On the 8th of June 2008, my life changed forever with a split-second accident that saw me trampled by my then 2.5-year-old horse, Fernando, and air-lifted to Hospital for life-saving surgery.

This episode is the story of that accident, what happened, the damage that did and where that’s left me now.

Before I even introduce this episode, I want to give you a warning. This episode talks about my accident in some detail. There has been one person who on hearing the story, when I was still in Hospital, passed out as a result. If you are someone likely to do that, then please skip this episode or at least, do not listen while driving or doing something where you could get injured… I don’t want my accident resulting in other accidents… not the effect I’m hoping for!

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In S4 E4 of An Equine Conversation, Why Virtual Learning’s Worth Exploring, I make mention of my being immune-compromised and why for me, that’s one of the reasons that virtual learning is so awesome as I’m so limited to what’s possible in-person due to the very real and serious threat Covid still holds for me. I mention this again in S4 E5 with Erin Moore too when we’re talking about giving micro & small business owners a metaphorical hug – I like a good hug personally but being immune compromised makes it a no-no.

So anyway, in this episode of An Equine Conversation I’m going to share with you my story of the horsey accident that left me immune-compromised. It’s a story I’ve told many times. I know some of you will have heard some or all of it before. For those newer to me and my work teaching and my approach, hearing about this part of my story will help inform you more about who I am, what I’m about and why I’m passionate about safety… and importantly, why my horse Fernando and I have a very unique, very special relationship and why he has been my best teacher.

In this episode we discuss:

1:22 - episode warning

2:04 - episode introduction

3:29 - the 8th of June 2008

5:09 - the backstory of Fernando’s misadventures, to get you up to speed

9:18 - setting the scene & it all going pear-shaped

13:19 - paramedics ahoy!

16:17 - arriving at The Alfred (Hospital)

21:02 - time in Hospital isn’t fun but it was busy

28:21 - recovering at home & an unexpected Hospital re-visit scenario

38:43 - the upshot of my injuries now

48:02 - how I’ve changed my outlook (or not) as a result of the accident

53:57 - Fernando, the best teacher

57:38 - take-aways from my experience

1:01:33 - episode wrap-up & what’s on next week

Links mentioned this episode:

• Sign-up to our email list
• Abbey's Run Equestrian website
• Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. If you'd like him to help with your podcast, get in touch by email at business@mbpod.com

Please note: this episode does contain 'conversational profanity'

I am so grateful for the knowledge that business coach, Erin Moore has brought into my life & so I’m delighted that Erin is back with me on An Equine Conversation this episode, to share more of her wisdom with you.

In this episode, we’re taking a look at some of the gnarly problems that face micro & small businesses, especially those who work in caring industries (with a focus on the equine world). We consider some of the differences between big and small businesses, and how our consumer expectations differ between the two.

We discuss how you, we, as consumers, can support micro & small businesses so that they/we, can continue to provide awesome products and services to you, …. and not contribute to ‘tanking the market’. Annnnd there might be some great tips in there for micro & small business owners too.

There is so much in this episode that it’s hard to capture it all in a short, written intro, so you’ll just have to listen to hear all the wisdom within.

Erin Moore:

Erin Moore was a dog trainer for 13 years, and, by her own admission, made every mistake a dog training business owner could make. After burning out and leaving the industry completely, Erin knew that if she wanted to come back to it, she would need to figure out a different way to do things. So Erin did just that. She hired a coach and learned all about the business end of things, and that changed her entire business and her life. Now Erin coaches trainers on how to set up their businesses so that they can actually have a life and not burn out like she did!

In this episode we discuss:

1:24 - profanity warning

1:52 - introduction to this episode & giving the context (shout-out to Jemima from the now closed Sweet Iron Co & Shelby from Milestone Equestrian)

8:23 - welcome back Erin

9:24 - the caring industry, small versus big businesses

13:31 - defining ‘tanking the market’

15:38 - I’ve done it & the absence of business education

19:00 - being draw to a caring industry, our values & beliefs & how we can help more people

21:11 - free content - time & effort and small versus big business

24:41 - the impact on veterinarians

32:07 - the extra load of financial stress & empathising with the humans

35:33 - if we’re not financially secure, we can’t help anyone and regardless, we can’t help everyone

37:41 - when small businesses make more money, they can help more people

40:07 - the impact of not supporting small business

42:01 - a snapshot of the different hats worn in a business & the costs you don’t see

49:37 - the different aspects of running a micro or small business - besides the actual passion part

52:22 - the correlation between neurodivergence & small business

53:11 - where does the time go in business

54:40 - the importance of self-care for how we show up in business (or what you get as a consumer)

1:00:45 - what do we do as consumers - what’s your sphere of influence (shout-out to Samantha from The School of Visibility)

1:09:37 - more top tips on what you can do & a summary of what you can do

1:17:20 - episode wrap-up & what’s on next week

Links from Erin:

Free, thought-provoking resources on Erin’s website (and other ways to work with Erin too)

Find Erin on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/businessendoftheleash

Our links mentioned this episode:

Sign-up to our email list

Abbey's Run Equestrian website

Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. If you'd like him to help with your podcast, get in touch by email at business@mbpod.com

In today’s episode I’m going to chat with you about the awesomeness of virtual learning in the horse world. This episode is inspired in part by Ivy sharing her experience in last week’s episode and just how integral Michelle’s remote support has been to Swagger and Ivy’s journey and progress. But it’s also inspired by my own experiences with the virtual learning landscape, and by conversations I’ve had with a few people who groan at the prospect…

And if, you’ve had to do eLearns for your job, then um, let me just say that these can be, uh, dry, and um, uninspiring. So please, please don’t rate your virtual learning experience based on those alone!

If you are groaning at me suggesting more screen time, I know so many people have screen-fatigue, particularly off the back of Covid and due to the way some jobs now operate, I’m not immune from this at all, but if you can stand to, bear with me while I talk through why virtual or remote learning is awesome and why it’s not actually always about the screen. Spoiler alert, you’re listening to me right now, learning, sans screen.

I want to nudge you up-front to say that you’re actually likely already engaging in enjoyable, helpful, virtual learning - most likely the free stuff if not paid. Like me, you’re a good chance to have watched things on YouTube, see things on social media, read blog posts, and I mean, you’re listening to this podcast. You’re doing it already!

Today, I’m talking more about the paid virtual learning opportunities that exist. I’m going to start with talking about my experience as a learner, then expand on what online learning can do for you. Then I’m going to switch and talk about my experience as an educator and coach and what it’s like from that perspective – which will also explore why the benefits for me and other coaches are benefits for you too.

In this episode we discuss:

1:24 - episode introduction

3:00 - you’re already doing it

4:01 - my experiences as a learner with remote/virtual learning

5:13 - the challenge of being so far away

7:28 - the variety of online learning delivery methods

8:47 - horses get to stay home

9:58 - loving virtual learning despite technology not being ‘my first language’

10:49 - making new friends

12:54 - it’s inclusive for me

14:22 - benefits of remote/virtual learning for you & some of the challenges with a conventional format

18:28 - it’s not always about the screen

22:06 - consuming on your time, in your location

23:44 - learning remotely is not new here in Australia

25:04 - learning the tech is like learning anything

26:18 - why virtual learning is great as an educator with a micro-business & why that makes it great for you too, starting with some of my history to give context

31:27 - the overheads, the real costs

33:15 - what virtual learning offers us

36:02 - in-person learning is also awesome

36:56 - ask super nicely

38:29 - after listening

40:14 - episode wrap-up & what’s on next week

Links mentioned this episode:

• Sign-up to our email list
• Abbey's Run Equestrian website
• Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. If you'd like him to help with your podcast, get in touch by email at business@mbpod.com

Today we welcome our first new guest for this Season. Ivy Starnes caught my attention through her generous sharing of videos documenting her journey with a horse called Swagger, a young, now gelding who was previously living in the wild. I’ve been captivated by Ivy’s training with the support of her coach and friend Michelle, as they help this incredibly unique and quite spectacular horse learn about connecting with humans. He has forced Ivy to really refine her training, and it is super inspiring to watch.

Not only is the training lovely, and the problem-solving Ivy and Michelle work through, but also Ivy’s dedication to recording the journey and then paying forward the assistance she was given earlier in life, by sharing the footage so openly.

I’m so pleased that Ivy is joining me today so we (I mean, let’s be honest, I invite people onto An Equine Conversation so I get to hear from them too) get to hear more detail around Ivy’s experience with this seriously unique horse.

Ivy Starnes:

Ivy Starnes has been training horses since she was 16 years old. She started with natural horsemanship methods and has slowly moved more and more towards positive reinforcement. While she still uses pressure and release, Ivy is doing more and more with clicker training. She spends most of her training and teaching working with gaited horses and riders, working to get a smooth and relaxed gait for the trail.

In April of 2023, Ivy was given McSwagger to train for the Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue. Swagger was a feral gelding from eastern Kentucky and Ivy had no previous experience training wild horses. Ivy had seen wild mustangs trained before and assumed she would be able to train Swagger just as easily. He quickly proved her wrong and Ivy is on a journey of training Swagger using only positive reinforcement, documenting the moments and sharing them so others will realize that some horses really do need a lot of time to overcome their fear.

In this episode we discuss:

1:25 - episode introduction

3:50 - where in the world are Ivy & Swagger & the climate they live and train in

11:55 - talking hay

12:42 - whoops, sorry Tassie listeners! The rest of what I said was right but you are not 'an Island off Australia', you are 'an Island OF Australia'. My bad!

13:30 - Ivy's unique horsie origin story & gaited horses

26:50.954 - Swagger's story

32:13 - how Swagger came to be with Ivy & initially it seemed it would be easy...

36:57 - but it didn't start well

39:54 - getting out of the rut & getting some help

42:13 - help that's remote

43:60 - starting to slowly solve Swagger's disengagement

48:44 - a break-through and the progress snowball starting to slowly roll

51:56 - the approach for Swagger's care & welfare needs, particularly hoof care

1:03:11 - developing Swagger's environmental curiosity

1:04:35 - the highlights reel from February 2024 onward

1:09: 43 - coaching support with Michelle

1:13:44 - what MAYBE next

1:15:14 - Ivy's biggest learnings & recommendations

1:21:15 - supporting Swagger's journey & finding Ivy

1:24:14 - further thoughts

1:26:47 - wrapping-up with Swagger & Ivy's gift to us & what's on next week

Links from Ivy:

Go Fund Me link: https://gofund.me/83d83a1f

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/IvysHorses

Website: www.IvysHorses.com

Our links mentioned this episode:

Sign-up to our email list

Abbey's Run Equestrian website

Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. If you'd like him to help with your podcast, get in touch by email at business@mbpod.com

Today, I want to speak about ‘the hard’ in horses. I recently shared a post on our Abbey’s Run Equestrian Facebook page about this & it resonated with a lot of people.

This topic is inspired by those who in the past few months have shared their hard with me, just how tough-a time they’ve had of it, and the thinking and reflection that those conversations have left me with.

I don’t think we share enough about the hard and so this episode aims to change that.

In this episode we discuss:

1:20 - episode introduction

2:54 - what do I mean by ‘the hard’

5:06 - some examples

6:20 - the unwell, the injuries & the impact

10:17 - resource limitations, access limitations & financial strain

19:50 - social media’s role

21:49 - human health impacts

23:47 - what do we do about it?

27:19 - episode wrap-up & what’s on next week

Links mentioned this episode:

• Sign-up to our email list
• Abbey's Run Equestrian website
• Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. If you'd like him to help with your podcast, get in touch by email at business@mbpod.com

I’m delighted to be starting Season 5 of An Equine Conversation with a returning and very popular past guest, Dr Dorothy Heffernan.

In today’s episode, we catch-up, get an update on Rio, Dorothy’s New Forest pony with Equine Metabolic Syndrome (although, this was recorded back in August 2024, so there’s likely already another update due) and then we get onto today’s topic of how to set everyone up for the best chance of success when introducing a new horse to a herd.

If you’ve not encountered Dorothy before, let me suggest jumping back and listening to Season 3, Episode 8, our first episode with Dorothy to hear more about her horsie origin story.

Dorothy Heffernan:

Dorothy Heffernan, PhD was born and raised in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, where she was a horse and pony mad child. She moved to Scotland to study psychology and took her love of all things equid with her.

After graduating with a PhD from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, she chose to specialize in equine behavior and has been working as an equine behavior consultant for 17 years, helping people solve behavior challenges with their horses, ponies, donkeys and mules. In 2021, she joined with three other force-free equid trainers to launch Positive Equine Training Scotland, offering support and training to people in Scotland who want to learn about new gentle and compassionate ways of working with their equid friends. Getting to meet and work with a variety of equids, big, small, long and short eared has been Dorothy’s dream all her life, and now she’s living that dream.

As well as teaching and helping with equid behaviour issues, Dorothy supervises research projects for the University of Edinburgh courses in Equine Science and Animal Behaviour & Welfare. She has her own three lovely equid friends who take up either far too much (or not nearly enough) of her time, all trained using force free positive reinforcement methods.

Photo of Dorothy thanks to El Dunlop Photograph, https://www.eldunlop.com/

In this episode we discuss:

1:23 - episode & guest introduction

3:15 - catching-up on what happened since last episode

6:17 - Rio - a brief re-cap on his history

9:40 - the past few months with Rio

19:10 - onto today’s topic - introducing a new horse to the herd

21:01 - where to start

28:01 - the challenges of social skills for those highly domesticated horses

31:43 - post-inhibitory rebound

32:57 - setting up for introduction success

41:24 - quarantine/isolation for the new horse?

46:30 - ‘it depends’ on your unique context

48:10 - where to get support

53:19 - our case study: introducing Affie & Wren to the herd

1:00:52 - wrapping up, further learning with Dorothy & I, and what’s on next week

Links from Dorothy:

• Find Dorothy via her Facebook profile
• Or at Dorothy’s website: Light Touch Equine

Our links mentioned this episode:

• Sign-up to our email list
• Abbey's Run Equestrian website
• Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. If you'd like him to help with your podcast, get in touch by email at business@mbpod.com