Shelley Winsor Connected Horsemanship

25/03/2024

Lifelong student of the horse.
Over the past couple of months Memphis and I have attended two clinics. The first was with Ben Longwell True West Horsemanship. I’ve attended 4 or 5 of Ben’s clinics before and love his approach – particularly the focus on how to use our energy and life vs over reliance on tools (flags, rope twirling).
At Ben’s clinic I talked to him about how I felt I was a bit stuck progressing with Memphis. Given her history I've been reluctant to ask her to go faster/move with more dynamism. He reassured me of how far we had come in terms of mental engagement (connection) and to take confidence in that to ask for more movement. Essentially I needed to let go of her past and be confident that she’ll come with me. Well as soon as I mentally made that shift I had a different horse! Was it perfect? No but we now had much more to work with to continue our journey together. So, the lesson here ‘change the way you look at things and the things you look at change’.
The 2nd clinic was with the amazing Elsa Sinclair organised by Jane Pike of Confident Rider. Freedom based training is a whole other dimension and rabbit hole of horsemanship. What I loved about this work was how present, observant and patient you need to be. You have to be very mindful in order to work in this way. It was lovely to hear from Elsa that Memphis and I have a strong connection, she wanted me to be close and to take me places😍. Elsa’s clinic reminded me that this is a lifelong journey with many moments where I thought “I know nothing ” but isn’t that wonderful at the same time? 🐴

10/03/2024

Variety.
It's good to mix things up when working with horses. Heading to a new environment or a favourite place away from the arena or round pen creates an opportunity to further build on connection and harmony. Memphis and I both love the beach. She often doesn't want to turn around for home and insists we keep going. 😅 When she is ready she will often tip toe into the shallows, gaze out to sea, take a deep breath and then say 'ok lets go now'. 🧡

03/03/2024

'Be' Time.
Spending time hanging out and 'being' with our horses can be just as important as the 'doing' when building connection. This is the lovely Dusty - a 7 year old standardbred who has had some pretty major hoof issues that his human Nikola Crossan Haitana is committed to doing everything to help solve. He is a sweet boy who tries his best to find the right answers in his groundwork. We've been working on parking up near the mounting block. Today he figured it out - with the help of some scratches - and we then just chillaxed, held some space to 'be' together - parked up for a good 5-10 mins. Taking some deep breaths (and yawning from Dusty) 🐴🖤

19/02/2024

Welcome to my Shelley Winsor Connected Horsemanship page (take 2 - my original page was hacked!). I have had the idea of teaching horsemanship and developing a leadership through horses program for sometime. Then a piece of magic happened when attending a recent clinic with Amanda Wilson. Memphis and I had one of those lovely connected day's and I found myself being Amanda's demo rider to a whole bunch of pony club kids and a few adult riders. She declared at the end that I needed to be instructing, that not enough people down South were doing this kind of work. So thanks Amanda Wilson for giving me the encouragement at the right time to get moving. For information on lessons or clinics please PM me.

Build the connection you and your horse deserve.