Kristy Truebenbach Lund, DVM starts each day at 5 a.m. She rises, collects her seven dogs, and sets off to feed as many as 26 horses in three different barns at her Blue Marlin Farm in Wellington, Fla.

As a practicing veterinarian, Lund manages to ride three horses a day and run a full-time boarding operation on top of working at her small-animal clinic five days a week. She’s won her U.S. Dressage Federation silver medal and regularly competes at the FEI levels.

“I’m really good at delegating tasks,” explained Lund. “I have two full-time employees to keep the farm up and running and keep it maintained the way I like it. I have a lot of good people behind me.”

Lund is quite serious about being a competitive FEI-level rider, so she’s worked out a serious program to help make that happen. She runs the boarding barn to pay for her competition expenses and to entice her trainer, John Zopatti, to train out of her barn and give her daily lessons.

“I have a very strict schedule,” said Lund. “I’m one of those people who gets up and does the same thing every day. I stick to my routine, and that’s the only way I can get it done–by being really organized.”

After Lund feeds all the horses, she proceeds to her lessons, riding two or three horses. While she does get help tacking up, her barn workers each get one day off a week. On those days Lund will clean eight stalls, help turn out and tack up for herself. She might only have time to ride two horses on those days.

“I’m the barn manager, so if the feed order didn’t come, I have to figure out how to get feed to the farm while I’m at work,” said Lund. “I have two extremely good workers who can handle almost anything, but I’m the person that orders the feed, makes sure the shavings are there, makes sure the stalls get cleaned and the water buckets are scrubbed once a week.”

By 10:15 a.m., she’s on the road to the Lund Animal Hospital in Boca Raton, which she owns with her husband, Scott Lund. She’ll stay at the clinic from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. before heading home.

“At the end of the day I go home and take care of my own animals,” said Lund. “By the time I get home, it’s 8 o’clock, and if I stop
at the grocery store it’s 9 p.m. I’m asleep on the couch by 10 p.m..”

In addition to her three competition horses–Nice Catch, Fabio and Cruise Control–Lund has a variety of rescue cases and retirees hanging out on the farm. Besides the seven dogs, she has 15 cats, a retired schoolmaster, a pony, two miniature donkeys and a retired polo pony.

“I get all the cats that pee in people’s houses,” she said with a laugh. “I have three different tack stalls, so I have the cats divided up between the tack stalls–and some live at work. Every day I clean three litter boxes!”

Realistic
With her booming boarding business and achievements in the ring, it’s easy to wonder why Lund doesn’t give up the veterinary practice and start riding professionally.

“I’ll always make more money being a vet than a trainer,” she said practically. “And we’re really good vets. We save a lot of animals’ lives. I do cancer therapy, and I wonder if I wasn’t there who would’ve saved that animal? There are always more animals out there that need my help, and if I can’t figure out what’s wrong with your animal, I’ll find someone who can.”

But that doesn’t mean Lund’s goals are any less lofty as an amateur. “I’m still looking for that perfect ride,” she explained. “I’m looking for that perfect Grand Prix one day.”

Her goals in-clude being competitive in the small tour at CDIs and eventually riding Grand Prix. “I’m realistic,” she said. “I don’t have the means to ride in the Olympics.”

Meeting those goals requires that practically every minute of her day be scheduled. “Time management is important,” she said. “I can do three tasks at one time. Thank goodness for cell phones! I always have my cell phone on, so if there’s a problem at the practice they can call while I’m on a horse.”

She said she’s often left a horse show so she could rush to the clinic to perform emergency surgery.

“You just have to try and see your appointments and manage around it,” she explained. “I’ve come flying into the parking lot with my show clothes on and jumped on my horse to go into the ring. The part that becomes difficult is that you have to mentally switch. You have to forget about that dog at the clinic.”

Flexibility in her job is another element that makes the schedule work for Lund. She’s in charge of the business end of the animal hospital, so that means she does all the scheduling and can work out two weeks off to show, as she did this year when she went to Dressage at Devon (Pa.) and the Great American/Region 3 Championships (Fla.) in October.

Gone Fishing
It’s a good thing that Kristy and Scott Lund work together because otherwise they’d never see each other. They don’t even take the same days off from work.

“He has a fishing show on FOX Sports Net, and he goes to Guatemala and films his show,” said Kristy. “I just got back from horse showing for two weeks, and he just left for two weeks for a fishing tournament so we won’t see each other for a month. But I work with him every day. We don’t take a lot of vacations together, but sometimes we go to the [Florida] Keys for weekends.”

She couldn’t keep up the pace without energy and determination.

“I’m a very driven person,” she admitted. “I do a lot of maintenance on the farm myself. I just redid all the stall fronts and painted all the tack rooms.

“I’m always out on the tractor or weed-whacking. That’s my relaxation time. When you’re out on the tractor mowing the lawn, you don’t have to use your brain. That’s my time off.”

In the rare moments where she isn’t working, Kristy sneaks off to the gym to do some strength training. “The farm work keeps me in shape too,” she said.

“Everything is toward the goal,” Kristy said. “My whole life is riding. Everything I do in my day is so that I can go out and
train these horses and compete against the professionals.”

Kristy Truebenbach Lund
Age: 41

Hometown: Wellington, Fla.

Profession: Veterinarian

Horses: Nice Catch, 10-year-old, Dutch Warmblood gelding (Amaretto 1–Jardonna H). Lund and Nice Catch have competed through Intermediaire I, and she’s currently training him to Grand Prix while he does double duty in the young rider classes. Fabio, 9-year-old, Oldenburg gelding (West Coast–Doramber), currently competing at fourth level. Cruise Control, 4-year-old Hanoverian (Contucci–Brimming). Lund has trained Cruise Control from the start and rode him in the FEI 4-year-old class at Dressage at Devon (Pa.) this year.

Why Her Clinic Doesn’t Treat Horses: “We do small animals and exotics. Basically anything but horses,” said Lund. “I started off doing horses, but if you want to spend time with your own horses, you can’t do other people’s horses. At night I can switch calls over to the emergency clinic, and you can’t do that with a steady horse clientele.”

On Work Flexibility: “I’m my own boss, and I can take off when I want,” said Lund. “That’s why I can show as much as I do because I’m in charge of the schedule. That’s why I volunteered for that position.”

Biggest Frustration: Lund wants more support from the U.S. Equestrian Federation and U.S. Dressage Federation for adult amateurs. “There just doesn’t seem to be a lot of stuff out there for the amateurs,” said Lund. “There are young riders clinics, but because I’m not short-listed or long-listed, I don’t get that opportunity. I want them to recognize that we’re working our butts off and in return we should be invited to ride in the clinics with big-name riders. That goes for sponsors too. I can’t win the money the professionals are winning. I can’t get a sponsor according to the USDF. So where do I get the money to keep showing? It’s a Catch-22.”