Community Highlights: Meet Liz Lund of Copeland Farms & Liz Lund Eventing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Lund.

Hi Liz, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Ever since I can remember, I have always loved horses. For my 7th birthday party, my parents threw me a “Ginger’s Pony Party,” and I got a package of riding lessons as a present. I started riding at Heiland Hills Training Center with an assistant trainer there named Carolyn. I vividly remember those first lessons. I rode M.P. (Mastered Professional), Gypsy, and Dino Pony. It was from Dino Pony that I took my first spill bareback in the cornfield across the road. I climbed back on and never looked back. I joined an elementary school friend where she took lessons at the time, St. Croix Equestrian Center, for a few years doing lessons and riding anything anyone would let me. I started showing at schooling, and my first recognized show was at the MN Fall Harvest in 1998.

Then in 1999, I moved to Jacqueri Oaks Stables and joined Pony Club which launched me into the Eventing world. I leased a horse named Remember Showbiz, and off to my first show, ending in 5th place. The rest of the seasons’ shows typically resulted in an E (elimination) after too many refusals on XC, but I kept coming back. The next year I found another partner in Lucky Shamrock, a horse I took a half-lease on. Sham and I evented all over the midwest at Beginner Novice and Novice together. I went through my C2 rating in Pony Club before heading off after high school to work for an amateur dressage rider in Connecticut and Wellington, FL, in the fall of 2005. I soon found I didn’t fit in the Wellington scene, which is mainly focused on dressage, and I missed being close to the Eventing world.

I shifted gears and took a position in Ocala, where I first tasted Eventing in sunny Florida. I returned home to college and attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, WI, where I could keep my horse, Hannah, and my training horses at Otter Creek Farm just outside of town. I was training with Philippa Humphreys, and for several summers, I spent time at her farm in Michigan and were able to go down to Ocala with her in the winter of 2010. I competed at Intermediate then and gained much experience and knowledge under Philippa. In the winter of 2015, I could head down to FL on my own. I took horses and clients down for 3 months that winter. Philippa and I rented barns at the same property so I could continue to work closely with her. I had a great group of girls working for me, an amazing client base, and a new farm at home to return to in MN at the end of the season. Copeland Farms was born in the spring of 2015 – thanks to the Kelly family. We had many great years at our original base on Copeland Road in Independence, MN. In the winters, I traveled to Florida, each year leaving earlier and earlier to spend more time down there to get training from my trainers and give clients a place to escape the MN cold. I had the ride on a big Irish horse, Hutchy, owned by Heidi Kelly, who I was competing with at the time. I struggled with my confidence in him and ultimately we decided to give him to one of my trainers. I also had some young horses I was starting and was very excited to get them going.

In 2021, a buyer approached the Kelly’s, wanting to buy Copeland Farms. The chose to sell the farm, and I was off to look for a new home base. I was extremely fortunate that a client of mine and her husband, Maura and Jim Tierney, invested in a property formerly known as Jacqueri Oaks Stables, the same farm where I had begun my Eventing career back in 1999. We moved in the fall of September 2021, and Copeland Farms 2.0 was born. I lease and manage the entire property, 80 acres, 54 stalls, 2 arenas, an XC field, house, and apartment. It has been a great opportunity to grow my business, expand my goals, and hopefully create a place where my clients can grow. It has been an exciting time with wonderful new clients, amazing ‘old’ clients that moved with me, and new relationships with people and horses. It takes a village to make it work! I am forever grateful for all of these wonderful people in my life that support me, my business, my passion, and more. I am also excited to report that the Tierneys have purchased a farm in Ocala, Florida, and would like to announce the beginning of Copeland Farms South!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s a lifestyle, not just a sport, and not just a job. I eat, breathe and sleep horses. I want to. Getting up at 1 am in the chilly fall or spring to load a horse onto a transport truck may sound annoying, but I think it is cool that I live a life that I am able to do that.

Expensive:
It’s hard to explain to people that aren’t into horses. Everyone thinks that people that ride and own horses must have a lot of money. As a kid, we weren’t poor by any means, but everything to do with horses costs a fair amount of money. I was the only one in my family interested in horses, so my parents had to figure out how to balance that with my sisters’ needs and interests. I didn’t live near any farms. It was always a long drive to the barn. It was expensive; my mom and I cleaned stalls at the barn, I groomed for others at shows, and worked at a deli and a restaurant near my home in high school to help pay for it.

In college, I worked at Applebees and Otter Creek Farm, where I kept my horse and trained horses. I drove back and forth between WI and MN to teach lessons all over the place. It was a crazy time, but I loved it! It took a lot of work and creativity, which sounds cliche, but it took a village. I had so many supportive friends and their families. I often stayed with other friends’ families closer to where I rode. I hitched rides to shows. And I lucked into a few very good leases on horses that got me started. And then, right when my parents probably hoped I’d move on to other things as I went to college, the lovely Lady Hannah B came up for sale, and my grandma and parents realized I wouldn’t be moving on without her. They helped me purchase her with a repayment plan for at least part of the cost. I owe everything to getting Lady Hannah B.

Dangerous/Emotional/Loss:
After a great weekend at Trott Brook Horse Trials in 2004, a group of us horse kids and our families were at a friend’s house celebrating the great weekend. We got a call we never expected. Our trainer, Vicky Harris, who coached us all weekend, had passed away from a horse kick to her chest. It was devastating and, as many things in life are, so unexpected. Vicky was a wonderful teacher. Not only was she great at lessons in the saddle, but she also offered many life lessons. I am grateful for the time I was able to ride with her. Not long after I returned from FL in 2006, my dad passed away. He had brain tumors for over a decade that became cancerous in the last couple of years of his life. It was a tough year with a lot of large life changes. I moved home from FL. My dad passed away, my mom was remarried, and I went off to college. Horses were my constant through all these life changes.

On a normal weekend in March of 2016, I got a phone call from a friend that my trainer Philippa Humphries died in a rotational fall at a horse show in New Jersey. A rotational fall is an Eventer’s biggest fear. It is where a horse doesn’t get into the fence correctly and hits it in a way that sends the horse and rider somersaulting over the fence, unfortunately typically pinning the rider beneath the horse. Our sport has done many things to continue to make our sport safer, most recently creating frangible tables and fences that collapse upon a hard impact to prevent rotational falls.

Loss is a part of life, and ultimately, having lows make the highs much more rewarding. Without pain, you can’t grow. What matters is how you choose to move forward. Horses can be unpredictable. One minute you’re winning at a horse show, and the next, you’re rehabbing an injured tendon and won’t be riding your horse for a year. We have to have plans A-Z because things are changing all the time. I have found it is most important to enjoy each day, not just the end goal. It can be easy to get lost in the competitive side of the sport and lose sight of the fun day-to-day of the sport and the enjoyment of the horses. I love many different things and sports you can do with horses. I would say that this outlook has changed as I have grown and experienced events in life, people in life, and places in life, and I have learned and grown more as an individual myself. I do this because I love horses. I love horses, and this is fun for me.

Unpredictable/Lots of planning/Requires flexibility and creativity:
The horse business can be a hard business to be in. It is our passion, and it is easy to get overwhelmed by the business aspect. I am grateful for having a business degree from UW-Stout and all that I learned in my classes there. I took a couple of training horses with me to college when I went and kept them at nearby farms. I found that making $20 to go and ride a horse was a lot better than $8 an hour as a restaurant hostess. I had the first real taste of being able to make money doing what I love. After I graduated high school, I leased my first barn, Trophy Hill, in Cologne, MN. It was a 10-stall barn and a great starting place. The owners decided to get back into horses, so they needed the barn for their use. In 2011 I moved locations to Elysium Farms in Independence, MN. A slightly larger barn and property with more room for more horses and clients.

As stated above the Kelly’s purchased Copeland Farms on Copeland Road and I am currently at the Tierney’s beautiful property, the biggest yet, with 54 stalls and 80 acres, multiple arenas, and a full cross-country course. I remember packing and moving all my stuff from my first barn and how emotional and stressful that was. The unknown was terrifying; I didn’t know the new barn owner of the next farm. I didn’t know if my clients would be happy. Well, we were, and as I have moved through these different scenarios in life, I would like to think I have gotten better at planning for the unknown. Movement is a part of life, whether moving to a new barn or with clients and workers. Clients come and go, and some hurt more than others. The business and friendship lines can be a bit blurry in this world. These people I spend my time with, do what we mutually love to do. Moving on to a new trainer can be hard, both for the client and the trainer. I have found the most important thing has good, honest communication, the good and the bad. Having those tough conversations with clients can be hard, but I have found that it is better to have that talk up front and as soon as possible.

Another tough aspect can be external factors. It is easy to get sucked into what you think others think you should be doing rather than focusing on what you want to do yourself. It has taken me many years to figure this out and truly figure out what makes me happy and understanding that this is a never ending evolution.  I have learned to embrace change rather than fear it. I am a lifelong learner of all things horses. It takes lots of planning, being open-minded, being able to take constructive criticism, and learning along the way to do this!

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Some people struggle to find their passion. I never had that problem. I’ve been passionate about horses from very early on. I knew it was hard to make a living, so my challenge was figuring out how to run a business based on one’s passion without taking the joy out of it. There’s so much more to running a horse business than riding, and many people that try it end up having to give up riding and competing to manage the business end of it. Burnout is common in the industry as well. Being aware of these things can help prevent it, but there was a time I was burned out and didn’t even want to ride a horse. It took some deep self-reflection to finally get back to the place I loved, where I want to hang out in the barn even when I’m done for the day, get excited about signing up for horse shows and enjoy learning new things.

In that order, safety, fun, and learning have always been a priority in my business. It’s all about horses, but the farm family makes it all work. We are all in this together, relationships are key with the horses, riders, coaches, trainers, workers, parents, spouses, siblings, nannies, neighbors, services providers, suppliers, the city, the county, the Pollution Control Agency, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, others making connections. I’m a prolific social media poster on IG, FB, and TikTok just because I think it’s fun, and a side effect is that it happens to help market the business too. However, that’s not the main reason why I do it.

I run a large training facility in Minnesota for serious competitors, eventers, dressage, and jumper riders as well as casual riders and life long horse fanatics. I have a small breeding program, with my first home breds being 5 years old and out competing and the youngest born this spring. We host clinics and have monthly barn potlucks we call Steed & Feeds, where we always talk about something educational and fun! We offer lessons on our school horses for those that do not own and want to learn. At Copeland Farms South we will have dry stalls, living arrangements, camper hookups, full board, full training, and more in Florida. I am also a co-host with Rachel McIntosh in our equestrian podcast, Unstable & Unbridled.

Do you have any advice for those just starting?
People say you’ll never work a day in your life if you find a job you love—great sentiment and true in many ways, but not the whole story. I work pretty much all day, every day. Yes, I love my job and so much depends on being available at all times. You can’t let up. Finding balance is important in the saddle, business, and life. The nice thing about the equestrian industry is that you can find it just about anywhere. You may have to be creative, but horses are just about everywhere. If something isn’t working for you, try something new. If you aren’t happy, figure out what makes you happy. Surround yourself with people you want to be like. I have met some of my best friends in this industry. If you had told me where I would be today when I started out, I wouldn’t believe you. Anything is possible but nothing is free. If you want it, put your head down and grind at it until you get closer. Building a “team” in a sport that doesn’t have teams—being responsible for yourself and your horse. If someone needs a leg up, give it. All good things take time, don’t worry if you aren’t where you think you should be; keep working hard and showing up each day.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lizlund.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizlundequestrian/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizlundequestrian
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYnq9qz6-2mxGgSTX-pUghg
• Other: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1064068 

Image Credits
Xpress Foto Shelley Paulson John Borys