Louise has an infectious personality and a hatred for Kissing Spines.
Originally from France, she is now a permanent UK resident, operating as an Equine Manual Therapist and Osteopath, with a specialism in treating Kissing Spines. In this episode Louise shares her first memories of falling in love with horses and plotting a career that involved equines, from age 10!
Listen out for her top tip for the horse tribe, her philosophy on treating horses in a way that prevents problems from developing and how her personality sparkles as she shares with us her funny stories about treating patients that relaxed more than planned.
To find out more about Louise and her knowledge on understanding and preventing back pain in horses, join her webinar for the HorseTribe or watch it on demand.
It's not unusual for Helen to watch the sunrise on the beach.
She does fitness work for eventing with her horses on the nearby beach, not far from Swansea. What a wonderful way to start the day and it gives an insight into the passion that Helen holds for horses.
Riding since she was around 4 years old, she has ridden and groomed for both an International Dressage rider and eventer. Helen has always ridden, alongside her developing career as an award-winning saddler, lecturer in saddle fitting and she is also currently the President of the prestigious Society of Master Saddlers.
Listen as we hear about the person behind the expertise and Helen shares her career highlights and challenges. We get an insight into the person that inspired Helen along her path to becoming a saddler and of course she shares the funny stories that come along with the job!
To find out more about Helen and her work, you can visit HR Saddler and for more insight into the work that the Society of Master Saddlers do, check out their website here.
Andrew is not only a super-bright academic, he's super-friendly and truly passionate about providing everyday horse-owners with practical insights that they can apply and help them to understand their horses even better.
Having ridden from an early age, evented up to novice level, and worked as a riding instructor, he understands horses and horse-ownership.
Listen as he shares his favourite horsey memories and how his academic career and research developed. Following a fantastic time at Aberystwyth University, completing his Degree and Masters, Andrew has spent 20 years at the Royal Agricultural University where he heads up the department that specialises in equine management and science.
Andrew's specialist subject is the horse's brain and he spends most of his research time digging into this complex organ and it's impact on behaviour. It's these behavioural insights that we can use everyday to communicate more effectively and build a stronger relationship with our equine friends.
In this podcast we get a fascinating behind the scenes glimpse into this important research combined with Andrew's amusing anecdote from his time working with horses. And what would Dr Hemming's top tip be for the HorseTribe? Well let's just say it's well researched and based on 55 million years of evolution....listen to find out more!!
She was captivated, the moment she saw the most beautifully crafted Victorian bit. That was it - Tricia Nassau-Williams knew what she wanted to be when she "grew up" - a Loriner, helping horse-owners with everything metal for the horse (except shoes) from bits to bridles and harnesses, they cover it all.
Her love of horses, however, started much earlier, age 3, with Tricia riding around on her pony "Lollipop" as soon as she could talk and say pony! She talks about the following happy years, doing cross-country, chasing across the countryside with the bloodhounds and showing Shetlands in hand to a high level - with a Royal Windsor and a Supreme Champion at Malvern happy memories.
Now the Lorinery consultant for BETA and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Loriners, her incredible knowledge and experience helps her have good conversations with horse owners to help them find the right bit for their horses that make the difference.
Listen as Tricia shares her career highlights and the challenges plus her top tips for the HorseTribe - and don't give her directions using Oak trees please?! (It'll make sense when you listen...)
When a friend invited her to try stunt riding in a lesson - Georgia Plimbley was hooked! In this week's podcast episode for HorseTribe, Worcestershire based Georgia tells us about her traditional pony-club background and her passion for horses from the age of 2, that acted as a platform for her work with horses.
Fast forward a few decades and Georgia is a talented liberty trainer and artist and an accomplished stunt rider, with many films credits under her belt!
She shares how she wasn't always confident and that this took a lot of time and work to develop. Part of this work was learning to fall off - safely!
Listen as she shares how becoming a mother changed her focus, how she believes that liberty can help horses with behavioural problems and some of Georgia's most memorable horsey moments.
And her funny story - well it involves a stallion!
If you want to laugh, have goose-bumps and learn loads, then this is the podcast episode! Caroline Ward has the most incredible job, helping change people's lives for the better at the Riding for the Disabled Association. As Communications and Insight Director, she gets to the heart of the activities and campaigns that have brought her "the most joyful horses moments you can imagine".
Her passion for horses began when she was about 7 years old and she shares fond memories of the pony called 'Polo' who really helped grow her confidence, but had a talent for breaking onto her parents front lawn!
Her career at the RDA has allowed her to experience the many and varied activities that they offer to their members, including carriage-driving, vaulting, in-hand work and a wonderful concept called "Tea with a pony", developed to support those with long terms conditions and dementia.
"The things I've seen horses help people achieve never ceases to inspire me" Caroline tells us.
You'll find her bubbly sense of humour and energy equally inspiring, as she shares her funny stories and relatable top tips for the HorseTribe.
In an inspirational episode, we speak with Kate French, Olympic GOLD medallist and modern pentathlete, about her love for all things horse, her athletic career and life. We start as ever by understanding how her love for horses and riding began - "I've been riding all my life" Kate tells us.
She shares how she came to be a modern pentathlete, who inspired her and what has helped her become the highest placed modern pentathlete of all time, with medal success throughout her stellar career.
We also touch on her thoughts surrounding the sad & negative headlines from Tokyo, and the recent news that riding will be replaced as the 5th discipline in the modern pentathlon by another sport, yet to be confirmed.
Kate goes on to share further insights on her favourite horsey moments, her future goals and what it's like to try and teach your husband to ride! Listen out of course for the usual top tips (Olympic style this week) for the HorseTribe from Kate.
We visit South Africa (via technology!) in this episode to talk to Ray Erasmus, a passionate horseman with a desire to improve the lives of horses across the globe, by improving the way we as humans communicate with horses.
Ray is an accomplished Big Five Horse Safari guide, a career path that developed after specializing in walking safari's in big five environments across Southern Africa. Being able to negotiate his way through the bush with lions, elephants, black rhino and all other wildlife from horseback and on foot has cultivated great respect and insight in the way we communicate with animals, and has contributed to his equine training processes in particular.
We had a fascinating chat with Ray, hearing about his incredible equine journey and he shares some of the special horses that have impacted him along the way. His training methods are born out of experience and research - absorbing information and insights from lots of different equine and human mindset experts and blending this into his own training methods.
Is it possible to help a horse face-off a lion? Ray tells us that it is, with time and positive mindset training, encouraging the horse to become confident and trusting of their human in pressure environments. It's this training approach that he wants to share with the broader horse owning community, through his 'Horse Flow Academy' - "the only way to help horses is through people" he says.
Listen out for his story about the lady who got of her horse to go 'safari' in the bush and what caught her in the act!
To find out more about Ray, sign up to his webinar for the HorseTribe and check out our summer festival for horse lovers - HorseFest, visit horsefest.org
Ali Wakelin is a humble and grounded coach who has worked with some incredible trainers over her career. Integrating her biomechanics knowledge, solid coaching skills, learning theory and her own insights Ali has developed her own unique approach to developing horses and riders to be the best they can be. We were surprised to find out Ali's backstory didn't include horses - "I never went near a horse as a child. I looked for a live in job as a teenager and saw an advert for a trainee groom and riding instructor!". Ali is an accomplished trainer and she acknowledges the importance of input from Mary Wanless, Andrew McLean as well as many others. She is proud to be a Ride With Your Mind coach working with individuals, coaching clinics at her base and supporting Mary Wanless in delivery of her teacher training programme. Ali delivers online training through Dressage Training TV as well as running some short, fun online courses for a select group of clients. Ali has a down-to-earth philosophy and an easy way about her as she talks through her ABC's of horse-training. She starts with ground work basics, based on the principles of equine learning theory and then uses these basics to develop ridden work to high levels. Her sense of humour runs through this episode as she talks about being "sent the horse you need" rather than the horse your perhaps wants, and shares her top tip to "enjoy the journey" Join the HorseTribe membership group FREE to watch Ali's webinar for the HorseTribe and see her at our summer festival HorseFest!
As a horse owner and former 'nervous' competitor herself, Dr Tracey Cole knows all too well how it can feel to lose your confidence, whether that be in handling your horse, hacking, cantering or competing.
In love with horses since she was a little girl, she's now combining that passion for horses into her career as a NLP & hypnosis trainer and coach. Tracey had an interesting career journey, and was previously a research scientist, university lecturer and teacher!
In his episode, she talks us through her career path, the challenges she has faced in starting her own business and the funny stories when it doesn't quite go right with your horse, even as a mindset expert!
Tracey's love of helping riders of all levels combat nerves and ride to the very best of their ability is clear as she talks about the work she does and shares with us a top tip for the HorseTribe to takeaway from this podcast.
Tracey's webinar "Conquering Confidence problems", available to watch on demand here and she will be one of our amazing experts running sessions at our summer festival - HorseFest, this July.
Anne's love affair with the horse started when she was a toddler and she climbed over a wall to be with the horses in the field behind her house! Hooked on the smell of horses, she's been involved with them in her life and career ever since.
She tells us about her early years competing in Scotland and how she trained with the Bartles, which gave her the taste for reaching the next level in competition. Anne went on to be very successful professional rider at international advanced level in eventing & dressage, and also trained and examined pupils as a Senior examiner of the British Horse society.
This experience and understanding of the horse and rider helped her to become finely tuned to feedback from the horse, and started Anne on her journey to improve the interfaces between horse, saddle and rider, asking herself "why is it that horses don't like some saddles?".
She talks about founding the Saddle Research Trust in 2009, her PhD research into saddles and how they behave on a horses back and her saddle design work, which has been recognised with the Queen's award for innovation, as well as the fun she has every day with horsey people who simply have a "great sense of humour!"
Look out for Anne's webinar, on finding the best fit of saddle for your horse, later this year and meet her at HorseFest our festival this July.
Hayley grew up obsessed with horses, galloping around on her Shetland 'Bungle' and sometimes coming off when her Dad forgot to do up the girth! Fast forward to today and Hayley is an experienced veterinary physio, supporting owners with their horses and also dogs.
After she passed her degree in Equine Sports Science at Hartpury, followed by a diploma in human sports massage, her career began to take shape at an event yard, where she was inspired by the physios that she saw working with the horses there. She took herself back to University, this time to collect an MSc in Veterinary Physiotherapy, juggling study to hit the very high standards set on the course, with managing an event yard and producing / competing her own horses. (We were exhausted just listening to her life over those 2 years!!)
She tells us how this helped form her view that 'prevention is better than cure' with equine athletes and that, in addition to supporting horses with rehab, she believes physiotherapy can be a valuable tool for performance enhancement in horses.
Hayley shares with us her career challenges, highlights of horses she has helped, the funny things that happen in life as a vet physio and of course as ever we ask her for her top tips for the HorseTribe.
Hayley's work and more detailed advice will be featured in an upcoming expert article, a webinar and she will also be running sessions in person at our summer festival - HorseFest!! For more information and to stay in touch with updates, visit us at www.horsefest.org.
Claire Myers is a horse owner herself and so as a Pilates instructor she REALLY gets what we find difficult, where the aches and pains are and how we move as riders.
We hear how horses have been a life-changing experience for Claire and her journey with an amazing horse-mad family, that came late to horses but all learned to ride together!
Claire had been teaching pilates for many years, but she learned to focus on equestrian-specific needs, once she'd become "obsessed" with horses and was riding herself. Combining her Pilates expertise with her knowledge and understanding of biomechanics, she tells us about the importance of understanding how our bodies interact with the movement of the horse.
Pilates isn't always calmness and mindfulness as she covers in her funny story about LPP's (Lovely Pilates People) and join in as she talks through a simple top tip that EVERYONE can try whilst listening to the podcast!
For more focussed, achievable and rider-relevant tips, join Claire's webinar for the HorseTribe in February and she will have an expert article out soon on the members site. Click here to join the HorseTribe FREE and find more expert articles HERE.
You may not have heard of BETA (The British Equestrian Trade Association) but as a rider or horse-owner, you are FRONT of mind for them and their members! Cast you eye around your yard and you will probably see their logo on your feed and on your body-protector.
A keen horse rider herself, Kiwi Claire moved to the UK to take up the position of Executive Director of BETA, after she saw an advert for the role in Horse & Hound, back in 1999. In this episode we hear about Claire's love for horses and her passion for Lusitanos, born out of a trip to Portugal, where she fell in love with the breed after riding a Lusitano stallion.
Claire shares the work that BETA does to keep riders and horses safe and well, through several campaigns looking at rider safety, safe horse feed and feed suitable for horses with gastric ulcers, plus some new initiatives coming soon.
Of course there are the usual funny stories and top tips that we ask EVERY guest to share - listen in to hear Claire's!
To find out more about BETA and how their work can help you, here are links to their YouTube Channel, Website and Facebook pages.
Horse-riders that are injured whilst hacking far from home, competing or even at the yard, need special assistance when their location is inaccessible by land-ambulance. That's where the team from Midlands air ambulance step - or rather fly-in with their incredible "mobile A&E department"! In a fascinating episode, we hear from Trauma consultant Richard and fundraising exec Maria, their horsey backgrounds, some of the incredible missions that they have supported and the funding required for each mission to rescue and support a rider or other member of the public from a life-threatening situation. Of course there are the usual funny anecdotes too, this week involving mud and also nudist camps! And it wouldn't be a HorseTribe podcast without some useful top tips to help you if you are injured and where every second counts. To donate to this incredible organisation that is funded wholly by charitable donations, you can visit their website HERE.
"Never stop learning" is the mantra of Justine Harrison, and she has role-modelled that approach for almost 2-decades. Catalysed to change her career in 2004 from Graphic designer to Equine Behaviourist, in the pursuit of answers for her own behaviourally challenged 4 year old Dutch Warmblood Boris, she now helps countless horse-owners understand and resolve their horse's behavioural problems.
The product of horsey-parents, Justine has been riding and involved with horses from the age of 3 and entertains us with a "funny but not for the right reasons" story of riding in front of the Queen at Windsor Horse Show!
In this podcast episode Justine shares her passion for supporting horse-owners to recognise the early signs of fear and stress that their horses may be communicating, BEFORE those signs get to a more dangerous level. She discusses how early recognition and positive reinforcement are important skills for horse owners to develop, and can lead to early diagnosis and resolution of underlying issues - to the horse and owners benefit.
Justine will be delivering a webinar for our membership community, The HorseTribe, on November 18th 2021 and will be joining our line-up of experts at HorseFest our annual summer festival starting in summer 2022. To join the HorseTribe FREE click here and you can keep in touch with updates about expert webinars, articles and festival announcements!
Can you help Mary King with her next challenge - raising money for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital? Listen to our latest episode to find out how!
Eventing legend Mary King's glittering career includes representing her country at six Olympic Games, as well as numerous world and European championships. A former world number one, Mary has won Badminton, Burghley, Kentucky and the British Open at Gatcombe.
In this episode, she talks to us about her fascination with horses from a very young age and how her time working at Sheila Wilcox's yard helped form the way she produces her own eventers. Mary goes on to share her current goals and the exciting new chapter she is pursuing, producing and selling some wonderful homebred eventers, from her yard in Salcombe Regis.
"I've always been someone who has aims" Mary tells us. her recent non-horsey achievements have included sailing across the Atlantic, joining the crew in the Clipper Race leg from South Africa to Australia and now she's training for this year's London marathon in aid of the incredible Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.
Join the HorseTribe, to help Mary raise as much money as possible for this wonderful charity, click HERE to find out more.
