Equine Assisted World with Rupert Isaacson

Many of you have probably heard of Polyvagal Theory; it’s a bit of a buzzword these days in the mental health community. But what is it exactly? And how does it relate to equine work? Well, who better to explain it to us than Dr Rebecca Bailey, co-founder of the Equine Polyvagal Institute in California. Dr Bailey, a longtime family therapist and also an equestrian, has a wealth of experience working with trauma and psychological conditions of all shapes and sizes. A leader in the field, she directed the Sonoma County Police Department's Youth and Family Services Program, trained psychologists and therapists for the Marin County DUI Program, founded Transitioning Families, which trains health practitioners to assist families going through crisis, and works with national organizations such as the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children. Her background speaks for itself.But along the way, Dr Bailey also became drawn to the work of renowned psychologist and neuroscientist Dr Stephen Porges, a professor of psychiatry at North Carolina University Chapel Hill, whose Polyvagal theory - which describes how our autonomic nervous system provides us with a range of ways to respond to the world around us, including traumatic or dangerous experiences - determines not just our state of the moment but also our general world view and therefore our behaviors and long term destiny. Understanding the Vagus Nerve, so called because is wanders all over the body and touches every organ, and three of its key functions can unlock cycles of thoughts and behaviors that don't serve us and can help us retrain our nervous systems and brains into ways that do. But how? Well, listen as Dr Bailey explains it in plain English that even Rupert can understand!It’s not all science though. Dr Bailey also takes us on a fascinating personal journey through her background and work with horses and clients, some of whom faced situations most of us could not imagine surviving, her time with legendary counterculture rockers The Grateful Dead, her thoughts on altered states of consciousness, all wrapped up with plenty of humor.So buckle up, have your notebook handy and join us on a fascinating dive down the rabbit hole of the autonomic nervous system that is at once educational, informative, entertaining, and gives we Equine Assisted folks real, practical tips for how to bring this into our practice.Books mentioned:Equine Connection and Polyvagal https://amzn.to/3XK84av Save Kids Smart ParentsPolyvagal in the courtroomAppeasementJC Dugard: A Stolen life https://amzn.to/3O5bqStMargie McDonald: Notes from the barn https://amzn.to/3O8lkms Contact Dr. Bailey: [email protected]://polyvagalequineinstitute.com/ Find our other Programs and Shows:https://RupertIsaacson.com

Equine Assisted World was partly inspired by the work of an (until now) unsung heroine Terri Brosnan, of ChildVision in Dublin, Ireland. Coming into the field of therapeutic horsemanship later in life, after a three-pronged parallel career in sport horses, construction, and IT, Terri quickly noted the factionalism and rivalry within the world of Equine Assistance in general and realized that it was holding the field back, especially in terms of governmental and insurance recognition. But instead of just complaining about it, Terri did something about it, setting up the organization Equine Assisted Ireland to bring all of the modalities under one umbrella and presenting their results to the powers that be. This bore fruit, gaining funding from Ireland`s governing equine body - Horse Sport Ireland - to put together a training program for equine professionals from the sport horse world to orient themselves towards careers in the therapeutic and equine assisted field; the first such government funded initiative of its kind. Terri also used her geek side to dive into the world of neuroscience to help serve the 100 or so children a week that come to ChildVision with combinations of visual impairment, autism, cerebral palsy, chromosomal conditions and numerous other challenges...all done in a small arena next to a rugby field. Terri operates this cutting-edge program in the very center of Dublin, serving children that live in tenements and high rises. Join us on a fascinating journey - from Terri's childhood in Belfast during the Troubles, in which her family business was bombed, her neighborhood regularly shot up, and which trained her in conflict resolution, which has resulted in her bringing peace to the factions within the equine assisted field. Learn how later, in the green fields of Tipperary, under the mentorship of the legendary Croome-Carroll family, she absorbed the best of traditional Irish horsemanship and then dived deeper into classical lunging, long reining and in hand work to produce horses even in the inner city, so bursting with well bring that when she went to demo ChildVision`s methods at the Royal Dublin Show, people assumed her therapy horses were show horses and made multiple offers to buy them; testament to her philosophy that if a horse does not have well-being it cannot transfer well-being to a human. Terri also talks us through how her career as an construction engineer and IT guru led her to see the value of systems thinking, which she has applied to the cutting-edge work now being down at ChildVision - and how tribe and teamwork are the essential core of this. There aren't many out there like Terri Brosnan. Join us as we find out why. Organizations mentioned:International Association of Human Animal Interaction Organizations (IAHAIO) https://iahaio.org/ Horses in Education and Therapy International (HETI) https://hetifederation.org/ Equine Assisted Ireland https://www.facebook.com/EquineassistedIreland/ Notes: Magnocellular Pathways.—helps mapping for riders with visual impairmentsContact Terri [email protected],[email protected] [email protected] ChildVision Dublin https://Childvision.com Find our other Programs and Shows:https://RupertIsaacson.com

Sometimes the cutting edge is not where you expect to find it. Way down in Birmingham, Alabama Joy O’Neal’s Red Barn has quietly been creating technology to address the potent mix of neuro-psychiatric, emotional and physical challenges faced by children and families caught up in the foster care system. We use the word technology deliberately here – the word does not always mean simply mechanical or digital engineering; it also means the know how on a cellular level to provide human solutions for human dilemmas.Seeing first hand how the challenges of her own blended and special needs family responded to horses, Joy O’Neal, despite having had no horse background at all growing up in poverty in the Alabama backwoods, rose to the challenge of fulfilling the dream of a friend and riding mentor for her own family who wanted to make equine therapy available for people on low income. Perhaps the lack of horse background proved a strength here: Joy O’Neal set out to learn a range of equine and other healing approaches. With an unusual lack of prejudice, combining them into a potent cocktail of service that now serves as a beacon for effective and holistic equine therapy. Joy is also an advocate for women’s heart health, having survived a near brush with death this way herself. And because of this knows that the most important thing is providing joy (pun intended) in every moment of every day. Or at least as much as circumstance will allow. Join us on a fascinating exploration on how Red Barn combines a number of new approaches to achieve well being not just for children and families but also for the horses that serve them. Remember to send us questions for Joy’s follow up episode at [email protected] can find out more about The Red Barn at www.theredbarn.orgLike always also check out our other programs and shows at www.RupertIsaacson.com and subscribe to our newsletter here.

Joell Dunlap runs Square Peg Foundation one of the most successful and pioneering equine assisted programs in North America. Starting with a simple idea: how could the quirky kids find a place in the world of riding as a sport when the world of dressage and hunter jumper barns can be so judgemental and unforgiving. She fell into creating programs for people with autism, ADHD, depression, eating disorders, and so on first with jumping, dressage and polo and then organically into therapeutic world, but without losing sight of helping them learn and excel as equestrians. The well-being of the equine partner is paramount at Square Peg and Joell is know for doing the impossible, taking off the track Thoroughbreds and putting them through the Old Masters system of training dressage from the ground with in hand work, long reining and lunging. The clients themselves become the horse trainers and end up often finding employment through this program which is now a registered health provision for San Mateo County, CA - aka Silicon Valley. It sounds like a slick path to success but Joell started as a teenage single mother of a child with learning challenges, working at the race tracks galloping two-year-olds in order to make ends meet. No silver spoon here. Her story provided her with the insights and compassion needed to work with challenged and at risk youth, including teenage sex-workers from San Francisco's notorious Tenderloin neighborhood, as well as putting together successful educational programs for kids, that no school would take. Her partnerships with renowned classical dressage trainers, such as the Valenca family from Portugal, Christian Bachinger of the Spanish Riding School and Dominique Barbier have brought her a recognition internationally that she has used to help establish programs as far afield as Europe and Asia. Join us for a fascinating discovery of how Square Peg Foundation makes all this work. And remember to subscribe and share. Find Joell at:Square Peg FoundationFacebookFind more about our programs and showsLive Free Ride Free PodcastNew Trails Learning SystemsLong Ride Home

In this the Pilot Episode of Equine Assisted World, our host Rupert Isaacson - known for Horse Boy Method, Movement Method and ATHENA - takes us through how the world of equine therapies has transformed itself in the last two decades from something aimed primarily at physical disability and adaptive riding, to the current mosaic of approaches for neuro-psychiatric, emotional, clinical, and medical conditions. What are the best practices? How can we identify them? How do we navigate this increasingly complex world through it's exciting and sometimes confusing development?Rupert also tells the story of how he himself became involved in the equine assisted world, primarily through the journeys on horseback with his autistic son. That led to his own exploration of how horses can heal neuro-psychiatric challenges. We also look ahead to some of the exiting figures that we will be interviewing in this first season. Join us for this Pilot and remember to subscribe and share!