Tea Time with Elsa

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 96

Chatting about: Adapting to normal first…
In this episode I talk about adapting to what is normal for the horse on each particular day. What is normal for our horses one day may be completely opposite the next. Changes in the environment can cause changes in stress levels and changes in the responses from the horse, making it harder for us to predict their behavior. First we honor what is normal and familiar to the horse on that day and then from that basis, we can slowly build on top of that. If we add too much newness at once, it can be overwhelming to the horse.
Originally aired on: June 8th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 95

Chatting about: Time…
In this episode I talk about the time that horses spend in freeze. I explain how we can read the varying degrees of the quality of freeze in our horses and how to understand the improving and degrading feelings in correlation to the amount of time they spend being unaware in freeze. I also explain when and how to interrupt a moment of freeze, and how we can use it to our advantage to help our horses develop habits of thinking and awareness in low stress moments and build a foundation of trust and thinking skills for in the higher stress moments.
Originally aired on: June 1st, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 94

Chatting about: Complementary wild…
In this episode I talk about contrasting and complementing ideas. In Freedom Based Training™ we learn that our ideas are valuable in relation with our horse’s ideas. We, as well as our horses, learn about each other's wild individualism, desires and instincts. We then learn how we can combine, complement and nurture each others’ ideas, so there is balance, enjoyment and freedom in our relationships.
Originally aired on: May 25th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 93

Chatting about: Getting back to work…
In this episode I talk about the reality of life impacting our work with our horses and how it may change our relationship, learning capacity and the quality and quantity of the work that we do. Our horses are very forgiving of our imperfections but when we don’t have the presence of mind that our horses appreciate, we can adjust the intensity and difficulty of learning to an appropriate degree that is attuned to our own emotional and intellectual capacity in that moment of our lives. I explain the changes that I make when working with my horses when the reality of life limits my ability to be present, and the quality of interaction that I am capable of in that time.
Originally aired on: May 18th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 92

Chatting about: Foundation…
In this episode, in celebration of my mother’s life, I share the beautiful experiences that she gifted me in my youth that became the foundation for everything I have learned and developed.
Originally aired on: May 11th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 91

Chatting about: The environmental impact on training…
In this episode I talk about the ways that environmental variants and stressors influence a horse's capacity to learn and affects our relationship with them. In our horse’s day to day life, there will be varying environmental stimuli that will draw some degree of the horse’s focus. This can impact our horse’s learning ability as they expend a portion of their energy and attention toward managing their stress and feelings around the environment. I explain the ways we can set our horses up to develop valuable skills that will help them have stronger awareness, thinking and social capabilities even in the higher stress moments, so our horses can independently help themselves feel better and cope with environmental distractions, even when we’re not there.
Originally aired on: May 4th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 90

Chatting about: Offered behaviors…
In this episode I talk about understanding the behaviors that our animals naturally find important and do freely and voluntarily. One of the things that I find the most gratifying, when working in freedom with horses, is taking that horse as it is, not asking them to be or do different and seeing what the horse will offer on that day and reinforcing the offered behaviors that I enjoy the most. This not only helps us learn more about the horse, but the horse learns about us. They learn about who we are, what we do and don’t like, and what we appreciate the most in our partnership in a low pressure, low stress way. The more that we reinforce naturally offered awareness, focus changes and thinking, yielding and playing behaviors, the more the horse will offer creative behaviors that feel good in our relationship and benefit the engagement and enjoyment between horse and human.
Originally aired on: April 27th, 2021

Teatime with Elsa - Episode 89

Chatting about: Trade-offs…
In this episode I talk about the trade-offs that we make with our horses when learning from them and providing for them. Trade-offs are the things that we compromise to make the most of the less ideal situations. I share my appreciation for the valuable things that I have learned from the less optimal situations I have experienced as well as the trade-offs and compromises that I have made with my horses to provide them with the best quality of life possible with the set of circumstances that we find ourselves in.
Originally aired on: April 20th, 2021