Tea Time with Elsa

Chatting about: Putting emotions in motion…

In this episode I talk about how we can help our horses move through their emotional cycles with the use of physical movement. Emotions not only live in the mind but also in the body, so we can help our horses process their emotional cycles and prevent feelings from stagnating or getting worse by ensuring they are getting enough rhythmic movement each day.

Originally aired on: March 8th, 2022

Chatting about: Starting again…

In this episode I talk about starting again after we make mistakes. If we can be really tactful and have good feel and timing to try something again after making a mistake, we can build more trust with our horses than if we were to get it right with them all of the time. The very act of trying again and showing the horse that you understand and you have learnt from your mistake and can do better now makes the horse feel heard. Over time, it deepens the connection between you, builds a broader and deeper level of trust and develops the horse's resilience and grace.

Originally aired on: February 3rd, 2022

Chatting about: Priorities…

In this episode I talk about taking time away to prioritize the things we love the most. In life we all have an ebb and flow and cycles of learning. As we celebrate two and a half years of meeting weekly to chat about different topics to help us further our knowledge and understanding with our horses, I have decided to take a break for a while to prioritize working with and learning from my own horses and go into a deeper part of my learning cycle, before I return to more of the teaching side of my learning cycle. The more that we can flow with our own cycles of learning, and understand that there is a time and a place for everything, the more we can nurture enjoyment in each stage of our lives.

Originally aired on: December 28th, 2021

Chatting about: What our horses need from us…

In this episode I talk about the way our horses respond to pressure, and how we can help them develop the skills that will keep them safe when they inevitably meet some kind of pressure in their lives. In Freedom Based Training®, the only kind of pressure that our horses experience is in the contrasts. The contrasts in freedom are very small, so our horses only experience very small kinds of pressure. The pressure that our horses meet in their daily life is not always going to be small. Whether it’s pressure that we put on our horses, to get on the float or to stand still for the veterinarian, or it’s pressure the horses experience in their environment, when their herd mates push them or there's something concerning in their surroundings. We talk about how we can help set our horses up to confidently cope with the wide variety of situations they will meet in their lives, no matter what kind of training we use.

Originally aired on: December 20th, 2021

Chatting about: Unexpected turns…

In this episode I talk about the unexpected outcomes and twists and turns in our journeys towards the goals we set. I share my experiences of the serendipitous changes and outcomes that I have experienced as I meander towards the goals that I set for myself and the beautiful silver linings in my planned time frames being stretched much farther than I ever expected.

Originally aired on: December 14th, 2021

Chatting about: Idealism…

In this episode I talk about the idealism of freedom with our horses and the reality of our situations. We all want the best for our horses and that perfect picture of freedom and connection, but the real life scenarios that we find ourselves in with our horses often limit the amount of freedom we can give our horses and can be the complete opposite of the idealistic situations we dream of. I explain how we can give our horses the best that we can with what we have and how we can make the most of the imperfect situations.

Originally aired on: December 7th, 2021

Chatting about: Enjoyment…

In this episode I talk about understanding the use of our senses in relation to states of enjoyment, learning, and overwhelm. I explain the ways that our senses gather information as well as the timing of when it’s enough information to make us feel alive and aware and enjoy what we’re experiencing, and when the senses start to gather too much information for too long and cause us to feel worse, leading to freeze, concern or overwhelm. We can learn to read how our horses are using their senses so we can predict if it’s going to get better, or if it’s going to get worse, and so we can create good associations to create intrinsic motivation.

Originally aired on: December 3rd, 2021

Chatting about: Going slow to go faster…

In this episode I talk about leaning into more training versus leaning into more freedom depending on the speed of change we desire and the goals we have for our relationship with our horse. When we work 100% in Freedom, the faster we try to progress, the more likely we are to cause resistance and fight, flight and freeze in the relationship, which means the more likely we are to progress much slower. When we choose to go slow, accept the horse as they are and take the time that it takes to learn all about them, with less pressure and expectation for change, we progress much faster.

Originally aired on: November 23rd, 2021

Chatting about: "Aversives"…

In this episode I talk about how possible it is for us to train horses without using "aversives". Can we really train by reinforcing the behaviors we appreciate without discouraging the behaviors that we don't appreciate? Is there such thing as positive reinforcement without negative reinforcement? We talk about the reality of contrast causing "aversives" no matter what kind of training we do with our horses.

Originally aired on: November 16th, 2021

Chatting about: Yielding…

In this episode I talk about the foundations of yielding in Freedom Based Training®. When we can practice yields in freedom with feel and timing that is attuned to our horse, not only can we develop soft and supple cooperation, but we can develop a sense of enjoyment and cause the horse to actually look forward to being asked for a yield. By developing strong associations of enjoyment, we develop the intrinsic motivation to yield.

Originally aired on: November 9th, 2021