The Confident Rider Podcast

Kate Sandel is back on the podcast! In less than a week's time, Kate and I are co-teaching at a three-day clinic called Camp of the South, in Devon, UK. Initially we had the idea to record a conversation together to send to participants of the camp as a "here's some helpful information" type spiel but it quickly became obvious that our chattering extended far beyond the limits of those three days...

It's a party people! A few weeks back, I had the hankering to have a pod conversation talking about energy, the mystical and the magical, and the two people who immediately sprang to mind were Denise Elizabeth Byron and Kathy Price. Denise I have known for a few years now, meeting her for the first time when I went to stay with Robyn Schiller and skipping along to an astrology session that blew my...

There are so many ways to introduce Barbra Schulte. You could start with the incredible work she does coaching riders, helping them develop mental strategies to get the best out of themselves and their horses. Or you could talk about her many outstanding accolades in the cutting horse arena, including her induction in the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2012. But what I love most about Barbra is...

As many of you who follow along with my adventures will already know, at the start of this year I lost my beautiful Irish horse, Bear. Following on from that day, I shared my experiences and thoughts in series of Facebook live sessions that spanned the course of a couple of weeks, which led me to conversations, understandings, and a level of awareness that I would never have gained if I had chosen...

Are you ready for us?! I'm joined back on the pod this week with two of my besties who you no doubt are well familiar with already- the most amazing Kathy Price and the infinitely regal Tania Kindersley.   Kathy, Tania and myself are regularly chattering about all things life, horses and the universe, and whenever one of us is stuck or needs an ear, the call goes out over the WhatsApp airwaves say...

The subject of vitality is on my mind because in a couple of weeks' time, I'm teaching a workshop with Rupert Isaacson on that exact topic. It's a workshop that I'm really excited for because at the heart of my work lies the desire for the restoration of vitality. The pathway there might look different for everyone; the challenges each of us experience may hold their own unique flavor; but ultimat...

Elsa Sinclair is a human that I have looked up to for a very long time. In the horse world, she is a rare light who explores a way of partnering together with horses that is seldom explored and practiced; one that is rooted entirely in freedom. W hen I consider my own life and horsing adventures, I know that I am traversing a time where our consciousness of our relationships with our horses is und...

Fabulous humans, it's a party of awesomeness on the podcast! I am joined today by the incredible Crissi McDonald and Mark Rashid who are not only incredible horsepeople, but beyond that have a collective list of skills and accomplishments that make them a unique force of goodness in the horse world. Crissi has spent over thirty years working with many different horses and people from all over the...

If you listen to the podcast regularly, you'll know that I was recently in Texas as part of Warwick Schiller's Journey On Podcast Summit.  The summit itself was a mindblowing experience in every way, and I'm yet to adequately find the words for my experience there. I definitely didn't come out of it the same person I was going in. I wanted to chat about my time there from the position of a present...

Fabulous humans! Ready to riff with me on all things mind, movement, and the nervous system? This week's episode is a recording of a live Q&A I held yesterday to answer some questions and continue on discussing the topics I talked about in my presentation at the Journey On Podcast Summit. I've had a lot of emails come in post-summit that vary from general questions on movement and the nervous syst...

Last week, an email landed in my inbox that asked a very specific question. "I get much of what you talk about, this person told me, but I still can't make the connection between how the movement work you teach relates to mindset. Can you explain this to me please?" Now at this point there are two things you should know about me: I'm a self-professed movement and nervous system nerd. This question...

I first became aware of Kate Sandel after reading one of her most excellent blogs that she shared on her Facebook page ,Soft and Sound, and from there launched into "quiet stalker mode" to find out more about her on her website. I was fortunate enough to become one of the early members of her online membership program, and from there, she has become not only one of my go-to people for help and adv...

Finding the right environment and teacher to learn with can be really messy territory to step into. On the one hand, we want to open ourselves up to the learning experience and put ourselves out there for the betterment of both ourselves and our horses. On the other, the vulnerability that creates means we want to make sure that we are doing so with the right people and in the right situations. Fr...

In the last episode, we launched into the topic of biomechanics and how understanding the role of the conscious and unconscious brain in movement can empower us to find a different way of moving and being in the saddle that sits outside of the traditional riding lesson model. One of the things I find challenging about these conversations is that the work I practice is highly experiential and so ex...

Those of us interested in the art of horsemanship and riding find ourselves on a constant quest for harmony; a way of being and moving with our horses that allows both of us to find an ease of movement not only in our bodies, but also in our minds. My adventures into the nervous system have led me to some specific understandings of how the nervous system impacts our movement, and how we can use th...

It's one of my favouritist (yes, that is a word) humans ever joining me for the podcast this week. Kathy Price is in the house and we are talking about the… well, basically all. of. the. things. It's impossible when chattering to a person like Kathy to keep things at surface level, so we cover a lot of territory. Before we get into that however, let me introduce Kathy to you! Kathy comes from a sc...

Hands in the air if you feel like you never have enough time? This "time conundrum" is something that I've wrestled with for a long time and has created a lot of stress and struggle along the way. I recognize now that my own relationship with time has been caught up in a somewhat toxic relationship with people pleasing patterns, the need to get things right, and that somehow my self-worth was inex...

How would things change if we looked at our horses and the first thing we thought was, you are brilliant? A Confident Rider Sound Bite on the place we begin from. www.confidentrider.online   --- Click below to learn all about my JoyRide membership, to help you think, feel, move & ride differently: https://confidentrider.online/joyride/ For other resources: Website: https://confidentrider.online/ F...

Do you know the difference between the action of fear and the emotion of fear? Because there is one. And being able to discern between them is vital when it comes to understanding not only how your nervous system works, but how your perception of different situations and experiences create sympathetic or fight flight responses. When the fight flight nervous system is working as it's designed to, i...

Fabulous humans! I'm baaaaaack! The Confident Rider Podcast is back on the airwaves for Season 2, and I have to say, I'm pretty excited about it! It seemed only fitting to give you a rundown of where I'm at work and life wise, but beyond that, to discuss some of the changes that have happened in my work over the past 18 months and how that has informed my own practices and understandings. So, let'...

A couple of weeks back, I got tagged in a post on Facebook where the person in question had been bucked off and now found herself in the midst of two different riding experiences; when she is in company or with her instructor, she is fine to get on and ride. When she is alone, it's a completely different story. Given I had quite a lot to say on this subject (more than I could include in a Facebook...

So here's the current state of play. Over the last little while, all three of my horses have had some time off. This definitely wasn't in the game plan- they have all for different reasons had some physical niggles from unrelated incidents that made me think a few weeks of paddock rest was a good idea- and now I am finding myself in the position where we are needing to begin again. This transition...

A little while back, a friend of mine sent me a video of a trainer working with a horse who was suffering from significant anxiety. I watched them work together and loved not only the principles he followed but his thoughts about what was happening, and his intentions for creating trust and connection. Josh Nichol was the horseman in that video, and I had the great pleasure of sitting down togethe...

In this episode, Anxiety has stepped forward as our volunteer to show us just how important context is! Case and point: Say I am a rider who has come to recognize anxiety as a fairly familiar part of my riding experience. In fact, I am so intimate with my particular brand of riding anxiety that I've started to view it as a part of my personality and identity. This presents a few different problems...

It's a raw, uncut, unedited podcast for you this week! I had planned to release a different episode, but we made an executive decision to hold that off for a couple of weeks' time (super excited to bring that to you then!). In the meantime, I had two options: Leave the podcast for this week and have a two-week gap Roll with whatever came up even if I didn't have time to present it as a perfect pac...