ASHA Leadership Spotlight: Chris Schubert

2010 photo of Chris and Nick Schubert aboard Outright (RWC) a very special gelding that she purchased for her beloved mother and had the chance to enjoy as a family. 

Written by Katelyn Norris

Chris Schubert likes to build things, from houses to fellowships to familial bonds over shared interests. And she loves her handiwork.

 “I love the fellowship I really do. I have a passion to bring people together whether that is around horses or community. I love getting to know people and I don’t care whether I created it or whether I help them create it,” Schubert said.

 Schubert is an honorary board member for ASHA and also previously worked with the communications board at the association as well. She showed American Saddlebreds and has ventured into breeding as well. She is now accompanying her son on his saddlebred journey as well.

 Family has played a large role in Schubert’s life. From a very young age she and her mother shared a love of horses. Her father gave her mother an American Saddlebred as a gift, and this is what Schubert cites as the start of her family’s life-long love of the breed.

 “My dad, who supported our horse habit, he wasn’t a big horse guy. He was just along for the ride because me and my mom loved it,” Schubert said.

 Her father played a large role in her family getting started in the breeding business when he was in awe of a chestnut colored stallion. Schubert said that it was by virtue of the purchase that she and her mother embarked on their breeding journey.

 “It actually took my mom and I on an adventure. We had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs. My mom passed away in 2010, so those memories for me are very cherished. I definitely carry it with a great deal of happiness,” Schubert said.

She is also sharing this love of the Saddlebred with her son, who shows horses and has a deep attachment to the horses they breed. She said she and her son get easily attached to the horses and see them as family. This is also the reason she hasn’t done any breeding recently.

 “The breeding business is not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure. But a yearling died, and I kind of felt like I needed to take some time off,” Schubert said.

Beyond her actual family, Schubert has created a family within the horse community through her work at ASHA and the Hackney Board. Through her position on the Youth Medallion Committee for the Hackney Board, she gets to work with youth initiatives and is “incredibly honored to be a very small part of it.”

Her position at ASHA as an honorary board member involves working on operational and organizational initiatives. Schubert sees her role as a liaison to the board and said she has the pleasure to work on some fun and exciting events.

Schubert said during her time working with the ASHA Communication Board, she was amazed by how fast moving and free-flowing it all was. She said she is grateful for all that she has learned from the position.

“I feel like certainly once a week there are emails about new ideas, new prospects and  new ways to promote the breed. I feel like there are so many positive communications that are coming out of ASHA right now and there are just great things going on,” Schubert said.

Schubert said she is very excited about the future of the association and has very high hopes about what they will accomplish in the future. She said she wants to help get registration numbers up and help the middle market become bigger and smarter. She also expressed interest in a stronger youth initiative to create a better generational bond.

“I don’t see the vision of ASHA as an individual vision, it is a collaborative, global vision of the entire unit,” Schubert said, “I picture myself being able to come in to a unit that is already doing great things and find place where I can be helpful.”

Schubert said she believes that once the state of the world gets back to normal, ASHA has the funding to promote the breed and elevate the American Saddlebred over other breeds. She said she hopes this promotion will bring a sense of awareness to the breed that it has never had before.

 Outside of ASHA and the Saddlebred community, Schubert has a different community that she shares with her family as well. She is 26 years into owning her own residential and commercial development company, which she started after working five years for her dad.

 “He actually made me work. (I) learned how to lay blocks, learned how to brick a home, learned how to plumb one, and learned how to frame one” Schubert said.

 One day she said she decided to take the exam to get her own contractor’s license and start her own residential building company. Luckily, she passed her first time around, a feat that she is very proud of. However, when she got started in the business she was the only female on many of the worksites.

“As a singular female in an all-male industry there were days where I felt like I just wanted to go bury myself in bed and come back when it was all over with,” Schubert said, “But I tell you what, my mom wouldn’t let me. She kind of poked at me very hard because she pointed out the importance of me doing this for possibly other girls who wanted to get into the industry.”

 Schubert said the work she does as a contractor brings her much joy because she gets to take raw land and transform it into families, homes and communities for others.

 “When I drive around and look at these places [I’ve built], I see kids walking down the sidewalk to the bus stop or I see kids playing in their yard and the happiness that that brings and the fellowship that is shared. Honestly that’s the coolest job ever,” Schubert said.

 Schubert said she has a billion more goals to accomplish within the Saddlebred community, her work and in her personal life before she retires. Schubert said she wants to spend some time with her son on his journey and get to make some cherished memories with him.

 However, she still wants to make an impact on others as well.

“I feel like at the end of the day, the ultimate goal that I have is really to be of service to human kind.  And the next couple of years I want to share some of my knowledge with people I can help and to be of service to people in a manner that could give back to the world,” Schubert said.

ASHA is working with Katelyn Norris, a talented writing intern and Journalism student from Bellarmine University, to spotlight volunteers dedicated their time and efforts to ASHA, our members and the American Saddlebred community. We look forward to sharing more of our leader’s Saddlebred Stories!