Major League Eventing Podcast · Major League Eventing

Catching Up with Frankie Thieriot-Stutes

February 26, 2025·1 hr 9 min·5 clips

Allison Springer wore a helmet at Kentucky because she lost her only sibling to a head injury — and she never told anyone for a decade.

1. The Major League Eventing Podcast, hosted by Robbie and Karen, features returning guest Frankie Thieriot-Stutes discussing broadcast work, Behind the Barn, and her company Athletics. 2. Frankie Thieriot-Stutes is a former competitive eventer, founder of Athletics (a rider management company), and a longtime sideline reporter for U.S. Eventing coverage who has covered Kentucky for approximately 15 to 16 consecutive years. 3. The episode centers on how Frankie spends the off-season preparing for the eventing season, from the Aiken Showcase through the Kentucky Three-Day. 4. Frankie lives in Northern California but works almost exclusively on the East Coast for broadcast, a dynamic that limits her time with West Coast riders and fellow professionals. 5. She is not riding horses at all during this period, having recently sold a horse through the Broussards, and describes running the hill near her home as a mental-health substitute. 6. The Aiken Showcase, starting next week from Frankie's perspective, uses an arena cross-country agility course run last in competition order, making it impossible to predict the winner until the final horse — a format Frankie calls 'unlike any other show.' 7. Boyd Martin and Bruno winning the Aiken Showcase is cited by both Frankie and Karen as among the most emotional moments in the event's recent history. 8. Last year Frankie and officials sheltered in a car with windshield wipers on to warm up between horses during a torrential downpour, illustrating the physical demands of her broadcast role. 9. Behind the Barn was created four years ago by Sarah Koczemplik and Dorothy Crowell to raise money for the Kentucky Three-Day event during a year when its future was uncertain. 10. Frankie brought in Josh Walker — her former cameraman from U.S. Eventing TV — to produce Behind the Barn, and this will be the fourth consecutive year he works on it with her. 11. The first year of Behind the Barn included Allison Springer's previously untold story: she wore a helmet at Kentucky because her only sibling died from a head injury, a motivation she kept private for a decade, saying 'I don't want this to be about me.' 12. Past formats included asking multiple riders the same question about one rider (exposing Will Coleman's hatred of mayonnaise and OCD about barn sweeping), and a card-pull format pairing riders like Leslie Law and Tom McEwen with questions about each other. 13. This year, Frankie has recruited Lynn Szymanski as co-host, with 12 episodes planned and fan-submitted questions being solicited through social media. 14. The Kentucky Three-Day hosts Behind the Barn on all its platforms throughout the event week, and Frankie notes past episodes continue to recirculate through Kentucky newsletters. 15. Athletics, Frankie's company of about 15 years, handles rider sponsorship negotiation, crisis communications, brand consulting, social media content production, and a young professional program. 16. The young professional program started as sponsorship and marketing coaching — writing sponsor emails, creating pricing sheets, building contracts — and evolved into a life-coaching role addressing mental health, career transitions, and family pressure. 17. Frankie describes helping one young rider accept leaving horses to pursue a law career, noting: 'That's okay. I'm proud of you. You can come back to this.' 18. She attributes part of her communication philosophy to working in her early career at a company where the founder started 24 Hour Fitness with a $75,000 grandma loan, sold it for $1.6 billion, and retained his entire senior executive team. 19. The episode is conducted as a relaxed, long-form conversation with frequent personal tangents, co-hosts contributing questions, and sponsor reads for Mane & Tail and Triple Crown Feed. 20. Best for eventing fans, horse sport media followers, and anyone interested in athlete management, sponsorship strategy, or broadcast careers in niche sports.

As heard by us

A grounded look at the mentoring and planning that keep eventing moving.

This episode stays close to the everyday work that sits behind the bigger moments, with mentorship, trust, and the small decisions that shape young riders taking center stage.

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Why you'd press play

You want the inside track on how eventing careers are built through trust, mentoring, and the work behind the ride.

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