My name is Martha and I am the equine coach that created 'The Art of Feel.' My passion lies in developing healthy relationships between horses and people. I believe that understanding how we communicate both with ourselves, each other and with our animals is the key to achieving our equine dreams. I use an eclectic approach to my training, drawing on my experience as a drama facilitator and sociodramatist for effective coaching techniques. My horsemanship knowledge comes from training and competing in different continents as a young person, BHSAI, 10 years intensive study and organising Ken Faulkner in the UK, training with James Shaw, Steve Halfpenny, Nicola Lickley, Karen Musson and extensive reading and exploring of incredible horsemen and women, past and present. My understanding of body awareness comes from long term rehabilitation from a broken hip in 2006 which gave me the opportunity of learning a whole new perspective on communication and feel through taichi, qi gong, Pilates, various neuromuscular repatterning styles, Hanna somatics, Trager, Primal Movement, Trauma Release Exercises, Feldenkrais (Ryan Nagy) trauma-informed Horsemanhsip (Sarah Schlote), Feldenfit (Catherine Mccrum) the neuroscience of Norman Doidge. My latest chapter with professionals with a broader lense approach to horsemanship and coaching is with Jane Pike, the creator of Confident Rider who generously shares her deep knowledge of the nervous system and how this impacts our horse/human relationship and how we can reset it …
My unique approach does not only incorporate my own experiences, I also encourage students to draw on their own, so they can develop their own authentic version of horsemanship. This is something that I recently learnt from Kathy Sierra and Marianne has been extensively studied as the core to successful coaching.
My unique approach does not only incorporate my own experiences, I also encourage students to draw on their own, so they can develop their own authentic version of horsemanship. This is something that I recently learnt from Kathy Sierra and Marianne has been extensively studied as the core to successful coaching.
I will offer techniques and tools to help you find the inner trainer, so you and your horse can train each other. I'll support and encourage you along the way.
Martha' s CV
I am a lifelong explorer of people and horses and their interactions and have an eclectic approach to my own training.
HORSES
I began riding at the ripe old age of 13 at the usual ramshackle stables where we gave a five pounds to the lady and were left under the auspices of the older girls (all of 16yrs!) to learn how to ride, muck out, groom and care for the horses. Within I a year my family moved to Indonesia, where I had the privilege of learning to ride on beautifully trained schoolmasters with training from top Indonesian trainers and enjoyed competing with my mum regularly, until I was 17. Another family move brought me to an international school in Oxford,which had strangely acquired four horses and were offering lessons. This is where I was lucky enough to be taught by a wonderful quiet horsewoman called Christine Morris, who helped me learn to use my seat instead of my legs. Within a year, my parents had moved to Texas, so all holidays were taken up with working at Whippletree Farm which offered English and Western Pleasure. I learnt how to adapt to different styles of riding. My mum bought an ex-racing horse which she re-trained beautifully, and I realised I had an electric seat! So I enjoyed leasing a lovely Morgan called Mork and had great fun riding Diane’s old championship Western Pleasure horse, Frog aged 32, bareback playing with some of the western moves and, as I improved, got to ride Overtime, her 17.2 ex-grand-prix dressage horse.
I found early on that my real interest lay in training rather than competing: I loved seeing my mum transform horses she sat on, and wanted to make a difference too. So, my official training began with my BHSAI, and a year later, I decided a career in horses wasn’t for me. So I headed for university, spent plenty of time on stage and also with horses, learnt and competed in horseball, and enjoyed three years on the university riding team. The holidays were still spent in Texas until we moved to Pakistan where I first saw a horse dance.
After university, I knew how much I enjoyed working with people and, as a naturally creative person, I qualified as a drama worker in prisons, a great place to meet your soulmate! Thankfully Mick wasn't an inmate, but an inspirational YMCA manager and youth worker inside Wetherby YOI!
Then I discovered a whole new side to horses that I had missed. An inspirational lady called Anne Greenwood, who is wheelchair bound, introduced me to Natural Horsemanship. Before settling down in to full-time work, Mick and I spent nine months near the Red Sea in Dahab, Egypt. I spent most of the time working with Egyptian Arabs at Blue Beach Hotel with my first natural horsemanship equipment, and the six page black and white hand-out, which was the extent of the original Parelli level one pack at the time! We had a wonderful time playing on the beach, riding bareback up the wadi and riding stallions in halters instead of their usual pelhams - ignorance can be a wonderful thing as it gives you confidence....and someone upstairs was looking after me!
When we arrived back in the UK, I thought I'd better get some training under my belt. After six months as a working student for Parelli, I learnt through Jayne Lavender about Ken Faulkner and within a year, with Mick's support, I starting organising Ken's UK tours. So for ten years I trained intensively under Ken for two months a year and had three trips out to Australia with Mick to film and train with him. He is a phenomenal horseman, who taught me how to watch and shape a horse for better balance and posture.
During my time with Ken, I met a wonderful rider and coach called Nikki Lickley, Kingswood Equestrian Centre. Not only has she helped me believe in myself by bouncing ideas on horsemanship and training with me, she also helped me combine the suppleness and connection I discovered with natural horsemanship with riding effectively in a bridle, to create a powerful and athletic horse. I look forward to training with her as soon as I am riding well enough and long enough to make the journey south worthwhile.
In 2016 I discovered Karen Musson through Kate Sandel another eclectic horsewoman in Devon. After a Devon Clinic organised by Kate in 2016, I felt like I'd found a bit of the missing jigsaw. In response, I hosted a 5 day clinic with Karen in Yorkshire 2017. I was reminded to slow down again, listen more, and on reflection after the course I felt I need to trust the process, many of my thoughts and connections with horses were affirmed rather than learning too much new and also that the key to teaching good horsemanship isn't necessarily to show new techniques but to improve a student's feel.
In 2018 I enjoyed a couple of clinics with Steve Halfpenny and loved how he taught. He has a real sense of what is not always easy to put into words and appreciates when you 'get it.' It did make me realise that I'd like a local mentor though - not one that lives across the world! Kate Sandel - I wish you lived closer!
In 2017 I found Sarah Schlote and enjoyed following her discovery through her somatic experiencing therapy lense into how trauma responses are often missed in horsemanship . I found this helped clarify why I was getting a lot of bodywork type releases from the horses as I was transferring the 'following the feel to relase' from my own rehab into working with a horse. I also had the privilege of my lovely friend and colleague Ruth Drimer find her true path with the Masterson Method in body work at this time and she encouraged me to trust that the work I do is definitely releasing brace not creating trauma in such subtle ways. Watch this space for combined clinics in the future!
And, of course, I can't forget the beautiful herd of horses that I have been the catertaker of for the past 10 years. Spending so much time not riding or being able to move much has enforced me to slow down and be a better listener and observer of some of the greatest coaches, communicators and facilitators I will ever have the privilege to engage with and see in action. Over the past few years, I've seen them transform not only themselves but those horses and humans that have spent time with them. Their social and emotional intelligence without verbal language is awe inspiring. I've seen them teach a sad horse joy, an angry horse peace, a pushy horse quiet presence and a very lost horse to find himself again. Being more aware of how these stifled emotions can create bodily tension and how releasing that tension can free the emotion and vice versa, whilst going through similar experiences in my own healing has made the journey inspiring instead of lonely.
I also have the good fortune to be with someone who understands how important it is to engage in each others' activities. So, since Mick bought his first horse, George, three months after I bought my second horse, another George, in 1999, he has shared the joy and physical labour of horse-owning. Moreover, he is always there to bounce ideas off and encourage me to be the best I can be.
SELF-AWARENESS: MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT
In 2006 I had a simple accident with serious repercussions. I broke my hip: in 2020 I am still rehabilitating with sessions 2-3 times a week.. It was a hard, yet excellent lesson. Thanks to James Shaw in 2007, I discovered a whole other side to riding – it is not just about the horse. .
By 2009 I also began to look at competing in paradressage as a way of moving forwards with Couscous. I had a wonderful lesson with Chris Porterfield during a paradressage talent spotting competition and some with Angela Weiss. I found I wasn't ready to accept the idea of being permanently disabled. It also helped me realise that I felt more inspired to move forward through coaching others than to feel the frustration in my crookedness and pain when I rode.
So later that year, I decided to find a local T'ai Chi trainer and I spent many hours privately and in classes for two and a half years training in Tai Chi and Qi Gong. These armed me, not for martial fighting, but with clear path of how to find and release all forms of tension through the body and to help me understand the dynamics of energy, breathing techniques and a healthy posture without tightness. Sadly this did not correct the extent of the muscle issues because of the injury and subsequent operations.
In 2011, I found Marian, a personal trainer, who specialises in muscle activation. Through my own rehabilitation he is helping me understand more deeply the complex interaction that muscle groups have on each other. This, of course, I then relate to tightness in the horse and see the horse becoming an excellent huge mirror for me to see where I, or a student, is tight. Part of his regime has been a ban on riding since November 2011. This has given me time to read and reflect on a much wider style of training from Carolyn Resnick and Gawani Pony Boy to Sally Swift, Heather Moffet, Andrew McLean, Klaus Hempfling, Steve Halfpenny, Philippe Karle, Gerde Heutschman, Marijke de Jong, Manolo Mendez, Klaus Schoneich, Karen Musson, Kate Sandel, and more!
In 2014 I found the progress limiting with MAT and a I got tired of a trainer who kept telling me that the reason why I can't do the exercises and movement is 'it's 'in my head!!' With this unhelpful phrase been reiterated on numerous occasions, I started to search the internet for 'muscle forgetfulness/loss' and found 'muscle sensory amnesia,' a phrase used extensively by Thomas Hanna. So all excited I started to look for a local educator. Sadly nothing came up so I emailed an american practitioner who was really thoughtful and sent me books to peruse. And then facebook recommended a Hanna somatics workshop in Manchester post which I followed up, attended and met Chris Halliday. Chris has been fundamental in progressing my rehab from the last hip operation in July 2014 using Trager, Hanna Somatics and other modalities when appropriate. His approach has given me a further depth in understanding how the body learns, how the muscles release or hold tension, how retraining the brain rather than pummeling muscles is not only more effective - its also pain-free! The whole process is far more about educating and supporting the client through touch guidance, mindful movement and visualization which has, in turn, affirmed and developed my coaching style. Oh and it's fun!
As Chris always tells me, the brain likes play and new things so I will explore different practitioners online just to enjoy the newness, I do keep going back to Feldenfit by Catherine McCrum and Ryan Nagy - the key is finding someone with a voice I like!
I also feel hugely grateful to friends and all my wonderful long-term students who have become close friends. They support and encourage me on my explorations. They also challenge and question, bringing their own intuitions and processes which means we all grow and develop mentally emotionally and spiritually together in our own unique ways - several heads and hearts are always far better than one!
Of course, all these challenges have been made so much easier by the overwhelming support and encouragement of Mick, my family and friends, Thank you!
BEING A STUDENT
As a trainer it is easy to forget what it feels like to be the learner. How suddenly you can't get something right, or your body seems to have a mind of its own, or simply how it feels to be corrected. I take great joy in learning new skills, partly to keep my creativity and open-mindedness and partly to remember what it is like to learn again, both for the joy and frustration of it! So I've tried many things over the years: rock climbing, paragliding, diving, t'ai chi, canoeing, swing jive, playing the drums and the tin whistle, fencing, but my favourite at the moment has to be playing the double bass. I do find having a good sense of rhythm and riding interwine, so I have great fun in our Bluegrass band, where I am constantly being supported and taught by fantastic musicians - this does make learning fun - I'm just glad it only has four strings!
Alert! Latest amusement - I'm learning how to call line-dancing!!
My core realisation for learning came in an ad hoc conversation with Clarke Baim, during lunch at a sociodrama training ... funny how it is often these moments that give us great clarity.. he graciously repeated back to me words I rattled out intuitively and he suggested I put it on a post-it on my wall. In doing so, this concreted in my mind a powerful understanding of myself and how I am motivated ...
'I am motivated by the exploration of the possibilities not finding THE answer.'
I now know I'll never create a system, a step-by-step guide, a how-to with horses because it simply doesn't interest me and I fundamentally feel it blocks the opportunity for me to learn that there are an infinite number of lenses to explore the horsemanship world.
COACHING
Part of my learning process has been to appreciate that I am a coach at heart; I do not either need or wish to be ‘the expert’. Some of this stems from being trained as a drama facilitator, where my role was to specifically enable people to find the answers within themselves and within each other. I also think growing up in different countries, surrounded by people from many nationalities, has helped me to always look at things from different perspectives. There are as many ways to achieve results from horses as there are people and horses! I'm also lucky to have a mother who also shares an interest in how people tick, so grew up surrounded by a wonderful collection of psychology, therapeutic and self-awareness books and a family which enjoy discussing how to make the world a better place. I know that everyone interaction either horse or human is an opportunity for everyone present to learn.
In 2019 I got more seriously back into Sociodrama, after attending three courses in 2017-18 and re-engaging in the national Action Learning Set for sociodramatists in 2015. I felt supported by more like-minded facilitators instead of the expert/student, saviour/helpless student with dangerous horse models I felt were strong in the natural horsemanship world. In 2019 I was offered a place as a trainee on an Erasmus scheme for creating an international handbook and training for Sociodrama. This took me on travels throughout the year to Hungary, Portugal, Sweden and er.. Birmingham. Immediately I felt totally at home with the practitioners and felt highly skilled and valued. After years of not thinking I was working as a sociodramatist I realised that I had been practicing all along in the horse world! The horses have hugely enhanced my non verbal awareness of communication and I was very welcomed by all especially when tensions ran high at the original meeting and I was able to help redirect and reshape the group non verbally and offer insightful feedback to the facilitators. After years of pushing against the norm of 'expert' vs student model in the horse world, it felt hugely life affirming being with practitioners who also trust in working spontaneously with the energy of the group. I feel particularly grateful to both Valerie Monti-Holland and Di Adderley, both socio drama practitioners and senior UK trainers, who treat me as an equal and a colleague with an equine specialism and enjoy exploring with me how it fits with the horses.
Next step - Jane Pike has opened the door to my latest exploration: into the science of the nervous system and horsemanship, and I have no idea where it's leading, I just know I'm feeling inspired!
I will offer techniques and tools to help you find the inner trainer, so you and your horse can train each other. I'll support and encourage you along the way.
- Currently loving Jane Pike, the creator of Confident Rider, she offers a huge amount of information about how and why so much of what I do works from the nervous system perspective. Jane share fabulous concepts and experiential practice that I’m integrating into my coaching so I can offer a better informed approach.(since November 2023)
- I’m also enjoying podcasts with Warwick Schiller, Mark Rashid, Chrissi McDonald, Lockie Phillips. (2022)
- A member of Feldentfit course in Ritter Dressage
- Following Kathy Sierra about pain science: Pantherflows (starting feb 2020)
- Connecting with Marianne Davies from Dynamics Coaching 2019
- Member of Transnational Erasmus group creating international handbook and training in Sociodrama 2018-22
- Long term colleague of Valerie Monti-Holland, Left-Luggage Training
- Courses in sociodrama 2017-2018 run by Valerie Monti-Holland, Rone Weiner, Di Adderley
- Following Kate Sandel (Soft and Sound) Philippe Karle trained and far beyond. (since 2016)
- International representative in sociodrama training 2019 in Sweden, UK, Portugal and Hungary
- Followed Sarah Schlote - Trauma Informed Horsemanship (2017-2019)
- Steve Halfpenny Clinics x2 2018
- Karen Musson Clinics 2016/2017 (trained with Leslie Desmond (wrote 'True Horsemanship Through Feel' with Bill Dorrance))
- Audited clinics by Dr Kerry Ridgeway, Menolo Mendez and Klaus Schoneich 2014
- 10 year intensive 2-3 months annually, with Ken Faulkner, Australian Natural Horsemanship 1999 -2013
- Ridden clinics with James Shaw, Riding from Within (T'ai Chi for Riders) since 2007
- Nicky Lickley, Kingswood Equestrian Centre 2009 - 2016
- Continual Hanna Somatics,Trager training, Primal Movement with Chris Halliday private and group sessions since April 2014 -
- 2 1/2 years intensive T'ai Chi and Qi Gong with Shifu ShiDelon and his lay monks followed by regular personal study
- Reading for horses: Klaus Hempfling, Carolyn Resnick, Happy Horse Training, Science in Motion - Jean Luc Cornille,Straightness Training - both Marijke de Jong and Klaus Schoneich, Manolo Mendez, Philippe Karle, Kate Sandel's 'Be with Your Horse,' Anna Blake, Gawani Pony Boy, Andrew McClean, Heather Moffet, Sally Swift, Mark Rashid and anything recommended by students/trainers
- Reading for People: Hanna Somatics, The Art of Slowing Down, books on Milton Trager, Norman Doidge - The Brain that Changes Itself & The Brain's Way of Healing, Bernie Seigel esp Love Medicine and Miracles, The Art of Learning, Role Theory in Practice, Thomas Myers 'Anatomy Trains' and I follow several body movement practitioners on Facebook eg 'Stop Chasing the Pain,' Kath Dooley, the neuroscience network
- Member of SCAN and attend regularly (Sociodrama and Action Methods Training Peer Support Group)
- Certificate in Sociodrama
- MA in Applied Drama in the Prison and Probation Services
- 7 years as a drama facilitator in prisons, youth theatre and other social settings
- BA in Anthropology, English and Philosophy
- BHSAI
- Competed in show jumping in France, Texas, Indonesia, UK & Durham University team
- Competed in dressage in Indonesia, UK & university team.
- Competed in horseball in UK
- teaching natural horsemanship since 2005, endorsed by Ken Faulkner
- integrated joint mobility, Mindful Movement, T'ai Chi and Qi Gong, more classical ridden style into my teaching since 2009
- loves walking, travelling, being an aunt, swing-jive, reading, diving, sunbathing, playing double-bass in the Rough and Ready Boys, playing scrabble with my Dad, singing in an all women's choir called Sally'sArmy, laughing, having a go at new things, and watching cheesey feel-good films!
I am a lifelong explorer of people and horses and their interactions and have an eclectic approach to my own training.
HORSES
I began riding at the ripe old age of 13 at the usual ramshackle stables where we gave a five pounds to the lady and were left under the auspices of the older girls (all of 16yrs!) to learn how to ride, muck out, groom and care for the horses. Within I a year my family moved to Indonesia, where I had the privilege of learning to ride on beautifully trained schoolmasters with training from top Indonesian trainers and enjoyed competing with my mum regularly, until I was 17. Another family move brought me to an international school in Oxford,which had strangely acquired four horses and were offering lessons. This is where I was lucky enough to be taught by a wonderful quiet horsewoman called Christine Morris, who helped me learn to use my seat instead of my legs. Within a year, my parents had moved to Texas, so all holidays were taken up with working at Whippletree Farm which offered English and Western Pleasure. I learnt how to adapt to different styles of riding. My mum bought an ex-racing horse which she re-trained beautifully, and I realised I had an electric seat! So I enjoyed leasing a lovely Morgan called Mork and had great fun riding Diane’s old championship Western Pleasure horse, Frog aged 32, bareback playing with some of the western moves and, as I improved, got to ride Overtime, her 17.2 ex-grand-prix dressage horse.
I found early on that my real interest lay in training rather than competing: I loved seeing my mum transform horses she sat on, and wanted to make a difference too. So, my official training began with my BHSAI, and a year later, I decided a career in horses wasn’t for me. So I headed for university, spent plenty of time on stage and also with horses, learnt and competed in horseball, and enjoyed three years on the university riding team. The holidays were still spent in Texas until we moved to Pakistan where I first saw a horse dance.
After university, I knew how much I enjoyed working with people and, as a naturally creative person, I qualified as a drama worker in prisons, a great place to meet your soulmate! Thankfully Mick wasn't an inmate, but an inspirational YMCA manager and youth worker inside Wetherby YOI!
Then I discovered a whole new side to horses that I had missed. An inspirational lady called Anne Greenwood, who is wheelchair bound, introduced me to Natural Horsemanship. Before settling down in to full-time work, Mick and I spent nine months near the Red Sea in Dahab, Egypt. I spent most of the time working with Egyptian Arabs at Blue Beach Hotel with my first natural horsemanship equipment, and the six page black and white hand-out, which was the extent of the original Parelli level one pack at the time! We had a wonderful time playing on the beach, riding bareback up the wadi and riding stallions in halters instead of their usual pelhams - ignorance can be a wonderful thing as it gives you confidence....and someone upstairs was looking after me!
When we arrived back in the UK, I thought I'd better get some training under my belt. After six months as a working student for Parelli, I learnt through Jayne Lavender about Ken Faulkner and within a year, with Mick's support, I starting organising Ken's UK tours. So for ten years I trained intensively under Ken for two months a year and had three trips out to Australia with Mick to film and train with him. He is a phenomenal horseman, who taught me how to watch and shape a horse for better balance and posture.
During my time with Ken, I met a wonderful rider and coach called Nikki Lickley, Kingswood Equestrian Centre. Not only has she helped me believe in myself by bouncing ideas on horsemanship and training with me, she also helped me combine the suppleness and connection I discovered with natural horsemanship with riding effectively in a bridle, to create a powerful and athletic horse. I look forward to training with her as soon as I am riding well enough and long enough to make the journey south worthwhile.
In 2016 I discovered Karen Musson through Kate Sandel another eclectic horsewoman in Devon. After a Devon Clinic organised by Kate in 2016, I felt like I'd found a bit of the missing jigsaw. In response, I hosted a 5 day clinic with Karen in Yorkshire 2017. I was reminded to slow down again, listen more, and on reflection after the course I felt I need to trust the process, many of my thoughts and connections with horses were affirmed rather than learning too much new and also that the key to teaching good horsemanship isn't necessarily to show new techniques but to improve a student's feel.
In 2018 I enjoyed a couple of clinics with Steve Halfpenny and loved how he taught. He has a real sense of what is not always easy to put into words and appreciates when you 'get it.' It did make me realise that I'd like a local mentor though - not one that lives across the world! Kate Sandel - I wish you lived closer!
In 2017 I found Sarah Schlote and enjoyed following her discovery through her somatic experiencing therapy lense into how trauma responses are often missed in horsemanship . I found this helped clarify why I was getting a lot of bodywork type releases from the horses as I was transferring the 'following the feel to relase' from my own rehab into working with a horse. I also had the privilege of my lovely friend and colleague Ruth Drimer find her true path with the Masterson Method in body work at this time and she encouraged me to trust that the work I do is definitely releasing brace not creating trauma in such subtle ways. Watch this space for combined clinics in the future!
And, of course, I can't forget the beautiful herd of horses that I have been the catertaker of for the past 10 years. Spending so much time not riding or being able to move much has enforced me to slow down and be a better listener and observer of some of the greatest coaches, communicators and facilitators I will ever have the privilege to engage with and see in action. Over the past few years, I've seen them transform not only themselves but those horses and humans that have spent time with them. Their social and emotional intelligence without verbal language is awe inspiring. I've seen them teach a sad horse joy, an angry horse peace, a pushy horse quiet presence and a very lost horse to find himself again. Being more aware of how these stifled emotions can create bodily tension and how releasing that tension can free the emotion and vice versa, whilst going through similar experiences in my own healing has made the journey inspiring instead of lonely.
I also have the good fortune to be with someone who understands how important it is to engage in each others' activities. So, since Mick bought his first horse, George, three months after I bought my second horse, another George, in 1999, he has shared the joy and physical labour of horse-owning. Moreover, he is always there to bounce ideas off and encourage me to be the best I can be.
SELF-AWARENESS: MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT
In 2006 I had a simple accident with serious repercussions. I broke my hip: in 2020 I am still rehabilitating with sessions 2-3 times a week.. It was a hard, yet excellent lesson. Thanks to James Shaw in 2007, I discovered a whole other side to riding – it is not just about the horse. .
By 2009 I also began to look at competing in paradressage as a way of moving forwards with Couscous. I had a wonderful lesson with Chris Porterfield during a paradressage talent spotting competition and some with Angela Weiss. I found I wasn't ready to accept the idea of being permanently disabled. It also helped me realise that I felt more inspired to move forward through coaching others than to feel the frustration in my crookedness and pain when I rode.
So later that year, I decided to find a local T'ai Chi trainer and I spent many hours privately and in classes for two and a half years training in Tai Chi and Qi Gong. These armed me, not for martial fighting, but with clear path of how to find and release all forms of tension through the body and to help me understand the dynamics of energy, breathing techniques and a healthy posture without tightness. Sadly this did not correct the extent of the muscle issues because of the injury and subsequent operations.
In 2011, I found Marian, a personal trainer, who specialises in muscle activation. Through my own rehabilitation he is helping me understand more deeply the complex interaction that muscle groups have on each other. This, of course, I then relate to tightness in the horse and see the horse becoming an excellent huge mirror for me to see where I, or a student, is tight. Part of his regime has been a ban on riding since November 2011. This has given me time to read and reflect on a much wider style of training from Carolyn Resnick and Gawani Pony Boy to Sally Swift, Heather Moffet, Andrew McLean, Klaus Hempfling, Steve Halfpenny, Philippe Karle, Gerde Heutschman, Marijke de Jong, Manolo Mendez, Klaus Schoneich, Karen Musson, Kate Sandel, and more!
In 2014 I found the progress limiting with MAT and a I got tired of a trainer who kept telling me that the reason why I can't do the exercises and movement is 'it's 'in my head!!' With this unhelpful phrase been reiterated on numerous occasions, I started to search the internet for 'muscle forgetfulness/loss' and found 'muscle sensory amnesia,' a phrase used extensively by Thomas Hanna. So all excited I started to look for a local educator. Sadly nothing came up so I emailed an american practitioner who was really thoughtful and sent me books to peruse. And then facebook recommended a Hanna somatics workshop in Manchester post which I followed up, attended and met Chris Halliday. Chris has been fundamental in progressing my rehab from the last hip operation in July 2014 using Trager, Hanna Somatics and other modalities when appropriate. His approach has given me a further depth in understanding how the body learns, how the muscles release or hold tension, how retraining the brain rather than pummeling muscles is not only more effective - its also pain-free! The whole process is far more about educating and supporting the client through touch guidance, mindful movement and visualization which has, in turn, affirmed and developed my coaching style. Oh and it's fun!
As Chris always tells me, the brain likes play and new things so I will explore different practitioners online just to enjoy the newness, I do keep going back to Feldenfit by Catherine McCrum and Ryan Nagy - the key is finding someone with a voice I like!
I also feel hugely grateful to friends and all my wonderful long-term students who have become close friends. They support and encourage me on my explorations. They also challenge and question, bringing their own intuitions and processes which means we all grow and develop mentally emotionally and spiritually together in our own unique ways - several heads and hearts are always far better than one!
Of course, all these challenges have been made so much easier by the overwhelming support and encouragement of Mick, my family and friends, Thank you!
BEING A STUDENT
As a trainer it is easy to forget what it feels like to be the learner. How suddenly you can't get something right, or your body seems to have a mind of its own, or simply how it feels to be corrected. I take great joy in learning new skills, partly to keep my creativity and open-mindedness and partly to remember what it is like to learn again, both for the joy and frustration of it! So I've tried many things over the years: rock climbing, paragliding, diving, t'ai chi, canoeing, swing jive, playing the drums and the tin whistle, fencing, but my favourite at the moment has to be playing the double bass. I do find having a good sense of rhythm and riding interwine, so I have great fun in our Bluegrass band, where I am constantly being supported and taught by fantastic musicians - this does make learning fun - I'm just glad it only has four strings!
Alert! Latest amusement - I'm learning how to call line-dancing!!
My core realisation for learning came in an ad hoc conversation with Clarke Baim, during lunch at a sociodrama training ... funny how it is often these moments that give us great clarity.. he graciously repeated back to me words I rattled out intuitively and he suggested I put it on a post-it on my wall. In doing so, this concreted in my mind a powerful understanding of myself and how I am motivated ...
'I am motivated by the exploration of the possibilities not finding THE answer.'
I now know I'll never create a system, a step-by-step guide, a how-to with horses because it simply doesn't interest me and I fundamentally feel it blocks the opportunity for me to learn that there are an infinite number of lenses to explore the horsemanship world.
COACHING
Part of my learning process has been to appreciate that I am a coach at heart; I do not either need or wish to be ‘the expert’. Some of this stems from being trained as a drama facilitator, where my role was to specifically enable people to find the answers within themselves and within each other. I also think growing up in different countries, surrounded by people from many nationalities, has helped me to always look at things from different perspectives. There are as many ways to achieve results from horses as there are people and horses! I'm also lucky to have a mother who also shares an interest in how people tick, so grew up surrounded by a wonderful collection of psychology, therapeutic and self-awareness books and a family which enjoy discussing how to make the world a better place. I know that everyone interaction either horse or human is an opportunity for everyone present to learn.
In 2019 I got more seriously back into Sociodrama, after attending three courses in 2017-18 and re-engaging in the national Action Learning Set for sociodramatists in 2015. I felt supported by more like-minded facilitators instead of the expert/student, saviour/helpless student with dangerous horse models I felt were strong in the natural horsemanship world. In 2019 I was offered a place as a trainee on an Erasmus scheme for creating an international handbook and training for Sociodrama. This took me on travels throughout the year to Hungary, Portugal, Sweden and er.. Birmingham. Immediately I felt totally at home with the practitioners and felt highly skilled and valued. After years of not thinking I was working as a sociodramatist I realised that I had been practicing all along in the horse world! The horses have hugely enhanced my non verbal awareness of communication and I was very welcomed by all especially when tensions ran high at the original meeting and I was able to help redirect and reshape the group non verbally and offer insightful feedback to the facilitators. After years of pushing against the norm of 'expert' vs student model in the horse world, it felt hugely life affirming being with practitioners who also trust in working spontaneously with the energy of the group. I feel particularly grateful to both Valerie Monti-Holland and Di Adderley, both socio drama practitioners and senior UK trainers, who treat me as an equal and a colleague with an equine specialism and enjoy exploring with me how it fits with the horses.
Next step - Jane Pike has opened the door to my latest exploration: into the science of the nervous system and horsemanship, and I have no idea where it's leading, I just know I'm feeling inspired!
I will offer techniques and tools to help you find the inner trainer, so you and your horse can train each other. I'll support and encourage you along the way.