Interview with Andrea Wady - Crossing Bridges

Interview with Andrea Wady - Crossing Bridges.
I'm very excited to announce an interview with Andrea Wady.

I came across a facebook post introducing Andrea's new book and after reading a short extract, I knew this was a lady I would love to hear more about.

We chatted about their amazing adventure in costa rica, alongside one of her companions Elsa Sinclair and equally as amazing their two rescue horses. We also discussed her journey to being a liberty coach trainer and any plans she may have for the future.

I hope you enjoy my chat with Andrea, as she shares a little insight into her journey with horses, from all walks of life.

So sit back, relax and I hope you enjoy this episode.

Andrea Wady - Crossing Bridges.
Now more than ever the Spirit of Adventure is a much needed tonic, like the beautiful bright orange sun climbing over the back hedge outside my window, it is awakening and shaking its tail feathers.

I can feel it calling to me now, it’s time to explore again. Moving home from 18 years in Costa Rica, nursing a sick relative to end of life, and of course the pandemic rather abruptly moved my wandering spirit into repose. But like everything in life, it goes full circle and change is once more coming. I feel myself stretch up and out, ready to embrace a new chapter in life. Do you feel the change in the air?  A planet of beautiful people once more wanting to experience life to the full.

When I left the UK twenty years ago for a vacation in Costa Rica, from which I never returned, I had no idea what an incredible roller coaster of a ride it would be. Sometimes there was WAY too much adventure, sometimes I was overwhelmed by fear, sometimes there was SO much joy I felt I could have bottled it 1000 times over and had plenty to spare. In short, it was the most glorious experience of my life. The pandemic changed all that of course, and as myself and my husband climbed onto an evacuation flight and headed home to the UK to care for family, I don’t mind admitting that I feared adventure would be in very short supply. The first winter back in England, as the world was still locked down, I felt so stagnant! I could hardly lift my feet from the mire. I had to change something, I was yearning for adventure, but I didn’t know what.

I have long learnt to be open to opportunity and know it rarely comes in the way we expect it. I felt so restless, I couldn’t sleep, so at 5am on a frozen white November morning I wrapped myself in a blanket and crunched across the grass to my writing hut. My tropical blood, recoiling at the cold, promptly abandoned my toes and hid deep inside my body. Reaching the relative warmth of the shed, I truthfully had no idea where to start. I held a steaming cup of tea and sat in front of a blank screen. It happened of course, I just started typing and words started to fill my page, I felt the incredible flow state descend like mist around me. In all honesty, I don’t feel like I wrote the words of my book, sure it was my fingers that were on the keyboard, but I finally understood there are stories out there waiting to be told, they just need to find someone to open enough to let them flow through them, that is how it felt for me.

I should never have doubted the universe!
Writing Crossing Bridges was the most incredible experience.
https://andrea

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Transcript

Ronnie: 0:11

Welcome to Equine Voices my name is Ronnie and I'm so excited to introduce a lovely lady Andrea Wady who's going to be talking to you about the work she does and she's also got book out called Crossing Bridges, so I'm going to bring her in shortly and she can introduce herself and just talk about her experience with horses. She has many skills, liberty, connection and mindset work, so without further a due I shall bring Andrea. Hi, Andrea. Welcome would you like to just explain who you are firstly and what sort of work you do with horses.

Andrea: 0:50

Well, thank you for having me, it's lovely to be here. So I am, I'm an equine behaviorist however, my main focus is that I help people understand their horses better, mostly at liberty but it can be not at liberty. It doesn't matter but it's about the relationship. It's about friendship. It's about connecting with your horse through understanding them, seeing the world through their eyes instead of what they can do for us and how we train them, so it's relationship first. So I'm a Liberty trainer, but I'm also kind of a relationship coach to horses and humans. That's what I would say and as a behaviorist, I see a lot of horses in a lot of different situations with different issues and usually the issue is us. So it's teaching people to think a bit more like a horse and being able to understand the world through their eyes and having just a little bit more compassion instead of seeing behaviors as bad behaviors, seeing it as an animal, trying to communicate what's going on, and becoming a bit of a detective to work out what's going on and bringing a gentle, quiet resolve where the horse can step down from having to communicate quite so strongly, so that's what I do. I also am a writer. I've just had my book published, which is Exciting, Crossing Bridges, which is my account of the documentary I made with Elsa Sinclair, and we walked from cost to coast across Costa Rica with two rescue horses, connecting with them using love and understanding and communication instead of tools. And doing as much at liberty as we could safely, you know, with there being roads and impenetrable rainforest. And we made a documentary about that, a film called taming wild and I have just had the book released. So yeah, it's a great time right now. It's super exciting.

Ronnie: 3:06

Sounds really, really exciting. So the horses that you did the Costa rica walk with the track how did you come across them? Were they horses that you found. Yeah. No I'd lived in Costa Rica for a long. In total. I came back to England at the beginning of Covid, but we'd been there for 18 years. We did the film about four, five years ago now, I think. So I knew places where there were horses that needed to get out. One of them being the market, what they call the soasta, which is the animal market. Didn't ever want to go there, but we did go there, and that's where we found Apollo. Who was Elsa's partner for the project and Zeus was in one of the really challenging locations where they do a lot of tourist rides. Very skinny, very broken, and that's where I found him. And we brought them back to our farm and turned them out. Let them just be, We didn't interact with them hardly at all apart for medical reasons. To do their teeth, do their feet, that sort of thing. Left them to it, let them get weight on them and just decompress. And then we started thetreck. So whose idea was that, was it something that you'd thought about before or was it just like I think this will be a great adventure and a knowledgeable one for, for humans and for horses.

Andrea: 4:32

I'd always wanted to do it, I'd had the idea for quite a while. And then Elsa Sinclair, who's amazing, she came to do a clinic with us in Costa Rica, and I told her about what I was planning and she said, Well, I want to come and let's film it. So I said, Well, okay, let's do that. And it was literally that simple. You know, I'm a kind of girl where if a door opens and it seems good, I say yes. I'm like, Yep, let's. I'd rather regret, you know, if I don't do it than not doing it. Should I say so? Yeah, I said yes, it took us about a year and a half to get it all together, cuz obviously we had to get a lot of financing. It was a big operation to cross a country. It took us 16 days to go from coast to coast. Cost rica's quite small, but it goes like that, you know, It was literally up and down and up and down. It was, it was hard going. So the hardest thing I've ever done my life, but by far the best.

Ronnie: 5:32

Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine it cause I've never done it, but I saw a little video. I thought, wow. Cuz there was mud, water hills, flies There was a lot of things there and just doing that on your own, that horses. So was mainly done in hand, you weren't riding with you Am I correct?

Andrea: 5:50

We would occasionally ride. We didn't know, especially with Apollo, we didn't know whether he would let us ride him. When we bid on him at the market. We got a message through to us. After we'd won the bid and paid for it, we got a message through saying, Don't ever get on him. He's really, really dangerous. So I didn't tell else of that. Cause I thought, well, I, I really dislike labels on horses because the horse he was 10 minutes ago is not the horse he is now. And when they're with different people in different situations, you've got to allow them to be the horse that they. And we label things far too much. So I snip those labels off and he was wonderful. And when she did get on him, he was fine ish. mostly fine. So we didn't ride very much at all. I blew my knee out at one point and climbed on, but the goal was to walk from coast to coast using as little touching of the rope as possible. So having a liberty mindset, we had to have the rope for safety cuz you know, we had motorbikes passing us when we were going through the villages and things like that. And obviously, you know, in the first few days we couldn't have been at liberty because they would have left. We didn't have the relationship, we didn't have enough in the emotional bank. But by the sort of first week, end of the first week, we were getting pretty bonded and the rope was really not needed half as much. And our goal was to ride them bare back and bridleless at the end, on the beach, on the beach that we reached. So we started at one beach and ended at another on the other coast with the goal of riding with no equipment whatsoever. Yeah.

Ronnie: 7:32

Brilliant. And did you achieve that?

Andrea: 7:36

You love to watch the film or read the book? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yes, we did. Yeah. Yeah how lovely it was and the thing is there's a lot of trust there on both sides isn't that, you know, horses are big animals and if they wanted to take off, like you said, they could just, they could just go. So that's an amazing achievement. Like I said, even if it was just you without the horses, the fact that you've got Two horses traveling along with you that you've just got to know is, is an amazing achievement. So if we go back a little bit, how did you get into horses? My family were always horses I mean, I started riding when I was about 18 months old. I was tiny just up in front of grandma or mum. Mum rode with me when she was pregnant, I think. So, you know, horses were always a part of our lives. I rode typically English, bought up the English way, you know, kick the horse to go pull the reins to stop, don't let them win. Show them whose boss, don't show your fear. All of those things, which are still quite prevalent today. And I was a fairly decent rider. I was a good rider, but now when I look back, it was all my way. You know, the horses didn't get any choice in that. And I've been on a, a journey really for the last well, the last 25 years, just studying a different way of trying to understand the horse more and have them as a, a friend to really help in the partnership doesn't mean I don't ask them to do anything. You know, people go, Oh, well then you just love on them in the field. No, that's not it at all. We crossed a whole country. I ask a lot of my horses, but they're also allowed to say no. And that was what was different when I was young, that no was absolutely not an option. It was not an option. We would do whatever. It took things. I'm not proud of whatever it took to get that pony to jump the jump or stand still or do whatever cuz that's, that's the way we were taught.

Ronnie: 9:47

And that's the way you was taught, isn't it? And when you first starting to ride, I was the late bloomer as far as horses concerned. When you learn about them, you read and listen to people and then you get to a point where you thinking, this is not quite right, As you get older or something happens and you start to look a bit wider and you start to look deeper into things and think you know, why do we do it that way? Just cause we've always done it that way it doesn't mean to say that it's Right. And that can go across the board for lots of things in life, people are great on traditional, but that's tradition. Yeah. Well, doesn't mean it's right. They used to hang people, that was tradition, but thank God they don't do that anymore. Oh, that was a bit deep, wasn't it?

Andrea: 10:29

Ah, no, but, but it's true, I mean, most of the horse tradition comes from the military model. Well, we're not riding horses, thank God into wars anymore and I think to be honest, Ron is a lot of control that we exert over horses is based in fear. Yes. You know, 90% aggression is fear based. on both sides, horses and humans. And I think that this fear of losing control of the horses, and once I started experimenting with allowing them to say no, they weren't taking advantage and I do go, Okay, yes, you can say no. Let me find another way to approach this. And could this be a yes? Okay. So yes, great. Then we get going, but They don't suddenly go, Well, now you're not controlling me. I'm just gonna kick you, bite you, run you over. If you are having to control a horse from doing that, then the relationship is broken, Build trust and build relationship, and they have no reason to try and hurt you. Why would they want to and it's never too late. It's never too late to change your relationship with your horse. They are one of the most forgiving species. And I can't tell you how quickly some relationships will turn around. Literally, I say to my students, Everything can change in a heartbeat, and it really can. When we start to go, Who do I need to be to connect with this horse? Who do I need to be? Usually calmer maybe understanding the species more, maybe speeding up. Some people go too slow for their horses. It's usually the other way around. But who do I need to be? And when we start to do that, the horse goes, You're listening to me, you're observing me, you are noticing me and they love it. I love it.

Ronnie: 12:17

Yeah you can change something very, very quickly, your mindset, your energy, or Sure or how you approach something and sometimes it's just getting outta your head for that moment when you realize that you're busy doing something with your thoughts and your horses are almost like, Hello, are you there? And you go, Oh yeah, okay. And then they pay you the attention. They give you the acknowledgement that you're looking for.

Andrea: 12:41

So checked out that they've given up trying.

Ronnie: 12:44

Yeah there are a lot of horses that have jobs to do, they have a role to fulfill and yeah.

Andrea: 12:49

There's nothing wrong with that, I had working horses mm-hmm. For 12 years in Costa Rica but they were so wide awake. Yeah. It's not what you do with the horse, it's how you do it you know I think horses quite like having a job. If it's a job they enjoy. Yes. They don't always enjoy it, but if they do enjoy it, they can be wide, wide awake, and super connected. and love their work.

Ronnie: 13:15

And it's about having a choice. Like you said, they can say no. Sometimes you might have to do some because it's for safety or you have to do a certain thing. Sure. But the majority of the time they get to say I'm not quite comfortable with that or, I'm not ready for that yet. Are you listening to me? And then you see that? Then they go, Okay. So for my work a horse can relay that they are ready to do something. So they will say, Yep, I'm ready. I would like this. And you can ask'em the question. But it doesn't mean to say that when you go out to see your horse on a physical level, that just say, Yeah, get on me, Let's go. Sometimes they might, but they might still want you to have put in the work, so mentally the saying Yes but you are not ready physic. You're saying yes, but you're not ready and that's an interest in dynamics because they go, Well I thought they said yes, they did, but you are not ready. And I say that to myself as well, So when I'm having conversation myself, Okay, I'm not there yet. And I find that fascinating because it's not quite black and white. There's different degrees. Yeah. I'm interested in the Liberty, I used to play around with Clicker. To do some things with my horse because I wasn't riding her, I wanted to still occupy it, so she wasn't just in a field, I wanted to interact with her. So we used to play around with Click and I read a book, but it was more what we would learn together so she understood if I did something that was Yes, you've got it. That's what I'm asking. It might not be the right way. If you read a book but it was our language she understood.

Andrea: 14:41

We It works, it works.

Ronnie: 14:43

Yeah and that brought lots of interesting connections and fun. And you could see her trying to work things out. Sure. So I'm interested in the liberty. So explain a little bit more about liberty.

Andrea: 14:56

Liberty is a great way to work with a horse. So obviously they have no equipment on them. Clicker training, you can create a liberty connection. Positive reinforcement. You don't really need to have a clicker, you can just use your voice. It's great for teaching behaviors. There's many different forms that get called liberty. A lot of natural horsemanship you know, you'll create a pattern online with the rope, and then you take the rope away and you still have the pattern and that's liberty. That's not the type of liberty that I teach. I used to love it. I still love it. But that's kind of training without ropes. So the horses learnt a pattern. So mentally they've learned I can't leave cuz I've got the rope on me, and then the ropes taken away and yes, they can leave they absolutely can leave, but they also know that if they do leave, you're probably gonna apply a little bit of pressure on them using the stick to come back. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that at all. I used to do it. It was fun. But one day I have this horse called Archie, who was a phenomenal horse. I could run around in 400 acres of rainforest at liberty. It was the natural horsemanship, perelli style, liberty. It was great. I loved it. We would run around the forest, jump over logs together. It's brilliant. And then I was thought, Oh my gosh, our relationship is so great. I don't need the ropes. I'm gonna leave the stick behind. I don't think I need the stick. So out we went, running around, it was great. I was like, Oh my gosh, this is brilliant I don't think I need the treat pouch. I'm gonna leave that behind. It's just gonna be me and him. And we went around the forest, it was brilliant. Next day I went out and he kind of left me a bit, but he came back and left him a bit. Day three, he left me for dust and I was like, I went back and got my stick and my treat pouch and he stuck to me like glue and I was like, This isn't real to me. I need to know how can I ask him to stay with me when I have nothing? So it wasn't that I didn't agree with the other stuff. I just wanted more. I wanted more. I'm like, how do I get him to feel like my dog does when I go out? And it was a long journey. And the first thing I had to do was kick my ego down the street and ask and expect less and learn to understand his world a lot more and it was a journey and it's been amazing. So the type of liberty that I teach, like to think of it like a foundation. Okay. It's like creating the ultimate friendship, the ultimate unbreakable partnership where that horse trusts you completely and you trust him. And on that foundation you can then go on and build the house that you want. You can use positive reinforcement, clicker training, classical, dressage, it doesn't matter Western. It doesn't matter what you do. It's just building that relationship first so that you have so much money in the bank with that horse that when you want to ask for something under saddle or whatever, you've got the funds in that Friendship bank to pay for. And anytime things aren't working, you revert back to that friendship. It's a foundation that's the way I like to look at it. Yeah. So when I'm at liberty with my horse, I'm not asking her to do lots of things for me. I'm watching the outside environment to see that she feels safe and can relax because I've. I'm watching the outside environment. She doesn't have to, so she thinks, Well, I wanna stick with you cuz then I feel safe. I make the choices for her. Like I'll see her flies landed on her, so I'll lit her. When she walks, I wanna match her feet and get in rhythm with her. I'll ask her to follow my hand. Can you come with me? Great. I'll walk at yourspeed If you're gonna follow me, then I'll match your speed, not expect you to keep up with me, you to stick to me, you to stop when I stop. Although the stopping when I stop is valuable and I do use that. But it's about creating, making yourself the most rock solid person that that horse wants to be with you. Yeah. Yeah.

Ronnie: 19:39

So it's evolved. From when you first start.

Andrea: 19:44

I'll still pick up a rope and a training stick to say Okay, let's do a bit of sideways, Let's do a bit of back. Because having a horse that's responsive and can move off pressure is really important. When people go, Oh, I'm gonna train my horse using no pressure whatsoever, I wouldn't do, I wouldn't do that because there's gonna be a time when the vet needs to put the Holter on. There might be a time, like for some of my students, a lot of my students are in America. The mountains on fire, that horse has got to get in that trailer or it's gonna die, pressure had to be used. So if a horse has never had that, that's very unfair to them. To expect them then to suddenly understand what a pull on the rope means. Hopefully you don't need to but it's important for them to understand that you can teach it and not use it, but it's important.

Ronnie: 20:33

Yeah, absolutely and there's different degrees. Sure. When you learn in something and you get excited, you read and you watch, I mean, I do, you just absorb it and you want to see. And then as you practice or you try things at yourself. So when I said I do clicker, it's not the rule book of clicker it was our communication and it was a way great that I could help interact with my horse and for her to have something to do for her mind to be active even if she wasn't ridden and. And then I would just use my mouth and Sure. And then it got to be where you didn't need to give treats, it was the interaction. Sure. There'd be sometimes when she'd say I'm not in the mood today. And you have to think, Oh okay, well if I give you a bigger treat, would you be in the mood? But that's fine, she's not in the mood. Because if I gave her a bit extra it would be you know, I'm not in the mood and I'll take it. So should be a bit more assertive. So for me, that was okay we'll stop there and when you try things, So you started with the robe and like you said, you found out that actually that wasn't the connection that you wanted. But by doing that and seeing as you developed Into what you thought you wanted, which is what you're doing now. You saw the difference and there's a lot of learning in those gaps, am I making sense when I say that?

Andrea: 21:55

Yeah, yeah. Well, everything's about learning and for some things as well, it's about learning what you don't want to do. You know, I've been incredibly blessed to train with some of the best liberty trainers in the world, and I've loved every second with all of them. Parts, I think, Oh yeah, I can use that other parts. I think that's not for me. And that's okay. And what I say to my students is, you know, don't follow my way like a dogma. Use what works for you. So basically go around, get as many ingredients as you can from as many people as you can, and then make your own cake with your own flavors and make it your own. And I think that's really important.

Ronnie: 22:39

Yeah, I like that analogy. Cake I've got a soft spot for cake Me too. Yeah it's funny cause I was describing that about something else to somebody. You can have all the ingredients but then maybe one bit missing and that's difference between a nice cake and a special cake

Andrea: 22:56

That's true and you know that special ingredients, if we're referring it back to horses, that can come in unusual places and the best teachers of all of them are the horses. If you sit and observe a horse, I say to my students, What does your horse like? Oh, he likes his food. Let's dig a bit deeper than that. You know, watch them in the field. What do they do? How do they move? Who do they prefer to be with? How often do they sleep? You know, really learn everything you can about the horse, because that's obviously how they like to do things. And then you can bring that into your training. Like if you see that your horse loves to rest and close his eyes a lot, use that in your training. Ask for your turn. Do what you wanna do. Ask them to put a bit of effort in, and when you feel like they've made a really great effort, wonderful, let's just stand still together and let them have a dose. And then they start to go, Well, I don't mind that Ronnie's asking me to do stuff because I know I'll get my turn to have a little nap in a minute. You know, I would love to revolutionize the way that lessons are done, you know, an hour of just drilling and schooling and I think so much is lost. You know I trained with Anna Maroch in Poland, who's fantastic trainer, and she'd do like between four minutes to six minute increments and that was it. And take a break and that's how my horses, you know when I was in Costa Rica, I had some phenomenal bridleless horses. And people were like, Yeah, but you must spend hours training them. It's like, absolutely not five to 10 minutes a day maximum. I'm too busy, I don't have time to do hours and hours. And they would retain it. Whereas I see people that are drilling them a lot and the connection breaks. It's too much.

Ronnie: 24:41

Yeah fascinating. I was gonna ask you a question and I was too busy listening, which just went straight out of my head. So you was in costa rica for eight years. 18. 18 years sorry. And then you you came back for Covid, so you are based in the UK now.

Andrea: 24:57

In Cornwell? Yeah but most of my students, well, I have a lot of students here in England but a lot are in America. Australia, New Zealand, cuz I have an online course so That's where a lot of my students are now. I was teaching clinics before Covid, but I don't really wanna go back to the clinic setting. I find that the horses are quite stressed when they come cuz it's a new place and they have new friends everywhere and the students are anxious cuz there's people watching. So I much prefer to kind of work with people online and it's super successful. People make really, really great changes with their horses.

Ronnie: 25:34

So if somebody's interested in joining your online courses how does that work? They go to your website, how does it start? Yeah, so basically it's a four module course with like 10 lessons in each module. Loads of extras, like you get the film and extra program of me starting with a new horse. And it's the full start to finish of how to create pure liberty with your horse and a friendship including them following you at liberty, stopping together, backing up together, all of those things leading ultimately to brid riding, although I don't teach prideless riding in that course. And then you can submit videos, you endless access to me to ask questions and then we are starting to have a once a month student sort of webinar where everyone can ask questions. There's tons of information in it. Yeah, it's great. I'm really proud of that course. So I saw on your website you got liberty connection and the freedom and the mindset. So do you want to talk a little bit more about the mindset.

Andrea: 26:38

Well, the mindset just comes down to us, doesn't it? If you see your horse as a servant, it's gonna be very hard for you to look at yourself and go, Who do I need to be for this horse to connect with me? It would only be this horse needs to connect with me. He's the one that needs to make the changes. Okay? So I think it's about learning to slow down enough to realize that horses aren't a piece of sporting equip. They are incredibly intelligent, incredibly sensitive cognitive learners, and the more we do far horses in the way that we control them, you know, we tell them where to put their feet, where to put their head, where to put their body. They just stop learning. They just go into learn helplessness and they shut down. So it's about slowing down enough to let that horse have an opinion to allow them to say no, and you go, Huh, I wonder why they said no. Is there a way that I could maybe change my body language? Ask in a more subtle way, ask in a clearer way? Because you know what? Honestly, horses want to say, yes, they do. They want to work with us. It makes their life easier and they actually enjoy it. It depends how we ask. So it's about focusing on a liberty mindset. Even if you have them in a halter or you are riding them with rains, act as if you are not, How can I be so clear in my body that this equipment isn't needed? How can I use my focus and intention enough that this horse already knows what I want? How many times have you, I dunno how experienced you are in riding but how many times have you been thinking. I just wanna, I'm gonna canter and bu that horse counters, or, Oh, I'm gonna stop and the horse stops. You know, you can get it on a thought basis. Absolutely a hundred percent backed up with body language, then equipment if you need it. But because we have equipment, we tend to overuse it. And the horse doesn't get to think, they don't get to feel a connection with you because you are not even exploring that. You're just using your tools to control. So it's about changing that mindset of like, my tools are here for safety and communication if needed. Tools being rained, tools being, you know, ropes holders. Doesn't mean that you don't use them, but use everything else first. Your connection, your balance, your body language, your clarity, your focus. And you might find you don't need to use those tools half as much as you thought you. I have students, sometimes when I was teaching, clinics would come in and I'd help them and guide them, and they would just achieve the most beautiful liberty. Their horses, following them around obstacles with no treats, no sticks, no ropes. Beautiful blowing out to stop, and the horse would stop perfectly beside them. Then they'd put their Holter. To leave for safety. They're going out across the yard and they're either dragging the horse or the horse is dragging them to the grass and eating and I'm like, You were just flowing around at liberty when you had no equipment and now you've got it and you're not even on the same page. So it's that mindset.

Ronnie: 29:59

I had to that when you said about riding, I very rarely and she's 20 and I've had her since she was four Aw. So that's why interacting with her in other ways was really important for me. Nice. So the riding side, is like wow you know, when I do that, it's like I won the lottery, in fact, just sitting on my horses, like the lottery.

Andrea: 30:18

It's gift. It isn't it? If they grant it, it's a gift. If we take. It loses some of its sweetness.

Ronnie: 30:24

Yeah it is. It's very different. Can I share a story with you? I dunno why I'm sharing this one. I'm gonna share it with you. It was quite a few years ago, I'd come off my horse but it wasn't her fault it's a long story, but when I got her, I thought she was more schooled than she actually was. And I was just excited that I got a horse and I just wanted to put this saddle on and go and that taught me a big lesson. But I did ride her. But then I, I, I stopped riding her because something else happened and, and I thought, well she was diagnosed with something and I thought, Right I don;t enough about it so I'm not going to ride her but on hindsight, if I'd kept riding, it would've been better. I'm digressing, so a friend of mine said, Why don't you come and ride a pony, she looked outta this pony. She said Come and have a ride she's lovely And I was like, Oh, I dunno. You know, my legs go to Jelly. just thinking about it. Anyway, she says, Come on, let's go for a little ride. We'll just go for a walk out and she's a dear friend and I knew she'd look after me. And so we went for a ride and I got on this pony. And I thanked her, thank you so much for allowing me on your back, thank you so much. And we just went for a walk and it was lovely. Went for a nice workout. And it was, it was just bliss, it was just bliss. And I was just sending her heart vibes and saying, Thank you this means the world to me. You know, had no idea. Oh yes she did. She did. so she shared something with me. I was asking her, she's okay and if she's comfortable and she, she said I'm quite happy to carry you and that's fine because I know what that means to you. And she didn't say'em in these words cuz that's not how they communicate with me but that's the essence of it but she says my saddle is not right. And I do need something address. So when we got back from the ride, my friend knows me so she knows you know what I do. And I said, I've really enjoyed that, that was such a treat, but I wouldn't get on this horse again after what she just told me. So I said, Is there any way you can let the owners know? She said it's a bit difficult, you know? So I said, Well she's said she needs something addressing cuz the saddles not right or she's not right, it's not right. And So we left it at that and I think it was probably the week after the Pony was owned by her carer who was up at uni. She came back to ride her and she'd had a most of her life and I think it was a few days I'd come back to my friends, and she says, Oh my goodness she says, The horse that you rode, her owner came back from uni and went for a ride and came back and she booked her off and she said she's not comfortable. So she said, Then I mentioned you know, the conversation. I dunno why I've shared that story with you.

Andrea: 33:01

No I mean, it's great and yeah, horses do communicate. I think everyone can have the ability to hear them. Mm-hmm. I think we've forgotten how to do it, a lot of people. I get messages, which it's great. I don't get them from every horse. But I've learned to trust what I do and especially with me, my own horses, if you have a good relationship with them, you can have a conversation with them, whether they're there or not, if you're away. I can remember one time I was in America teaching and my horses were in Costa Rica and I was in the back of a car and it was a really long car journey and I thought, I'm gonna see if I can tune in with coco, so I just thought of her and brought her to my mind's eye, and then I suddenly got the most stabbing pain in my thigh. And I thought, That's really weird. And I was like, Have you hurt your leg? Are you hurt? Thinking I've gone insane, but I'm gonna just go with this anyway. And I got an instant message back that, yes, I've hurt my leg. So I phoned up my friend in Costa Rica, I said, What has cocoa done to her leg? And she went, Who told you? I told people not to tell you. I was like, No, Cocoa told me and she injured her leg. So I've learned not to doubt it. And I say to everyone ask your horse the question and trust the answer that comes into your head immediately. And oftentimes it'll be. Transferred well for me anyway, into words that I wouldn't normally use and yeah, I think anyone can do it.

Ronnie: 34:39

Oh, absolutely it's there we can all do it but I think when it's our own horses, you know so much about your own horses that you dismiss a lot of things that they're relaying to you yeah and it comes in many forms. It comes in pictures, it comes in words, it comes in feelings as you did. Or a mixture of all different ways or just to knowing, just to knowing that you're connecting so.

Andrea: 35:01

When the book I talk about all that is, and obviously in the book one chapter is me telling my story how it was for me on the track. And the next chapter is Zeus, my horse partner. It was his voice telling his part of the story. And yeah, the communication is there and we talk about in the book all that is, which is, you know, mother Nature, universal energy. Some might call it God, whatever you wanna call it. Animals have a way of communicating with each other. I see inter species communication all the time, and it's not just body language. I'll see a fox go across the field and there'll be an interaction between them and the horse. And because we don't understand it, we're just dismissive or they're just looking at each other. It's not, there's something going on and that's what all that is, is has a way that universally we can communicate with other species. We've just blocked it out with all of our mental chatter, our busyness, our noise, the internet. You know, we're so focused on here instead of here that we've lost that sort of convers way of, of looking at energy and it's there. And I think everyone can relate to times when they've been out in nature somewhere far away from all the busyness of life and they feel different. They feel more connected to the earth, they feel. More grounded. And that's when it starts to flow. The communication abilities start to flow, and then we step back into normal life. And pet lunches need to be made, and jobs need to be done, and kids need to be sorted out. And you know, it's understandable that we then lose that ability, but if we can find that time to connect that with nature, there's so much more there. It's incredible.

Ronnie: 36:57

Absolutely I describe it as radio signals, They're always floating around, always. And they're just looking for somewhere to land sometimes, especially if it's somebody that wants help and soon as they know there's a connection they will go to that, then it's up to you to what you do with it. And it's so therapeutic just being out in nature, just being quiet and just being still, it's just so therapeutic. It's so rewarding. Very healing. Yes, it is very, very healing. And I think that's what horses, they give us the opportunity to discover that, they give us the opportunity if we can see that.

Andrea: 37:34

You can see it and hear it yeah.

Ronnie: 37:35

Yeah. Because you can have a horse and you can visit your horse 2, 3, 4 times a day, you can do the normal things. You can do all of those things. But they know the difference between that and just being in their energy, being in their presence. Yeah. For no reason. And that's really powerful.

Andrea: 37:51

Yeah and you just touched on it. It's being in their presence, but it's also being present. You know, people say to me, Oh, well I just don't have time. It's like, even if you can only spend two minutes with your horse, just be present for those two minutes and it will mean more to them than you being there chatting with your mates or on your phone or being completely disconnected from the horse for an hour. Just make the time that you have with them count. And people say it's difficult cuz I'm in a livery yard or whatever. It's like just explain to people, listen, not being funny and I'm not being rude. We'll catch up for a cup of tea in the chat room later. But when I'm with my horse, I'm with my horse. Because it's a bit like when you, you're with people and you're on your cell phone, whatever it is rude. And it's the same when you're with your horse just give them the dignity and the honor of being present when you're in their company. And they'll start to give you more than you can ever imagine once they know you're present and that you are connected with them and I think the word connected is overused in the horse industry, to be honest but it's a friend. People go, I don't want my horse to be my friend. I want him to jump for me, or whatever. It's like if I'm jumping over a fence, I want that horse to be my friend. I want him to be my friend because then he'll look after me and I'll look after him. And like I said before, they want to say yes, but don't take it from them. Give them the dignity of being a partner to them where you will listen. Put your point of view across and ask in a way that they can easily say yes, rather than having to fight them and force it and take it. And similar as people, sometimes you'll get a person that's a morning person or an afternoon or evening and depending on your routine horses are the same. Like you said earlier, I think if you know it's their rest time or, you know, they, they like to slow down and do something, I'd usually say go sit with him if you can. I mean, night. I was talking to somebody the other day that wintertime is a great time because if your horses say they come into this table or they're in the field and you're going down in the evening and you don't have to rush home, you can just sit with your flaska tea and just sit with them and just listen to them munching on Hey, that is such a lovely sound and you can hear them and if they're chewing softly and then they start to breathe and then you can. Yeah, you can see your, your breath is slowing down and there slows down and then you close your eyes and then you can hear a, as they blow out and then you do the same. It's heart can hear it. I mean, it's been scientifically proven that our heart's come into coherence with horses. Yeah. And vice versa. And I always say that question of who do I need to be? You need to be a person who's, the horse feels he can converge with. Yeah. You know, it's like a metronome effect. It would all come into sync. Yeah. And not beat yourself up when you make mistakes. Cuz we all do and we all have always things that go on in our life, get cross, but get over it. I'm sorry, I messed up. I mess up all the. Mess up all the time. I'm beautifully human. We're all gonna make mistakes. We're not Horses and horses make mistakes too You know, when I say we're not horses, you know we can't know what they're thinking all the time and do the right thing all the time. But the one thing we can do is keep anger out of the equation. Anger has no place with horses. That said, we're all gonna do it at some point where it's. Something presses that button and when that happens, you just immediately recognize it, let it go, and go and say sorry and they will not hold it against you.

Ronnie: 41:50

Thank goodness for that So I'm really excited, I haven't read your book yet, but I'm definitely going to have a read. The extract that I read was like, Okay, I need to speak to this lady. Cuz that was a bit that stuck out. So in your travel, what's the main thing, there'll be lots of things that you've learned, what is the main thing that, that's really stuck with you? That when you recall that you think, Wow, you know, what, what's, what's the thing that you remember from that, from that adventure?

Andrea: 42:21

Slowing down. Slowing down enough that I could see what was right in front of my face, which was a horse who wanted me to connect with him, who wanted me to see the world through his eyes, who wanted to share so much with me. And when I got past the need to control everything, set the pace, set the direction set where he was standing, stay by my shoulder when I just got over all of. Being so aware of this incredible animal that was willing to share his life with me and it was incredibly humbling and also I think the thing for me was learning how we just don't move enough with our horses. They would have walked forever. We awoke something in them that was in their DNA to move and we were doing sort of 18 to 20 miles a day. And they just came alive. They came alive and it was their purpose and they just wanted to keep walking. And when it was over, it was really hard on them. It was really hard on them. And when they came back, they came into about 90 acres of rainforest rivers pastures. It was the most idyllic place for horses and they walk the fence. Yeah, it was hard. But then I think about horses that are in, you know, a tiny field, mono crop, no features, no nothing and they're just shutting down. And I say to people all the time, Take your horses for walks. Just get out and hike with them they love it. And at first they might not, at first, they might be scared of their own shadow, but you will awaken something in them and they will be so happy to walk with you and they love it. And when you're on the ground with them, it's great cuz you can look where they're looking. You can touch things that they want to touch and really experience the walk together. And it's incredibly bonding and you put so much in the emotional bank that then if you do ride and you get on and you wanna ask for PR or whatever it is that you're doing, they're like, Sure, I'll do that with. Because you do things for them. Horses are born to move and they love it.

Ronnie: 44:47

But that's in their dna, isn't it yeah that's how they survive. Yeah. There's a lot more people that want to do trecking and do trecking there's a lot more yeah. A lot more communities that actually wanna just go off doing trial riding but actually not riding a bit of both which I think is lovely. Sure. No, it's amazing. It's so fun. Yeah. It's definitely starting a lot of people wanting to do it. And also learning about yourself. In that way, you've got time to think because you're with them like you said you can feel the movement and you can look somewhere where they're looking or you are experiencing it different to riding, there is a different feel with that.

Andrea: 45:23

Definitely but it can translate up into the saddle as well. Once you do a lot on the ground with them, you'll be so much more aware when you do or if you ride them. Yeah.

Ronnie: 45:35

Yeah. So is there anything in the pipeline that you'd like to talk about? Anything coming up?

Andrea: 45:41

What have we got coming up? Well, the book has been launched, but there's a big launch for it in December cuz the publishers are in America. So that's exciting. We also have our podcast starting myself and Callie King. We're starting with our podcast in November yeah, I know, I'm excited about that. And that's gonna be about a lot of things, not just horses, but travel and outlook on life and that sort of thing. We have a big event. C and my myself are doing a reconnect with your horse event in America in May. So that's exciting and then I'm gonna be starting my next book. So lots going.

Ronnie: 46:22

Wow. Yeah. You're going to be a very busy lady, what's your next book about

Andrea: 46:27

Is it a secret? No, not really. I worked with dog Rescue in Costa Rica a lot, so it's gonna be woven around that. Yeah.

Ronnie: 46:39

Exciting. It's your passion, it's what you want to do. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Well I wish you all the best with your book Crossing Bridges, but I don't think you'll need it. It's been lovely chatting with you. I do feel we, you scratch the surface, it would be nice maybe with you and Kelly once you've Absolutely.

Andrea: 46:55

Yeah, that would nice. I would love to do that and maybe when you read the book and if you have any more questions, we'll jump back on together for sure.

Ronnie: 47:02

Yeah, that would be lovely. Thank you for agreeing to come and chat with me, Andrea it's been an insight into your amazing journey, your life.

Andrea: 47:11

Oh, I've really enjoyed it thank you.

Ronnie: 47:12

And yeah, so if you'd just like to, Cause I know you're on a timeframe tonight, that's why I'm just conscious of the time. So if you'd like to say bye and any party message.

Andrea: 47:21

Sure well thank you everyone for listening. I've really, really enjoyed it. And if I could leave you with one thing, it would be look at the world through the eyes of your horse.

Ronnie: 47:31

Thank you that's perfect. What? Amazing lady, what amazing lady. Yeah, we definitely scratch the surface. I had more questions in my head, but we are short on time, so we'll say that for another time. I hope you enjoy that too. My guests come on, they give their own time and their own experience through life and they share their stories and I find that fascinating, it's nice to interact with different people from all walks of life. Thank you again for joining, I shall see you soon. Take care and bye for now. Thank you.