I recorded this audio while riding Willow bridleless; day 2.  My point: I didn’t set out to ride Willow bridleless, as in, the thought was NOWHERE in my mind.  Yet, we arrived here.  Looking back at our journey, you could say we took many detours…or you could say that I consistently took the next most obvious step.

Consider what would happen if you took these two steps, over and over and over again:

1- remember why you are doing this. What was your dream-goal? 2-take committed action. 

Sometimes the next, most obvious step…really is the best choice.

200 episodes and over 1,000,000 downloads later…its working!

200 episodes and over 1,000,000 downloads later…

When I started this podcast, I wanted to help riders understand their horses, so they could create clear, confident, communication…and it’s working!

To celebrate reaching these milestones, I’m sharing my student success stories. These moments are glimpses into the process of gaining clarity through understanding. You can hear both the struggle and the breakthrough, as well as the enjoyment and the success.

Thanks for listening!

The trickiest concept of them all…If the horse gives the ‘incorrect’ answer…it doesn’t necessarily mean you taught the lesson wrong.

This one can make you crazy… Or it can make you micromanage… Or it can tempt you to force things to happen…

The challenge is that in teaching the horse…we are always getting feedback from them, but if they give the ‘incorrect’ answer…it doesn’t necessarily mean you taught the lesson wrong.

If the horse questions you…and you think his feedback means you’re doing it wrong…you might change what you're doing…even though the horse was just asking if some previous answer could apply here...or was offering something creative...or was asking for clarification. 

What stands in the way of reaching your dream? The ability to hold belief for the amount of time it takes to achieve it. But… If it's as simple as believing…why don’t we just believe?
There are many hidden benefits to NOT believing. 

It conserves energy, allows you to stay where you are, and lets you experience less of the uncomfortable emotions that often come with trying new things.  But… What if you ARE capable? What if you can do it if you just keep going? Learning to hold space for belief is a skill you can learn.  I’ll explain more in the podcast.

The difference between testing, training, and micromanaging is TIMING.

If you are not sure of the difference in timing there, is a much higher chance that you will be frequently ‘correcting’ mistakes, or you’ll find yourself trying to prevent mistakes.

There is a way to train your horse that feels like guiding instead of ‘correcting’. In this podcast, I share how you can set your horse up for success, stop micromanaging and ‘test’ when you are confident the horse knows the answer. 

Have you every considered asking more of your horse and thought, “I’m afraid my horse might stop meeting me at the gate.” Or maybe you took a lesson or tried a new technique and the next day when you went out you thought, “I’m surprised my horse still met me at the gate.”

If you have ever had a thought along this line, it’s time to take a more in-depth look at where this is coming from. In this podcast, I outline three places these thought commonly stem from. I also explain the stage of learning where it is normal for the horse to have this question. Finally, I share the thoughts I have that have prevented me from every having this thought.

Everything that creates safety or leads to advancing requires an ability to clearly communicate to the horse's body.

Yet, the system of communication changes as the horse's understanding grows.  Often the horse is first taught to turn from direct rein pressure…but many riders ideally want to steer with a neck rein or their body. 

How is this transition possible?

It is possible when the horse realizes that all the cues that are given are communicating with the body. In this podcast, I share two ways that riders often disconnect the feet and body instead of connecting them more and more. 

Are you struggling to advance with your horse? Does it feel like you are on a plateau thats ‘ok’…but not what you want it to be? You might be ready to enter the messy middle. I could try to dress it up with a better name but instead I’ll share with you: What the messy middle is. The #1 symptom when people try to skip it. And why it really isn’t as messy as it seems. If you dream about riding a horse on a loose rein with collection, but can’t quite figure out how to get there, this ones for you.