Her 5th Gear: How Booli Selmayr Found Her Strength Off the Horse

Over a period of years, Booli watched the people closest to her face devastating health battles. Her beloved older brother was diagnosed at 19 with an autoimmune disease that required him to undergo three liver transplants in 22 years. She felt like she needed (and wanted) to put on a brave face for him, always thinking that whatever challenges she was facing were never comparable to her brother fighting for his life.

So she did what she had always done. She pushed forward, “kept it together,” plugging through it all. But somewhere along the way, she stopped making room for herself.

More emotional heartache followed. Booli’s mother also underwent a few rounds of fighting cancer, only to see it return. The final straw was finding out her best friend, Jess, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer right after her 30th birthday.

How was she supposed to keep it together and keep pushing on with her own life when all of this was going on around her?

Her friend, after a period of remission, had the cancer return even more aggressively in 2020. Watching her dear friend pass away, trying to run a business, dealing with a dissolving relationship, and attempting to pretend everything was “fine” finally caught up with her.

Not ready to ask for help and not sleeping prompted Booli to give running a try. Not because she had discovered some new athletic goal. Her reasoning was much simpler: “If I run, I’ll be tired enough that I’ll fall asleep.” Little did she know that something she did to get a few hours of sleep during this tumultuous time in life would become a passion that turned everything around.

Starting to see the benefits of actually prioritizing her health, running became something Booli looked forward to, something she could turn to when things seemed to be spiraling out of control. In order to stay on track, she signed up for a half marathon that would require lots of training and self-discipline to complete. The thing about running was that she could fit it around her horses and students. She could actually do both, and be better for it.

After completing that first half marathon, it was like something clicked. Not only did she love the outlet and release of running, she wanted to get even better and continue to prioritize her health so she could be at her best for family, friends, and her business. That’s why she sought out strength training at her local CrossFit gym. Thanks to the assistance of her personal trainer, Booli’s confidence off of horses continued to grow, as did her commitment to both her physical and mental health.

The strength and conditioning she was learning at the gym translated perfectly to what she needed to be competitive while riding. Getting the right nutrition, building flexibility, and having elastic muscle stamina while on a moving horse, and while training them from the ground, were all improving as she focused on her health goals.

Booli has always been a confident rider, relying on her connection to horses and the trust she builds with her mounts. However, that didn’t exactly translate to the rest of her life, that is, until she started prioritizing running and strength training. This has given her the confidence off of horses that she maybe didn’t have growing up. And now, she’s being that confident, strong person for the students who come to work and learn at her barn.

Succeeding in equestrian sports is a very hands-on endeavor. The horse is your teammate. You have to be there to train with them, understand them, and learn how to communicate with them.

Booli trains more than horses. She is helping train the next generation of riders.

Her students observe how she is emotionally controlled and confident with the horses. They observe that you can use your voice and body language to convey commands, without being forceful or aggressive. And one of the most important lessons she wants young women to learn has nothing to do with clearing a jump.

Your body is valuable because of what it can do. It’s more than what it looks like.

In a sport where appearances, the influence of a “skinny culture,” and expectations can sometimes overshadow performance, strength, and proper nutrition, Booli is determined to teach young female riders a different lesson.

Strength isn’t something to shy away from. It’s something to build.

When you’re working with a 1,000-pound animal, your body’s ability to perform matters far more than how it looks.

And that’s the message she wants every young woman who walks into her barn to carry with her, both in and out of the saddle.

Her message to her athletes is very different: Let your body be strong.

She reminds all of her students that they are dealing with a horse that weighs 1,000+ pounds, not to mention working in a barn that has you on your feet all day, so keeping physically fit is an advantage. Strength is not something to avoid. It’s part of the job.

She recognizes that sometimes strength and confidence can be difficult, especially in her industry, where there is a lot of financial wealth and students are able to get away with a lot more because they’re riding excellent, well-trained horses. This is why Booli likes to lead by example and to incorporate her late friend’s saying, “Be the person you needed when you were younger,” instilling in younger riders that they can be confident not just on their horse, but also in the rest of their lives.

It’s not just her students who are benefiting from Booli’s confidence, strength, and approach to managing her business. It’s her horses too. Booli uses this same mindset to help shape the horses of Fox Valley Sport Horses, training them to compete at the highest level possible, including Five-Star competition, which is the pinnacle of eventing. This includes proper nutrition, training, and building confidence so horses are brave enough to jump over real-life obstacles on a four-mile course. 

However, in equestrian sports, there’s not really major brand sponsorship available, which means Booli has to balance making money through her business while she does what she loves. This is how she makes Fox Valley Sport Horses as successful as it is:

• 40% of the horses are owned by Booli and the clients she is training to ride at elite levels
• 50% are clients’ personal horses that she teaches as her students
• 10% are horses that clients send to be trained 

Her combination of training, competing, and teaching is what drives her each day. Booli’s ultimate end goal is to create high-performance horses, while at the same time ensuring her body is capable of performing at high levels as well. She’s learned that being flexible and pivoting are a natural part of owning your own business, whether it’s having a horse you’ve trained with for two years go down with an injury, or wondering whether you have enough clients to pay the bills. Uncertainty and exhaustion can be a part of what it’s like to actually realize your dream. The difference is that at this point, Booli knows when she needs to take a break, go on a run, process things, and allow space between a decision or conversation. 

Constantly checking in and realigning is all a part of the process, both with herself personally and in ensuring what she’s doing is always in alignment with her business: training and competing with high-performance horses. Sports have instilled an inner confidence, knowing that even if something fell apart, she would be okay. Running and strength training affirm that while you may have a goal you want to achieve with your health (or in your business, or in life), and it may seem far away, you just haven’t reached it - yet.