about flow horsemanship
What is
flow horsemanshiP?
Flow Horsemanship is not a system or a method.
It is an approach that enables people to develop their own authentic path to bonding with their horse, based on each person's unique talents. Flow Horsemanship expands awareness of energy states and helps to bring you and your horse's energies to a profound level of synchronicity. From this space, all interactions develop with far less scope for misunderstanding, tension or disinterest. You and your horse begin to share a sympathetic resonance. A mutual coherence occurs where both horse and human achieve a flow state. This feels simply wonderful, and horse and human quickly start to seek it out in each other's company.
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Flow Horsemanship looks to find simple pathways that support us on this journey to deep resonance with our horses. Our focus is on our own mindfulness and relaxation so we can invite our horses into that space.
The process can often feel, messy, frustrating and sometimes just downright impossible! Having a loose framework and support to understand the development of our mind, heart and will as we learn to let go of past conditioning supercharges understanding. We can step forward into a space of clear intent and knowing as a response to feedback from our horse. Our inner knowing become a safe anchor in sometimes stormy seas.
liberty as the basis of finding flow with horses
Whether you are interested in liberty with horses or not, there is no denying the fact that liberty reveals the truth of where we are with our horses. Liberty also offers you the opportunity to truly learn from your horse. It offers you the opportunity to hear what your horse is saying to you. Those who never listen to their horse will eventually find themselves with a horse that stops trying to communicate with their human. They will merely lapse into a state of learnt helplessness.
Liberty can act as a kind of 'circuit breaker' where you draw a line in the sand between what was, and what will be. It can help to prove to your horse that you are willing to really hear what they have to say. That their opinion matters.
Perhaps most importantly, it is a huge amount of fun when done in the spirit of non-attachment to any outcomes. I encourage everyone to see what is revealed through free play with your horse. The answers might surprise you!
never ending development
As a never-ending student of the horses, I am always investing in my own development. I am currently on a 2-year professional training programme to become a barefoot trimming specialist. This spring I stayed for a month in Lisbon, Portugal receiving tuition from Antonio Borba Monteiro who was the Master rider at the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art.
Previously, I trained up to a 2* Parelli Instructor before I left to pursue a different path with horses. This path led me to many great horse specialists.
Ingela Larsson Smith (True Connection) helped me to realise the importance of healing your heart as an integral and essential part of developing ever deepening bonds with the horse. Marijke de Jong, Rebecca Gilbert (Straightness Training) and Joyce Mulder (Classical Dressage and Seat Training) showed me ways to develop horses to overcome their natural asymmetry. Shawna Karrasch (Connection Training) opened up the wonderful benefits of positive reinforcement and Jenny Rolfe helped me to understand the role of breath in riding.
Dear Noora Ehnqvist (Sensitive Horse) shone a welcome light on expressing unconditional love, authenticity, sensitivity and deep body awareness. Anna Marciniak helped me to see how calmness needs to form the essential base of all interactions with our horses. Antonio Borba Monteiro (Master rider at the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art) showed me a living example of Zen calm and mastery in classical equitation. Tom Nagel (Zen and the Horse) introduced me to the Psoas muscle, unbendable arms, pushing, not pulling and the Infinite Vertical. Mark Rashid (Aibado) was a revelatory direct experience of softness, connection and balance in a way that is difficult to put into words.
I am very grateful for everyone's input and the journey continues ever onward with 2023 seeing me travel to France for a month to learn from another great Master.
How can i help?
It all begins with a simple conversation.
Whether you are interested in registering to have your horses hooves trimmed or want some support with groundwork, liberty, riding, or all of the above, it all starts with a chat. This is so I can find out a bit more about you and your horse/s and you can find out a little more about me. We can then decide if we are a good fit.
If you are looking for barefoot trimming, please make sure you head on over to my Barefoot Trimming Page so that you know what is involved prior to us speaking.
Please go to my Contact page to start your journey with me.
Meet The Team
Axel
Soul horse and long time source of love, learning and inspiration.
Temple
A horse miracuously transformed. Sweet, affectionate and humorous.
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Timo
Aztec Ultimo lives up to his name. Smart, sassy and stretches me often!
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Sam's commitment to the spirit of the horse is so powerful - her way of being with the horse permits a connection between the very best in us and their incredible energy and presence. She totally changed my approach to working with my horses and I can't thank her enough.
Sam is the perfect guide along the never straightforward adventure of self-discovery - what connects us with our horses and what gets in the way. As always all the horse, human, canine and other companions add to the magic.
It’s hard to put into words but....wow! The five day course transformed my relationship with our horses. Can’t recommend it highly enough. I 've been on two retreat s now and it is a chance to connect deeply with your horse and to understand them more fully. It is a chance with Sam's intuition and knowledge to see what needs exploring more deeply. It is a space to connect to your true self.
So good to have found someone exploring the rich, rich vein between positive reinforcement and the whole gamut of behavioural science- with full understanding of the neuroscience behind learning - AND the infinite possibilities of energy work,of clean intent applied to horse training, and what it might achieve if combined with a level of self awareness that let’s us connect to ourselves as well as our horses. Meeting Sam, listening to her talk, seeing her work the glorious, beautiful, engaged and engaging Axel, feels like coming home to somewhere safe, inspiring and endlessly encouraging.
Flow horsemanship fills a huge gap in the market and does it with integrity, intelligence and magic.
Embarking on this journey with Sam has started to reinstall my confidence with horses with no unecessary pressure and taking it back to basics. With far greater knowledge than previously exposed to I felt very much at ease as Sam provides a safe space for exploration. I am so humbled by how much there is to learn from the horse and this free way of being. One of the many magical moments (and there have been many!) was the lesson in the field with all three horses surrounding us. Never have I observed or partaken in lesson in such a free and natural way. Thank you so much for sharing this way of being.