Gideon sits down with Pierce Dargan, CEO of Equine MediRecord, local Irish councillor, and deputy mayor, to talk about what it takes to digitize equine welfare compliance in a pen and paper world, how COVID flipped adoption overnight, and where AI can actually make horses safer.

Key topics discussed:

• Why Pierce ran for local politics, and what it means to shape real decisions like roads, schools, and community life.

• The early grind of building Equine MediRecord, including two years of approvals and stakeholder buy in before anyone could ditch the paper book.

• The unsexy truth of software: bugs, doubt, product fit anxiety, and the first moment someone actually paid.

• How COVID forced even the biggest holdouts online, and why that timing helped push equine compliance tech into new countries fast.

• Where AI can help next, from early lameness detection to colic alerts, plus why better data helps racing earn trust.

Bonus: Pierce’s first syndicate horse, Arthurian Fame, won the Microsoft Cup, then went on to run at Royal Ascot, which is the kind of sentence that only a few get to say aloud.

Social media links for the guest:
LinkedIn: Pierce Dargan
Instagram: @equine.medirecord

Subscribe to Horse People Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you do not miss the next conversation. If you work anywhere near a barn office or a racing office, send this episode to the person still guarding the paper binder like it is a family heirloom.

Michael Iavarone’s done what most horse people only dream about, he’s won the Kentucky Derby. He’s been in this game at the highest level, from Big Brown taking him to the presipice of racing to many G1 wins, but he didn’t grow up in it.

He came from a working-class family, started out getting crushed at the betting windows, and somehow figured out how to buy the right horses at the right time.

This one’s full of wild stories, buying million-dollar horses days before a race, flying around the world to race in Hong Kong and Dubai, and the highs and heartbreaks that come with it. But what stuck with me most is how much Michael still loves the game. Even after all the pressure, all the wins, all the money spent, he’s still out there watching morning works like it’s the best part of his day.

Key Topics we discussed:

• Why Michael only buys horses that have already raced, and how that’s helped him win big

• The story behind Big Brown and how it felt to win two legs of the Triple Crown

• What it’s like to wire a million dollars for a horse just days before the Breeders’ Cup

• Why elite horses have to be mentally tough, not just talented

• How horse racing pulled him back in after he stepped away

Follow Michael on Instagram: @michael.iavarone

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@horsepeoplepodcast

This episode is with Marissa Wells, who just became a 10-goaler in arena polo, a dream she's had since childhood. We talk about what that moment felt like, the years of consistency it took to get there, and what comes next. Marissa is great, a good friend and my first ever guest!!

We get into everything from $800 horses to bodybuilding prep to what kind of horses are actually best for arena.

Follow Marissa on[Instagram] and [Tik Tok]

Key topics we discussed:

• The moment Marissa found out she hit 10 goals and what it meant after a lifetime of dreaming about it.
• Why consistency matters more than talent at the top levels of polo.
• Her surprising take on training horses for arena versus grass.
• How bodybuilding and polo have started to overlap in her life—and why she could never do arena on prep.
• What it means to be a role model now and the advice she gives to the next generation of young girls in polo.

This episode with Jim is great, he's a one of a kind story teller with a one of a kind story and there's so much about this episode that will leave you nodding your head and thinking about the horses that changed your life.

Jim shares stories that feel more like scenes from a novel: escaping the Iranian revolution, chasing foxes in a scarlet hunt coat, and riding reindeer with native people in the Mongolian wilderness.

From Tehran to Norco to Patagonia, horses have been the throughline in his life. We talk about how deep that bond runs, what it means to ride with feeling, and why he still whispers to his mares before bed.

Key topics:

• Growing up between Iran and the US with horses always at the center
• His father's escape from revolutionary Iran on horseback with Kurdish tribals
• Building a new life in California and returning to horses through foxhunting
• Riding adventures across Mongolia, Patagonia, and beyond
• What it means to be a sensitive rider and why he always chooses mares

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Intro:
This episode's a little different. I was at this years Breeders’ Cup. One of the biggest races in the world!! Big shoutout to the media relations team for letting me be around the barns at Del Mar. I just was walking around, casually met the folks who make the sport run every day, and had some quick, honest conversations. These are the people who muck stalls at 4:30 a.m., ride babies before the sun comes up, and know every twitch and snort of the horses they care for.

It made me think about what this podcast has become. At the core of it all is the same question: why do we love horses the way we do?

Key topics we discussed in 5 bullet points:

1. Eddie Figueroa talks about staying calm in the starting gate and yelling at jockeys when he needs to

2. Lisa Conway shares how grooming horses is like being a mechanic with a lot more emotion

3. Raul Alejandro explains how exercise riders have to know their horses and also have a mental stopwatch

4. Got to talk to Steve Asmussen, who grew up in a racing family and still believes it all comes down to love of the horse

5. What it feels like to be back behind the barns, hearing stories from the real heartbeat of horse racing

   
   

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This one is personal. I got to ride with Gianna Aycock and Colby Coltrain during the Mongol Derby, and by the first night in training camp they basically adopted me. These two became my Derby older brother and sister, gear gurus, morale squad, and a big reason I made it to the finish line.

In this episode, we finally sat down to unpack their whole journey, how Gianna went from riding anything she could as a kid in New Mexico to riding 12 horses a day prepping for the Derby, and how Colby, the ultimate jack-of-all-trades, went from college baseball to welding fences to racing ponies across Mongolia.

They're some of my favorite humans, and this conversation is everything I love about horses and horse people, real talk, good stories, and a lot of heart. We get into the nitty gritty of how they prepped for the world’s toughest horse race, what nearly broke them (and what didn’t), and why Gianna’s doing it again in 2026.

Key topics we discussed:

1. The backstory: how Gianna first fell into horses and how Colby got pulled into the world alongside her

2. Gearing up for the Derby—what equipment they optimized, what they regretted, and the art of ultra‑light packing

3. The emotional and physical highs and lows during the race: illness, navigation challenges, horse draws, and how they stuck together

4. Lessons from the trail: reading terrain, trusting horses, managing scarcity, and the power of small acts of kindness

5. How the Derby changed them: in gratitude, relationship to food, presence, mindset—and why Gianna is doing it again in 2026

   
   

This episode is with Ross Colbert, lifelong horseman, investment banker, polo junkie, and 70-year-old finisher of the Mongol Derby.

And not just any finisher. Ross crossed the line dead last. But what happened in those 10 days is the stuff you don’t hear about in the press releases. He got lost in the mountains, had his horse chased by dogs, was thrown, walked solo for miles, slept alone by a river, and still managed to roll into camp with his horse sound and his head high.

We talk about the years he spent dreaming of Mongolia, what it took to prep, what gear saved his ass (literally), and how he avoided the saddle sores that plagued most of the field. Ross also shares what it felt like to come home, how the Derby rewired his perspective on business, resilience, and what he’s still capable of. It’s one of the most honest and human accounts of the Derby you’ll hear.

Key topics we discussed in 5 bullet points:

1. Ross’s early involvement with horses, growing up on a farm, riding, polo, and how that shaped his relationship with horses and risk.

2. How the idea of doing the Mongol Derby was planted from meeting his wife, her research on Genghis Khan and the Silk Road, eloping in Mongolia, seeing the Derby, and holding that dream over the years.

3. The training and preparation: building endurance, lots of saddle time, attending a Derby boot camp, gear, avoiding saddle sores, etc.

4. The race itself: checkpoints missed, stone bruised horse, getting thrown, losing tack, walking sections, getting lost in high terrain, nights alone, mindset through setbacks.

5. The aftermath: finishing last but finishing strong, what came home with him beyond the race (resilience, optimism, what he now knows about himself and what he’s capable of), reflections on business, horses, and what’s next.

   
   

If you liked this episode, hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next wild Derby story or horse‑person journey. And if you feel moved, share it with someone who needs a boost of grit or has ever wondered what’s possible when you keep going.

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Intro:

Madeleine Bunbury knew what she wanted early on, and it wasn’t what anyone else expected. After bombing her high school exams and getting kicked out, she found her way to a classical art school in Florence where she trained to paint portraits, then as soon as she could started painting horses instead.

In this episode, we talk about how she went from couch-surfing in exchange for paintings to traveling the world with a homemade easel and a dream.

She paints every horse from life, often life-size, and always with the same goal: to capture something deeper than a photo ever could.

Key topics we discussed in 5 bullet points:

• The very non-linear path from failed science student to classically-trained artist living out of a suitcase and painting horses for a living.
• What “site size” painting means and why she never paints from photographs, only from horses standing right next to the canvas.
• The heartbreak and hilarity of trying to get high-strung sport horses to stand still for hours in the blazing sun.
• Her mission to document the 18 native British horse breeds before they disappear, starting with a life-size Suffolk Punch on a three-meter canvas.

• • Building the dream: her plans for a studio barn where horses walk in one side and come out the other as art, surrounded by velvet drapes, Persian rugs, and dramatic lighting.
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• Subscribe to the Horse People Podcast for more cross-discipline content. And if you want to follow Madeleine’s adventures across the world, give her a follow: @bunbury_equine_art

  
  

  Want to learn more about her exhibition in Virginia, here's the link: National Sporting Library and Museum