Full Time Host:  Chris Stafford

Chris Stafford lives a few miles from the Kentucky Horse Park. She has been an equestrian journalist for over 30 years. Her reporting has included major events such as the Olympic Games, World Equestrian Games, World Cup Finals and European Championships for multiple international print and broadcast outlets. Chris is also a photographer, producer, director and voice-over artist for TV and video having produced several equestrian TV programs and videos. She produced daily coverage of the 2006 World Equestrian Games for HorseTV where she was VP Production and News Director. Chris broadcast live radio commentary from the Sydney Olympic Games for the BBC.

Chris was a professional event rider and trainer in her former life working with many Olympians and notable international trainers. She grew up in England and traveled the world with horses before injury forced retirement and her career moved into the media.

• Equestrian Media Consultant to leading clients in the horse world
• Vice President, International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists
• Published three equestrian non-fiction books and recorded several equine audio books
• Equestrian Media Analyst to the IOC for the 2000 Sydney Olympics
• Christine E. Stafford Eventing Groom of the Year Award presented by the USEA
• Adjunct teacher of Equine Studies at Midway College

In her spare time Chris is an artist and theater buff; she is currently writing her first play. See Chris’s website at chrisestafford.com.

______________________________________________

Rotating Host:  Boyd Martin

Born in New South Wales, Australia on August 20, 1979 Boyd completed his schooling in 1997 and obtained his NCAS Level 1 Coaching certificate in 1998 and his Horsemanship Certificate 1 at the NSW Equestrian Centre in 1998.

Boyd worked at the New South Wales Equestrian Centre from 1999 until the end of 2006. In the beginning he was employed by Heath Ryan and then in 1999 he formed his own company, Windurra Australia Pty Ltd., training event horses, breaking young horses, coaching, and breeding performance horses.

Boyd’s greatest competitive moment was winning the Adelaide CCI **** in 2003 riding True Blue Toozac. The event was the Olympic selection trials for the 2004 Athens Olympics, and the last long-format four-star event ever held.

A four-star eventing competitor, Boyd has already made his mark in the US by finishing seventh overall on the US Eventing Association’s Rider of the Year Leader board with a total of 306 points for 2007.  This is an all-time record for a rider debuting in the United States.  His 120 starts in competition in 2007 include 19 wins, 15 second place finishes and 13 third place finishes.

Boyd finished 2007 in style by finishing second on Ying Yang Yo and fourth on Neville Bardos at the Fair Hill International CCI***(MD).  These performances placed Boyd and both horses on the short-list for the Australian Olympic team.

Boyd now rides for the Unites States and has a farm in Pennsylvania.

______________________________________________

Rotating Host:  Jennie Brannigan

Jennie Brannigan grew up in Galena, Illinois, originally riding a variety of horses under the instruction of Jane McGirk. Jennie became interested in eventing at age 13 when she became a working student for Allison Springer.  Eventually Springer went on to work for Karen and David O’Connor riding their young horses, before starting her own business; Jennie headed to California where she worked for Natalie Rooney-Pitts, who happened to be pregnant at the time. This gave Jennie the opportunity to ride many of Rooney-Pitts’ clients’ horses.

Later Jennie worked for acclaimed show jumper Susie Hutchinson, where she developed as a rider and a horsewoman while she improved her show jumping skills under the watchful eye of one of show jumping’s greats.

Balancing show jumping with competing her advanced event horse Kozmo proved a challenge, squeezing in events around her jumping schedule. When Mike Winter sent Jennie a text message asking if she would like to work for him while his wife Emma was in England, Jennie jumped at the opportunity to follow her eventing dreams.

The timing was ideal so she packed her things and made the move to Georgia. Emma Winter was out of the country for several months, during which Jennie rode horses and taught lessons at the Winters’ Wayfarer Eventing in Newnan, Georgia.

Within the past year, Jennie has had a lot of press regarding her exciting rise to the top on Cooper, her current Advanced horse. She purchased Cooper in July, 2006 as a four-year-old from Kelli McMullen-Temple when the gelding had only competed at beginner novice level. After bringing him carefully up the ranks she and Cooper won nine out of ten events at intermediate level in the 2007-2008 eventing season, placing them firmly at the top of the 2008 Adequan/USEA Gold Cup Leader Board. The jewel in their crown was bringing home team and individual gold from the 2008 NAJYRC in Parker, Colorado.

Moving on to her next opportunity, Jennie is working for Olympic team member Phillip Dutton at True Prospect Farm in West Grove, Pennsylvania. Jennie is accepting horses and students in training and can be contacted by email to schedule an appointment.

______________________________________________

Former Host:  Glenn the Geek

Glenn the Geek lives in Lexington, KY a few miles from The Kentucky Horse Park.  An experienced entertainer, horseman and broadcaster, Glenn brings the excitement of eventing right to your MP3 player.

Glenn married into the horse thing 20 years ago.  Yes, he got the “Don’t ever say it’s me or the horse” lecture. He never did and is still married.  Glenn’s wife is a HA graduate Pony Clubber and Eventer and works as the retail manager at KBC Horse Supplies in Lexington.

Glenn and his wife owned a large boarding stable specializing in training young Eventers in Central Pennsylvania for many years before moving to Lexington, KY.  Glenn’s passion is pleasure driving and is a lover of ponies and Percherons.

• Glenn was an improvisational performer with The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire and owner of The Medieval Feasting Guild for over 10 years.
• He has been a webmaster in the equine retail market since the beginning of the Internet. Some of you old timers will remember him from The Horse Stuff Company.
• Glenn went on to work with Bit of Britain and was the creator of the wildly successful Tack of the Day website (check it out). Yes, he was responsible for the bad humor for the first two years!
• Many of you will recognize him as one of the hosts on the first Internet Horse Podcast called the Talking Equine Show.
• You can also find Glenn on other Horse Radio Network podcasts at 2010RadioShow.com and StableScoop.com.