Stay ConnectedWe are here to go deep with extraordinary horse people who live their lives making the world a better place for horses. Our weekly interviews will entertain and engage as well as educate horse owners who are always learning and want to know more about these incredible creatures.
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In todays episode I speak with Fiona Darroch Speedie from Dancing with Horses. Fiona spent her early life in north western queensland and where her sense of freedom and adventure was nurtured and horses, and relaxed baby boomer parents, were the facilitators of that freedom. On moving to Brisbane she began dancing lessons and became an instructor, but it was the time that she found a true Latin dance teacher that her life with dancing changed for good. In time Fiona decided that dancing, horses and leadership, which she was teaching in the corporate world, were too good a mix to not explore. So began her life creating Dancing with Horses. When I speak to people about dancing with horses, they either feel excited and curious or they squirm in their seat. It’s something that can really be an incredible mirror to your behaviours when it comes to your leadership styles. Once again we find that horses are here to give us so much in their gentle and non-judgemental way. I wonder how this will make you feel? To connect with Fiona you can go to her website, Facebook page or instagram account.
In todays show I speak with Gary Wells an Emmet Therapist for horses and humans. Gary’s name in the horse industry is held very high. Any time I’m on social media and see people ask for a body therapist, his name is always in the mix so when I started this podcast his name was one that I always kept in the back of my mind for approaching for an interview. And now you can find out why. Gary’s spent a lot of time in the horse racing industry and I am so glad that there are people in the industry who care for their horses enough to employ people like Gary, they care for their horses and their recovery and by using Gary and his Emmett therapy work, they are choosing a kind, gentle and so very effective way to keep their racers on the track. Gary works with all types of horses and as with most people I have interviewed on this podcast so far, the story of how they came to be doing their line of work is just as interesting as the work that they do. To connect with Gary you can go to his Gary Wells Practitioner Group website, or Facebook page or his Horse 360 website or Facebook page.
In Episode 12 I speak with Kate pilcher from Globetrotting. Kate is a person who not only loves horses, but loves to travel the world, and after a spiritual crisis in her young adult years, she trekked off around the world riding horses along the way, and decided to make a living out of her two loves. Hence globetrotting was born.When we become mothers, business owners and horse owners it can be easy to let the every-day grind stop you from doing the things that you love. Kate has kept such great balance in her life as every trek she sells, she rides herself first, before anyone else, she designs the whole experience for you in person with her little family in tow. She says she has the best job in the world, and after this interview, I am hard pressed to disagree with her!I had the pleasure of going to the Margaret river ride in 2017 and it was a trip of a lifetime. But when I booked it I knew that every trek on the website had the same feel about it, and after talking to other globetrotters it seems we all felt the same. It was after that trip that I really wanted to get the full story of how such an incredible business was brought to life, so I was thrilled when Kate agreed to be interviewed for the podcast.So this episode is a little different this one is not about training or working with horses, it’s about the pure pleasure of travelling the world and having a full cultural experience on horseback.During this interview it was a bit hard for me to stay focused as the virtual tour I had on horseback was so great I found it hard to come back to earth for a while. So for this episode I invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy your very own virtual tour of the world on horseback. If you would like to get in touch with Kate and her team and organise your very own life changing horse trek somewhere in this incredible world of ours, you can find her at her Globetrotting Website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest or Google Plus. I hope to meet some of you in person out there on horseback one day! For now, enjoy Kate and her incredible story so far.
In this episode you will hear from Donna Anderson from One Horse Life Australia. Donna is at the end of many years of learning and is at the beginning of her teaching journey with horses and people.Donna started her life with horses as a lot of people did by getting her first pony when she was young. Then there was the catalyst that changed her horse training for ever. When one of Donna’s horses died while she was in the UK visiting her Mum, she felt lost and unable to go on with horses for the time being.When Donna finally made a promise to the horse she lost that she would change the way she trained and make sure she was always kind and gentle with horses, the universe delivered her, with one last test of her word, a new horse.Donna found One Horse Life with Anna Marciniak and spent years training online and then in person. This is the foundation of her training methods.Donna teaches connection with your horse and always giving your horse a voice. No matter your discipline or level of riding, Donna and her training can teach you to have the connection that you have always dreamed of.Like so many other trainers on this podcast series, it seems deep connection with your horse comes from deep self work, the horse is a mirror of your soul and seems to be here to teach us to let go of all that is holding us back.Donna has a great story to tell and is yet another brave and wonderful human who is here to listen to as much as she is to talk to her horses.To connect with Donna you can go to her Facebook page.
On this episode you will hear from Elaine Heney from Grey Pony Films.Elaine has grown up with horses in Ireland and is lucky that her Father has a gentle hand, however it was on her travels around the world that her horsemanship changed forever, when in New Zealand Elaine saw a horse being ridden bareback with a single rein. It’s the old saying you can’t be what you can’t see.Once Elaine’s eyes were opened to this new way of being there was no going back for her, she then travelled to Australia and once home in Ireland she travelled to the UK to find a new way to train her horses.Elaine is a natural go getter in the world. She doesn’t seem to believe in can’t, she sees an opportunity and says yes, or makes a suggestion herself, and then figures out what has to happen next.Elaine is also an entrepreneur, she is the CEO of her company Chocolate Lab Aps. She has written 4 books, 3 of them on horses and horsemanship, one is called Ozzie The Story of a young Horse, it’s about her grey pony that she named after her journey in Australia and learning from Australian trainers, I've just read it and it's a lovely journey of how to train a problem horse. You can find these books on Amazon.So it’s absolutely no surprise to me that after being involved with a Mark Rashid movie in the US, she decided to teach herself how to become a movie maker.The Mark Rashid movie, Out of the Wild, which Elaine was the Executive producer, won the Directors Choice Award at the 2016 EQUUS Film Festival in New York.Elaine then went on to make a short film about Steve Halfpenny from Light Hands Equitation in South Australia. This film has been selected for 10 international film festivals, and won 11 awards, including best director, best cinematography and best documentary.The next natural step for Elaine was to make a feature length film about Steve Halfpenny, this film called Steve Halfpenny, Light Hands Equitation has just been released. I watched the film and it is beautifully done. Steve is a gentle and kind man with horses and the movie gives you a real sense of the type of horsemanship he does and how he was worked long and hard to make the world a better place for horses. With this movie Elaine has done her mentor proud.Elaine has now decided to expand her film making skills to incorporate anyone who is working with horses in an extraordinary way. She is still taking applications, you will hear more about this in the interview so sit back and enjoy this incredible woman.To connect with Elaine you can go to her website or Facebook Page.
On today’s episode you will hear from Sandy Robertson from SEQ, that’s for South East Qld where she is located, Brumby Association. Sandy has always had a place in her heart to rescue horses and find them a loving home. She hasn’t ever seen a problem horse, just misunderstood horses who need some time and kindness.Sandy has worked for many years in land conservation so knows a lot about how to take care of the land and is someone who has spent her life giving to others.When she was asked to take over the SEQ Brumby Association she jumped at the chance to do her part and for the last few years has been bringing in, retraining and rehoming Australian brumbies for life in a domestic home.There is a lot in the news at the moment about the Kosciusko Brumbies. The Brumby bill has just been passed and will serve to protect the Brumbies and acknowledges the part they play in the history of Australia. Their numbers will be managed, and the aim is to strike a balance between conservation of the brumbies and the land where they are grazing. If their populations become too big they will be trapped in the most humane way possible and given to associations like SEQ Brumby and retrained for domestic life.After hearing Sandy’s story about the incredible nature of our iconic Australian Brumbies, my hope, is that we can all open our eyes and our hearts to these incredible horses and have a think when it’s time for us to purchase our next horse. I certainly have an eye on one as my next horse, with 4 horses currently I will have to wait a bit before taking the plunge. When the time comes, however, it will be an easy choice to make.Sandy is an incredible human and her passion, and tireless work with these gentle guys, all voluntary and from her own pocket, shine through, the brumbies are as lucky to have Sandy as she is to be a part of their story.You can connect with Sandy via her website or Facebook page. You can see pictures of Sandy and all of the horses she spake about in the interview and much more at the blog on my website.
In this episode you will hear from Tony Robinson The Wanderer. I have a feeling you may be a surprised as I was to hear what Tony has to say. An Australian country kid, growing up in Narrabri, the only horse riding lessons he had was to not fall off, or if you did fall off, try and figure out why and try to make sure it did not happen again!He met some interesting people, way ahead of their time using chiropractic methods on horses and cattle, this was to be his new path and he spent many years working and having great success as a body worker learning and teaching different methods as he went.But Tony it seems, was not put on this earth to live on the surface, that question of “why” kept making its way into his life and he, as the seeker he is, would work until he found the answer.This is not a practical interview about the construct of a horses body. Tony goes deep into the spiritual nature of horses and humans, he is a philosopher and deep thinker and there is every possibility he might challenge your belief system a little.The one thing that I know about Tony is that he always, always puts the horse first, he cares for horses deeply and his mission seems to be to help us humans look at them through new eyes.To connect with Tony you will find him on Facebook here or you can email him tonyandtitan@gmail.com or simply give him a call as he is the kind of guy that will help you in any way that he can his number is 0412 925 260.
Maxine Ellison is the co-owner of Horses and People magazine. Maxine is one of those people, who never leaves you wondering what she is thinking. I can see why horses love her as congruence and honesty is what they crave. Maxine is a natural leader who is on the forefront of standing up for horses and speaking out where others may hold back, especially when it comes to her love of harness racing.This is an enlightening talk many wonderful things about Maxine’s life with horses, we go deeper into Standardbred horses and their incredible nature and all of the things that they can go on to do in their life after racing. We talk about the magazine, why she bought into it and what her values are.To connect with Maxine you can go to the Horses and People website or find them on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter.
One of the reasons I chose to do this podcast is because I believe that everyone has a great story to tell. We have all lived interesting lives and I love to hear the path people have taken to get to where they are.Cristina is one of those surprise packages that I was fascinated by! She has a wonderful story to tell about her childhood in Spain. She recounts being a small and timid child and how her mother, who did not want her to miss out on a life with horses, decided she should learn to ride on a pony, instead of on a large horse as was normally the way children were taught in her country. Her mum brought a pony from England for Cristina to learn to ride on and, sometime later, one summer, her sister began offering riding lessons on him. In just a couple of months she was booked out! Thus, soon after, with mum at the helm, they began the first children’s riding school to use ponies in Spain.
Cristina went on to compete in eventing and came very close to representing Spain at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics. She trained in England for several years and, although she missed out on Olympic selection, she represented her country at 3* CCI Events, including the Young Rider European Championships. Her level of riding, as you can see from the pictures on my blog, was right up there with the best!
Life then took her to New Zealand and subsequently Australia where after some years she came to work at horses and people magazine. Once she decided to become an owner of the magazine with Maxine Ellison, who you will hear from on next weeks episode, the magazine began to change. It went from an event schedule that let you know what was coming up in the horse world, to a magazine with a clear vision of making the world better for horses by educating their owners on the many facets of owning and interacting with horses.It's a fantastic story of the vision and passion it takes to put something of such a high standard to print each month and the values that she is driven by that are evident in every page of the magazine.To see the magazine, to subscribe or to get in touch with Cristina you can go to their website or find them on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter.In this episode you will hear from Mel Fleming from Connecting with Horses and Riding with Synchronicity. Mel has been lucky enough to spend her life around horses. Her family were well known horse people and she was able, through hard work and support from her family, to go through the ranks of the horse world and work at a high level of dressage, to the highest level of natural horsemanship where she worked internationally with Pat and Linda Parelli among many other internationally renowned trainers. Mel is one of those people who keeps asking questions, she never settles for less. It seems she needs to go deep and make sure the horse is alright on every level as her deep need to connect fully with the horse and make a true partnership comes before the end performance result she is seeking. This is what has taken Mel all over the world developing her skills as she goes, the need to find someone who has the answers to her questions.In asking these questions Mel has been able to form her own style of horsemanship.On her website she says. “I think that true horsemanship is horsemanship from the horse’s perspective. What would horse’s call horsemanship and who would horses call a horseman?”“TRUE HORSEMANSHIP means putting yourself in the horse’s skin, seeing things through their eyes, thinking how they are thinking and feeling how they are feeling. Going beyond merely perceiving them as prey animals and knowing the individual beings (the spirits) that they are. In equal proportion to understanding the spirit of who horses are, true horsemanship also means understanding their physical bodies, so they can be ridden with true balance and healthy biomechanics. This is the only way that the ridden horse can stay sound, be healthy, be calm and yet responsive, enjoy their work and maximise their performance. This is what “Connecting with Horses & Riding with Synchronicity” strives to achieve.”Mel has the ability and the formula to go deep into each horse and help build a bond between horse and rider that is strong, and because of the biomechanics element, long lasting and sound.You can find out when Mel is coming to a town near you on her website and you can follow her on Facebook.Mel will open your mind to the difference between the use of techniques versus true connection when working with horses. She will challenge your current beliefs around horsemanship, and that can only be a good thing. I love learning more about true connection and Mel certainly gave me a lot to consider.I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did.
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