Equine Assisted World with Rupert Isaacson

✨ "I have an idea, but I don't have an agenda, because they build their own agenda." – Sinya NicolSinya Nicol runs Ngara Bush and Life Learning in New South Wales, Australia, an equine assisted practice built on one principle: come with an idea, not an agenda.Ngara is a Worimi word meaning "listening to one another," and the practice works that way. Sinya works from two campuses: a 240-acre farm deep in the bush, about 50 minutes from the town of Foster, and a smaller site about 20 minutes from town with an art space beside the horses. She learns each client's sensory triggers before they arrive and sets up a "yes environment" where she rarely has to say no. She works with children and adults, and her horses are trained as colleagues, not equipment.Rupert Isaacson and Sinya cover her path from a stable near Frankfurt to a Kentucky horse farm, a social pedagogy degree, overland guiding across Africa and South America, and a life in Australia. They talk through how she trains her horses, why she involves clients and whole families, what healing means compared with cure, how reframing a person's story can ease shame, and her plans for donations and paid work opportunities for clients.If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome🔍 What You'll Learn in This EpisodeWhat "an idea, not an agenda" means in practice, and how Sinya lets clients build their own pathHow Sinya prepares for each client, learning sensory triggers beforehand and arranging shade, water, and a way outWhy she runs a "yes environment" and what happens to behavior when there is little to say no toHow a social pedagogy degree (psychology, sociology, social work, and educational science) shapes a person-centered, not deficit-centered, approachHow she trains her horses as colleagues, from jaw flexion and lateral work to lunging with an "anarchy phase" and ridden workWhy she uses a long 19-inch Western saddle so a child can ride in front of her and receive the rocking hip movementHow she involves clients in lunging and free jumping, and how horse personalities lead to conversations about clients' own storiesWhy working with whole families, including siblings and games like tag and Red Light, Green Light, shifts the focus from problems to funHow "yarning time" in the forest let her meet a client in his stories and then step back into daily life togetherWhat the difference between healing and cure means for the workHow helping clients see what they did as what kept them safe at the time can change their story around shameHow she funds her work through NDIS, DCJ, and private payment, and her plans for donations and paid work for clientsHow a partnership with a surfing organization, Fresh Tracks, widens what the practice can offer🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode[00:03:55] Growing up near Frankfurt without a horse of her own, Sinya starts at a local stable, grooming, getting horses ready for other riders, and riding them in walk to dry off, until she is trusted with horses while owners are away.[00:10:10] After finishing school she works for a year at Dixiana Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, watering around 30 horses twice a day and handling stallions, and learns what it means to be unable to communicate in a new language.[00:17:46] She and her husband guide overland tours from Quito, Ecuador to Ushuaia and back up to Rio in an 18-ton truck with 32 seats, planning meals and emergencies while keeping travelers safe and comforted.[00:31:15] In Namibia she works as a social worker in a school hostel in Swakopmund, where some children as young as six are away from their farm homes for the first time.[00:35:03] She explains how she found the name: she was looking for a word for the black cockatoos on her farm and instead found Ngara, a Worimi word meaning "listening to one another."[00:40:00] The yes environment: she asks about sensory triggers before clients arrive and sets things up so she rarely has to say no. She says she reads about behaviors but doesn't see many.[00:56:24] A stuffed giraffe named Geraldine helps desensitize her horses before a child rides in front of her in the long 19-inch Western saddle, receiving the movement while she handles the horse.[01:06:01] During a conversation with a client kneeling in the sand, the free horses come over and lie down to roll beside them while one pony watches. The client is struck by the trust the horses showed.[01:25:28] Sinya shares her grandmother's story of a childhood in wartime Germany, a chewing gum from an Allied soldier, and the lesson her grandmother drew about talking openly about what happened.[01:54:18] Her youngest son teaches her "the power of yet," which she brings into her work: we are not there yet, but maybe we get there.📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources MentionedSinya Nicol – Ngara Bush and Life Learning, New South Wales, Australia https://ngaralearning.com.au [email protected]  New Trails 🌍 Follow UsLong Ride Home https://longridehome.com https://facebook.com/longridehome.lrh https://instagram.com/longridehome_lrh https://youtube.com/@longridehome New Trails Learning Systems https://ntls.co https://facebook.com/horseboyworld https://instagram.com/horseboyworld https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems📊 Affiliate DisclosureLinks to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

 ✨ "It's not the breed, it's the brain." – Nik Lewis Rupert Isaacson speaks with Nik Lewis of Horses R Us NZ, an equine facilitated learning program near Taupo in the Central North Island of New Zealand. For about eight years, Horses R Us has worked with young people and adults, including neurodiverse clients and clients working on social-emotional goals or riding, with no set parameters. As Nik puts it, if they don't know something, they go and find out.What makes the program distinctive is how little of the session is fixed. Nik describes working with whoever "rocks in on the day," keeping an end goal while letting the route change. Clients stay matched with one horse, each with a plan B horse, and in one story a 29-year-old non-verbal client walks and talks a jumpy Thoroughbred calm, reversing the usual roles of helper and helped. Her horses live in herds outdoors around the clock, and they get their own outlet: Nik and her horses also hunt and jump wire fences.The conversation covers Nik's bareback childhood in rural New Zealand, her path from teacher aide and classroom teacher to burnout in 2015, her EAGALA training, her mentorship with a social worker, and the 2018 leap into running the program full time. It also looks at how Māori tikanga, language, Matariki and Māori stories find their way into sessions, and where story and sense of place could take the work next. If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon.If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome🔍 What You'll Learn in This EpisodeHow Nik's "if we don't know, we go and find out" approach shapes a program with no set parametersWhy Nik links the Kiwi "number eight wire" mentality to a flexible, can-do way of workingWhat Nik sees as the difference between outcome-focused and client-focused work, based on her understanding of RDAHow a client and a horse can swap roles, with the client becoming the horse's regulatorWhy clients stay matched with one horse, and how a plan B horse and horse care days keep the relationship goingWhat takiwatanga, the Māori word for autistic, means: in their own time and spaceHow Nik moved from teaching burnout through EAGALA training and a social worker mentorship to leaving a secure income in 2018What Nik found limiting about the EAGALA triangle when she trained, and how she says the model has since evolvedHow hunting and jumping wire fences shaped Nik's riding, and why she says it is the brain, not the breed, that counts in the hunt fieldWhy Nik's horses get hunting weekends as an outlet, and how Rupert describes rotating therapy horses through varied workHow Nik keeps her horses in outdoor herds around the clock and lets them "be horses"How Nik uses volcano language to help younger children notice what their bodies feel before an outburstHow Māori tikanga, language, Matariki and stories such as Tangaroa show up in Nik's sessionsWhy Rupert suggests story and sense of place could be a next step for the work ✨ "It's not the breed, it's the brain." – Nik Lewis 04:34 Nik reaches for "number eight wire," the Kiwi habit of fixing things with whatever is at hand, and Rupert answers with the Afrikaans saying "Ons sal 'n plan maak" (we'll make a plan).11:17 Nik explains takiwatanga, the Māori word for autistic, which translates as "in their own time and space," and Rupert asks her to say it again so he can write it down.18:10 A 29-year-old non-verbal client takes a jumpy Thoroughbred into the round pen while a farmer moves cows nearby, and walks and talks with him until he settles.21:45 Nik explains that each client stays matched with one horse, that most have a plan B horse, and that a horse with an abscess turns the session into a horse care day.54:13 Nik describes growing up jumping eight-wire dry stock fences with battens, and at 1:05:05 explains why she was taught that wire is safer than solid fences.1:06:55 Rupert recalls the Horse Boy trail ride challenge with a big teddy bear in front of the rider, and how Nik took it a step further and hunted over wire fences with the teddy bear.1:09:18 Asked what makes a good hunt horse, Nik says it is the brain, not the breed, and that you can't train for the atmosphere of the hunt field at home.1:44:30 Nik talks about the volcanoes she uses with younger children to name what happens in the belly, the toes and the head before the mouth starts.2:01:45 Nik links a "rompy stompy" child to the god Tangaroa and to nearby Ruapehu, which spits out every now and then.2:15:49 Nik shares how her program celebrates weirdness, including the young client who first looked at rope reins for a week and then wouldn't let go of them.📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources MentionedNik Lewis – Horses R Us NZ Website: https://horsesrusnz.com New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co Patreon Support https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome🌍 Follow UsLong Ride Home https://longridehome.com https://facebook.com/longridehome.lrh https://instagram.com/longridehome_lrh https://youtube.com/@longridehome New Trails Learning Systems https://ntls.co https://facebook.com/horseboyworld https://instagram.com/horseboyworld https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems📊 Affiliate DisclosureLinks to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

Rupert Isaacson speaks with Dr. Amanda Minervini, founder of  EGLHE (Equine Guided Learning And Healing Experience), a nonprofit equine program in Colorado Springs, and professor at Colorado College. EGLHE began taking shape during the pandemic, in response to a worsening mental health crisis. It was built around the preferences of one horse: Jimmy, an off-the-track Thoroughbred who raced as a stallion, was not gelded until after age nine, and was labeled dangerous. Originally intended for Amanda's college students, the program is now open to everyone. It brings together consent-based horsemanship, classical in-hand work, liberty, scent work, and good management, with a core belief that horses have a voice and that humans don't have to be in charge.The conversation walks through how Amanda layers a session so that a horse can safely run free through the woods with people who have never been near a horse, how scent work for horses can build confidence in a spooky horse, and why a horse must always be regulated enough to learn. Amanda also shares what she observed with the medicine paint horses at a Lakota Sun Dance, and she and Rupert explore the sacred in equine-assisted work, consciousness, Saint Francis of Assisi, and how zooanthropology helps her bridge methods rather than choose just one.✨ "I'm trying to show humans that they don't have to be in charge with horses, that it can be a shared enterprise." – Dr. Amanda MinerviniIf you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome🔍 What You'll Learn in This EpisodeWhat  EGLHE is, and why Amanda started it in response to the mental health crisis during the pandemicHow Jimmy, an off-the-track Thoroughbred labeled "dangerous," became the horse  EGLHE was built aroundWhy good management (herd life, a big pasture, free-choice hay) was the foundation of Jimmy's changeHow Amanda layers a session, from herd observation to arena liberty work to free movement in the woodsWhy she never assumes, and works with the horse she has on that dayWhat scent work for horses is, and how to progress from visible treats in an arena to open searching on the trailWhy olfactory seeking work may build curiosity and confidence in spooky horsesWhy a horse must be regulated enough to learn, and what to do when fear is too bigHow novel movement and BDNF connect horse wellbeing, human focus, and Amanda's own 17 years of kung fuWhat Amanda observed about the medicine paint horses and their caretakers at a Lakota Sun DanceHow Saint Francis of Assisi and the idea of humans as "holobiomes" shape Amanda's view of connectionHow a zooanthropology lens helps Amanda act as a bridge between methods, disciplines, and culturesWhy Rupert believes the synthesis of many methods is the next generation of equine-assisted work🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode07:38 Amanda describes Jimmy's past: a stallion on the track, gelded after age nine, labeled dangerous, yet the only one he ever hurt was himself.11:15 A grieving paint mare in her late 20s, who had lost her best friend days earlier, crosses the ranch uninvited and canters alongside the group.13:39 Amanda breaks down the two-and-a-half-hour session: herd observation, arena liberty with a ball and tarp, a lead-line walk, then liberty in the woods.22:14 Amanda credits 17 years of kung fu with giving her the focus to succeed in graduate school.36:00 From treats on barrel tops to hidden scents to scattered finds on the trail, Amanda outlines how scent work progresses.37:32 Riding Jimmy with a rein keeper, Amanda lets him search freely, and he chooses to go over poles without being asked.44:39 Amanda's golden rule: there is no learning in fear, and she has promised her horses she will never put them in a freak-out situation.53:37 Amanda describes students repeating in post-session questionnaires that they felt more balanced, more focused, and even more willing to do homework.1:19:40 Amanda spends two days with the Sun Dance's medicine paint horses and sees them grow eager when it's time for their role.1:23:37 Rupert recalls his horse Clue leaving the herd to sniff and lick a child in a wheelchair who had drowned and seemed unresponsive, and the child becoming responsive.1:40:54 Rupert tells how his uncle, a pathologist, explained why most people misunderstand the placebo effect.1:59:28 Rupert shares that a new Horse Boy center is opening in County Cork, Ireland, with the prime minister turning the sod.📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources MentionedDr. Amanda Minervini – Professor, Colorado College; Founder,  EGLHE (Equine Guided Learning And Healing Experience) https://amandaminervini.weebly.com New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com Patreon Support https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome🌍 Follow UsLong Ride Home https://longridehome.com https://facebook.com/longridehome.lrh https://instagram.com/longridehome_lrh https://youtube.com/@longridehome New Trails Learning Systems https://ntls.co https://facebook.com/horseboyworld https://instagram.com/horseboyworld https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems📊 Affiliate DisclosureLinks to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

✨ "I think the horse and the animal is kind of an anchor that keeps you in the present." – Krisztina MolnarDeep in the forest near Debrecen in eastern Hungary, a six-year-old foundation has become a home for animal-assisted therapy of every kind: clinical equine-assisted psychotherapy, work with neurodivergent children, family therapy, group therapy for children, adolescents and parents, and sessions for adults, alongside a small riding school, dressage and a vaulting team. Clinical psychologist Krisztina Molnar leads its clinical work with children and parents, supported by a team, 14 horses and three therapy dogs.The original plan was four to six horses and a quiet life in her "fairy forest." Instead, the foundation grew one family, one colleague and one need at a time, guided by a single principle: keep running something only as long as it serves everyone in the story, meaning the clients, the animals and the therapists. Along the way the forest itself became a therapeutic tool, complete with a wishing forest, a mound where problems can be blown away, and a transparent indoor arena that clients describe as a safety bubble inside nature.Rupert and Krisztina explore why nature can take clients deep very quickly, and why that is both a chance and a danger. They discuss how a classic "three wishes" diagnostic task becomes a fairy tale, what Winnicott's transitional space and the "wise mode" of schema therapy have to do with the forest, Hungary's relationship with mental health and transgenerational trauma, the difference between healthy fantasy and delusion, and why the horse is the anchor that keeps a person in the present moment.If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome🔍 What You'll Learn in This EpisodeHow a foundation planned for four to six horses grew into a multi-program center with 14 horses, three dogs and a full teamWhy the guiding rule is to run something only as long as it serves clients, animals and therapists alikeWhy mentally healthy therapy horses need a natural environment, and how that shapes therapy before a session even startsWhy the forest can take clients deep very quickly, and why that brings both a chance to grow and a risk of falling apartWhy children who are overloaded by impressions may fear the forest, and what they are really afraid ofHow having a forest, an arena, a small indoor and an inside room lets the therapist tune the setting to each client's safety needsHow a transparent indoor arena, chosen because it was the cheapest option, works as a "safety bubble" and a transitional spaceHow magical places in the forest, like the wishing forest and the mound where problems are blown away, are built around clients' psychological needsHow the diagnostic "three wishes" task becomes a fairy tale, and how to translate a child's wish into an underlying needWhat schema therapy is, and how the forest may help clients connect to their inner "wise mode"How to tell healthy fantasy from delusion: does it connect you to yourself and others, or disconnect you?Why the horse acts as an anchor to the present momentHow Krisztina sees dressage as maintaining harmony through constant rebalancing, and why training of any kind helps therapy horses handle more situations🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode00:03:40 Krisztina introduces herself as a clinical psychologist specializing in children and parents, certified to include her therapy dogs in sessions00:07:10 She reveals the original plan: four to six horses and a peaceful, quiet life in her fairy forest, which is not what happened00:08:50 Krisztina shares the one principle that guides every program: it runs only as long as it serves clients, animals and therapists00:22:50 She explains that frightened clients are not afraid of nature itself but of their own impulses projected onto the forest00:41:50 Krisztina describes nature as a model of resilience: a tree meeting an obstacle grows around it instead of trying the same way 100 times00:45:30 The transparent indoor arena, chosen as the cheapest option, turns out to be the best space for therapy, and clients call it a safety bubble in the forest00:51:00 The wishing forest story: Krisztina once wished for six horses and now has 14, so be careful what you wish for00:56:30 She shows how the "three wishes" diagnostic task becomes a fairy tale, and how a wish for one more toy car reveals a need to be heard01:16:40 Rupert asks whether there are real fairies in her forest, and Krisztina answers, "Of course there are"01:30:30 Krisztina draws the line between fantasy and delusion: imagination that connects you to yourself and your relationships, versus imagination that cuts you off01:49:30 Krisztina tells her own real-life fairy tale of asking the fairies for a life close to nature and horses, and finding more than she ever imagined📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources MentionedKrisztina Molnar – Clinical Psychologist, ÉletrevaLÓ Gyermekekért Alapítvány https://www.eletrevalodebrecen.com New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com Patreon Support https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome🌍 Follow UsLong Ride Home https://longridehome.com https://facebook.com/longridehome.lrh https://instagram.com/longridehome_lrh https://youtube.com/@longridehome New Trails Learning Systems https://ntls.co https://facebook.com/horseboyworld https://instagram.com/horseboyworld https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems📊 Affiliate DisclosureLinks to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

 ✨ "Well, I'm an engineer. I collect data." – Laila Rahmatian Laila Rahmatian is an autism mom and former NASA engineer, originally from Houston and living in Indianapolis, Indiana when her son Donatello was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in October 2024 — now based near Frankfurt, Germany.Unlike most guests on this show, Laila isn't a practitioner — she's a service user. After her son's diagnosis, she brought her engineering background to bear on his care, systematically tracking data across a comparison of therapy approaches and, eventually, more than 70 Horse Boy Method sessions.This conversation covers Laila's diagnosis journey, why she walked away from a well-regarded autism center within minutes of touring it, the chance referral that led her family to Horse Boy Method after relocating to Germany, and the session-by-session developmental milestones her data captured — from a son who could barely stay on a horse for a minute to one making spontaneous eye contact, sleeping through the night, and initiating speech.If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome🔍 What You'll Learn in This EpisodeWhy the first signs of Donatello's autism showed up not as a language delay but as a failure to respond to his own name — until a summer camp counselor discovered it wasn't the name he needed to hear, it was his mother's voiceHow Laila's background as a former NASA engineer, and later an ADHD coach and tutor, shaped her instinct to research every option rather than accept the first professional's recommended protocolWhy Laila and her husband initially tried to "rule out" the diagnosis entirely, and what changed their mindsWhat made Laila walk out of a well-regarded autism therapy center within ten minutes of touring it, and why environment turned out to matter as much as methodHow a chance referral from a school in Germany — not a marketing campaign — led Laila's family to Horse Boy Method for the first timeWhy Laila decided to start formally recording data on her son's sessions, and how skepticism from others became the reason she started tracking numbersWhat Laila's session-by-session data showed across roughly 70 sessions — from a child who could barely stay on the horse for a minute to one making spontaneous eye contact, sleeping through the night, and initiating speechHow working with multiple Horse Boy and Movement Method practitioners across Germany gave Laila a way to compare approaches and see which data patterns held upWhy Laila enrolled in Movement Method training herself rather than only bringing her son to sessions, and how that changed her ability to support him at homeWhat Laila is now planning for her family's next chapter — a "Horse Boy pilgrimage" across the practitioner network in Europe🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode[00:01:15] Rupert introduces Laila as a mother tracking hard data on her autistic son's progress — and a former NASA scientist — flipping the show's usual practitioner-focused format[00:06:33] Laila recalls getting her son's diagnosis over the phone while driving, and telling the doctor she felt like they were "out to get my insurance money"[00:13:26] Laila breaks down in tears within ten minutes of touring a well-known autism therapy center, describing its sterile, neon-lit rooms as feeling like an asylum[00:29:30] Laila shares getting fired from a substitute teaching job at a Christian school for swearing in class — an unexpected twist in the chain of events that push her family toward the move to Germany[00:33:26] Laila recounts thinking "Horse Boy" was simply the German word for horse therapy, and mistakenly believing Rupert didn't speak English before their first meeting[00:39:50] Laila describes watching Donatello ride for the first time and hearing Rupert mention oxytocin and neuroplasticity — the moment she starts to move past her skepticism[00:54:52] Laila explains why she started formally logging data on every session: "Well, I'm an engineer. I collect data"[00:59:35] Laila walks through the data from session 19, when Donatello began saying "on" and "off" without prompting, answered yes/no questions at school, and slept through the night for the first time[01:20:38] Laila describes session 63, when Donatello pointed and said "That way" while on the horse[01:20:59] Laila recalls a session with practitioner Carla Brahms where Donatello sang and moved his hands on horseback, bringing Carla to tears📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources MentionedLaila Rahmatian https://www.instagram.com/lailaalieh/New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com Patreon Support https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome🌍 Follow UsLong Ride Home https://longridehome.com https://facebook.com/longridehome.lrh https://instagram.com/longridehome_lrh https://youtube.com/@longridehome New Trails Learning Systems https://ntls.co https://facebook.com/horseboyworld https://instagram.com/horseboyworld https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems📊 Affiliate DisclosureLinks to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.