Tea Time with Elsa

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 112

Chatting about: Touch…
In this episode I talk about the desire for touching in our relationships with our horses. As humans, our relationships with our horses tend to revolve around our desire for touch. I talk about the idea of asking our horses what their preferences are and what they find important in the relationship and how they would like the dynamics in the relationship to be, and seeing what happens when we prioritize the horse’s desires and preferences over the human’s. We talk about how we can tactfully work our way into our horses’ space in ways that are kind and harmonious and see when touching is appropriate, at a time that feels good to both horse and human.
Originally aired on: September 30th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 111

Chatting about: How fair is freedom?
In this episode I talk about the mental impact of freedom in our horses in different situations and environments. While the thought of freedom for our horses is romanticized and idealistic, the reality is that our horses don't always feel the same way and their ideas of freedom may be different from our own. We discuss the reality of how much freedom we really give our horses and the way that can impact their stress levels and sense of safety, as well as how we can help our horses develop their decision making skills so they can stay safe and find comfort in freedom.
Originally aired on: September 21st, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 110

Chatting about: Attachment styles…
In this episode I talk about being aware of the attachment styles of our horses and nurturing them into the best versions of themselves. I discuss how we can understand our horses better by understanding how they meet their needs in the ways that feel best to them, so we can help them meet their needs in ways that feel good to our relationship too. 
Originally aired on: September 14th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 109

Chatting about: Who do you want to be?...
In this episode I talk about the dynamics that we develop in the relationships with our horses and who we want to be as horse trainers. I speak about creating a culture where we can take as much time as we need to do the things we want to do with them, while helping our horses as they are, develop into who they want to be, not just who we want them to be. Rather than creating problems to solve and learn from, we can start from the ground up, with a horse that is as they want to be, and build from that.
Originally aired on: September 8th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 108

Chatting about: When irritation leads to intolerance…
In this episode I talk about the things we can be more aware of and the skills that we can develop to help us improve our timing when we’re working with horses that have habits of irritation to prevent it from leading to intolerance. When we meet a problem with our horses, the simple answer is always that something was too much, too soon. I talk about figuring out what was too much, too soon for Czechoff, my horse friend from Belgium, and the lessons that I learnt about feel and timing and predicting behaviors while working with his habits of irritation.
Originally aired on: September 1st, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 107

Chatting about: Working with what you have…
In this episode I talk about embracing and adapting to the situations we find ourselves in and working with what we have the best that we can. We can build trust with our horses by adapting to different situations and learning how to respond well. The more that our horses can see how we respond to various things, the better they know us. The more that we can learn to adapt our responses to each moment with good feel and timing, the deeper the trust and bond we can create.
Originally aired on: August 24th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 106

Chatting about: The slow build of Freedom Based Training™…
In this episode I talk about taking our learning from a higher stress clinic environment to home in a lower stress environment where we do most of the work with our horses. Freedom Based Training™ creates low stress and low pressure learning environments. This slows the rate of learning in our horses, but increases the development of intrinsic motivation over time with good feel and timing.
Originally aired on: August 19th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 105

Chatting about: Beginnings… 
In this episode I talk about flowing with what is possible in the beginning of the process. We talk about the beauty and the excitement in the newness and unknown when we begin the process of Freedom Based Training™ with our horses.
Originally aired on: August 13th, 2021