Becoming Betsy Vonda
I’m fortunate to have never known a life without horses. I was raised on a small hobby farm in Ontario, Canada with my mother and older sister. My mother introduced me to the teachings of John Lyons and Monty Roberts as we restarted and trained our own ponies and horses for local multidisciplinary competitions. At an early age this process taught me that every horse has value and potential no matter their past experiences.
When it was time to choose my career path I reflected on my life experiences and the characteristics that I developed while working and living with horses and decided on becoming a paramedic. From my formal education, continued education and work experiences I began to see parallels between troubled people and horses. I’ve learned that peoples actions and behaviors can be heavily influenced by their past experiences, living conditions and nutrition. It became quite clear that horses are also influenced by the same factors. I believe that by better understanding the factors that influence their behavior we have endless opportunities to overcome challenges and set horses up for a balanced and successful life.
Over my adult life I have been on my own journey to finding balance in how I live my life. Shift work presented many challenges that I was not prepared for such as disruptive sleep and eating patterns which had a negative effect on my mental health and well being. This led me to dive into fitness and yoga as well as studying nutrition to learn how to run my body as efficiently as possible. The fitness journey also led me to the practice of mindfulness and gave me the ability to be more aware and present in every moment of my life.
Now that I have personally experienced the benefits of having balance in all aspects of my life it is my intention to help guide owners and their horses to a more balanced and harmonious relationship.
Training Principles and Those Who Influenced Them
- Awareness: Horses as heard animals, are aware of each other and that awareness is what creates a feeling of safety. It is a fundamental in my interactions with horses to offer this awareness and create a sense of safety in my presence. This concept was first brought to my attention by Warwick Schiller.
- Connection Before Concepts: In order to achieve the mindset required to learn horses must feel safe and have established trusting connection in their handler. By emphasizing the importance of meeting the horses needs before asking them to perform tasks. We can empower them to perform versus dominating them into submission. These insights are presented by Sarah Schulte and Josh Nichol,
- The Body Follows the Mind: Have you ever tried to turn a horse to the left but their body and shoulder continue to the right? This is because a horses body will always follow their thoughts in the direction where their true attention is focused (ex: to the gate, the barn, pasture pals). When a horse is present the need for micromanagement between leg and rein aids is significantly reduced, as the horse responds to the lightest cue as they are present to hear them.
- Space In Time: Dr. Stephen Peter’s study of the horses brain has shown the importance of giving space in time to allow for the horse to problem solve and process new information. In some instances this may seem like the handler stepping back or doing nothing however, this has been proven to be required to build new neural networks in the brain, which is essential to learning.
- The Snowball Effect: When we prioritize the above (awareness, connection, relaxation etc..) at first the progress may appear slow, and this requires a great deal of patience. However, when we trust the process and the horse fully grasps these key concepts the training quickly gains momentum. The learning process comes easily when the foundation has been laid.
