps get the podcast out to new listeners. I mean, while you're at it you should share it with a friend! I'm sure they'll enjoy this episode as much as you did. Support Our Next Level on Patreon Your support means we get to build connections with fellow horsefolk, pathways in our industry, and events that will change how we connect to our horses. Join us on Patreon to support Black in the Saddle and get access to bonus content, behind-the-scenes updates, and more ways to connect with the community. → patreon.com/blackinthesaddle Join Us at Kinship Conference Mark your calendar: November 6–7, 2026 in Greensboro, NC. Kinship is a two-day gathering for Black horse folks across every discipline. The FIRST event of its kind, Kinship is built on connection, mentorship, skill-sharing, and honoring the stories that shaped us. If you're looking for real community and real pathways forward in the horse industry, this is where you belong. ✨ Join the waitlist + learn more: www.blkinthesaddle.com/kinship Let's Keep in Touch: Join the newsletter to be the first to know EVERYTHING BITS Follow Black In the Saddle on Instagram Follow Abriana on Instagram Subscribe to BITS on Youtube Advertising Disclosure Some links or mentions in this episode may be promotional or include affiliate partnerships. We only share what aligns with the values of Black in the Saddle and serves our community.

In this episode, I’m diving into a topic that’s become deeply personal and professionally exciting for me: agritourism. I’ve been studying this space for over a year now, and through my work on the board of the North Carolina Agritourism Networking Association, I’ve seen just how much untapped potential there is — especially for Black-owned farms and horse facilities. This episode is for anyone with land, a dream, and a desire to do something different. I talk about how agritourism can be a path to sustainability, community connection, and cultural preservation. And if you think all you have to offer is riding lessons? Let’s expand that vision. What I’m Sharing: What agritourism really is (and why it's more than just tours)Why riding isn’t the only way to engage the publicReal ideas for how horse farms can bring in revenue creatively and consciouslyThe behind-the-scenes: zoning, signage, insurance, infrastructureWhy this model might just keep the next generation interested in our farms Agritourism Examples I Mention: North Carolina Agritourism Networking Association - https://nc-ana.org/ Tryon International Equestrian Center - https://www.resort.tryon.com/ Ebony Horsewomen event space - https://ebonyhorsewomen.org/ Green’s Campground Hideaway - https://www.greenscampgroundhideaway.com/ Sankofa Farms’ “Bees in the Trap” - https://www.sankofafarms.com/ What kind of agritourism ideas do you have for your current or future horse farm?

In this episode of Black in the Saddle, I'm reflecting on a type of grief we don't often name, the grief that shows up when our reality no longer reflects our vision, especially when it comes to our horse journey. What happens when the life you said you wanted feels out of sync with the life you're actually living? After a meme, a TikTok, and one simple question from a mentor, I found myself reflecting on how grief shows up in my life and how I have (or often have not) processed it. I share the steps I’m taking to realign, not through performance or pressure, but through a personal 90-day recommitment plan focused on my physical, mental, emotional, and social wellness. If you’ve been feeling disconnected from your joy, your rituals, or your why, this episode might be the mirror you didn’t know you needed. In this episode, I explore: How grief can manifestWhat a recommitment plan looks like with the goal of building my relationship with my horseWhat I’m doing to start small and build up to the goals I’ve created. Mentioned in this episode: → Free 90-Day Recommitment Worksheet (Download) → Loveland Foundation (Therapy vouchers for Black women and girls) → Chincoteague Pony Swim If this resonated, share the episode with a friend or tag me on social @blackinthesaddle. I’d love to hear what you’re recommitting to.

In this episode, I’m reflecting on my experience at Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter concert and using it as a jumping-off point to explore history, identity, and how narratives get reclaimed. We’re talking Black cowboys, the politics of genre, and why Beyoncé’s artistry is about legacy, protest, and power. From the symbolism in her visuals to the deep roots of denim in our ancestral labor, this is an episode about remembering what we’ve always known: we’re not new to this. And we don’t need permission to belong. *NOTE* I mention her award show snubs and accidentally say the CMAs added the 'Contemporary Country Album' category, but I should have said the Grammy's In this episode, I get into: The overlooked legacy of Black cowboys and cowgirlsWhy genre is more about safety and perception than truthThe history behind denim, indigo, and what it means to reclaim that style todayThe protest embedded in Beyoncé’s use of Jimi Hendrix and national symbolsHow institutions shift the rules when Black excellence shows upSpaghetti Westerns, Lola Falana, and seeing ourselves in stories Things I mention or reference: Jimi Hendrix’s 1969 rendition of the national anthemLola Colt / Black Tigress (Spaghetti Western featuring Lola Falana)Denim’s roots in Negro cloth and indigo from West Africa7 Western Films Starring Black Women

I’m back after a much-needed break and a whole lot of reflection. This episode is my personal reset. I share why I paused the podcast, what I’ve learned from producing over 100 interviews, and how Black In The Saddle is evolving into something more intentional, grounded, and community-driven. If you’ve been riding with me for a while, or you’re just saddling up, this one’s for you. In this episode, I coverThe evolution from Young Black Equestrians to Black In The SaddleBurnout, balance, and why I had to step awayWhat I’m craving more of: depth, research, real conversationsHow the podcast will be more strategic (think: panels, Patreon, meet-ups)Why your voice and ideas are part of what’s next Want to Get Involved?Pitch a topic or guest: I want your questions, your curiosities, your dream convos. Send me a DM on Instagram @blkinthesaddleJoin the newsletter: You’ll get updates on new episodes, upcoming events, and Patreon launch details.Catch the archive: 100+ episodes full of stories that got us here. Thanks for listening. This next chapter is already shaping up to be something special.