Tea Time with Elsa

Chatting About: Four Burners… Originally aired on: October 10th, 2026 In this episode we talk about our allotment of energy expenditure in different areas with horses. What are we prioritizing? Once we know what we want to prioritize, how do we put that into practice?

Chatting About: When Is Training Good enough?… Originally aired on: October 20th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how sometimes we don’t need to train more, we just need to gather good experiences together. This bank account of trust is the foundation for all the future training we do together. There will always be tasks that could be improved, but today is an experience that could be savored,...

Chatting About: Easy Horses and Difficult Horses… Originally aired on: October 13th, 2026 In this episode we talk about the difference between easy horses and difficult horses. The difficult horses tend to get all the extra care and attention because they demand it, while often the easy horses get a bit neglected because they can sort themselves out. It would be so nice if our easy horses got all...

Chatting About: Horses want to be with you, when they can teach you something… Originally aired on: October 6th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how horses want to be understood as an individual before they want to seek harmony with others. Horses seem to be very patient as long as we show we are trying to learn who they are, what they like and what they don’t like. Before we can seek harmony w...

Chatting About: Anticipate or Respond… Originally aired on: September 29th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how we anticipate a horse’s push or pull, and we respond to a horse’s curiosity. When in relationship those are really our only two options, to respond to events, or anticipate events. When we anticipate, we lower the need the horse has to get attention, and therefore we make that event l...

Chatting About: Persistence… Originally aired on: September 15th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how and when to persist in asking the horse to consider a human idea when they might prefer something different. I find “when” more important than “how”. The horse is always giving us signs that point to the probability of a good outcome or not. Reading the horse and then taking action with the und...

Tea With Elsa Episode 261 Chatting About: Repetition Before Duration… Originally aired on: September 15th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how valuable it is to embrace the repetitions of practicing the first step of any skill, before we consider the possibilities of doing it longer. The biggest mistakes I have made along the way as a horse trainer have been expecting my horses to maintain some...

Chatting About: The Foundation Work Of Simply Being… Originally aired on: August 29th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how sharing time with horses can sometimes be about simply being together without trying to change them. A “Watching Practice” sets the stage of understanding for all the training to come later.

Chatting About: Basic Needs First… Originally aired on: August 18th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how my understanding of the “Basic Needs” of a horse has become deeper over the years. Both horses and humans are herd animals and as such it is natural for them to value the needs of others they consider part of their herd. However, before they can act as a good herd member their “basic needs”...

Chatting About: Whimsy in Horse Training… Originally aired on: August 11th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how serious horse training can get and how perhaps, a little whimsy can be an incredible source of joy for everyone. What whimsical moments do you like to share with your horse?

Chatting About: What do you want in a friend? Originally aired on: August 4th, 2026 In this episode we talk about the role of a friend that most horses play in the modern world. For some people horses are still work mates, for others they are sports equipment, for most of us I find they are friends first and foremost. Asking what we want in our friends is an important question. This impacts the wa...

Chatting About: The Non-performative Life… Originally aired on: July 28th, 2026  In this episode we talk about the idea of being performative, as a horse or a human. To be performative is to do things for others that you might not naturally choose for yourself. We ask our horses to be performative all the time, and we find socially as humans we often need to as well. When there is a time or a plac...

Chatting About: Pattern versus Details… Originally aired on: July 21st, 2026 In this episode we talk about how the brain chooses how to process the world it lives in, noticing the patterns (how today is the same as yesterday) or noticing the details (how each moment is completely unique). When we notice the patterns we become better friends and support to others. When we notice the details we form...

Chatting About: Our Relationship To Pressure… Originally aired on: July 14th, 2026  In this episode we talk about how past associations around pressure determine the quality of our relationship with pressure. In order to build a better relationship with pressure (from the horse’s perspective or the humans perspective) we get to start from where we are and, one experience at a time, build experienc...

Chatting about: A Good Luck Frame Of Mind… Originally aired on: July 7th, 2026  In this episode we talk about how training in freedom is all about capitalizing on the naturally occurring moments with our horses that are in the direction of training that we hope for. When training with more pressure we can create the patterns and habits we hope for in our horses. When prioritizing freedom, it is a...

Chatting about: Bringing Out The Best In Our Friends… Originally aired on: June 30th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how to bring out the best in our horses and, really, all of our friends in general. Specifically, I like to look at this from a sensory system perspective. The better our horses can sense the world around them, the better choices they make interacting with it and the more potent...

Chatting about: Playing in Freedom versus Training in Freedom… Originally aired on: June 23rd, 2026  In this episode we talk about the care we take in training to set the horse up for success. In at least eighty percent of our interactions we should be making sure our horses encounter a world that does not push them to fear or anger. The rest of the time with our horses there is room to play a lit...

Chatting about: The Art Of Bonding… Originally aired on: June 16th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how the art of bonding is in the problems you can solve together. Much of normal horse training is about creating a problem for the horse that you can then solve together. In Freedom Based Training® we do our best to find naturally occurring problems we can help the horse solve, by understanding...

Chatting about: The long walk of shame… Originally aired on: June 12th, 2026  In this episode we talk about how sometimes, when we push a little too much in horse training and the horses have the freedom to walk away, we end up taking a long walk to figure out where things went wrong. Once we figure out what went wrong, we get to make a plan of what we might do differently when we see the horses a...

Chatting about: We All Get To Decide What Is Important?… Originally aired on: May 5th, 2026 In this episode we talk about how we all get to decide where to focus and where we focus and how we show what is important to us as an individual. However, if the relationship to others is important, then what we focus on gets shaped by what is important to them. This is the primary way we show a horse that...

Chatting about: Don’t Fight Reality… In this episode we talk about how working without tools is a great time to accept the reality of the horse’s state of mind. In each moment the horse will either have: a good idea, a bad idea, or no idea at all. If they have no ideas at all, the door is open for you to have an idea for them, if they are having a bad idea (pushing against you or pulling away from...

Chatting about: The Luxury Of Appreciation… In this episode we talk about how the greatest quality of life comes from a habit of appreciating whatever is naturally occurring. This however is a luxury we may or may not have depending on our situation. When a situation becomes time pressured around change, focusing on what is wrong and what must change becomes the priority. Seeing these options on a...

Chatting about: If you can do it better, do it again… Originally Recorded 26_04_21 In this episode we talk about how training is always a guess. Any action we take has a result. Once we see the result we have to take a guess and ask ourselves “If I repeated the same action, or an adjusted version of the action, would the result be better?” I think I should always repeat actions I think I can do be...

Chatting about: Don’t Change, Appreciate… In this episode we talk about the natural pressures of life that push us to train change faster than a horse might choose, and what the side effects of that might be. If reasonable, I always prefer to train at the speed the horse would choose, appreciating things so that we can build on things the horse already knows and practices. If that is unreasonable...

Chatting about: What Does Pressure Mean? In this episode we talk about the challenge horses have in learning what pressure means in relationship to humans. At a base level pressure should mean to change something. That change might be physical, mental, or sensory. What change is needed is a puzzle horses must figure out and for that reason I like starting with "pressure means change the use of the...