First Do No Harm

Latest Episodes:

Connection series: What is keeping you stuck with connection in the saddle Jan 12, 2022

Show notes

In this episode we are taking our connection work from the ground and transferring it to the saddle. There are 2 big foundational skills that I work on with my students that are often skipped, especially in the riding school environment, that could be holding you back. If you started at a riding school you might need to revisit your foundations and see if these are gaps in your training

Check out our free position training here

Check out ready to ride physio here. Louise uploads a free pilates for equestrians training every week. Each training is only around 10 minutes and totally doable as a warm up before riding or mini daily work out session.

Apply for our ridden membership trainings here

Connection series: Consent and choice Jan 05, 2022

Show notes

When we give the horses the power of consent and choice we unlock their true nature. This is what psychological safety is. We're not seeing the version of the horse that is scared and fears humans, fears for its life and fears threats in its environment. We're not seeing the version of the horse that is tense and braced because it lacks faith, trust and confidence in us. We're seeing the version of the horse that feels so safe around us they are prepared to bring down their boundaries, walls and armour and be vulnerable with us.

What could your horses potential have been before life and humans happened to them? How can we unpack that armour and rewire psychological safety and vulnerability in to their learnt behaviours?
There is a little caveat with choice and consent, once we give our horses a voice, we don't always like to hear what they have to say. Feel free to reach out if you need support. You can contact us via email here

Want to see our consent and choice training in action? Check it out here

Want to check out our membership training trainability? Start today here

Connection series: Togetherness Dec 29, 2021

Show notes

Episode 5 of the connection series, togetherness. When it comes to working with horses we often have to leave our agenda at the gate and not be emotionally attached to the outcome, just working with the horse we have on the day. In this episode we talk about what it looks like to do our training session together and that sometimes it means doing what the horse wants to do. And if you don't know what your horse wants to do, here's a little hint. They want to hang out in the paddock with their herd and eat!

Get the youtube training for this episode here

Join our membership training trainability for how to find togetherness in work here

Get the free connection course here

Share your experiences with this connection series in the stronger bond community here

Connection series: Does your horse look to you to lead? Dec 22, 2021

Show notes

Thanks for joining us for our connection series. Today we are talking about being a leader worth following. Does your horse look to you to take the lead? Do they have faith, trust and confidence in you and your skills to follow your lead? This has a lot to do with how we can strategically and intentionally structure our training sessions so that the horses build more confidence in us and themselves by creating small achievable challenges with an immense sense of satisfaction and reward on completion.

If you feel like your training sessions are lacking organisation and purpose. If you go in to your training session asking what are we going to do today? If you're feeling lost in what you are trying to achieve in your training environment with your horse check out our membership where we help you strategically plan your training out with your horse in small bite size pieces to work towards your big goal. You can find the membership here

Get the youtube training here

Connection series: The softening Dec 15, 2021

Show notes

In this episode we are learning about building relationships and communication with communication buttons. The two buttons in use are hugs and scratches and there are a couple of skill sets required.

Do you know where your horse likes to be scratched?
Do you know how your horse likes to be cuddled?
Do you have a heart felt embrace you can ask your horse for and they can ask you for?

We are in to week 3 of our connection series on the first do no harm podcast in which we are learning about what I call "the softening". Does your horse melt in to your touch or do they stand with tension and brace against it? If you have a horse that holds tension against your touch on the ground they will inevitably brace against you in the saddle.
Softening and allowing them in to you and you in to them is part of relaxation and swing under saddle as well as connection based and holistic horse training

Join our holistic horse training membership here

Join our free connection course here

Enjoying what you're learning and how your horse is responding? Join the stronger bond community and share your experiences here

Get the training with the communication buttons here

Get the training with the softening when backing a young arab mare here

Connection series: Relaxation cues Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

Join us for episode 2 of our connection series where we share our second top tip for discovering how with you your horse is! Part of having a safe horse that wants to look after you is relaxation and our horses are super good at show us active signs of relaxation and tension. When working with our horses we want our horses to feel safe to relax and have a sleep with us. That means not only do they trust us and not see us as a threat but they also trust us to stand guard while we sleep.

Join the stronger bond community where we are continuing this conversation here

Get the free connection training here

Join training trainability here

Get the accompanying Youtube training of relaxation cues both on the ground and under saddle here

Connection series: Eye contact Dec 01, 2021

Show notes

Join us over the next 8 episodes of our connection based training series as we become powerfully connected equestrians that don't feel conflicted about the tools that we us because we understand what our horses are trying to communicate when they don't respond to our aids the way we asked.
In this episode we are sharing with you one of our first key identifiers for whether or not our horse is with us, eye contact! As humans, we kind of suck at reading body language. We have so heavily leaned in to using verbal communication with each other that we have lost the art of non verbal communication. This is what we learn from our horses.

The number 1 way to recognise if your horse is with you and connected and consenting or if they're starting to feel uncomfortable with what you're asking them to do is their eye contact. This is one of the first places you are going to see your horse showing discomfort about the way you are trying to communicate with them and what you're trying to ask of them.
Join our free online connection training here

Join our membership training trainability here

Watch the Youtube training here

FDNH 44: What is connection? Nov 25, 2021

Show notes

The term connection is fast becoming a trending word within the industry but have you truly experienced it? Experiencing a word gives you a deeper meaning and understanding of what is trying to be communicated. In this episode I'm going to share with you some experiences that you may have had this quality of connection and what we are looking for in our horse to see if that connection is thriving or if there is a disconnect.

Join us over the next 8 weeks for 8 exercises to implement to start building a deeper connection with your horse.

You can get our free connection training here.

Want to learn the process for how to incorporate connection and quality of relationship in your training? Sign up to training trainability here

FDNH 43: Is your horse seeking connection and you're missing the cues Nov 18, 2021

Show notes

This is one from the archives in our stronger bond facebook community and we have a bunch more there!!! Join the group here

Get our free connection training here

Join training trainability and start developing a stronger bond and a deeper connection with your horse through holistic horsemanship so that your horse enjoys learning and asks to be ridden here

FDNH 42: Balance, coordination and independent seat with Louise from Ready to Ride Physio Nov 10, 2021

Show notes

Join us in this discussion as we break down the elements of riding well and not just creating an aesthetically pleasing picture. We discuss all types of topics like breaking through training blocks, how to use your body when your horse bolts or bucks and how to be less of a burden on your horses back in general.

Check out Louises YouTube channel and run through her Pilates trainings here

Want to work with Louise? You can contact her here

Follow along on Instagram here

Check out my training with stacking your posture on bricks on our youtube channel here