Ep. 83 - HorsePro.TV's Shaina Zollman
Shaina Zollman is from the great cowboy town of Pendleton and a lifelong Pendleton Round-Up volunteer, Shaina is the owner and producer of HorsePro.TV operating all aspects of the business from filming and editing videos, to maintaining social media and planning outreach. The video on demand website sets the standard in raw, honest information from top trainers who specialize in young horses. Every episode is unedited and shows the process from start to finish.
HorsePro TV
Focused on the foundation of a horse, they film the full session with the horse from the moment the trainer gets on to when they get off, without any editing. Whatever problems may arise, you will see how that trainer will work through that.
“It’s just the brain-child of my other half, Dusty, he pretty much came up with the idea and what he wanted it to look like and to do,” says Shaina. “But he didn’t know how to do the technology part so he passed it off to me to make it happen.”
And that is how Shaina became the technology-guru portion of the project! Shaina’s degree was in Fisheries and Wildlife from Oregon State, and while she had worked in a lab with technical aspects, it was all very different from the technical aspects of videos and cameras. Over time, equipment has improved, and so has other elements like the website that Shaina initially created. “I definitely can’t code, so I really focus on the video and have somebody build our ideas [on web].”
“When we started, I didn’t have any idea on where to start,” says Shaina, who started by watching and learning. After finding a video they liked, they used those as a template and taught themselves how to create those angles and shots. Over the first two years of the project, the creativity has grown and a part of that has to do with the comfort to work within the programs for timing, zoom, and more to make a more interesting video.
One challenge though is that the education and skill growth in the video portion of the project has grown so much that even when they are delayed just six months, it looks almost archaic and Shaina can’t use that content - a lesson she learned the hard way with a mini-documentary she created just a year ago.
Day-to-Day Schedule
Beyond HorsePro.TV, Dusty has a successful program with two-year old cow horses. Up before the sun rises, they get cows out of the pasture, cutting on everyone in the cutting pen, doctoring and caring for animals, and finishing out the rest of the horses. After that, it’s lunch time and hockey time while they wait for it to cool off.
Once it’s cool enough, they’ll clean stalls and care for horses. This is the time that Shaina capitalizes on for creating content and working on HorsePro.TV, oftentimes hitting the road to shoot video and work with their online trainers.
Challenging Aspects of Creating HorsePro.TV
“The hardest part is when technology fails me is the hardest part,” says Shaina, relating back to an issue where the website host crashed on them. Some memberships got rearranged and, manually, for five hours every morning, Shaina had to go over every single members’ account to make sure that everything was still operating the way it should be. “It’s enough work as it is when things are going right, with the things I can control, that’s the hardest part….. My biggest goal is getting my job done.”
"We never worry about how we are going to get another member, we worry about how we are going to give value to our members and future members,” explains Shaina. The constant question is what can they do one step more to give value to people who are always members with them. That has helped them grow content, podcasts, and more, to be able to give the resources their members need and desire. Bringing that value to the site is what helps guide them into the future.
Moving into the future, they’ve considered more rail work classes and english classes even. Horsemanship, integrity and honor are the most important aspects for HorsePro.TV but to additionally find them working with younger animals in those disciplines and in Texas to be close enough for Shaina to film the content.
Who is HorsePro TV for?
The target audience is those that ride for fun and ride everyday - not specifically those in the performance horse world.
“We want to make performance horse training available for those that can’t go to a trainer or can’t afford that super nice performance horse,” explains Shaina. “There is no reason that a trail rider can’t have as broke of a horse as someone in the arena.”
It’s also great for someone working through the futurity world and gain access to that mentor in that discipline. You can see the program applied to different horses - for example, with the barrel race trainer, they can find a horse that matches with the ones they have.
Growing Up in Pendleton
Burt Kelley was the first bronc champion of the Pendleton Round-Up and is a great, great relative and the family has been involved with the Round-Up ever since. Her father was additionally very involved with the Pendleton Round-Up and PRCA and, naturally, Shaina followed along with the court. Her Uncle would even pick her up from school on horseback and they’d go to the Round-Up grounds to race around the track before ice cream at Dairy Queen.
The Pendleton Round-Up court is very unique and after many years following and idolizing the court, it was a dream come true to Shaina to be a part of the court. “Those girls, I remember when I was little, looking up to them and just thinking how cool they were and pillars of the community almost,” says Shaina. “I have known a lot of the other families that are very prevalent in Round-Up. It was really awesome for me to be selected [for the court].”
Extremely western and traditional, the court is unique when compared to most modern rodeo queen titles. After being a princess and then queen of the Pendleton Round-Up, she got involved with some cow horse classes before moving to Texas and getting involved with cutting horses.
Defining a Broke Horse:
“I think I would want [a horse] that… gives to any pressure,” says Shaina, simply breaking down the definition of a broke horse. “Getting a horse to go to a reward to get what you want … which oftentimes is the release of pressure.”
Advice to Anyone Interested in Trying for the COWGIRL 30 Under 30
“Just be your authentic self and say what you believe in and what you are doing and how you think that that is benefiting the industry. If you are just honest about your intentions and what you are doing, people will see that. Be yourself, be authentic, and say what you are going to do for the industry.”
There are many women in the western industries that are owners and starting to branch out, women are also the main people in the industry on social media. With many new fashion lines influenced by western fashion, women being accepting of new ideas and bringing in new people to grow the community, women are going to be the reason, according to Shaina, that will help the industry stay around and grow. Sharing our lives on social media and getting it out there are going to help keep it alive.