Jim Seilsopour joins Horse People as official co-host in this episode, marking the show's shift from a guest interview podcast into something bigger: a mission to attempt every discipline in the world. Jim is a lifelong horseman with deep roots in fox hunting as a member of Santa Fe Hounds, plus a background spanning polo, ranch work, and riding across the globe from Iran to Mongolia. He and Gideon have spent the last several months riding together, and this episode makes it official.

• The new format. More episodes a month, as many weekly catch-up between Gideon and Jim as possible, and a rotating focus on trying new disciplines with real coaches and guests, starting with cross country schooling.
• Cross-discipline riding builds better horsemen. Jim and Gideon trade stories from polo, fox hunting, and ranch work in Oregon and Iran, arguing that riding across disciplines, not mastering just one, is what separates a horseman from a rider.
• The Donna Brothers detour. Gideon recaps a call with the longtime NBC Sports Kentucky Derby analyst and former jockey, pulling a line that becomes a theme for the episode: the best stories come from getting people out of their head and into their heart.
• Wild stories from the saddle. Counting coup on feral dogs in Iran, getting bucked into a barbed wire fence in New Mexico, getting lifted clean out of the saddle by a champion Kazakh wrestler mid-gallop.
• What's coming next. One-day event combining dressage, show jumping, and cross country, a possible trip to Israel to ride with the Druze, and the idea of a Horse People "punch card" for trying every discipline.

By the end, it's clear this isn't a rebrand so much as a reveal of what the show was always building toward. If you've ever wondered what it takes to actually try every discipline in the horse world, or just want two horsemen talking honestly about what makes this life worth it, start here.

Donna Brothers didn't just grow up around horses, she grew up as the daughter of one of the first licensed female jockeys in the United States. From learning to ride before she could remember to becoming one of the winningest female jockeys of the late 80s and 90s, Donna's path was never a straight line.

She spent eleven years in the saddle before trading in her silks for a microphone, joining NBC Sports in 2000 and covering everything from the Kentucky Derby to dressage at the World Equestrian Games.

After 25 years as one of horse racing's most recognizable on-track voices, Donna called her final Preakness Stakes in 2025 and retired on her own terms.

• How Donna's mother became one of the first six licensed female jockeys in the US in 1968, and how a workers' comp calculation literally launched a family legacy
• The story behind her decision to retire: why she left at the top, and what it felt like to say "riders up" one last time on NBC
• The art of the post-race interview, how to keep a winning jockey in their heart instead of their head, and why she never writes out questions
• The Mind That Bird Kentucky Derby win, Calvin Burrell's raw emotion, and the Southwest New Mexico thread that connects Sunland Park to the Triple Crown
• What she thinks horse racing media gets right, what it gets wrong, and her honest advice on building a content-driven podcast

Donna Brothers has been in the sport long enough to have ridden with Mike Smith as a kid in El Paso, interviewed Jose Ortiz seconds after he beat his own brother in a Kentucky Derby photo finish, and watched an entire generation of young women grow up wanting to do what she did.

This conversation covers what 40 years in horse racing actually looks like from the inside, and why she's finally okay stepping out of the spotlight.

@donnabrothers | Subscribe and follow Horse People for more cross-discipline content and stories.

Randy Sarf is an entrepreneur, lifelong horse racing fan, and co-owner of LSU Stables. He's been going to the track since he was five years old, claimed his first horse at 18 with his bar mitzvah money, and has since built a portfolio that includes Hildebrandt's (a nearly 100-year-old ice cream company), and the Horse Whisperer Network, a media venture aimed at changing how fans experience horse racing.

He's also the host of the Horse Whisperer and Sons Podcast alongside his sons Zack and Jordan.

Key Topics Discussed:

• How Randy claimed his first horse at 18, kicked off a lifelong passion with a 50-to-1 stakes win with Quiet Ruler, and eventually went all in on ownership through LSU Stables after a health scare pushed him to rethink his career
• His bold argument that horse racing media needs to center jockeys as the athletes and stars of the sport, not horses or pedigrees, comparing jockeys like Irad Ortiz Jr. and Jose Ortiz to NBA players and ranking his top jockeys by "audibles"
• The story behind the Horse Whisperer Network and Randy's plan to compete with FanDuel, NYRA, and Fox by producing high-quality race day coverage only on the days people actually watch, with top-tier on-air talent
• How Randy sponsored jockey breeches across all three legs of the 2024 Triple Crown, turning a marketing bet into a Citi Field partnership with the New York Mets and a growth engine for Hildebrandt's
• What it takes to spot, buy, and develop a stakes-caliber horse like Farbridge, and the economics of horse ownership when you're guaranteed to lose money 80% of the time

Why You Should Listen:Randy Sarf has been in horse racing longer than most people have been alive, and he's not shy about telling you exactly what's broken and how he'd fix it. From sneaking into the winner's circle as a kid to sponsoring his way across the Triple Crown and landing an ice cream deal at Citi Field, this conversation is part masterclass in racing entrepreneurship, part blueprint for what horse racing media could look like if someone with real skin in the game got behind the mic.

Whether you're a seasoned bettor or you've never been to the track, Randy's energy and stories will make you want to go.

Find Randy and the Horse Whisperer Podcast: @thehorsewhispererpodcast on Instagram | @randysarf on Instagram

_______

Subscribe and follow Horse People for more cross-discipline content and stories.