The Confident Rider Podcast

When I was considering what overwhelm feels like as an experience in the body, the image that came to mind was one of foggy, misty cliffs; a landscape where we are aware of what lies in front of us but where the weather patterns at play are preventing us from getting a clear sense of the path that we should follow and the direction we should head.

In other words, the experience of overwhelm is immobilising and removes us from the ability to act. 

In this episode, we discuss the atmospheric experience of overwhelm including:

• The indecisiveness of overwhelm, and how this creates a negative loop that compounds on itself
• Nervous system considerations when navigating overwhelm and how listening to your body is not always the best way forward
• Reclaiming agency and voice, and creating space between you and the experience of overwhelm

I hope you find it useful!

If you are interested in joining me in JoyRide for the course navigating overwhelm, you can learn more or sign up here.

Thanks for listening,

xx Jane

What does it mean to begin?

What gets in the way of us beginning again?

How can we approach beginning with tenderness?

This episode is a contemplation, meditation on beginnings; on the challenges we face, the stories we tell ourselves, beginning as an art in and of itself.

I hope you find it useful in some way,

xx Jane

In this episode, I mention an online gathering called Circle. If you are interested in joining us or learning more, you can do so here.

Since the Western States Horse Expo, Barb and I have spent a lot of time chatting on zoom about life, horses, and the universe. Inevitably, there are many crossovers in our work; patterns and experiences we come across that inform how we approach things, beliefs and understandings that we witness either support people moving forward, or conversely, get in the way.

Our conversations on confidence led us back to a foundational piece— of being enough. This idea that ‘I am enough’ is a fundamental understanding to have and embody if we are to find ways of unpicking challenging situations, to take consistent action in support of what we love, and to rest in a place where we are able to advocate for ourselves and our horses.

 And yet there is so much that gets in the way of us not only thinking that but believing in our own enough-ness.   

 We are so passionate about this conversation that shortly (next week!) we are holding a workshop with an additional mentoring option that we have called ‘On Being Enough: Exploring the Hearth Of Confidence with Horses & With Yourself’.

 In this episode, I am joined by Barbra Schulte to talk about what we mean when we say the word ‘confidence’ and how it is we go about developing a sense of ‘enough-ness’

 I hope you enjoy it, you can tune in by searching the Confident Rider Podcast on your fave podcast app or via the link below.

xx Jane

You can learn more about our workshop here:

https://confidentrider.online/on-being-enough-workshop/

Over the course of 3 days at the Western States Horse Expo, I presented a series of one-hour presentations that spanned everything from returning from injury, to processing big emotions, to looking at the way the nervous system affects our biomechanics. My designated area was the Mind, Body, Spirit tent, one of 3 presentation and seminar tents that sat next to the main arena.

The overall expo lineup was a big one. Each time slot was filled with options of coaches, trainers and clinicians that felt impossible to choose from- and yet despite this the Mind, Body, Spirit tent remained one of the most well frequented and packed out of the entire event.

 From a personal perspective, my time at the expo was brilliant in no small part to the people I got to share it with-- so when we had the thought to discuss what it meant for the horse industry to include a focus on all things mind, body & spirit, it felt only right to do so together with some of my crew!

Consequently, this episode is something of a podcast party! I’m joined by the incredible Brigid Piccaro, Terry Kuebler, Lori Justin, Joelle Dunlap, Robyn Schiller & Christine Dickson. Our conversation spans a lot of territory, kicking off with what it means to have such large events include conversations that span outside what traditionally might be expected.

I hope you enjoy it!

xx Jane

To get in touch:

For Jane Pike: www.confidentrider.online

For Robyn Schiller: www.warwickschiller.com

For Joell Dunlap: www.squarepegfoundation.org

For Lori Justin: www.saddlefitrevolution.com 

For Terry Kuebler: https://www.terrykuebler.com/

For Christine Dickson: www.onthepathcoaching.net

Lovely people, it felt a little strange to just roll into the next episode of the podcast without mentioning what I’d been up to the last little while. I considered sitting on my lonesome and giving you a debrief (**yawn**) and then had the most excellent idea to contact some of my people and see if they wanted to join me too.

With that in mind, with me today is Cutting Horse Royalty, Human Who Epitomises Grace (these all require capital letters), a fabulous friend and someone with a dry and mischievous sense of humour (all my favourite things), Barbra Schulte.

If you are yet to fall in love with Barb, here’s a little bit about her…

Barbra Schulte is a Professional Cutting Horse Trainer, Personal Performance Coach, Author, Clinician, and Equine Consultant. Among her many accolades, in 2000 Barbra was awarded the prestigious National Female Equestrian of the Year Award given by the American Quarter Horse Association in conjunction with the Women’s Sports Foundation. This honor recognized outstanding performance and leadership in a female equestrian.

In 2012 she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, one of the most prestigious awards available for women equestrians for outstanding career accomplishments.

I talk with Barb about our experience together at the Western States Horse Expo, discuss what she most loves teaching and how it is our work has influenced us both personally and professionally.

I hope you enjoy it!

xx Jane

You can get in touch with Barb on her website here.

You can contact me or find out more about my online program, JoyRide, here.

Based on a blog that I wrote this morning, 

that I share out loud with you now.

xx Jane 

www.confidentrider.online 

Modern understandings of anatomy and physiology have allowed us to know our body and mind in ways that have not understood previously. Whilst this is a blessing that sees both horses and humans able to function in a way that maximizes health and wellness, we have to take care that the same information that seeks to liberate does not become reductive. Where we are reduced to a body mobilized by a nervous system and brain and forget that we are so much more beyond that. 

Our creativity, our intuition, the imaginative and the symbolic are, equal to the touchable and the visceral, a huge part of what makes up the magic and mystery of being human. A huge part of what allows us to make sense of the world, our place in it, and to both open and close loops of experience that may be swimming in the pool of our unconscious.

When we approach or seek out work that allows us to lead full and vital lives, to reconcile upsetting or traumatic experience, or to find a way through a real and present challenge, what we are looking for is safe passage; ways to be moved from the point that we find ourselves in now to a different space—a space that allows us more choices and gives us back our agency and voice.

Creative expression offers this, both as an organizing, physical movement and an internal movement. It allows us to leave a different person from how we came. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• A personal experience I had this week with writing that I found transformative on every level
• How creative expression can allow us to close open loops of experiences that are keeping us stuck
• The need for creative expression as part of a full and vital life 

I hope you enjoy it!

Happy listening,

xx Jane

Links referenced:

To join the journalling workshop, or to read my poetry & writing:

https://janepike.substack.com/

Confident Rider Website:

www.confidentrider.online

I found out recently that the phrase “heart on your sleeve” is, in part, from Shakespeare’s play Othello-- we have just conveniently lopped off the other half of the sentence which goes on to say “…for the daws to peck at”.

 These words are uttered by one of the most villainous characters in the play, who, in the process of confessing to treacherous acts, remarks that by wearing his heart upon his sleeve, which he says to mean the act of truly exposing himself or opening himself up, he would be inviting crows to peck away at him. As a consequence, he opts to keep his true emotions and intentions hidden.

While the treachery might not be entirely relatable, the idea of opening yourself up to the crows by speaking the truth of your insides might hit closer to home.

In JoyRide this morning, I asked if anyone had anything they would like me to speak to on the podcast, and Leana posted:

Ways to feel safe within vulnerability

I love this as a conversation launch point because there is so much to be said for safeguarding practices around vulnerable experiences and the process of ‘opening up’, the depth of which I only skim the surface of in this episode. Vulnerability has become somewhat of a cultural catchphrase, but the reality of what it takes to be vulnerable- and for that to be truly held- is much more complex and nuanced than perhaps we consider or allow for.

The world is hungry for vulnerability- on social media, in the arts (music, writing, music) etc, in life- but in the midst of the desire for its production and consumption, there is sometimes little to hold it at the other end. In some instances, vulnerability has become yet another commodity, another product ready for consumption without wider conversations around what our collective and community responsibility might be if we find ourselves on the receiving end of vulnerable expression.

On a personal level, vulnerability needs to be shared with discernment. Our energy is precious and to be vulnerable is another level of energy cultivation that can be depleting if not experienced in a context where that same energy is contained, and then beyond that offered back.

In this episode we touch on this in conversation.

What does it mean to be vulnerable?

How do we share our vulnerability with discernment?

And what is our collective and community responsible for both the vulnerable and vulnerability both?

I hope you enjoy it!

❤️ Jane

Links referred to in this conversation

JoyRide: www.confidentrider.online/joyride

Substack & Interwoven: janepike.substack.com 

Lovely people, I’m back-- Both on the airways with the Confident Rider Podcast more generally speaking, and with two of my favourites, the incredible Tania Kindersley and Kathy Price. If you are familiar with our catch ups from the past you will know that the usual format runs to something like the following:

 What do you think we should talk about?

I’m not sure, what do you think?

I’m not sure either?

Shall we just hit record and see what happens?

Yes, let’s.

 So here we are, hitting record and seeing what happens!

 Given the nature of good friends, similar interests and desires for conversations that do more than skim across the surface level, we inevitably find things get interesting quite quickly.

 Over the course of our meandering conversations, we discuss:

• What is it we mean when we say that we are always learning from our horses?
• What does it mean to live a live that feels spacious?
• What is your relationship to time? How does it differ between horses and humans?
• How might the creative process apply to our relationship with our horses?

 I hope you enjoy it! 

❤️ Jane 

"When the old patterns arise, I will dissent. When life convinces me, it is something to be endured rather than enjoyed, I will dissent.

And I will show up here, and I will write about it, as a reminder to those wanting to hold hands and do the same."

❤️ Jane

www.confidentrider.online