Looking to go pro?
Helping young riders strategically prepare for a professional riding/training career
We are on a mission…
to grow our equestrian sports, from the grassroots level onward, by giving emerging professionals the community, business strategies, and confidence they need to serve the industry.
About the Founder
Emily Urban has found success both inside and outside the equestrian world. Having spent many years training and riding for top professionals in the Eventing and H/J worlds, as well as developing her own horses, Emily now runs a successful training and teaching business while also pursuing a PhD at Cornell University (data science for agriculture). Her experience working with top executives in the private sector, as well as with venture capitalists, has given her valuable business applications for the equestrian world.
Emily is a graduate H-A from the United States Pony Clubs. Passionate about growing our equestrian sports at the grassroots levels, she has helped start and support local pony clubs and build community among equine professionals in her local area.
Before returning back to graduate school, Emily worked full-time in international agricultural development, facilitating projects supported by the United States Agency for International Development, university academics and top executives at multinational companies to address food security challenges of smallholder farmers in Rwanda, Haiti, and Mozambique.
Emily holds degrees in Agricultural Extension & Education (B.S. Penn State; M.S. University of Georgia). She lives in Ithaca, NY with her husband and baby daughter.
Emerging Equestrian Professional Course
This course helps riders navigate a successful path to becoming equine professionals by guiding critical self-evaluation, providing tangible business basic training and tools, and laying a framework for a future career launch.
Students will actively engage with the content, instructor and guest speakers, as well as build community among peers.
Plan your future equestrian career.
On your terms.
Teaching Philosophy
“First and foremost, I approach the topic of becoming a professional in the industry from deep personal experience and with a strong sense of the realities (both good and bad) of what this means to be an equestrian professional.
I have personally seen many of my close peers find great personal and financial success in the equine industry, while I have seen others fall into deep debt and self-loathing. Therefore, I am passionate about providing emerging professionals with realistic expectations of the profession and the tangible tools and insight from a business perspective to set themselves up for a fulfilling and hopefully lucrative career path.
I believe that we need strong trainers and successful riding/training programs at the grassroots levels to maintain the robustness of our sport at the highest levels. You do not need to have competed at the highest levels of your sport to provide great value to your community as an equine professional. I encourage my students to find their own professional path and build their business in a way that is authentically ‘them’.”
-Emily Urban, Founder