In our first Whole Horse Podcast of Season 3, Taming Wild's Elsa Sinclair shares the differences between dominance and passive horse training, the simple yet profound essence of her work and how to apply it, the core steps to connection, and the creation of her documentary Taming Wild: Pura Vida, capturing an epic 2 week journey across the jungles of Costa Rica with two rescued horses. She also opens up about her third documentary film in progress, working with two stallions, one wild, one from a bucking string, sharing her struggles and her realizations, and the impact of physical and emotional trauma on adaptability. It is a beautiful conversation and the perfect way to kick off season 3. Enjoy! 

What is Freedom Based Training? Perhaps the best way to explain it is to break it down: Training is the art of developing toward an end goal. Freedom is the ability to make the right choices for you in any given situation. Freedom Based Training embraces the paradox of these two ideas – freedom and training. To do this we develop depth of relationship and width of skill in a balance, using passive leadership instead of dominant leadership.

Elsa Sinclair is a professional horse trainer and instructor who brings to the horse world a unique and powerful perspective. Gathering together awareness from a variety of equine disciplines, Elsa has an enthusiasm for developing human ~ equine partnerships to fully enjoy the process of learning and growing in the direction of their goals. Elsa draws on a long and diverse history with horses as she travels now through her latest adventure of Taming Wild. What if horses were given a choice? Would they let us ride them? Without force or tools to control and without bribes to lure them? Elsa asked the questions, embarked on a project to find out and ultimately filmed a movie about the process. What started as simple questions, birthed the movie Taming Wild, an online course for those interested in learning Freedom Based Training, and a following of people who seek their own answers in what it takes to work more collaboratively with horses.

Find out more about Elsa and her work at www.tamingwild.com.

Enjoy!