Felicity Davies: Building Confidence as an Equestrian

*** This transcript was created by AI and has not been proofread ***

[SPEAKER 1]
Welcome to the Equestrian Connection podcast from wehorse, the online riding academy. My name is Christian Kroeber. And my name is Danielle Kroll. And today we are returning after a longer break with a brand new episode and a new host. Danielle, you are from our team and you are taking over our podcast now. Thank you. I’m really excited to be here and to be interviewing all these exciting guests. So speaking of our latest guests, Felicity Davis is a horsemanship and mindset mentor and an expert at helping both horses and humans feel confident whenever, wherever. A former competitive rider, she was committed to finding a better way of working with horses and landed a job in Germany at Will Rogers Performance Horses. I don’t know if you guys have seen any of his Instagram, but it’s amazing, so I highly recommend checking that out. So while she was there, she learned how to help horses relax in any environment, and then she moved back to Australia and implemented everything she had learned while continuously learning from the horses she worked with. as well as their owners and a ton of online horsemanship and mindset resources. Within a year and a half, Felicity went from now in her words, and if you’re not watching this in video, I’m quoting air quotes, sucking at groundwork to create a career as a horse trainer who could consistently and successfully help hot, spooky and shut down horses relax in any environment. So I’m super excited to chat with her today and learn from her. So let’s dive in. Hi, Felicity, how are you?

[SPEAKER 2]
I’m so happy to be here and really good, thank you.

[SPEAKER 1]
Good, we’re really happy to have you. Like I was saying before we got recording, I am totally fangirling out. I think that your work is so important. I think the topic of equestrian confidence is really, really important for me personally, and for what I’m sure is a lot of people that are listening will be able to relate to this as well. So let’s dive right in and take it back to the beginning. I’d love to know how did you get into horses and what were your first few years like as an equestrian?

[SPEAKER 2]
Sure. So basically I started riding a little bit later than some, still early enough. So I started riding when I was 12. Um, and interestingly enough, my mom was quite interested in horses when she was younger, but didn’t really have the opportunity to have her own. And then, uh family friends of ours um their daughter who’s my one of my best friends she started riding and then mum managed to convince my dad for me to get a pony and I started riding um so it was very much just like throwing the deep in I think she was fulfilling her like childhood dreams at the same time which was really really sweet um but yeah the first few years were really fun, but I wouldn’t say I was the most talented kind of rider, but I explored every discipline possible through riding clubs. So I did showing, novelties, dressage, jumping, like low-level eventing, like, but not very good at any of it. but had a lot of fun. I fell off. Yes, fell off a lot. Mainly bareback and bareback jumping. But yeah, had fun, learned a lot. My pony was an absolute saint. That stock standard, like grey Welsh Mountain Pony schoolmaster who just taught me so much. So yeah, that was my entry to riding. And then, and ever since then, I just kind of got hooked. And it was like, in this going to show or riding club, pony club or something every weekend, like that was my life from 12 through to 26. And it was just like, I think this happened, like, but I’m stuck in this cycle. And I never want to get off, you know, I love it.

[SPEAKER 1]
We sound like we have very similar backgrounds. Mine was the same pony club, jack of all trades master of none.

[SPEAKER 2]
Yes, exactly. Get disqualified, win, everything in between.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yes, exactly. So I know that, like I said, I had listened to a bunch of your podcasts. For those that are listening, Felicity is also a podcaster with the Equestrian Perspective podcast. I highly recommend it. Love it. She has great guests. So you had mentioned with that podcast that you were a competitive rider and that you were kind of running into some challenges where you knew that something wasn’t quite right with your horses and no one was really willing to help you or you couldn’t quite figure it out. So what was the moment when you knew you wanted to go behind, you know, I’m struggling with my word here. Go beyond, that’s the word I’m thinking of. Go beyond the average, you know, lunging your horse more, try a different bit, those sort of standard advice. Yeah.

[SPEAKER 2]
So I guess just to kind of tie this nicely to the experience I talked about before with my pony. So after her, um, I wanted to get more into showing because that’s what some friends of mine really into. And that’s who I was being coached by at the time. Um, so I got a four year old thoroughbred. So I went from a 20 something year old, uh, gray Welsh mountain pony to a four year old thoroughbred. Um, so the difference is quite big. Um, but yeah, probably since having him through, and I got him at 15 through to 26. So I spent 11 years battling with this dilemma of, okay, I’ve got either a thoroughbred, I was riding riding ponies, other thoroughbreds, crosses, and it was just, it seemed to be that these beautiful horses had these very hot tendencies and very sensitive tendencies. And the advice was just lunge them more, give them more miles, use earplugs, Um, work them down more, make sure you use gear on them. Like, like you said before, try the different bits, all of these types of things. And I know some people even go even way more extreme than that and use like drugs and things like that. I didn’t go down that route, but it was just like, that’s the way it’s done. Like if you want a really competitive horse, generally they’re difficult. Like that was the belief. Um, and it was just, I never sort of. I never subscribed to the lunge them for hours sort of thing. I certainly, if I’m being completely honest, I worked for some people who had ponies and I would help them lunge their horses for hours because that’s what I was told to do. Um, and.

[SPEAKER 1]
I’m not kidding.

[SPEAKER 2]
Like they would need hours every day because they were just not comfortable. Um, and it, it feels wrong, but you just, you kind of do it when you’re stuck in those situations because everyone else is doing it. Even the people that are competing at such high levels. And you just think, oh, okay, well, surely if there was a better way, other people would be doing it, right? So yeah, it was just this constant kind of cycle of going, okay, I’ve got these horses, I’m struggling with their behavior, managing it, and then managing their weight at the same time, because alongside the stress of having to sort of force them to be comfortable in these situations, alongside that comes weight loss, ulcers, all of these other types of ailments as a byproduct of that. So it was just really a compounding thing that happened to me over time. So I think it was the combination of that and not really having any answers as to how to do things differently. So for me, I was like, okay, well, I’ll just find another horse that’s more suited to this discipline. And I got to the point where I ended up with a big, another four year old thoroughbred. And he was actually like, I, looking back, I was like, he’s a saint. He’s so easy. I can do everything with him. Looking back now, he was really hot on the ground. I would just get on and canter him through it. And he would just hold himself together. Um, but it got to the point where my competition results and what I really wanted to achieve weren’t lining up with what was actually happening on the ribbon front. Um, so I think there was a bit of a political push for me to kind of go, what am I doing? Like, I’m not happy. Um, even if my horse does try his heart out for me, I know that he’s not a hundred percent. Okay. Cause he’s not really wanting to stand still. I’m struggling with weight on him. He’s doing everything for me. what am I doing this for? And alongside doing that, I had some friends that were embarking down a horsemanship journey, social media was becoming sort of more prevalent with showing other things to me, and I would see people doing crazy things with their horses. And I’m like, well, how? Like, how is that even possible? Like, I’m standing here, with my big thoroughbred and I can’t even lift my homemade carrot stick up off the ground and back down on the ground like 10 centimetres without him snorting. And how are these people like waving flags around the horses, trotting their horses around all of these different types of things, big tarps or just whatever I would see. I’m like I have no idea how you get from where I am to here. And I tried to explore in person like horsemanship people and some of that was really great to kind of prompt me in this direction but it was still The method behind kind of preparing the horses for the different environments was still very much a flooding kind of experience. It was okay. Let’s just see how your horse goes in this. Oh, he seems good enough. Continue on. I’m like, I’m not really happy with that because I know I can ride him through it. That’s not an issue. The issue is he’s not comfortable. How do I get him comfortable? Or is this just some elusive thing that it doesn’t exist? Um, so yeah, I was sort of in that space. So I really feel like everything kind of came together where I was kind of just forced to wake up and be like, what am I doing? And then through that, I was also in a bit of a career rut. And then this job advert popped up on Facebook with Will Rogers Performance Horses and Will’s based in Germany. And he works with a lot of warm bloods that are quite hot and sensitive in nature and prepares a lot of these horses for these big performances to showcase that you can prepare horses for different environments successfully, even the most hot and sensitive horses. So if you’ve ever seen videos go around where there’s these huge plastic tarps and these beautiful dressage horses sort of trotting amongst the tarps, have the tarps even like float up alongside them, cover them, come out at liberty, all of that, that’s Will. And I even saw his wife Anna’s video where she’s doing a Grand Prix dressage test and there’s a motorbike jumping over her. She’s being chased by a chainsaw. There’s like random stuff going on in the background. And the horse like was just going along with the test. And I was like,

[SPEAKER 1]
How?

[SPEAKER 2]
Anyway, so he put up this advert for like a groom sort of working student type position. And I remember I even tagged my friend in it. And I was like, I think I did this like love heart face as if to be like, Oh, like that would never be like, I could never do that. And then there was this part of me that’s like, why don’t I just ask if they would like consider overseas applicants? Because at the time I was like, surely not. Anyway, then he said they would for the right person, got on the phone, had a chat with him. We got along really well. And then he’s like, when are you booking your ticket? And then shortly after I booked my ticket and then I spent the next 10 months overseas in Germany. um, working at wills. So that kind of, it all came together. Like it felt like a really slow process to kind of find the answer that I was kind of looking for. Um, but then when I hit my kind of rock bottom breaking point, it kind of all fell together quite quickly.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah, that’s amazing. I love will stuff. Um, I could watch his Instagram rules all day. Um, So your experience, like, I’m sure there was quite a large amount of people that had all applied for that. So that’s quite exciting that you had, like, do you feel that there was anything that you had said, or any experience you had had that kind of gave you that advantage over any of the other applicants?

[SPEAKER 2]
I think, just from my experience, kind of like applying for that job, and also, I guess, being involved in that environment where he’s advertised for other people to come and work there. I think it seems like a very elusive thing and something that like so many people should go for and want to go for and there’s a lot of interest but I think it when it comes to the right person at the end of the day fitting that role, because essentially, it’s not a standard groom position. Like you have to want to learn about the horses, you have to want to, like, learn how to work with them, because it’s not just a, oh, they get trained in the arena. It’s like, no, no, no, they get trained whenever you handle them or whenever you’re in their space. So it has to be consistent among everyone who’s there. Um, and obviously with that, you want someone who’s going to stick it out for a long enough period of time so that it’s worthwhile for you to kind of teach them some things. So I would just say to someone who’s like interested in that type of position, like definitely go for it, but also like, you’ve got to kind of look at it. It’s interesting from a, sorry, I’m going off in different angles, but that’s okay. Whenever, um, it’s interesting whenever you kind of, and I’ve worked in recruitment before as well, you’ve got to kind of think about, okay, how can you like, this is a great opportunity for you. And it was a great opportunity for me, but how can I help them? You know, like you’ve got, you’ve got to think of it from both aspects. And I know at the point when I, um, had a conversation with Will, like I was already kind of, I guess I’m a very, I love helping people. So I would kind of like spot ideas for doing different things or helping with him with like, uh, social media marketing and things like that. Like some of his videos in 2018, like I put together of the horses, you know? So it was just like these little add on things that can help someone else in that type of thing. And I don’t know if we ever spoke about that during, um, our like initial conversation, but I think it’s just about kind of just like, I just, I guess the advice for someone who’s interested in something like that is to think about, okay, as much as this is a great opportunity for you, like how can you convey your want to learn to the person who’s wanting to hire you. And don’t just assume that, Oh, because you say that you’re ready for the job or you want the job that you’re going to be hired, you know, like put in some effort to kind of make it, make them realize that you’re dedicated, you’re committed, you’ve done your research, you know, about the, the person’s history and what they’re about and what they do. Um, and then you’ll be more successful kind of transition in, does that make sense?

[SPEAKER 1]
Absolutely. And I love that response. Like I love that answer. I love the fact that it’s like you had said, it’s, it’s not just about what they can do for you. It’s also what you can do for them. And, and just kind of having that, it just brings a different energy. It completely brings a different energy to the person.

[SPEAKER 2]
It’s like me with my podcast, like some I’ve had a few people reach out to me and be like, Hey, I was wondering if you take podcast guests like submissions, I would love to put myself forward. This is what I do. And I’m like, Okay, well, that’s great. But how can I help my audience?

[SPEAKER 1]
Exactly. Like,

[SPEAKER 2]
Like, I don’t want to have to do the digging for that. Like, I think it’s great that you’re putting yourself out there, but tell me how you can help my audience, because that’s what my platform’s about. So I think it’s like just flipping it, looking from the other person’s point of view and be like, okay, what would make me stand out to get this opportunity?

[SPEAKER 1]
I love that. Yeah. Love that. Um, okay. So you went to Will Rogers in Germany, learned a ton. Just to quickly summarize, do you have a moment or anything that was your biggest takeaway? Like a memory, an anecdote, anything like that?

[SPEAKER 2]
Oh my goodness.

[SPEAKER 1]
I’m sure there was lots.

[SPEAKER 2]
Yes, it was like a jam-packed 10 months. Yeah, I bet. I don’t think I could put… put it down to one moment because there was just so much eye opening moments for me because I was just seeing horses handled in a completely different way. And I remember, um, and I’m pretty sure you say this in my intro, but I really didn’t, I wasn’t great at groundwork. Like I could handle a horse, but I wasn’t like, I didn’t really know what I was doing per se. I would just get from A to B and just managed to survive. Um, and I remember like the first day I was leading Esmeralda, who is the, like one of the main sort of grey horses in his Liberty team at the moment. And she was in the video that went viral of this grey horse trotting around the tarps. And one of the other ladies that works there, Kira, she was handling her and the horse was fine. And then I took the lead and she starts snorting and I’m like, okay, well, this is me. Uh, I’m doing something here. So it was a pretty like obvious lesson in, no, no, no. You have to be like really clear and consistent with these horses so they can feel safe around you. Um, and then it was just a whirlwind because when I got there. And I had just moved to the new sale at, well, it was new back then and moved to a new stable and were in amongst like preparing one of Will’s horses for this big, um, performance in Gothenburg. Um, so I got there and literally it was like thrown in the deep end, do all of the like dressage horses during the day and do the training stuff for the performance at night with the tops, smoke machines, all of this type of thing, like preparing in for the audience, um, noises. So it was just, I couldn’t pinpoint it down. And then I saw the Liberty team be formed together. So sorry, I can’t put it.

[SPEAKER 1]
No. One thing I know when you were talking earlier just simply about the experience of applying and working at Willis and that one thing that I heard you say and it really stood out to me was you had mentioned. Training the horse is not just about when you go into the arena, it’s the moment that you touch the horse, or even before that, it’s the moment that the horse notices you approaching it, you know, in the paddock. And I love that, and I think that’s a really important takeaway for a lot of people, is that you, you know, putting your leg over the horse is not the moment of training. The moment of training was when you picked up the halter. Yeah, I think that’s a really important takeaway right there that I had gotten from your story. So when you went back to Australia, where you met with any resistance or even whether it was outside resistance or personal. I know for myself, if I learn something new or have, you know, a bit of a breakthrough or start doing something different and those around me maybe are doing the same thing that was, you know, what I was doing before, like still stuck in their ways or something like that, I start to feel Like, should I just go back to this easier that way? You know, well, this is hard. This is I’m now trying to learn something new and I’m stuck or I don’t know or they’re doing it differently. So should I do it? Just go back to that, too. Were you met with any of that?

[SPEAKER 2]
Um, I would say a tiny bit of that. So basically when I came back to Australia, I was still not feeling competent enough to go out on my own and work with horses, because when you’re working for someone else in an environment where they’re not your own horses, like it’s just a different dynamic. And I think for me, like I, I, for me to refine my process, I find it a lot easier to do it where there’s a lot less pressure. I’m working with my own horses. Someone’s not watching over me. I can fumble. I can try things out. I can test things. And you’re not really put in a position where you can kind of do that there because, um, they’re not your horses and you’re working with. like really top horses, like it’s like a higher pressure kind of situation. So you want to try and go, okay, this is what I feel comfortable doing. I’m just going to do that by the book. And I even remember like, sometimes when I was over there, I would massively hold myself back because I was scared of like doing the wrong thing. So I was kind of like, I learned a lot like watching, doing, um, but it still wasn’t really, it didn’t really come together for me until I was able to kind of put it into practice when I came back to Australia. So what I started with was just, um, I had my first thoroughbred still at home who was, I think probably 19 or 20 at the time. And I was like, all right, well, let’s just see how this stuff goes on him. Like he was really hot and spooky back in the day when I competed him, he was really noise sensitive, just really on edge, very inconsistent, like would need working down if I would give him some time off. Um, and I thought he was snobby, um, a bit sort of like standoffish, but I loved him. Like he, I just thought that was him. And I did some of the groundwork and some of the, um, We’ll call it environmental training. I call it desensitising. I don’t think he would probably like me saying that, but that’s what I have resonated with. OK, so take what resonates with you. Confidence building, environmental training, whatever. We want to do it in a way that honours the horse’s emotions. Yeah, he completely changed. Like he was way quieter, way more comfortable, way more interactive and engaged and so freaking smart. And I was like, who is this horse that I’ve never seen before? So it was just like having glimpses of that. And then I, I’ve got a degree in agricultural science. So me being me and I didn’t, I was still, and I think we’re always on this journey of trusting ourselves. Um, I got a job back in that industry. Once again, hated it, then ended up quitting. And a friend of mine had this riding pony cross thoroughbred who she had gotten started under saddle, went really well, then sent to another trainer and the trainer was having difficulty working with her and said she was really hot. And we couldn’t work out why, because the mare was actually really easy to start under saddle. Anyway, so she’s like, I don’t know what to do with her. Do you want to have a go? Because she’s come back and she’s really full of herself and like really hot. And I’m like, sure, let’s just see what happens. So I started working with her and she was great. She just needed some direction. And like, I think the environment at this other training stable would have just impacted her. She needed something a little bit more um, flowy rather than kind of lots of horses coming and going. Um, and yeah, we’re able to kind of take her to her first show and she was awesome because I’d done all the prep work. I took her to do this demo. Um, and she was great because she understood the groundwork. She was prepared for the different elements and I was like, this is amazing. So I started to have experiences like that and then started to sort of give lessons. And I, I feel like when I was competing, what I was doing was very, it was very obvious to other people what was going on and what was happening. Like I remember even taking her to a show and someone coming up to me and being like, I’m struggling with this thoroughbred. Like, I’d love for you to come out and see what you can do. And I remember going out to see this horse and they were like, we can’t lunge him. He’s just wants to kind of gallop on the circles on the lunge. And I saw him and I was like, he has no idea what you’re asking him to do. Like he, as soon as you ask him to go out and if he, he will like try and kick out at you because he’s used to kind of people getting after him. He’s used to just running flat out being a racehorse. Um, he doesn’t know what’s happening. So I would ask him to just go on the circle. And the moment he kind of like tried, I would stop and be like, thank you. Like, good job. Um, and then they were like, Oh my goodness.

[SPEAKER 1]
Like,

[SPEAKER 2]
as a stock standard way of kind of fixing those problems is to kind of send them forward or make them do it and that kind of thing. And that just wasn’t what this horse needed. Um, so it was just, it was cool to have experiences like that where people were interested in approaching me, um, at some sort of stages, but then I did feel like conflicted in some moments where it was like, okay, well, I’m at a show and my horse isn’t really comfortable with the flyers and this sort of set up or, like probably she needed a little bit more prep or she’s feeling a little bit tired. If it was my horse I probably wouldn’t keep going but you’re in this situation where you kind of have to or same goes like with at the point in time like clipping the horse’s ears out like little things like that where I’m like I feel like I kind of have to do these things because that’s what and this isn’t my horse per se. And I feel like I’m kind of stuck or I’d work with people and they’d be like, my horse has an issue with this. And in my head, I’m like, this horse needs like way more time. But I feel like I have this obligation to help you with this specific problem, even though I know it’s this. And I’ve come a really long way with that of just setting the boundary of going No, like your horse needs this, even if it’s going to disappoint the person or potentially upset them because they want to work on something else. It’s just like my duty as, um, Like someone you’re paying to help you with your horse is to tell you what’s actually wrong. Um, and what’s actually going on, where to start. Um, and sometimes people don’t want to hear that, but that’s okay. You’ve planted the seed and you’ve just going to continue moving forward. So I feel like probably where I’m at now, I feel like I’d probably get more. outside judgment from my like competitive kind of background, just because I’m doing things quite a lot differently. I’m not competing at the moment.

[SPEAKER 1]
So,

[SPEAKER 2]
Yeah, I think for me personally, I had a pretty good experience kind of flowing out of it because it was very directly relatable and people could see the results. But I think now that I’ve going even further on like making sure we really understand the horses, make sure that like the health of the horse is on point. You take things nice and slow. You allow your horses to say no. I think some people would probably still have a bit of a belief around that, that in terms of letting a horse say no. like, how are you ever going to compete or do things like that? They probably think that would be too slow. But that’s my observation. Does that make sense?

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah, absolutely. So I, I really like to live by the saying, it’s simple, but it’s not easy. I use it a lot. And so one of the things that I often think of is, again, when you’re learning something new, or you’re being introduced to something new, might be simple to switch to that but it’s not easy to switch to that. So what advice would you give to other people that are maybe making that same transition where their worlds are completely shifted from what they grew up with as horses? Yeah.

[SPEAKER 2]
So I think I did a post on like stages of your horsemanship awakening recently. And I feel like it kind of outlined the process quite well. Cause I feel like for me, I went through all of these stages. So in the beginning, it’s kind of like you’re introduced to something and you’re like, that’s really cool, but how do I do it? Maybe you try something and you’re like, it either works for you or maybe it doesn’t. And you kind of just sit there going, not sure how this is going to like incorporate into my life. So I’m just going to kind of let that simmer in the background. And then you kind of like go through a testing it out phase where you might try something, you have some lessons, you embark on something else. Um, and yeah, for some people that goes really well and then off they go. And for some people, I know for me, uh, not so well, like I could incorporate some pieces, but in my head at the time when I was interested, introduced to horsemanship, um, and exploring that, um, I was like, but I still want to compete. I don’t want to stop riding for six months and just work on the ground. What’s the point of that? I don’t understand. That seems really boring. I want to ride.

[SPEAKER 1]
I think that’s a very, very common thing a lot of people run into.

[SPEAKER 2]
Totally. And what I was really… From what my experience, if you’re at that stage where you’re like, but I just want to ride, there are ways that you can go about incorporating some of these tools and modalities into your training and still ride. The only time where I would say to people stop riding is if the horse like genuinely has a problem, like maybe they’ve got like They have difficulty saddling, mounting, they’re girthy, those sorts of things. And they maybe haven’t addressed like the ulcer side of things or that kind of area. That’s probably the only time I would say don’t ride. And another time I would say like, don’t take your horse somewhere else is like, are you having floating issues or trailering issues? Is your horse actually relaxed at home? Because if your horse isn’t comfortable at home, you cannot expect them to be comfortable elsewhere. So sometimes I see people run into that issue where they’re like, oh, I’ve booked this lesson or I’ve booked this competition and I’m just sort of like, do you actually want to go? Or sometimes they let like, they’ll go, I’m like, you make your own decision. Either way, they’re going to learn. And then I remember I had one student who was like, Oh, so I went to riding club and my horse, like she wanted to be at the front the whole time of this trail ride. And she was a bit jig joggy, but we had lots of fun. And then I struggled to get her back on the trail afterwards. And I was like, do you actually think she had fun? Like, I know that you had fun, but like, I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but do you actually think she had fun? She didn’t want to go on the trailer afterwards. She was jig jogging, like, and then she’s like, ah, but that was a good catalyst and what she needed to kind of go, okay, I can see that what’s going on here. I need to slow down and then fill in the holes and the gaps before moving forwards.

[SPEAKER 1]
Um,

[SPEAKER 2]
But yeah, some people are going to dip their toe in. Some people are going to go all in. I think whatever you do is great. It’s just go at the pace that feels right to you and find people that resonate to you at that stage and can guide you through that stage. So yeah, there’s that sort of phase where you kind of test things out. Then I feel like people go all or nothing. I definitely went all or nothing where I was like, okay, I’m trying to go all or nothing, but it’s still not quite hitting the spot for me. I just want to do nothing. And I remember feeling in this point when I was embarked, this is after I came back from Wills and I learned a bit about positive reinforcement and using food rewards in training. And I was like, Oh my God, pressure and release is the worst for my horses. Like I can help other people because that’s where they’re at. But for my horses, I was like, I need to give them all the choice in the world. I need to make sure I’m only doing things this way. Oh my goodness. Like I’m seeing what’s happening now. And I was like, I don’t, I felt I’ve got this avoidance tendency when things feel a bit. So I was like, I just need to press pause for a bit. Um, and then once you kind of move pace, you learn to trust yourself and realize actually everything’s okay. Um, and then it’s just this journey of continually going, okay, I’m trusting myself. Now I go on another deep dive somewhere else and I come back to trusting myself. And then I’m listening to myself and listening to what feels right for me, because at the end of the day, there’s so many people who are brilliant at working with horses. And they might all work with a different method per se, but it all comes back to using the same principles. And they’re using those principles and being guided by what feels right for them based on what’s coming up with that horse on that day and what they feel on that day.

[SPEAKER 1]
That’s it.

[SPEAKER 2]
Um, so I think it’s just getting to that place where you can go, okay, I’ve got these different modalities. I’ve got these different tools in my toolkit. I understand what’s happening here, but the best gauge for me to move forward is trusting what I feel like is the next right step to take and trying it. And just knowing it’s a constant trial and error process. I don’t care what anyone says, like, no matter like how high up you are, it’s always the case. Like you’re always being met with a different type of horse, a different type of challenge on a different day. Um, and it’s not like a do X, Y, and Z and like, it works for every horse. You can follow up like a plan and a strategy, but you’re going to have to deviate and try different things out because it’s just not a cookie cutter thing, horse training.

[SPEAKER 1]
So, um,

[SPEAKER 2]
Basically, what I would say to someone interested in exploring this is follow, like I always say, follow what lights you up. So it’s just like, if you feel drawn to a certain technique, a certain modality, try it, see where it takes you, because you’re feeling like called to do something for a reason. And you might learn, actually, that’s not the thing for me, or you might learn it is. And either way, you’ve learned something new, you’re not just stuck and staying like, Oh, I’m not really sure you’ve tried it, you’ve given it a go, and you’re one step closer to figuring out what works for you. So that’s what I would say.

[SPEAKER 1]
No, that’s excellent. I went through a time with my mayor a few years ago where I did the opposite of trusting myself. I listened to every single piece of unsolicited advice by people who, you know, they cared. It’s not like they were trying to be, you know, mean or anything like that. They were caring, giving all of their advice. And I was taking every single, oh, okay, I’ll try that too. Oh, okay, that contradicts that, but I guess I’ll try it. And I bumped around to so many different things. And after about a year of doing, changing everything, i finally realized i could have gotten here so much quicker if i had just listened to myself because all throughout that process i heard so many different little little alarm bells little intuition nudges telling me i don’t think that’s right for you and i don’t think that’s right for her you know your horse absolutely so what would you say to somebody who maybe is in that same process of trusting themselves. What is your advice for learning how to trust yourself?

[SPEAKER 2]
I think it comes back to identifying like what you need in order to kind of move to the next step, because I think it’s, it’s easier said than done.

[SPEAKER 1]
Trust yourself. Right?

[SPEAKER 2]
Like I remember when I was in that earlier stage, um, where I was really heavily doubting myself and had barely any confidence. Someone said that would have been like, get stuff. Like, are you serious? Like, what does that even mean?

[SPEAKER 1]
Right.

[SPEAKER 2]
So I feel like when we’re looking at trusting ourselves, it’s kind of a going, okay, why don’t I trust myself? and identify what’s missing. So is it like, okay, I don’t trust myself because I have no idea what I’m doing. Like, I don’t understand what’s happening. I don’t understand why my horse is acting like this. I don’t understand why I’m acting like this. And then it’s going, okay, well, that’s great. That’s a piece of information that we can fill in. So it’s either in that situation, you need to go, okay, you need to learn how to understand your horse. and how to identify what’s going on because it’s either going to be the case that you actually have significant knowledge gaps or you’re going to realize through that process that you know far more than you thought, right? So either way it’s a win-win. So it’s either learning about your horse and it’s also learning about your own behavior too and understanding why you might feel a certain way because at the end of the day our bodies and our nervous system is designed to keep us safe, right? So a lot of the times safe equals keeping yourself as small as possible to avoid being met with any disappointment, any discomfort, any fear, anything that’s going to make us feel uncomfortable. And I know that when you’re small and you’re in that place, it can feel like the most uncomfortable place ever, but your subconscious doesn’t know the way out. It doesn’t know the next steps. So yeah, I would recommend identify what’s missing, identify why you don’t trust yourself. And then seek out if it’s knowledge gaps that you’re missing, seek out the knowledge, seek out the mindset support if you need some knowledge about your mindset. Or if you’re just someone who just needs to kind of get some validation, whether you’re on the right track or not, like maybe in your situation, you probably just needed someone to kind of go, Hey, like, can you see what I’m doing? Like, is this okay? And find someone that’s really aligned with you and what your goals are. and that’s going to be honest with you and actually listen to your past experience. One of my massive gripes is when people seek out advice from other people but the other person doesn’t even take the time to hear the backstory and I’m like in the backstory you can get so much information and that’s where I feel like my online coaching has gone so well because people will be like, how are you meant to help me with my horse? I’ve got a lunging issue. And I’m like, okay, tell me what’s happening. And then I can get so much information about them just telling me what’s happening and what’s happened before that.

[SPEAKER 1]
Um,

[SPEAKER 2]
yeah, find the right person to support you and guide you. Um, and someone that’s willing to kind of allow you to trust yourself, because I think it’s a real red flag. If, if you are feeling a certain way about something and someone is completely dismissive of that feeling that you have, they’re not the right person to support you. You need to find someone else who’s willing to be a little bit more open-minded and it might feel like, oh my goodness, where the heck am I going to find this person? They’re out there. You just need to like, set that standard of this is the kind of mentor that I want. And then you’re going to have that boundary set so that when you’re trying people, you’re going to know, does this feel right for me or not? And then you can continue.

[SPEAKER 1]
Okay, this is super exciting, because it’s exactly where I want to go with this conversation, which is equestrian confidence. So you went from completely changing your training methodologies with horses, going back to Australia, and now you’re an equestrian confidence coach. So how did that all come about? Tell me about that process.

[SPEAKER 2]
Yeah, okay. So basically, I’m someone who’s always been interested in personal development. And I think before I went overseas, because I was struggling with the career path that I was on and this sort of thing, I was kind of always on the lookout for something else. So I already had quite a bit of awareness around, um, some things I can do to, uh, create change in my life and that sort of thing. But I was still felt very stuck. Cause I was like, well, some people know what they’re meant to be doing forever. Like I don’t have that. Like this is a bit harder. I’m stuck in this situation. What do I do?

[SPEAKER 1]
Sort of thing.

[SPEAKER 2]
So I was on this sort of personal development journey and then I feel like, yeah, I was continuing down that rabbit hole. And then I wouldn’t say, oh, that’s right. So then after I came back from overseas, my life took a bit of a turn, like personally. So I came back from overseas and I obviously had to get another job. I was sort of met with, okay, how am I meant to kind of navigate this next portion of my life? I’m still in that phase of, I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what I want, all of these types of things. And yeah, just navigating some personal stuff in the background. And I was in a really not a good place, to be honest, I was just not in a good place.

[SPEAKER 1]
And

[SPEAKER 2]
I then went to see a counsellor and I started to see this counsellor and work with her. And I was just fixated on these problems that I have. I just wanted people to like me and just wanted to be not like nice for everyone else. So I started kind of going down that route. And she was really helpful at that point in my life because I was just not open to a whole lot of like deeper work. I was just like, didn’t understand it, didn’t see the point in it. Um, I didn’t really, I think that process is really helpful for me to just hear from another third party, the stuff that I was actually saying out of my mouth, because I would talk to her and then she would reflect back to me. And I was like, Oh my goodness. I didn’t even realize that this stuff is coming out of me. Like let alone what else is going on up in my head. Anyway, so then I, through that was led to, I, I found a podcast, which is all about manifestation. Um, it’s called the to be magnetic podcast. And, um, they were talking about to using your subconscious beliefs, um, to help you align with whatever you want to manifest. So whatever you want to call in. So at this point in time, I was very much focused on, okay, well, I’m just doing this personal development work so that I can, um, get a boyfriend and get a really great career. don’t really care about my own self-worth or health or anything. Like I want these things. That’ll, that’s going to change my life. That’s going to make me happier. Um, all of that. I was very much focused on those things. Um, and then yeah, sort of going down that path, I realized like one of the key statements that stuck out to me through that journey was you can only attract what’s in alignment with your self-worth. And I was like, Oh, far out.

[SPEAKER 1]
Like,

[SPEAKER 2]
It’s no wonder that I’m attracting these like experiences into my life that aren’t serving me because my self-worth is so little, I don’t think I deserve anything more. So I just keep kind of downplaying what I actually want because I don’t think I deep down deserve it.

[SPEAKER 1]
crap.

[SPEAKER 2]
Like, okay. So I was at that place and I just kept diving deeper. And then I feel like what the main catalyst was for me to explore my mindset journey even deeper was starting my own business. And especially transitioning that online. Because through doing things online, you have to show up in front of the camera, you’ve got to consistently post, you have to share your beautiful gifts to the world, you have to like coach people through what they’re going through, you have to continually learn on the back end. And I feel like as a Horsemanship coach as well. It’s like taking things to another level because for me, I’m constantly in this process where I’m learning new things all the time on the back end. So I feel like I constantly have to be like, and this is where like Celeste’s work, where you said you kind of met me through Celeste Lazarus. When I went to her bounce movement method and explored that a bit deeper, I was like, oh my goodness, now I have to change my whole program. I’m missing this whole piece. crap now I feel like I have this obligation to help all these horses and I don’t want to teach what I have like what I was teaching was good but I’ve got this extra piece that’s going to make things even better and I’m like oh my goodness so it’s this constant journey of evolving myself and then having to come up to speed and bring that to life for my clients and people who listen to my podcast and all of that. So it’s been a real rapid way for me to kind of be forced to develop this sense of confidence. And I feel like I was kind of in a fortunate but difficult position to start with because when I started my business, I didn’t have a plan B. It was just like, this is my only option. I have to make it work. So then I made it work. So I feel like just through all of that process, um, and I’ve explored lots of different mindset work, um, throughout that process. So I have had sessions with NLP practitioners, kinesiologists, energy workers, um, energy healers. Um, I do, uh, emotional freedom technique, tapping programs, like I’m in all sorts of things. And I’ve just signed up to this sort of soul teacher program, which is all about, um, reading energy. And I’m like, I have no idea. Felicity in the past would have been like, are you serious? But it’s just kind of spiraled because I can see the benefits so much for myself and I can see how much this benefits my clients because whenever I meet people that are drawn to my work, I’m like, oh, I can totally relate to you because you are just like a past version of me. Or in some cases, you’re like me right now. And I know what you need because I know it’s what I need. So it’s a really like a humbling process to kind of like go through that with people and just meet them where they’re at and kind of be able to resonate with people because I’ve, I can really get it from the horsemanship perspective and from the mindset perspective. So does that answer your question?

[SPEAKER 1]
Absolutely. I’m totally a woo-woo person. I’m here for the woo. And I have always felt like I was met with resistance and I don’t know if I actually was. Or if it was my own feelings of people are going to think I’m crazy, you know, and it was so I was just kind of putting those feelings on myself and they, they might have not been thinking that, but I was thinking they were thinking that. So it almost makes you try to, like you had said earlier, try to hide yourself and make yourself smaller.

[SPEAKER 2]
Absolutely. Yeah.

[SPEAKER 1]
And I, I truly feel like there is an absolute epidemic happening in terms of equestrian confidence.

[SPEAKER 2]
Yeah.

[SPEAKER 1]
And I’m somebody that I’m quite confident in other areas of my life. Hmm. throw something at me, I’ll tackle it. You know, I can go talk to anybody. No problem. Anything like that. I’m good. But I would be considered a nervous or unconfident equestrian because I’ll be working with one of my horses and I’ll be going well. But the moment I see someone watch, I get flustered, I start dropping things, I get sloppy, the horses pick up on it, and all my confidence, all my finesse, anything like that goes right out the window. And I had somebody once say to me, Danielle, you’re so confident in other areas of your life, why aren’t you confident with your horses? Do you, like, do you think that there’s something that’s been kind of going on or happening within the industry that we’re seeing so many people, or maybe it’s just become more common knowledge? Maybe people have always felt this way. It’s just now, you know, it’s being talked about more, um, that people are being so unconfident and overthinking and anxious with their horses. I think.

[SPEAKER 2]
I think it’s probably always been prevalent. It’s just something that people have been taught to get on with it. What’s wrong with you, you just got to like keep doing it, just ride through it, like keep pushing, you just got to, like, it’s almost the same thing we were talking about with the horses before. It’s just get over it, keep going, you just got to ride more, you’ve just got to practice more, do more, and it’ll go away. That just seems to be the old school kind of problem. And I think it comes from a good place when people are offering that advice. It’s just they don’t understand what’s actually going on underneath the surface and how to kind of engage with that. Because you just look at how many years that narrative has been playing out. And it’s just like, if people are telling you that advice, They have probably been told that advice, you know what I mean? And when you go back far enough or when you have a deep enough conversation with these people and they start to kind of release and unlock like, oh my goodness, I’ve had this experience and this experience and this experience, that makes total sense. You can understand why people behave the way they do. But I really feel like as well, probably with the rise of more information, social media, new ways of doing things, it does cause people to second guess themselves a lot more because you’re, especially as a person who, and I’m sure most people are like this, who love their horses, care about their horses, you also desperately want to be liked because that’s just like a core human need. Like you want to be liked, you want to fit in, comes back to that safety thing, right? And if you have any sort of sense of self-doubt around what you’re doing or perceived judgment, even if, like you said before, they might not even be thinking that. And in most cases, other people are just concerned about themselves and probably worried about what you’re thinking of them. Like, they’re just all the things that are coming into play. And I think it’s just our horses probably heighten this for us. And because they’re such an important thing in our lives, you can’t get around it. Like at work, if you were like, I struggle with public speaking, you might be able to shift your career into something else where you don’t have to public speak with your horse. You can’t, you just have to figure it out. So I feel like a lot of people are met with these mindset things that pop up and going back to the social media piece. I see this a lot with people and I’ve, I am even prone to it. I personally, like I follow some horsemanship accounts, but I don’t actually look at their posts. I mute a lot of them because it influences what I’m thinking too much. And my voice gets diluted and my truth gets diluted because I, I’m just a sponge and I will absorb things. And it causes me sometimes to second guess myself, even at this level. So I just wanted to share that from that point of view, that if you’re someone who’s very influenced by what other people share, or like seeing other people’s things, it’s very contextual. And if it doesn’t make you feel good, like mute it or like, if you need to learn more, like learn more, but don’t, sometimes it’s just hard to learn from a post and you can be easily kind of derailed or think you’re doing the wrong thing or just assume things. And I think as well, something I try to be mindful of, but it’s really hard to do is through sharing experiences, you can plant new beliefs in people that weren’t even there before.

[SPEAKER 1]
Right.

[SPEAKER 2]
So through like, even on my podcast, I’ll, I’ll interview past clients. And I might share an experience and I’m planning on doing a workshop coming up all about helping people overcome their fear of getting hurt. And I’m really mindful that when you hear about other people’s experiences getting hurt, you might form new beliefs and strengthen your belief around shit, I am scared of getting hurt. So it’s like managing that because that is a real thing. And that’s a normal thing. And that is okay.

[SPEAKER 1]
So it’s just,

[SPEAKER 2]
Um, I think it’s just a compilation of things and probably more awareness around mindset as well. That’s kind of bubbling all of this up to the surface on a really uncomfortable level. Um, but yeah, it’s really common, really, really common.

[SPEAKER 1]
I think that’s important to acknowledge. And I think that what you had said about unfollowing or muting accounts is, is really important. Um, I know for myself, if you start getting a ton of information, you end up going nowhere because you’re thinking, well, this and this and I got to do this and I got to do this and this is contradicting this. And so then you get stuck and you make no forward motion because you just, you’re overwhelmed. Exactly. Yeah, I can totally relate to that.

[SPEAKER 2]
And so much of it is contextual. It’s really hard as a content creator putting something out there because it really does depend. you know like some people might put out there like I’ve had people that are influenced by people posting and saying you should have your horses in a herd and they should have plenty of free range access and your horses probably shouldn’t come up to you in the paddock because if they’re happy enough like with their environment like surely sure they should be easy to catch but they shouldn’t like want to desperately be with you otherwise you’re not meeting their needs and I’m like Well, that’s a real way to like demotivate so many people that aren’t in a financial or just like environmental position to be able to give their horses this paddock freak in paradise. Like, I’m sorry, that’s just not the case for a lot of people, but we don’t need to make them feel crap about it. We just got to meet people where they’re at and understand people are doing the best that they can. And in a lot of cases, your horses are still happy. They’re okay. And there are things that you can improve probably. Or you might already be doing enough and they’re good. If your horse looks happy and seems happy, they’re freaking happy. End of story.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah, absolutely. Again, going back to the mindset related issues. Yeah. What are some of the most common challenges that you see, whether it’s other riders or your clients? What do you see them facing both with their horses? And then also, what do you see them facing a lot with themselves? And oftentimes, they end up kind of, you know, bridging what you might be having an issue with yourself, and it’s causing the issue with your horse.

[SPEAKER 2]
Totally, yeah. There’s so much overlap. So I think what generally comes up for me, and this is why I like working the way that I do in depth, is I’ve got a 12-week horsemanship program and I speak with my students every single week for the 12 weeks. So it’s a really good gauge on understanding what’s coming up. But I feel like the main challenge for people is When things are great, things feel great. But when things don’t go to plan or something feels off, people take it personally. They think it’s about them. You think you’ve done the wrong thing. And often people will then either like want to give up in that moment or want to change everything that they’re doing or just feel like they’re just completely on the wrong track. And often people aren’t. It’s just a bad day. You know, especially if you’re trying to incorporate some new skills and some good knowledge, like sometimes you just have an off day or sometimes you try your best and you make a mistake, but you never intended to make the mistake. You’re not the worst person in the world. You probably didn’t like, sure, you maybe didn’t handle your horse in the way you would have liked to, but they’re okay. Horses are so forgiving. Like it was just an off day and people get so annoyed at themselves for not being perfect all the time. And it’s just like, that’s not realistic. And if you’re a growth minded person and you want to improve, you’re going to make mistakes and you actually want to make mistakes because they inform your journey. The only time it’s a problem is if you continually make the mistake and you’re not learning from it, you know? Um, so I feel like that’s the main piece of people just being heavily influenced by, um, how their horse responds in training sessions and taking it really, really personally. And I understand like, and I think from my point of view, just to be completely transparent, is It’s really easy to fall into that trap with your own horses. Like even I get like that sometimes because it’s so close to home. You want to try and do the right things. You’ve got all of these beautiful goals that you’ve set out and your identity is so much tied to this experience. And often I find for myself, and I’ve spoken to a lot of people like this that work with other people’s horses, Sometimes it can be so easy to work with someone else’s horse, but then when you come to work with your own, there’s all of this other stuff that comes up because of the emotion at play. So I just wanted to kind of like throw that into the mix, not to kind of discourage people, but just to normalize that experience of going, sometimes it’s going to feel more difficult with your own horse. Um, and you’re going to take it more personally with your own horse, but that’s something that you can work through and you can zoom out on so that you can see that. No, this doesn’t hate you. It was just an off day. You’re going to be okay. You did nothing wrong. You’re all okay. And tomorrow you might have a great day again. You know, like, so it’s just, I feel like that’s the main piece that tends to derail people that especially on this journey.

[SPEAKER 1]
I’m just going to the screen, record that and, um, put it as my ringtone. Just as a reminder, don’t take it personally.

[SPEAKER 2]
I mean, easier said than done, but I think when you kind of look at it, that’s where I go, okay, let’s just, whenever people are having an off day or something doesn’t feel right, let’s just zoom out. Because once you can identify maybe what influenced that happening, then you can get some context for it. And you don’t just have to take it like I’m fully responsible. And I feel like you’re, um, when you’re on this journey of being more mindful and taking more responsibility for how you’re handling your horses and how you think it’s very easy to kind of go. If someone or my horse responds in this way, it’s all my fault because I have to take responsibility for everything. And it’s like, sure, there’s a part of that at play, but if you’ve done everything you can and your intentions were good, that’s all you could have done. You’re still working with a living, breathing animal that has their own emotions, their own feelings, and you don’t know what’s happened to them potentially that day. Maybe their friend got moved. Maybe their feed got changed a little bit. Maybe they’re not feeling so good in their tummy. Maybe they’re just a little bit sore that day. Who knows, you know, like, or maybe you are in a bad mood and your horse is just highlighting that fact back to you and you have to take a look at yourself and be like, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this today. And then, so it’s just zooming out and identifying what do I think went wrong here? What do I think, think influenced this? And don’t look at the moment where it all went, went badly. Don’t look at that moment. Look at the first signs where things start to feel a bit off. because the first signs of stress are going to show you the piece that you probably should have addressed before moving forwards. Um, and it’s not to say that you’re a bad person for kind of overlooking that or anything. We’re human. I will do it sometimes. Like I’ll watch a video, um, and replay it back and voiceover it and be like, Oh my goodness. I didn’t even notice that she was trying to mouth my arm there. She needed more time processing. Like I didn’t know. Um, so I’m just normalizing all of these things to people.

[SPEAKER 1]
I love it. I absolutely love it. And you had mentioned earlier about your 12-week program. You have three different programs. Tell us about those and about the differences, because I’m going to be signing up for one of them. I absolutely love this. I love it.

[SPEAKER 2]
Amazing. So basically my signature program is my 12 week confident equestrian program. So I’ve got a few ways to move through that, but I’ll just go over it in general. Um, so basically you get access to lifetime access to a 12 week horsemanship course where videos are dripped out on a week to week basis. Um, and they go through understanding how horses learn. So you’re really clear on the principles at play that influence your horse’s behavior and your own behavior. Then we move into sharpening or groundwork. So just making sure that you can help your horse feel more comfortable on the ground. You can establish some beautiful groundwork patterns with them to help them soften and relax that transition really nicely to under saddle. And you also form some healthy boundaries with your horse and just make sure that they can respond to light pressure and light body language cues. Because if your horse is struggling to respond to those things on the ground, it’s going to influence your riding. Like it’s just a full on ripple effect everywhere else. So once we’ve got those healthy boundaries established, then we move into desensitizing on the ground. So teaching our horses to feel comfortable around different things such as noises, movement, things approaching them and things touching them. And just starting really zoomed out at first. So just focusing on each of those elements one at a time and starting really slowly. So I find this process really helpful for the owners just as much as the horses because it forces you to slow down and it forces you to identify does my horse have any triggers and you can help them through it or a lot of times some horses are actually okay through this process and people can visually see oh I thought my horse was spooky, I thought my horse was sensitive or I was worried about these what-ifs I’m actually good, they’re fine. So then you can actually feel this sense of confidence coming up when you do other things with them. So yeah, we move through that on the ground with them standing still and then they’re moving and get them comfortable with more random movement and noises and all these types of things all around them in a controlled space first so that you can really help them learn to respond to things that worry them in a calm and relaxed way rather than them freaking out or just shutting down. And then we transition all of that under saddle, do the same process, which gives you a great opportunity to learn to ride around random stuff happening in a controlled space and feel more confident. Um, so we’re really shaping things out for you so that you can feel more comfortable. If you go to a competition or you go, you’re riding club, you’re going to trial ride and you’re like, okay, I’m good. I’ve been through all of this and I’ve actually learned to breathe. Like I had one client who her horse was great on the ground. And then we started doing it under saddle and she was like, Oh my goodness, I just default to not breathing properly. Like I did not expect myself to do this, but I just automatically tense up and anticipate that he’s going to be worried. But I actually know he’s good because we’ve done all the prep. So now it was about her learning to breathe. And then we added in another layer where one day I was like, can I video you? Like this is going really well. As soon as I hit record, it fell apart again. And I’m sure we all had experiences like that. So it’s just constantly putting yourself under these different types of pressures in a controlled space first. So you actually set up for success when you go do the other things. And then we finished with navigating different environments. So just tying everything together and just making sure that you’ve got a solid plan in place so that you can feel, actually feel confident when you take your horse somewhere. and alongside the 12-week video course, so I’ve got that option to buy on its own as a self-study course if people want to move through on their own and they just want to add some more knowledge and tools to their toolkit or I’ve got a group experience where every single week we meet as a group and have a coaching call and you share your experience of the week, you hear about other people and we can really work on any mindsets blocks that come up during this space and just navigate your journey and it’s just It’s such an awesome experience for people to learn to not compare themselves to others, because they really get a firsthand look at seeing everyone is on their own journey. And that is okay. And everyone is different. And you can support people that are having a good week, even if you’re having an off week, and other people can support you while you’re having your off week. And it’s just we’re all in this together. And you really learn to not feel so alone because like I’ve shared in normalizing some of the experiences and Danielle shared her story about like being worried about what other people think in some cases, you’ll be in a group where most of the people in the group will have felt the same way and that is okay. And you’re all moving really beautifully and slowly with your horses and just it’s such a beautiful space. And alongside the coaching calls, you get unlimited messaging support with me. So you can send me messages or training videos or voice notes, whatever you want. So I can support you with anything comes up that over over the 12 weeks. So at the end, I want people to feel really empowered and like they trust themselves. So, um, because you learn about the principles with your horse, you put it into action and you’ll start to trust your intuition because you sent, asked for my advice on things or share your experience. And I can be like, you did exactly the right thing. It’s just a really empowering process and it’s freaking awesome.

[SPEAKER 1]
I love it. So that’s that. I love how passionate you just got about it.

[SPEAKER 2]
It’s just, it’s, it’s the best. Like I can’t, just seeing people move through this program and just the changes that they make and the shifts, like even I had a client the other day, she was messaging me and she’s like, Oh, she wants to buy a new horse. And she’s only in week three of my program. And she was just like, Oh, you should do an episode about like people buying horses and like, Oh yeah, I’ll think about it. Like, what are you thinking of getting? And she kind of outlined things to me and she’s like, look, but I’m not sure whether I want a young horse or a horse that’s like, more experience now. I’m like, well, what do you want? And she’s like, if you’d asked me this a few weeks ago, I would have said no way to a young horse, but she’s like, I’m realizing I know far more than I thought. And I can understand how it’s all broken down now and how I could really help prepare a young horse for a trainer to be started and decided, or maybe I could even do it myself. I’m like, who is this person? Who are you? This is amazing. So yeah, it’s freaking awesome. Um, so that’s that offering and I have a one-on-one option as well, but spaces are very limited for that.

[SPEAKER 1]
Um,

[SPEAKER 2]
And then I’ve got my Cool, Calm and Collected program, which is basically a series of 15 different mindset focus videos that cover all of the core mindset sort of things that pop up for people. Like there’s one about I’m worried about ruining my horse. I’m worried about getting hurt.

[SPEAKER 1]
There’s a

[SPEAKER 2]
videos that you can watch if you want to prime yourself to have an awesome competition, to have an awesome ride, all of these types of things, worried about what other people think. And I take you through tapping exercises. So it’s called emotional freedom technique, where I guide you through, okay, this is might be what you’re thinking. this is what’s going on in your head and like the problem with it all. And this is actually how you can move through it. And this is how you can feel better. So it’s just all about acknowledging your beliefs and shifting to some new empowering beliefs. And then my other offering at the moment is my membership, which is called Connected. So every single week, I meet up with my students, members, and We just go through journaling, tapping, I’ll just do a masterclass on something, whatever, kind of like feeling called to do that week or whatever my students need. We just dive into that for about half an hour. And when you sign up, you get access to the full library of all of the past sessions. So it’s all to do with connecting with yourself, connecting with your horse and connecting with others on a deeper level. I’ve got a month free trial for that, so if anyone wants to pop in and check out the videos, you’re more than welcome to. And if you feel like it’s a good fit for you, hang around. The community is just amazing. I’ve set that up because I just wanted to catch up with people more often.

[SPEAKER 1]
I love that. I think that they both sound amazing. Did you touch on all three or was there just a two in there?

[SPEAKER 2]
No, so I’ve got the Confident Equestrian Program, which is the full 12-week horsemanship program.

[SPEAKER 1]
And on your website, you call it CEP, just for people to know the acronym CEP, and then CCP, which is a cool calm.

[SPEAKER 2]
No, CCC, which is cool, calm and collected. So that’s the mindset course. And then I don’t know what’s with the C words. And then I’ve got my membership, which is connected.

[SPEAKER 1]
Okay, then the membership website. Perfect. Love it. And then you have your Oracle card deck as well. Yes, it’s beautiful. And what inspired you to create something like that?

[SPEAKER 2]
So basically I was kind of exploring like different Oracle cards. I think I only had like one or two decks in my life and I’m like, these are really cool. And then what I, I just had the idea because through sessions with people, particularly one-on-one mindset sessions with people, um, which I mainly only offer to my Confident Equestrian program students, but that’s just a side note. Um, the same lessons just kept popping up with their horses. And I was like, well, this would be really cool to turn into an Oracle deck and have like beautiful images of horses and create this like, I don’t know, just really nice deck that encompasses all of these different lessons that I will continually say to my students or that my students will reflect back to me during these mindset sessions. So I was like, let’s create it. And then In my head, I was like, this is going to be easy. And it was a little bit more work than I expected, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. So all of the pretty much all of the horses on the deck. So each card has a different image of a horse. And they’re like clients, horses or horses that I’ve personally connected with. And then I’ve tuned into, okay, what was the lesson that really, um, associate too well with that horse. And then written a sort of, or I guess I kind of channeled because I read some of it. I’m like, I don’t even, who wrote this? Really like write a message that encompasses that theme and directly relate it back to horses. So yeah. Do you want me to pull some cards?

[SPEAKER 1]
Yes. I love how personal that is. I would love you to. And that way, if anybody’s listening and you say something and they’re like, Oh, I met, I was meant to hear this.

[SPEAKER 2]
I’ll pull one. So then I can, Read the message.

[SPEAKER 1]
Okay.

[SPEAKER 2]
All right.

[SPEAKER 1]
Okay.

[SPEAKER 2]
So let me get my guidebook in here. Okay. So the card I pulled, which is open up, where is my guidebook?

[SPEAKER 1]
Well, this is awkward.

[SPEAKER 2]
What’s the weirdest thing ever?

[SPEAKER 1]
I have no idea.

[SPEAKER 2]
Oh, I just have to freeze. Oh no, wait, no. That is so weird. What happened to my books? Okay, so we’ve got Open Up. So this card, it features beautiful artwork. And this is my very first Confident Equestrian Program student, Beck, with her horse Ella. Okay, so the theme Open Up really came through beautifully for these two because Ella, Her mare is a, she wasn’t even planning on focusing on her through my confident equestrian program because she’s had three other young horses, but she’s like, you utilize all the skills she learned with all their horses. And her mare went from similar to my horse, shorty, the thoroughbred I was talking about earlier. She went from being like some, a horse who was quite disinterested in training sessions would always stand back and kind of not really want to engage to meeting her at the gate. wanting to do things in training sessions, like doing cool stuff at Liberty with her, like trotting around with her, like completely shifted her personality. So the cards really just all about going, okay, how can we tap into allowing ourselves to fully open up and put ourselves in positions where we feel safe enough to do so and surround ourselves with people that actually understand us and also put ourselves in a position where we actually show all parts of ourselves because we can’t expect people to just kind of catch on and realize that we’re, we have all of these different facets to us if they, if we never show them.

[SPEAKER 1]
Right.

[SPEAKER 2]
So it’s just putting yourself in a position where you allow yourself to open up and just feel, put yourself in a position where you feel safe enough to do so. Because when you see the horses do it, it’s like the most amazing thing ever. And when I see people do that, it’s like the best thing ever.

[SPEAKER 1]
So it’s just,

[SPEAKER 2]
Open up. The message that I wrote is more polished than that, but I can’t find my guide.

[SPEAKER 1]
That’s okay. It, it speaks to me. This is my, my first podcast episode as the new host of the Wee Horse podcast. So open up sounds like a perfect theme for me personally. So with the WeHorse podcast, we have four WeHorse questions that we ask every guest. And I’d love to dive into them now. Do you have a motto or a favorite saying as the first one? And maybe it’s one of your favorite Oracle cards. Ooh.

[SPEAKER 2]
No, well, I actually asked my students this last night that are in my graduates group, I was like, guys, do I have a motto? And they were like, trust yourself, follow what lights you up, like, you can do it. So I feel like, um, I feel like I commonly say like, you’ve got this, like you’ve got this, just know that even if you don’t believe it right now, you’ve got this, like you just have to. And I feel like that combines nicely with the follower lights you up. It’s just like always trust that next step that you feel called to take this in front of you and just know that you’ve got this. It’ll all work out. If you, if your belief is it’ll all work out, it will all work out. And one day looking back, you’d be like, Oh, that makes total sense. Um, so just you’ve got this.

[SPEAKER 1]
Love it. The second one, who has been the most influential person in your equestrian journey?

[SPEAKER 2]
Yeah, I had some thought about this. And I really think it’s my mom, because without her, I would not be in this position at all. And just, I’m so grateful to be able to have that horsey mom who took me to every show took me to all these lessons supported me for years and still helps me to this day. Like I just think without her, I wouldn’t be able to do this at all.

[SPEAKER 1]
Mm. Shout out to all the horse moms and horse show moms. Uh, they do so much. So in number three, if you could give equestrians one piece of advice, what would it be?

[SPEAKER 2]
I think it’s listen to your horse and listen to yourself. You already know.

[SPEAKER 1]
I love that. It touched me. Um, like I said, I’m just going to put this on my ringtone.

[SPEAKER 2]
Luckily this is a podcast, you can just listen on repeat.

[SPEAKER 1]
Exactly. And then the last of the Wee Horse questions. Please complete the sentence. For me, horses are what?

[SPEAKER 2]
Yeah, I pondered this as well. For me, horses are… The thing that came into my mind, the first two words that came into my mind are magic and healers. Like I really feel like they’ve just got this beautiful healing presence just in all humans’ lives. And they’re really meant to guide us. As much as we feel like we’re guiding them, they are teaching us so much as we’re continually learning. And yeah, I just think they’re freaking magical.

[SPEAKER 1]
Is there anything else that you want to add for our Wee Horse listeners?

[SPEAKER 2]
I don’t think so.

[SPEAKER 1]
I feel like we’ve covered a lot today.

[SPEAKER 2]
I feel like we’ve done a good job.

[SPEAKER 1]
Yeah, I think people are going to get a ton out of this. And so because of that, where can everyone find you, learn more about you, your programs, all the things?

[SPEAKER 2]
Yeah, so I’ve got my podcast which is Equestrian Perspective, so you can find that on all of the main podcast platforms. My website is confidentequestrianprogram.com, so if you’re interested in any of my programs or you want to sign up for the month free trial of my membership, I’ve got a ton of other resources on there. I’ve got a podcast guide if you’re like, oh my goodness, where do I start? I’ve broken it down all into topics for you. It’s all there. And my social media is at Felicity Davies with an underscore at the end on Instagram. And I’m Felicity Davies Horsemanship on Facebook. So come and chat with me, slide into my DMs. I’m more than happy to kind of have conversations with you guys. Or if you’re like, Oh, I don’t know where to start. Just message me. We can voice note or message back and forth. And I love to do that.

[SPEAKER 1]
Perfect. We’ll put all of that in the show notes as well for anybody that is wondering what the links are exactly. We’ll also put all of Felicity’s links on our Instagram too. So if anybody is wondering, you can find them on there. And I can’t thank you enough, Felicity, for joining me tonight, your morning, my night, and for this wonderful conversation. Like I said, I think people are going to get a ton out of it. If nothing else, I got a ton out of it. So thank you so much for being here.

[SPEAKER 2]
You’re so welcome. And yeah, I once again feel very honored to be here. And I hope yeah, people got something out of this and just have fun with your horses. They’re freaking, freaking awesome. So yeah, thank you.

[SPEAKER 1]
Thank you, Felicity. Talk soon. Bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Equestrian Connection podcast by Wwehorse. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world to us if you could leave us a rating and review, as well as share us on social media. You can find us on Instagram at wehorse underscore USA, and check out our free seven-day trial on wehorse.com, where you can access over 175 courses with top trainers from around the world in a variety of topics and disciplines. Until next time, be kind to yourself, your horses, and others.