Adult Onset Horsemanship

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When you get the chance to talk to someone who's competed at the 5 star level in eventing all over the world, you take it. 

Sinead Halpin Maynard is one of the top Three-Day Event riders in the world. She has competed at the top levels for over 20 years representing her country for the majority of those years. Her top accomplishments include representing the United States at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy in 2014, traveling to London for the 2012 Olympics a...

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Our guest this week is Ty Evans. Ty is in a niche in this horsemanship world. He specializes in mules and donkeys. Raised in Utah, Ty's father was a horse/mule trainer too. Ty, with his wife, Skye, own and operate TS Mules and Mulemanship Clinics.

Ty has already been running the roads doing clinics for a long time and he's articulate and also keeps things simple and understandable. He's based in the vaquero arts and often rides his...

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I'm especially proud of this episode. First of all, Steve Hemphill is an acomplished horseman in his own right and has won tournaments in jousting and taught all over the world. He's even done comentary for television on the topic. Secondly, this episode is completely the result of my youngest son, Colt. He saw a youtube video of Steve (linked below) and thought he'd make a cool guest for the podcast. He asked me if I'd have him on and I...

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This week we have a pretty cool chat with Veronica Rosenthal, of Dark Horse Therapeutics. She is a speech and language pathologist, as well as a certified therapeutic riding instructor. She works with children with speech and hearing disabilities. 

We begin by talking about her work with the speech and hearing impaired and how it has influenced her work with horses. I've been saying for years that 2 speech and language pathologists were some of the most helpful people I e...

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It is a complex world that we live in. I've seen horse world relationships end and things happen with disastrous consequences throughout my career. Like it or not, laws apply and understanding that world is important and necessary. 

This week we are talking with Rachel Kosmal McCart of Equine Legal Solutions. She's been a rider for most of her life in several disciplines. She is a lawyer and was practicing in corporate law in the big city. Now she s...

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In this episode my son, Colt, joins me to ask your questions. This is a warmup for him, as he'll be part of the interview for a future guest. He takes me through the lightening round questions and ads in a few of his own. How many points will he give me? Will I choose the awkward silence, or make him compliment me? 

The questions you had for me include:

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Maddy Butcher worked for nearly two decades as a free-lance reporter for The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications covering sports, travel, business, front page, and investigative work.

More recently, she’s dedicated her work almost exclusively to horse-related content. (But she still writes opinion pieces for the Washington Post.)

Within the horse and ranching worlds, Maddy Butcher is the creator of several popular informational newsletters like the Nicker News, Horse Head, and Hi...

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April interviewed me for the first ever episode of this podcast and I've been meaning to get her back on, which is a feat. I hope you enjoy some husband and wife banter and a peak behind the curtain so to speak. There is some talk about horses that might be of some value also.

I didn't ask her about her work, but April is a very talented and skilled stained glass artist. I'll have a few pics of...

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I was fortunate to be asked to be on the group discussion podcast, Compass Conversations, and Tik was also in the group. That's how I met him and I'm glad I did. You meet a lot of talented horsemen and women. They're not always people you actually want to spend time around. Tik's fun, enthusiastic, and genuinely wants to see everyone do well. 

He is also a very high level horseman and very competitive guy. Tik was  a part of...

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Describing Nahshon Cook is an unenviable task. He's not easily put in a box. His background is in Classical Dressage. He's really more into working with physically broken horses to rehab the mind, body, and spirit. He's highly intelligent. He's a writer of things and organizer of a unique perspective. He's my friend.

Nahshon's been on a meteoric rise over the last several years. So much so that he's taking this year off to recover and process. I'd say...

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Dr. Benjamoin Sykes never intended to be a horse vet and somehow wound up one of the world's leading researchers and experts in Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome. Dr. Sykes attained his BVMS in Australia. He moved to the US and continued his education while teaching. He then moved to Finnland and continued to do research and teach. He even managed to earn a PhD and find a Finnish wife along the way.

Dr. Sykes is listed among the top 1...

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I don't think that title is enough to describe Lee McLean. She's authored 2 books, "Horse Woman: Notes on Living Well & Riding Better" and "Love & Rules: Life Lessons Learned With Horses". She's trained in just about every discipline you can imagine. She's an accomplished sidesaddle rider and repairer of those old saddles. She's even raced sidesaddle in the Calgary Stampede. 

Noteably, Lee also has the facebook page, Keystone Equine where she posts regular pictures and stories, along with thoughts and q...

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If you're in the horse world and haven't come across clips of the AMAZING Endo the Blind, you must be living under a rock. Endo is the Appaloosa gelding who is missing both eyes and hasn't been held back at all. He knows all sort of verbal commands, rides obstacle courses bareback and bridleless, and even jumps. Morgan tells the story of his beginnings with her from halter breaking to the loss of his eyes and all that they have accomplished...

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I have very little experience with horses pulling wagons, carts, or anything. That can't be said of our guest this week. Brandt has been involved in heavy drafts pulling heavy things his entire life. He's written many articles, been on RFD-TV, and even has a video series produced by Rural Heritage on how to harness and use big draft horses.

Brandt has been a competitor and announcer for the draft pulling contests, and shares with us how those contests...

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Here's our next quarterly Q&A episode with Nicole Schoup. Nicole is a board member of the Best Horse Practices Summit. She also teaches horsemanship classes for THE Ohio State University. 

We talk in this one about things to look for when buying/leasing your first horse. 

We get into building confidence in new riders. 

I give a few tips and strategies on anxious riders or those who are too much in their head when rid...

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We had Kerri on the podcast last year and it was one of those conversations that could have gone on for a long time. So, we had her back! I was also privileged to be a recent guest on her podcast, Compass Conversations. That's a podcast with 6 guests that doesn't begin with a topic until we've all been talking for a little while and it develops organically. That was episode 21 if you care to listen. It was on competition without combat.<...

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Lynn Acton has been certified by CHA (Advanced English / Intermediate Western) since 1994. In addition to conventional lessons, she founded and taught for several years in a therapeutic horsemanship program for at-risk youth that got national recognition. Her diverse interests led her to lessons in jumping, classical dressage, western, Centered Riding, ground work, natural horsemanship, dressage musical freestyle, obstacle training, and clicker training. She's learned from three of Sally Swift’s Centered Riding apprentices who expanded on her work: Wendy Murdoch, Susan Ha...

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This one's long, but very good and has lots of stuff people need to hear. Jillian Kreinbring is a Functional Anatomy expert and charming to boot. She's been studying this stuff her entire adult life, has a M.S. in it, and has been running the roads teaching it for over 20 years. Her goal is to teach you how to keep your horse working for longevity and vitality.

She began flipping ponies for the local sale barn as a...

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Mark Rashid is an internationally known clinician, author, screenwriter, musician, luthier, and Aikido master. He's also developed his own blend of Aikido and horsemanship called Aibado. Mark is a go with the flow kind of guy. He doesn't get his feathers ruffled too easily and is a wealth of great insight. Mark's known for his ability to understand the horse’s point of view and solve difficult problems with communication rather than force.
His books are treasured in many collections an...

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If you've listened to the podcast very much, it'll come as no surprise to you that Jim Masterson is one of my favorite people in this business. Since we have such a good relationship, he asked if he could flip the script and interview me and even do the sponsor for the episode. He did not disapoint.
This business is ultimately about people having fun and that we definitely do. I hope you enjoy learning a little more about me...

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Josh is a friend and has been on the podcast before. He's from Alberta, and like all Canadians that I've met, is a very nice and good natured guy. He's got a heart to help people and a very thoughtful perspective. He understands that this is a lifelong journey, as evidenced by his tag line, A Horseman's Pursuit.
Josh is about your relationship with everything. One aspect of his take that I really appreciate is that he looks at things...

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 This episode is turned over to you. Last week I made the offer of doing a live Q & A over zoom. It went quite well and they kept me busy answering their questions for a couple of hours. We'll be doing more of these types of Live Q & As, so make sure you're on our email newsletter list. 
We cover topics in this from bitting questions to laying a horse down. We'll plan more of these, so, if you'd like yo...

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Kerry Thomas never meant to be in the horse business. He started out observing animals in a biological research way and had the chance opportuntity to observe mustangs and predators. He's also colorblind and that changes the way he literally sees horses, which lead to him seeing them differently, figuratively. I really appreciate his take on herd dynamics. We talked about how a colt is weaned will affect their personality and presence. I even threw a few things at him on...

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Gretchen Deane is an accomplished rider. She's an accomplished bodyworker with experience and training in both The Masterson Method, and Reiki healing. She's also a trained and practicing neuromuscular equine dentist and an overall cool lady.
This is a must listen episode in my opinion. Equine dentistry is probably the low hanging fruit of horse care at the moment. We've even got a whole new disorder, EOTRH, that has come about mainly because of excessive floating with power tools.
...

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I do like the format of doing Q&As, but it does seem awkward at times to just be droning on by myself for an hour. So, Nicole has agreed to help me do these occasionally. Please let me know how you like these.
Nicole is a trainer in her own right. She also teaches Horsemanship Classes at The Ohio State University, and is a Board Member of the Best Horse Practices Summit.
In this episode we talk about:<...

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I met Sara this past February at Buck the Trend. This was a mental health conference put on by Maddy Butcher and Best Horse Practices for the ranching, horse, and agriculture industry professionals. As Sara talks about in this episode, that conference had a profound effect on her.
Sara has owned a horse magazine, puts on clinics, is a Detective for a Wyoming Sheriff, and does training for the mounted patrols of Wyoming. She's also a character and someone you'd...

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I've known Amy Lang for over a decade and she's a treasure within our industry. She's been a collegiate equestrian, trainer, has a masters in Equine Management, ran a massive lessons program at a huge public stable, has been a vet tech, and is now running her own marketing firm aimed at helping equine business owners with the tasks of social media and marketing.

Amy is very soft spoken, and one of those people that you'd likely underestimate, but...

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Dave Duquette is a Marine, Horse Trainer, and Emmy Winner. He has also been fighting for the agricultural industry and particularly the horse business for a long time. He used to work at Protect the Harvest and started Western Justice several years ago. Western Justice has the mission to fight animal extremist groups and the influence they are having on our industry. If there's been a legal battle going on where some rancher has been unfairly railroaded by the government's...