You know a horse person can make a living as a barn manager, horse trainer, or veterinarian. But what if you want to go down a different path? We chatted with Frankie Thieriot Stutes to learn more about Athletux, her equestrian marketing services company, to learn about a horse career option off the beaten path.
Frankie has always loved horses. However, she also knew from early on that she didn’t want horses to be her entire life. In addition to competing through the Advanced level in eventing with her horse, Fric Frac Berence (“Fric”), she was competitive in basketball and volleyball while in school.
Career and Horses
After high school, she attended Santa Clara University.
“I went to school for communications and marketing and I rode the whole time,” she says. “But I always [was] thinking about what my career might look like. I always knew that I wanted to work in sports in some capacity, so I did a lot of internships in college in sports that weren’t riding-specific. I did an internship for Fox Sports and another for the San Jose Sharks [hockey team] and another for Nike.”
While some aspiring upper-level riders compete a large string of horses at a time, Frankie preferred to focus on one horse at a time and building a strong relationship with him. After college, she planned to go to graduate school, but opted to take a marketing job and keep riding instead.
While preparing to take Fric to the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI 4* (now the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event 5*), she had to ride early mornings and late evenings before and after work. She knew she was going to need a bit of help. However, she was aware that just having one horse might make the process trickier.
Building a Business
Frankie started looking for sponsors. Instead of just sending out emails like countless other athletes do, she took a different approach. She used her marketing background and sent out marketing packets—and it worked. Nearly every company wanted to partner with her.
Unfortunately, Fric got injured in the lead up to Kentucky, but the process of gaining sponsors got Frankie thinking. What if she could help other riders promote themselves better and help brands in the process?
“I started talking to a bunch of riders and asking if this was the kind of thing they needed help with,” says Frankie. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. “That’s how Athletux was born.”
Of course, owning her own business has provided its own set of challenges, not necessarily unique to the equine industry.
“When you work for other people, if something goes wrong, someone else can handle it,” she says. “When you own your own business, it’s a blessing and a curse. That is seen throughout the whole equine industry.”
Owning your own business, either something like Athletux or running your own barn, the concerns are your own to fix. Sometimes there is a public relations situation in the middle of the night or on a weekend, and it’s Frankie’s job to help figure it out. There are no true days off.
“It’s very much when people need you the most—and that can be at any time,” she says.
Personal Life
To keep her work-life balance healthy, Frankie tries to set boundaries.
“If something that happens on the weekend isn’t pressing, it doesn’t need to get dealt with right away,” she says. “At least I try to make that a rule for myself, but the truth is I love my job, every hour of the day.”
However, this flexibility in scheduling also allows Frankie the time to get her kids ready for school, and if she wants to ride in the morning, she can plan for that.
Focusing her professional efforts on the media and marketing side of the horse world has allowed Frankie to combine her skill sets and passions and find a balance that works well for her life and gives her the time to raise her family, spend time with her husband, and enjoy her horses without the pressure that comes with riding full time.
“I get to go to horse shows for my job, but the competitors are also my friends,” she says. “I don’t work in equestrian sports because it is the most profitable. When I worked in football, baseball, hockey, all those things, it was much more profitable. But with horses, every day is different and a unique day where I feel like I really can help people who value our help.”
Frankie has continued to keep horses as a large focus of her life. She finished 4th at the Luhmühlen 5* in Germany in 2019 aboard Chatwin and is currently bringing along another young horse.
Friends and Growth
While her business is thriving and expanding, Frankie also values the friendships and connections that she’s made due to her work with Athletux and other projects, including helping start U.S. Eventing TV, plus a more recent series focusing on the riders and horses competing at the Kentucky Three-Day Event called “Behind the Barn.”
“Tamie Smith [winner of the 2023 Kentucky Three-Day Event 5*] is one of my best friends,” says Frankie. “We met because she was late doing a grant application and needed help, and someone told her that I could help with that. We ended up on the phone until 3 a.m. going back and forth.”
A decade later, the two are still close. They have traveled all over the world together thanks to horses. When Frankie went to Germany to compete at Luhmühlen, Tamie came with her to help. And then when Tamie competed in Aachen, Germany, Frankie was there to support her.
“There are other venues in the equine world that you can pursue that don’t involve teaching or riding all day,” says Frankie. She says that her success has come from “being brave enough to ask if people needed help and not waiting for a job listing.”
Learn more about Athletux at athletux.com. If you have any questions for Frankie, you can email her at info@athletux.com and she would be happy to answer.
This article about a horse career in marketing appeared in the November/December 2023 issue of Young Rider magazine. Click here to subscribe!
