In this episode I am joined by Sarah Schlote, psychotherapist, counsellor, and Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner with extensive training and experience in a number of trauma treatment approaches. We talk about attunement in relationship, and trauma as applied to veterinary and husbandry procedures in horses, and what we can do to both help minimise this and recover from it.

In this episode, I discuss the question “Have we really ruled out pain?” when it comes to the veterinary investigation of behaviours like bucking under sadlle, girthiness, or other signs that there might be an underlying health problem, pain or discomfort. Quite often we are left unsure as to how far we have answered this question - we might find obvious reasons for the behaviour and treat them but be unsure whether we have successfully resolved them or the pain associated with them, or we might not find obvious reasons and be left scratching our head as to why the behaviour is happening. This is a common reason for people to approach me for online consultations, in-person visits, or my rehabilitation boarding service.

In this episode, I am joined by Peggy Hogan and Anat Shalev, from whom I have learned so much about ethical and effective training. They are both pioneers in the field of cooperative care, where you can train horses for medical and husbandry procedures, and they employ the use of choice and control on the part of the horse to create amazing wholehearted behaviour offerings from horses.

In this episode, I explain my approach to helping needle shy horses ethically, yet effectively. The basis of this is two-fold - address the underlying causes for the individual horse's needle shyness, and teach cooperative care behaviours that allow for two-way communication, giving the horse choice and a voice in the process.

In this episode, I am joined by Karen Rohlf of Dressage Naturally to talk about the interconnectedness of horse health and happiness and the role our relationship with them also plays in this. We discuss the three pillars and four deep roots of my approach, which Karen helped me to identify, and definitely practices herself.

In this episode, I explain why I named this The Vital Horse Podcast and my business Nurturing Nature Equine. I outline and explain the three pillars and four deep roots of my approach. The three pillars I call Attuned Assessment, Wholehearted Decision-Making, and Compassionate Implementation. The four deep roots are Husbandry for Happiness, Movement Medicine, Cultivating Comfort, and Communication, Compassion, and Consent.