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This week we have a pretty cool chat with Veronica Rosenthal, of Dark Horse Therapeutics. She is a speech and language pathologist, as well as a certified therapeutic riding instructor. She works with children with speech and hearing disabilities. 

We begin by talking about her work with the speech and hearing impaired and how it has influenced her work with horses. I've been saying for years that 2 speech and language pathologists were some of the most helpful people I encountered when beginning this journey of bits and bitting. Roni has been studying equine bodywork for years and we talk about how that has informed her riding and usage of horses in therapy sessions. She also shares with us her recent experiences riding with pure Baucherist riding instructors and her recent participation at a dissection.

We finish up the podcast by talking about laying horses down, dominance theory and the topic of horses and consent based training.

You can find Veronica at the following links:

https://darkhorseslp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551235773464

https://www.instagram.com/darkhorse_slp/

To take advantage of our Labor Day Sale on The Bit Course 2.0, at checkout, use coupon code "LABOR30"

https://www.thebitcourse.com/store 

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It is a complex world that we live in. I've seen horse world relationships end and things happen with disastrous consequences throughout my career. Like it or not, laws apply and understanding that world is important and necessary. 

This week we are talking with Rachel Kosmal McCart of Equine Legal Solutions. She's been a rider for most of her life in several disciplines. She is a lawyer and was practicing in corporate law in the big city. Now she specializes in equine law and her business is Equine Legal Solutions. 

She's going to give us a lot of good advice. Rachel represents people who are challenging breed associations, leases/sales/trials gone wrong, and also has a myriad of pre-made templates and forms for sale for things like boarding barn contracts, sales forms, etc. 

I learned a lot in this one and I think this is a topic we tend to not know enough about.

Rachel's Links:

https://equinelegalsolutions.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HorseLaw

https://www.instagram.com/equinelegalsolutions/

https://x.com/EquineLegal

Making Pizzas with toppings more offensive than pineapple:

https://www.instagram.com/matthewsullychef/

https://www.youtube.com/@ChefSullyPizza

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In this episode my son, Colt, joins me to ask your questions. This is a warmup for him, as he'll be part of the interview for a future guest. He takes me through the lightening round questions and ads in a few of his own. How many points will he give me? Will I choose the awkward silence, or make him compliment me? 

The questions you had for me include:

• Have you ever had a horse that was so spoiled it wasn't worth it?
• What are some things you'd like a horse to know before starting under saddle?
• A client's horse doesn't ever drop manure while being ridden or for hours at a time while at a show. Does this mean anything?
• You've mentioned you're still developing your feel. Can you describe your most recent breakthrough or realization on feel and what the next one looks like?
• Can you give us your thoughts on people doing embryo transfer more often now? Will it effect the gene pool negatively?
• and several more

Merch!!! https://dauphinhorsemanship.com/mercantile/

https://thebitcourse.com/foamy-mouth

https://dauphinhorsemanship.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@DanielDauphin

https://www.facebook.com/ddauphin77/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/795178083941287

https://www.instagram.com/dauphin_horsemanship/

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Maddy Butcher worked for nearly two decades as a free-lance reporter for The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications covering sports, travel, business, front page, and investigative work.

More recently, she’s dedicated her work almost exclusively to horse-related content. (But she still writes opinion pieces for the Washington Post.)

Within the horse and ranching worlds, Maddy Butcher is the creator of several popular informational newsletters like the Nicker News, Horse Head, and High Country Outsider. She's also the founder of The Best Horse Practices Summit, and the horseman's mental health forum, Buck the Trend, and we talk about both here. 

Additionally, Maddy does day work on ranches, and is even working to become a range rider to help keep the newly introduced wolves in Colorado away from livestock.

Maddy produced The Best Horse Practices Podcast with Jec Ballou for the entire run, having done the final episode in the last month or so. I find it hard to believe that there's any time left for her to do something else, but she somehow even produced, wrote, and was in a short film in the last year. "A Brutal, Beautiful Life" is a project with her son, Beau Gaughran, who is a professional film maker and part time adrenaline junkie. This film is out at film festivals now and is a 10 minute view into the lives of female ranchers and cowgirls. It lives up to the title by depicting the solitude and struggles of this life and its brutality, while juxtaposing the beautiful surrounding, animals and experiences surrounding the hard moments that smother us. 

Maddy mentions a documentary about an idigenous girl. Here's the link to view it: 

More than a few of you have asked if I was going to have a guest on who wasn't a pro, and was more in your shoes, a sufferer of Adult Onset Horsemanship, and this episode applies. Maddy is candid about her stuggles and frustrations, as well as her breakthroughs and triumphs. She's intelligent, quirky, and a friend.

Recently, she invited me out to her place in southwest Colorado to help her with a young mustang and greenish ranch gelding that she's been trying in vain to improve. We worked for 4 days and a large part of this conversation is about the things we worked on, what she expected and was surprised by, and her take aways and insights.

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April interviewed me for the first ever episode of this podcast and I've been meaning to get her back on, which is a feat. I hope you enjoy some husband and wife banter and a peak behind the curtain so to speak. There is some talk about horses that might be of some value also.

I didn't ask her about her work, but April is a very talented and skilled stained glass artist. I'll have a few pics of her work on the webpage, as well as a link to her facebook page, Blue Glass Studio.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087103038678

Here are the links to the two events we talked about:

Bit Classes and Clinic, Big Horse Ranch, Arroyo Grande, Ca, June 13-15 and 16th

https://www.facebook.com/events/1672655893323859/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22calendar_tab_event%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22bookmark_calendar%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D

https://bighorselove.com/#page-3

Clinic at Singing Dog Ranch, Wellington, Co, June 28-30

https://www.facebook.com/events/519028334583507/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22calendar_tab_event%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22bookmark_calendar%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D

The Self-Guided version of The Bit Course:

https://thebitcourse.com/self-guided-home

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I was fortunate to be asked to be on the group discussion podcast, Compass Conversations, and Tik was also in the group. That's how I met him and I'm glad I did. You meet a lot of talented horsemen and women. They're not always people you actually want to spend time around. Tik's fun, enthusiastic, and genuinely wants to see everyone do well. 

He is also a very high level horseman and very competitive guy. Tik was  a part of the National Champion Team in Tetrathalon (running, swimming, shooting, jumping) in 1997, and part of the Canadian Team that won gold in Kentucky in 1998. He was also the Canadian national Champion in Tetrathalon in 2000. 

After pony club, Tik competed full time in the sport of Modern Pentathlon (running, swimming, shooting, fencing, show jumping).  Tik was on the Canadian National Team and won the National Championships twice.  He also competed at multiple World Cups, World Championships, and at the 2007 Pan-Am Games in Rio. He somehow managed to earn a B.A. in History from the University of British Columbia along the way.

Tik is a two-time freestyle winner (2015 and 2018) at the Throughbred Makeover and has also judged the competition (2017). 

Tik serves as an on-line instructor for The Horseman’s University and for the Noelle Floyd Equestrian Masterclass.  He is a regular guest on podcasts, and a contributor to the Practical Horseman, Noelle Floyd, Chronicle of the Horse, Horseman’s Journal, and others. Tik was a columnist for Off-Track Thoroughbred Magazine for six years.

Tik is the author of In The Middle Are The Horsemen, published by Trafalgar Square Books, in 2018. 

Tik is married to Sinead Maynard, a USA Three-Day Eventing Olympic Team member, and host of the popular podcast In Stride, by Ride IQ.  Together they have two children, aged 1 and 4. Tik and Sinead regularly teach eventing and horsemanship clinics.

Since 2008, Tik has been training horses full time.  After spending three years as a working student, he became assistant trainer to Anne Kursinski, then the head trainer at Bow Brickhill Stables in New Jersey.  After marrying Sinead Maynard, Tik started his own business, then in 2016, after Tik and Sinead bought Copperline Farm in Citra, Florida, they merged their businesses into one. 

Tik has evented at the Advanced level and been long-listed and short-listed for Canadian National Three-Day Event Team. 

Most recently, Tik has become interested in colt starting, expanding his horsemanship and understanding of the process of gentling and starting a green horse. He’s apparently pretty good at it, winning RTTH in 2024 and he’ll be defending that title this coming weekend at RTTH 2025. 

He writes articles and has authored 2 books, his first one, “In the middle are the horsemen” came out in 2018. He’s also got a new book out on the journey of learning about colt starting, and ultimately, himself through that process. The book is now available for purchase and is called, “Starting in the middle”

You can find Tik and his books and courses at the following links:

https://www.copperlineequestrian.com/

https://noellefloydplus.com/catalog

https://trafalgarbooks.com/products/starting-in-the-middle?_pos=2&_sid=66bb4ed58&_ss=r

https://www.facebook.com/tikmaynardcompany

You can find my online bit course's self-guided version here:

https://thebitcou

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Describing Nahshon Cook is an unenviable task. He's not easily put in a box. His background is in Classical Dressage. He's really more into working with physically broken horses to rehab the mind, body, and spirit. He's highly intelligent. He's a writer of things and organizer of a unique perspective. He's my friend.

Nahshon's been on a meteoric rise over the last several years. So much so that he's taking this year off to recover and process. I'd say he had a lot to get off of his chest during this conversation and if you've been wanting to know more about the man inside the myth this gets pretty personal.

You can find Nahshon only at this facebook page and I've also included a link to his books.

https://www.facebook.com/NahshonCookHorsemanship

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=nahshon+cook+books&crid=OB2Y2MB6JM67&sprefix=nahshon+cook%2Caps%2C363&ref=nb_sb_ss_mvt-t9-ranker_2_12

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Dr. Benjamoin Sykes never intended to be a horse vet and somehow wound up one of the world's leading researchers and experts in Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome. Dr. Sykes attained his BVMS in Australia. He moved to the US and continued his education while teaching. He then moved to Finnland and continued to do research and teach. He even managed to earn a PhD and find a Finnish wife along the way.

Dr. Sykes is listed among the top 1% of researchers in the hard sciences in the world by Stanford University. He was the lead author on the European College of Equine Internal Medicine Concensus Statement on Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome in Adult Horses. As you might expect he also spends a fair bit of his time traveling the world as an invited speaker and consulting on cases.

What you might not expect is that Dr. Sykes is a PoloCross player and funny. He's easy to talk to and down to earth. I really enjoyed this conversation with him and I am grateful that he graced this episode with this much of his time and expertise. If you own or lease a horse, you need to listen to this one.

You can find Dr. Sykes at the following links or read some of his research:

https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.sykes.5095

Research Articles:

Can All Behavioral Problems Be Blamed on Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome

Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome: An Update on Current Knowledge

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I don't think that title is enough to describe Lee McLean. She's authored 2 books, "Horse Woman: Notes on Living Well & Riding Better" and "Love & Rules: Life Lessons Learned With Horses". She's trained in just about every discipline you can imagine. She's an accomplished sidesaddle rider and repairer of those old saddles. She's even raced sidesaddle in the Calgary Stampede. 

Noteably, Lee also has the facebook page, Keystone Equine where she posts regular pictures and stories, along with thoughts and quips. She's definitely worth your time to follow. She really doesn't bill herself as a pro trainer, but it's evident in all that she says and does that she absolutely knows her stuff. Lee's also a brave soul who tells it like it is and doesn't cherry pick what she shares. The unvarnished truth and lessons learned from mistakes are a big part of her message. I like truth seekers and honest people, and so I like Lee McLean.

You can find Lee at the following links:

https://www.facebook.com/livingwellridingbetter

https://www.instagram.com/keystoneequine

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Rules-Lessons-Learned-Horses-ebook/dp/B0BWKCN955/ref=sr_1_3?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.nUSX9bhLr0OKMXPd_NLiTifZD4u3IH7QvMMBE0AdqFnABKNbabTB_dlDzwAH3NM-qFIixUnOqB6WsXcS50lva_hZFglVCGTIZrHp-6slgNo.nCnCE8tBlOLiXsu7GtLPZuZX0J6TRLRBTxwEpgeHEa8&dib_tag=se&qid=1740838435&refinements=p_27%3ALee+McLean&s=digital-text&sr=1-3&text=Lee+McLean

https://www.amazon.com/Horse-Woman-Living-Riding-Better/dp/1999108752/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7z8IOKpnRtcgSGt95hh1iFo_B8aaUmFWnU0tS6egZr_CD0UaYHEuJigYbOEw0lDfnET7HzFHqoO72gXpJKDKBgpkZEOrThutENsYzw-SAIDQSm_CwY2F_dB9w2Q5v4cFTO8IGYNGZI8H0pDq-9YJ67VogAwUxeQxLi-2KmqVD7k.M1NMwCZRn7ypAfwnrO1A8DXzHvKsnUlgn9dqknb7KFQ&qid=1741007904&sr=8-1

If you might be interested in our online bit course, I'd suggest you get the foamy mouth video and this will also place you on our email list for updates.

https://thebitcourse.com/foamy-mouth

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If you're in the horse world and haven't come across clips of the AMAZING Endo the Blind, you must be living under a rock. Endo is the Appaloosa gelding who is missing both eyes and hasn't been held back at all. He knows all sort of verbal commands, rides obstacle courses bareback and bridleless, and even jumps. Morgan tells the story of his beginnings with her from halter breaking to the loss of his eyes and all that they have accomplished since.

As a blind horse, Endo has achieved Master Level at Working Equitation, he's set 3 Guiness World Records, and he's won the hearts of countless people. Morgan has built a legacy with this special animal that has inspired millions and been an ambassador of our industry that shines a very positive light on what is possible with these beasts we love. 

Morgan's now onto another quest. She's since trained a few blind horses and has started a non-profit 503C-3, The Blind Equine. Her aim is to set up training videos and resources to help other owners and their horses be successful after a horse has lost its sight or setting them up well for the future when we learn that blindness is on the horizon.

You can find Morgan at the following links:

https://www.instagram.com/endotheblind.morgan/

https://www.facebook.com/endotheblind

https://www.youtube.com/@EndotheBlind/

• Donate by PayPal or Venmo to @theblindequine