Derek Braun

About this episode

Derek Braun discusses his journey from competitor to competition organizer for the FEI World Cup™ Finals Forth Worth 2026.

This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast episode, sponsored by Zoetis, is with Derek Braun, the competition organizer of the FEI World Cup™ Finals Forth Worth 2026. We talked to Derek in mid-February as he and his team were busily preparing to host this premier event in Fort Worth, Texas. To give you a little more background on Derek, he grew up in New York and competed on the hunter/jumper circuit as a junior, winning the 2001 U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF) Talent Search Finals – East and team gold at the 2002 USEF Junior Jumper National Championships at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show. After graduating from Rollins College in 2007, Derek turned professional and started his training and sales business, Split Rock Farm. He competed successfully at the national and international levels, including as a member of the U.S. Nations Cup team in Brazil in 2013. Derek realized he wanted to shift his focus from competing to organizing competitions, and in 2015, he created the Split Rock Jumping Tour. Today, the hunter/jumper series runs 10 shows in four cities, stretching from Lexington, Kentucky, to Los Angeles, California. Derek and his team are also taking on the job as the…

People in this episode

Guest: Derek Braun

Topics covered

• competition organizing
• equestrian sports
• hunter/jumper circuit
• FEI World Cup
• event preparation

Keywords

• Derek Braun
• FEI World Cup
• Split Rock Farm
• equestrian competition
• hunter/jumper

Sponsors

Zoetis

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: U.S. Equestrian Federation, Split Rock Farm

Places: Fort Worth, Texas, Lexington, Kentucky, Los Angeles, California

More episodes of Practical Horseman Podcast

• Kelsey Epperson · May 9, 2026 · 41 min
• Tommy Greengard · April 20, 2026 · 35 min
• Amanda Steege · March 20, 2026 · 46 min
• Callie Schott · February 17, 2026 · 38 min
• Cosby Green · January 23, 2026 · 35 min
• Nick Haness, 2 · December 22, 2025 · 51 min