Horses for Future

This is part 2 of my conversation with Marla Foreman. Marla Foreman is a veterinarian, a horse trainer and a riding instructor. She's also a good friend so it was fun for us to get together for a Horses for Future podcast. I particularly wanted to interview Marla because she grew up on a ranch in New Mexico. From there she moved to Washington state, but not to the temperate coastal area. She lived on the other side of the state where rain was scarce and the amount of land she had was a mere postage stamp compared to the acreage she grew up on in New Mexico. And now she's living on the east coast near Boston. So she's learned how to manage horses in very different climates, and very different acreage. What she has learned is smart design. The goal is healthy horses and healthy pastures. Growing up in New Mexico she saw how well horses maintained themselves when they could move. How to you encourage movement on smaller acreage? And how do you design your farm so you are spending your time enjoying your horses and not just doing chores? The answer is smart design. Hopefully, you'll get some ideas for your own farm so you can meet everyone's needs well - yours, the horses, and the land you care for. Horse people can make a difference in the climate change crisis. Together we're learning how.

Marla Foreman is a veterinarian, a horse trainer and a riding instructor. She's also a good friend so it was fun for us to get together for a Horses for Future podcast. I particularly wanted to interview Marla because she grew up on a ranch in New Mexico. From there she moved to Washington state, but not to the temperate coastal area. She lived on the other side of the state where rain was scarce and the amount of land she had was a mere postage stamp compared to the acreage she grew up on in New Mexico. And now she's living on the east coast near Boston. So she's learned how to manage horses in very different climates and that's what I wanted to ask her about - that and the O2 composter she had in Washington state. It turns out it doesn't matter where you are living - the concepts that guide your decisions around pasture management and horse care are the same no matter how much or how little rain you get, or how many acres you have. We begin in New Mexico and travel with Marla through years of experience managing horses. Included in the conversation is a discussion of O2 composters.

It's been a summer filled with swallows for me. It's also been a summer in which I experienced my own climate change disaster. Listen to the podcast to discover the connection.

This is part 3 of my conversation with Navona Gallegos. We are talking about compost. Unless you keep your horses out on pasture 24/7 12 months out of the year, you have a manure pile. So what can you do with all that manure to help build up beautiful, organic rich soil? That's what we'll be talking about as we explore the Johnson-Su Bioreactor, O2 composters and some composting do's and don't's.

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Navona Gallegos. We begin this episode with a discussion of what happens in the soil when the farmers in my area till their fields in preparation for planting this year's corn crop. I'm not a farmer. I'm not trying to teach farmers how to farm. That would be like someone who has never ridden telling me how I should ride a horse. But there are things I can learn from this discussion that I will help me with the decisions I make for the land I care for. I hope it does the same for you.

This week I'm visiting with Navona Gallegos. Navona is a rider, an ecologist, and a farmer. She is passionate about soil - not dirt. We'll discuss the difference in the podcast. She lives in New Mexico, so she's in a very beautiful landscape but one that is completely different from what I am used to. So I was really looking forward to learning how she manages horses in a climate that is so very different from my own. We began not with the soil but with horses. Navona grew up on a ranch so part of her childhood experience was riding out on the range. But she also fell in love with jumping. She competed in Europe so talk about contrast - ranch raised horse to show horses whose turnout is tiny paddock. That's the starting point of a conversation that takes us from the high pressure world of show jumping to the role our horses play in connecting us back to the land.

Recently I’ve been visiting around the planet to see what some of my friends have been doing with their land. When I began my world tour of what horse people are doing to restore biodiversity and ecosystem functionality to their land, I knew I wanted to visit with Manda Scott. Manda is a vet, an author, a shamanic teacher, a climate crisis activist, a podcast host, a horse owner, and a frequent contributor to this podcast. It had been a while since we had talked. So we finally picked a date and settled in for a long catch up. The first hour was gone before we knew it. That’s because we were talking about horses. Manda has a couple of young ponies who are presenting yearling horse training puzzles so we talked training for an hour. But this podcast is not about horse training so I am going to jump past that part of our conversation. For those of you who follow me when I am wearing my horse trainer’s hat, I can hear the protests. “No, don’t skip that part. We want to hear everything!” But I am going to resist. Instead I’m going to jump into the middle where we began to steer the ship in the direction of climate change and land stewardship. We began by discussing Bill Gates book: “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster”

In 2020 Sarah Owings bought fifteen acres in northern California. She's now learning from the land to figure out how best to be a good caretaker of that land. She has to deal with invasives, including foxtails. She wants to plant natives but always there are possible unintended consequences. There is a lot to be learned from someone who is a skilled learner. Sarah is good at asking questions. What do we need to consider? What can seem like a good idea may end up having more of an environmental cost that benefit. Sarah helps to form the questions we all need to be considering.

This week I zoomed off to Northern California for a visit with Sarah Owings. Sarah is a dog trainer. She’s a member of the Clicker Expo faculty and she’s an eager learner. Over the years Sarah and I have had many great conversations about training. Now we get to talk about how best to manage our land. Sarah is very much in a fire zone so any planting decisions she makes has to take that into consideration. She may be dealing with a very different climate from mine, but I still learned a lot that will help my spring planning during our conversation. Many of you listening to this podcast bought your land to give your horses more freedom. Sarah bought her fifteen acres to give her dogs more freedom. She bought her property in 2020 so she is just beginning to figure out what she wants to do with it. That’s a great time to check in to see what her beginning steps have been. Often when you take on a new property, it can be overwhelming. Where do you begin? Sarah is great at doing her homework. Recently that homework has included incorporating the work of Dr. Doug Tallamy and his Homegrown national park conservation initiative.

This is part 3 of a conversation with Jane Jackson. Jane and her husband live in northern Vermont. Jane has her horses and her husband raises sheep and cattle. Which means that together they have been learning how to be better grass farmers. This week Jane starts us out by talking about silvopasture.

In my tour round the world to learn about what others are doing with their land I especially wanted to visit with Jane Jackson. Jane lives in northern Vermont. She has six horses, including an off the track thoroughbred and an elderly insulin resistant pony. Jane’s horses all go out together on grass. None of them (I’m knocking on wood while I write this) are laminitic. None of her horses have to wear a grazing muzzle. That includes her elderly pony. They all get to eat grass! They all get to enjoy being horses out in a herd. That may not sound all that remarkable. Horses are, after all, grass eaters. But if you have an insulin resistant horse, you may be working hard to keep your horse from having ANY grass. Not only does Jane have a rotational grazing system for her pastures that gives her an abundance of grass, she can let her horses enjoy eating it. And she has song birds. More song birds than when she and her husband moved to the property eight years ago. Healthy grass, more biodiversity - clearly I wanted to find out from Jane what she has been doing. This is part two of a conversation with Jane Jackson. Among other things we talk about dung beetle, teaching your horses to eat weeds, biodiversity, and fencing choices that aid in rotating your pastures. We’re joined by Coralie Palmer who has been introducing us to the work of Dr. Doug Tallamy.

In my tour round the world to learn about what others are doing with their land I especially wanted to visit with Jane Jackson. Jane lives in northern Vermont. She has six horses, including an off the track thoroughbred and an elderly insulin resistant pony. Jane’s horses all go out together on grass. None of them (I’m knocking on wood while I write this) are laminitic. None of her horses have to wear a grazing muzzle. That includes her elderly pony. They all get to eat grass! They all get to enjoy being horses out in a herd. That may not sound all that remarkable. Horses are, after all, grass eaters. But if you have an insulin resistant horse, you may be working hard to keep your horse from having ANY grass. Not only does Jane have a rotational grazing system for her pastures that gives her an abundance of grass, she can let her horses enjoy eating it. And she has song birds. More song birds than when she and her husband moved to the property eight years ago. Healthy grass, more biodiversity - clearly I wanted to find out from Jane what she has been doing. This is part 1 of an afternoon’s conversation.

If you’ve been listening to this podcast, you know I’ve been visiting with people who are the process of transforming the property they own. I want to see what others are doing to restore biodiversity and ecological function. Some of the people I visit have been at this for years. Their experience becomes a valuable resource for all of us. Others are newer to the process. Their questions can sometimes be just as valuable as the information the more experienced landowners provide. In the previous episode I was visiting with Julia Field in Australia. Julia lives in a dry climate where water conservation is a must. In this episode we are zipping around the planet to a very different climate. I’m visiting with Amanda Martin. Amanda lives in Scotland, not far from Glasgow. Even in normal times Scotland is a wet climate, but the past year Amanda shared with me the rains never seemed to stop. There was barely a day when she wasn’t soaked to the bone taking care of her horses. Her pastures are bogged down with too much water. We’ve had years like that here. You wonder how anyone is going to manage to make hay. Fields that would normally be dry enough to cut in June or July are still wet enough to bog down a tractor in August. Amanda has owned her property for three years, so she is just in the beginning stages of transforming her very windy, very wet fields into manageable pastures. Our conversation highlights the importance of research and networking. In training our horses always tell us what they need to work on next. The same thing holds true for land. Amanda has been letting the land tell her what it needs. Amanda has been taking her time, letting her land tell her what needs to be done to create a viable horse farm, a working business, a beautiful landscape, and a wildlife sanctuary. Good management lets you have all of this and more. With good care of the land, horse people can make a difference. Together we are learning how.

In recent episodes I’ve been looking at the work of Dr Doug Tallamy. Dr Tallamy is an entomologist who has become alarmed at the loss of biodiversity due to climate change and habitat loss. He’s launched in his words “a grassroots call to action to restore biodiversity and ecosystem function by planting native plants and creating new ecological networks.” In these podcasts I want to share ways in which people are implementing the kinds of changes he is advocating. In the previous episode I began a conversation with Julia Field. Julia lives near Adelaide on the southern coast of Australia. She’s in a dry climate so water management is a high priority. Julia has been on her property for about fourteen years. She is well on her way towards restoring native plants to her land. At the end of the previous episode Julia was just beginning to describe the animals that have moved back to her property now that she has created wildlife corridors for them. We begin with a conversation about koala bears and hopping lessons for a young kangaroo. Julia also talks about dealing with invasive plants, including some that are toxic for horses, water management in a dry climate, Jane Myers equicentral system, and wicking beds in place of conventional vegetable gardens. She provides lots of ideas and inspiration for anyone managing land in an arid climate.

If you’ve been listening to this podcast, you know I’ve been looking at the work of Dr Doug Tallamy. Dr Tallamy is an entomologist who has become alarmed at the loss of biodiversity. He’s launched in his words “a grassroots call to action to restore biodiversity and ecosystem function by planting native plants and creating new ecological networks.” Dr Tallamy isn’t looking at public lands. Instead he is calling on private land owners to join what he calls “the largest cooperative conservation project ever conceived or attempted. The goal is 20 million acres of native plantings in the U.S.”  Sound impossible? What I’ve learned from the horses is major change begins with small foundation steps. So what are the land management steps we could all be taking? That’s what I want to explore. In the coming weeks I’m going to visit with friends from around the planet who are making changes to the land under their care. Dr Tallamy is the expert. You can go to homegrownnationalparks.com to learn more about his work. In these podcasts I want to share ways in which people are implementing the kinds of changes he is advocating. Our first stop is truly a trip around the planet. We’re headed to Australia. You’re about to meet Julia Fields. Julia lives near Adelaide on the southern coast of Australia. The climate is characterized by hot, very dry summers. It’s a very different environment from the one in which I live. Julia has been on her property for about fourteen years. She has had to learn how to deal with high winds, an arid climate, and invasive plant species. She is now well on her way to restoring native plants and animals to her land. A teacher is someone who started before you. I have always loved that definition. Julia has a lot to teach us about restoring native plants in a Mediterranean type climate zone. Enjoy!

Our discussion of homegrown national parks continues. This refers to the work of Dr Doug Tallamy. He has launched in his words “a grassroots call to action to restore biodiversity and ecosystem function by planting native plants and creating new ecological networks.” Dr Tallamy isn’t looking at public lands. Instead he is calling on private land owners to join what he calls “the largest cooperative conservation project ever conceived or attempted. The goal is 20 million acres of native plantings in the U.S.”  Sound impossible? What I’ve learned from the horses is major change begins with small foundation steps. So what are the land management steps we could all be taking? That’s what we’ve been looking at in this current series. I am joined in this discussion by Coralie Palmer. Coralie is a director of the Indiana Wildlife Federation, and she’s on the council of the Indiana Native Plant Society. So far we have talked about several key elements that are needed to create what Dr Tallamy refers to as homegrown national parks - shrinking the lawn, planting natives, especially the keystone species, and controlling invasives. In this episode we’ll learn about neonicotinoids. Buying seeds and plants is not as simple as you might think. We also discuss the merging of landscape design and ecology. When you add plants to your garden there is so much more to consider than simply the appearance and size of an individual plant. Now we are considering plant communities and ecosystem services.

Our discussion of homegrown national parks continues. This refers to the work of Dr Doug Tallamy. He has launched in his words “a grassroots call to action to restore biodiversity and ecosystem function by planting native plants and creating new ecological networks.” Dr Tallamy isn’t looking at public lands. Instead he is calling on private land owners to join what he calls “the largest cooperative conservation project ever conceived or attempted. The goal is 20 million acres of native plantings in the U.S.”  Sound impossible? What I’ve learned from the horses is major change begins with small foundation steps. So what are the land management steps we could all be taking? That’s what we’ve been looking at in this current series. I am joined in this discussion by Coralie Palmer. Coralie is a director of the Indiana Wildlife Federation, and she’s on the council of the Indiana Native Plant Society. So far we have talked about several key elements that are needed to create what Dr Tallamy refers to as homegrown national parks - shrinking the lawn and planting natives, especially the keystone species. Now we turn our attention to the other side of the coin - removing invasives.

Our discussion of homegrown national parks continues. This time we look at another core element of Dr. Tallamy’s work - keystone species. It turns out that not all native plants have an equal impact on restoring biodiversity. There are certain general of plants that support many more ecological functions in a community. It’s a bit like that one person in your neighborhood who serves on the local PTA, turns up for all the town meetings, is always there to look after an ailing neighbor, and finds your cat when he goes missing. These plants support many more species of insects that produce those all important caterpillars which the birds depend upon to raise their young. So this week Coralie Palmer introduces us to the five top genera of trees that Dr Tallamy considers to be keystone species.

One of the most hopeful approaches to addressing the loss of species diversity that is part of the climate change crisis comes from the work of Dr. Doug Tallamy. In last week’s episode I invited Coralie Palmer to help me introduce his conservation initiative - homegrown national parks. This was the start of an on-going series for the Horses for Future Podcast. Last week we presented an overview of Dr. Tallamy’s work. Now in this episode we’ll be getting into the details. We’ll begin with one of his key elements - shrinking the lawn. Why a smaller lawn? What is wrong with having an expanse of green grass surrounding your house? That’s the first question. Then once you’ve decided to shrink your lawn, what does that look like, and how do you go about doing it? You can’t take something away without putting something else in its place. So what will we be planting as we shrink the lawn? Those are some of the questions we’ll be considering beginning with this series.

What can horse people do to help in the climate change crisis? It turns out quite a lot. One very hopeful action we can take is we can join Dr. Doug Tallamy’s conservation initiative to create a network of Homegrown National Parks. In this episode I am joined by Coralie Palmer, a director of the Indiana Wildlife Federation. Coralie will be helping me to learn more about this very important work.

Kate Jackson has participated in Extinction Rebellion protests. In this podcast she shares her experiences and talks about creative ways you can bring the message of climate change into your community.

We’re coming up on the end of August which means whether or not to reopen schools is the topic that is front and center for a great many people. This is a question that doesn’t really seem to have any good answers. What’s the best path to take? I have a number of friends who teach in public schools. They’ve been describing the re-designs their classrooms have been going through. The administration has told them desks have to be placed six feet apart - even if that means some students won’t be able to see the blackboards from their designated spot. What a nightmare. But is there an alternative? Staying home isn’t sustainable. Going to school may not be safe. Here’s an alternative. How about Forest schools. Don’t laugh. This is a really thing. I first heard about Forest Schools many years ago from this week’s guest, Kate Jackson. Kate is a teacher. I think as you listen to this podcast, you’ll very quickly discover that she is the teacher you wish you could have had in grade school. If you were very lucky you did indeed have someone very much like her. Kate is also a climate activist and a horse owner. I met her through the clicker training clinics. In one of our many evening conversations, she talked about Forest Schools. The conversation stayed with me. When the corona virus closed schools, I started thinking more seriously about Forest Schools, especially when we started to hear that the risk of spreading the disease is lower outside. So I have invited Kate to talk to us about Forest Schools - what are they, how do they work, where do they fit in a school program? Lots of questions. I’m sure, if you have children, you will have many more. And I suspect quite a few of you will be googling Forest Schools after you listen to this podcast.

This week’s episode was prompted by an email exchange about hedgehogs. Those enchanting little creatures are about to take us down a garden path that leads to cybernetics, home grown national parks, reframing values and a memory jog back to our childhood for some inspiration. I’m in conversation with Josephine Lock. Josephine did post graduate research with Professor Stafford Beer, the founder of Management Cybernetics and the author of “Beyond Dispute”. She began in one field and landed literally in another when she shifted her focus from the business and academic world to the training of dogs for conservation work. This conversation is filled with ways in which we can all make a difference. I hope this isn’t a podcast you listen to just for entertainmentand then forget about. Jo reminds us that the purpose of a system, is what it does. That’s a great quote. What does this podcast do? I hope it helps us all to send out ripples that make a difference. “Our obsession with the growth of our wallets needs to shift to the growth of our minds.” That’s another great statement. Here’s another quote Jo shared with us: “The greatest task is to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.” Aldo Leopold Why isn’t that a measure of success? Plant a butterfly garden and you can begin to influence value systems. You can spark conversations in a non-confrontational way. You can model alternatives. You can change value systems in small ways that send the ripples out. And before you know it, that becomes the norm. It becomes trendy. Can we fix it? Of course we can. Begin by picking one thing where you can make a change, and then please visit this Horses for Future facebook page and share the ripples you are setting into motion. Let’s inspire one another with our thoughtful action. And do please leave a five star review. That helps google find the podcast which makes it easier in turn for others to find it.

Pick one thing. That’s the answer Sarah Nickels gives when she’s asked what each of us can do to help mitigate the climate change crisis. Pick one thing to learn about. It might be something related to a product you buy in the grocery store, or the way you manage your pasture. Become a micro-expert in a micro area. Sarah explains how the ripples from that can spread around the planet.

"Horses for Future" explores the question: what can horse people do to help in the climate change crisis? I don’t have the answer, just the desire to be part of the solution. In this week’s podcast we’re traveling to Australia to meet Sarah Nickels. When I wrote on my Click that teaches Facebook group that I was going to giving Stay At Home virtual clinics, Sarah emailed me to ask if I would do a clinic for Australians. The answer to that was maybe. I wasn’t sure how it would work with the time difference. I would have to think about it. But in the meantime would she like to do a Horses for Future podcast for me? I know that wasn’t the answer she was expecting, but in her email Sarah mentioned her “day job”. She’s a social scientist in the environmental field. Her work focuses on biodiversity and behavior change. That perked my ears forward. In the next line when she talked about permaculture design, I knew we needed to meet via the internet. Permaculture is a term that keeps coming up as I explore regenerative agriculture. Here was a great opportunity to learn more about it. So this week begins a two part conversation with Sarah Nickels. Visit the show notes in sequestercarbon.com for a list of the books Sarah references.

This is part 2 of a conversation with Sam Bingham. Sam is a a journalist. He spent about ten years living in New Mexico with the Navajo. While he was there, he met Allan Savory. Savory’s work promotes the use of livestock and planned rotational grazing to reverse the process of desertification. Bingham co-wrote Holistic Management Handbook with Savory. I wanted to talk to him about the of livestock to maintain healthy grasslands. We begin this week’s podcast with a description of Alan Savory and his work. It’s interesting to hear about people whose ideas sit outside of the mainstream. We will need creative, out-of-the-box thinkers to help solve the climate change crisis.

In February a chance conversation at the Art and Science of Animal Training conference led me to this week’s guest, Sam Bingham. Sam is a journalist and author. He collaborated with Allan Savory in writing “Holistic Management Handbook”. February seems like such a long time ago. In March the corona virus took over our lives, consumed every news cycle, and pushed concerns about climate change to the back burner. It seemed more important to talk about degrees of freedom with Joe Layng that it was to think about pasture management. But that doesn’t mean that the grass wasn’t growing. I’m still trying to figure out the best way to manage my pastures, so this seemed like a good time to share this conversation.

I feel so unbelievably privileged that every few weeks I get to share with you a conversation with author and activist, Manda Scott. Especially in these uncertain times, it’s so easy to get busy, to get worried, to get pulled in different directions by the demands of the here and now. Manda reminds us to listen, to feel, to imagine, to simply ask questions. This is a complex conversation that begins with the corona virus but takes us to so much more. You’re about to have a lesson in economics, but it’s a view of economics which is very different from anything I was presented with at school.

This week’s podcast takes a very practical, down to earth turn. I mean literally down to earth - I am talking with Suzanne Kernek about vegetable gardens. This was a subject that I always knew was on the list of things I wanted to explore through the Horses for Future podcasts. What can horse people do to help with the climate change crisis? We have land and we have horse manure. So we can grow food. We can grow food for ourselves, and we can also grow food to share.

I am planting a vegetable garden this year. I’m sure I am not alone in thinking that especially this year with so many unknowns surrounding the corona virus this is a very good time to grown my own veggies. One huge advantage I have over my suburban neighbors is I have a ready source of well composted horse manure. Here’s yet another way horse people can make a difference in this current crisis and in the climate change crisis - we can grow our own food. I’ve been a gardener all of my life but flowers, not veggies, so I invited Suzanne Kernek to join me in a podcast conversation about vegetable gardens. Normally we would be talking about training, but not this time. Our subject was vegetable gardens - how to prepare a garden, and what to grow. Last summer Suzanne set up a farm stand for the first time. Here’s how she describes it: “Feed Thy Neighbor Farm Stand is neighborhood farm stand that offers vegetables and bouquets picked from my garden that day. It is an honor-system process with no prices. I encourage people to take what they need if they cannot afford anything. I have a dream of starting a program where neighbors collect their excess produce from their gardens and offer it collectively to the neighborhood, with all proceeds going to a different non-profit every week.” That’s a great dream. It’s a great way in which horse people can indeed make a difference.

In this week in which we are marking the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, I invited Susan Schneider to join me for an afternoon's conversation. Susan is a tireless and very thorough researcher. She presents us with a wealth of information, resources and ideas across a wide range of subjects. Her annotated book list on sustainability and climate change is available on the sequestercarbon.com web site.

Horses for Future Episode 19: Planning for the Future - A Conversation with Reid Prinzo When I recorded this podcast at the beginning of April, in New York State where I live we were very much caught up in the planning for the peak of the corvid-19 hospitalizations. Today as I publish this, it is beginning to look as though the curve may be plateauing out. That’s good news indeed. It still doesn’t tell us what lies ahead. How long will this pause in our lives continue. How much time do we have to build new habits, to make choices about how we want to continue on? Do we really want to go back to what we were doing as a community or can we use this time to plan for a better future. Planning for the future is what this podcast is about. I’ve asked Reid Prinzo to talk to us about investing in our values. Reid is a financial advisor. He’s a member of Bryant Asset Management. One of the areas he’s particularly interested in is ESG and sustainable investing. In this podcast I ask him what that means. This may seem like an odd topic when we’re in the midst of the corona crisis. People are out of work. Businesses are struggling. In March the stock market went on a wild roller coaster ride. For many of us our income has dropped off a steep cliff and we’re talking about investments! It actually seems like a good time to talk about investments. There are lots of reasons why people may be thinking about what they should be doing with their savings. If they can hold on through this current crisis, what changes, if any, should they be making? All that cash someone may have been stuffing into a mattress - are people ever going to want to touch cash again! Maybe they should be investing it somewhere instead. There are all kinds of reasons why you might be looking at making some changes in your savings. If that’s the case, you can invest in companies that are aligned with your personal ethics. You can invest in your values through sustainable investing. The podcast will explain what that means.

The world is in crisis. I don’t need to tell anyone that all our lives are being impacted by the corona virus. Schools are closed, businesses shuttered. Many of us have lost our incomes. People are getting sick. People are dying. This is not news to any of us. We are hunkered down, keeping physical distance from one another, washing our hands, waiting, worrying. When Manda and I got together for a catch-up we weren’t focused on climate change (though that sits always in the background). We talked about the corona virus. How will this experience change us? We’re all experiencing an abrupt transformation in our lives. What can we do to influence the change for the better?

Dr. Joe Layng gave two talks at this year’s Art and Science of Animal Training conference. The first talk was on degrees of freedom. He followed that up with an expansion of the concept that was profoundly disturbing, horrifying and hopeful all at once. He basically explained how someone becomes a terrorist. After the talks, I asked him if would be willing to share these presentations with the “Horses for Future” audience.

Dr. Joe Layng gave two talks at this year’s Art and Science of Animal Training conference. The first talk was on degrees of freedom. He followed that up with an expansion of the concept that was profoundly disturbing, horrifying and hopeful all at once. He basically explained how someone becomes a terrorist. After the talks, I asked him if would be willing to share these presentations with the “Horses for Future” audience. If you want to expand a field, you don’t do it from within. You do it by bringing in ideas from the outside. I want to expand our thinking around climate change and how we can work with one another to come up with solutions. That’s why I want to share Joe’s talk on degrees of freedom. As you listen to the podcast, you may be thinking: “This is fascinating, but I don’t understand the connection to climate change.” Be patient. Joe will get us there in Part 2, and it will be well worth the journey. I’m publishing this at a time when everything is being shut down because of the corona virus. We are living the experience of having our degrees of freedom reduced. Let’s hope by summer, this crisis will have passed, and we will be returning to a more stable normal. But let’s also hope we learn from this experience because it is just a preview of what may happen as the effects of climate change become more pronounced. The concepts Joe is sharing with us become all the more relevant as climate change adds more pressure to our lives.

How do we talk to one another so we can connect around common interests? That was the main focus of Part 2 of our conversation. The norm these days seems to be we're splitting further and further apart into separate camps. We're very much living in "us versus them" times. This intense tribalism doesn't really help anyone so what can be done? How do we shift our focus so we become constructive in our actions? Once again, horses give us the model.

I’ve been thinking a lot about language and the role it plays in behavior change. That was the launching point for an afternoon’s conversation with Manda Scott. Manda surprised me with an unexpected discussion of oxytocin and the role that it plays in creating strong feelings of tribal loyalty. I promise, this is relevant to the discussion of climate change. This week’s podcast explains the connection.

This concludes our three part discussion of the work of George Lakoff. If you’re a regular listener to this podcast, I think it would be fair to say you believe that the climate change crisis is real. And you also want to take actions that can help mitigate the effects. Some of those actions won't involve other people, but if we really want to make a difference we need to let others know what we're doing. One of the many reasons that horse people can make a difference is horses are everywhere. We keep horses in the country. We keep horses squeezed into suburbia and on the edges of cities. As we learn more about pasture management and the impact that has on sequestering more carbon in the soil, we’re going to want to share what we’re learning. That's where these podcasts come in. Lakoff's work presents a great lesson in how to be heard.

In last week’s podcast I introduced you to the work of George Layoff. Layoff is a cognitive linguist who has been studying the use of metaphors and the effect they have on our behavior. Metaphors are formed early in life. The associations between physical experiences and emotional responses are formed so early we aren’t even aware of the links. We talk about warm-hearted people and relationships that are hot and cold because as an infant when our mothers held us we experienced warmth and affection linked together. What has this got to do with climate change? It turns out quite a lot. We are a very divided country and the divisions are becoming ever greater. If we’re going to find effective solutions to the climate change crisis, we need to find ways to talk to one another. Lakoff’s work offers a great structure for framing conversations so we can hear one another.

Here we are again - at the start of another Presidential election year. Please don’t stop reading. This isn’t about politics - not directly anyway. In the US we are becoming a divided nation. If you step outside your echo chamber, you are immediately treading on dangerous ground. What do you talk about that won’t raise someone else’s hackles? We can’t even talk about the weather anymore. It used to be the safe, go-to subject. But any talk of weather leads straight to the climate crisis and now we’re on dangerous ground again. So how do we talk to one another? And most especially how do we talk to people whose world view is different from our own? That’s what this current episode is exploring. It begins with a summary of the work of cognitive linguist, George Layoff. That’s a good launching point for developing communication skills that open doors instead of slamming them shut. If you have read this description through to this point, I have at least managed to keep the door cracked open. Hopefully, you’ll be curious enough to step inside and hear the connection between George Lakoff’s work and climate change. You can listen to the podcast at sequester carbon.com or subscribe to it using your favorite podcast provider. And do please help out by leaving a quick review and sharing the Horses for Future podcasts with others.

Our conversation continues with a discussion of habits. Politics were very much on our minds, but don’t let that put you off. We aren’t advocating for one candidate over another. We’re asking: what are the component skills we need to have effective conversations about the climate change crisis? All it takes is a few people to start the ripples. In the US we’re at the beginning of an election year. We all have choices to make. Do we tune it all out and pretend it isn’t happening? Do we pay attention but stay one the side lines? Or do we find ways to become involved to advocate for the policies that matter to us? Remember, doing nothing is a political statement. Not speaking out, not voting has consequences. In this podcast we are not advocating for one particular candidate, or even one party over another. What I want is for us to talk to one another before we tear ourselves apart. The planet needs us to learn how to have crucial conversations around the climate change crisis. Please listen to the podcast and then share it. Let your friends know about them so we can practice together and send ripples out that truly do make a difference.

Horse people can make a difference in the climate change crisis. Together we’re learning how. Manda and I recorded this conversation in December 2019. It was the day after the General Election was held in the UK in which Boris Johnson won a sizable majority. On the other side of the Atlantic the Impeachment Hearings in the House were in full swing so politics were very much on our mind. As I was preparing this podcast for airing, the news was filled with so many grim reports. Australia is burning, Jakarta Indonesia is drowning, Norway is sweltering in the heat. There comes a point where you just can’t be silent anymore. The question is how can we talk outside our own echo chamber in a way that opens doors instead of slamming them shut. In the US we are entering an election year. If we don’t learn to talk to one another, we truly will break apart. Horse people can make a difference. The horse people I know all love being outside. Our horses carry us beyond the paddock gate out into wild places many people never get to see. We can make a difference by sharing our love not only of horses, but of the land they carry us over. In the positive reinforcement community our horses are teaching us to focus on what we want. We learn not to push against or direct our energy towards unwanted behavior. We can take these lessons with us as we learn how to talk about what is important to us - a healthy planet and a future for the ones we love. In this podcast we’ll pick up with this thread and follow it forward into a discussion of habits.

Most of us are comfortable taking private actions. We can recycle more. We can take reusable shopping bags with us to the grocery store. We can drive more fuel efficient cars. These are comfortable, easy steps to take to help in the climate change crisis. But what about the more public actions? These are harder steps to take going from the anonymity of our private lives to standing up publicly for what we cherish. I recorded this interview with Manda Scott the day after the general election in the UK. Manda had been out late the day before working in support of the Labor candidates. The election of Boris Johnson left her feeling very depressed. Even though she was exceedingly tired we ended up having a long and extremely powerful conversation centered around this topic of shifting from private to public actions. Horse people can make a difference. I keep saying that. Sometimes making a difference means changing the way we keep our horses. Sometimes it means speaking out. The horse people I know all love being outside. Our horses carry us beyond the paddock gate out into wild places many people never get to see. We can make a difference by sharing our love not only of horses, but of the land they carry us over. In this podcast Manda helps us find ways to make our voices heard.

This is the time of the year when people talk about making (and then not following through) on New Year’s Resolutions. What has cribbing got to do with New Year’s Resolutions? It turns out quite a lot. Cribbing is a behavior most horse owners would love to eliminate. In this podcast Dr. Michaela Hempen describes a behavior change procedure for doing just that. She is building good new habits that replace the cribbing behavior. Are you making some New Year’s Resolutions? Do you have an unwanted habit you’d like to eliminate? Or is there a desired new habit you’d like to create? And would you like this to be the year you actually follow through and succeed in your New Year’s Resolutions? As unlikely as it may sound, this discussion of cribbing may provide you with a procedure that can help you reach your goals. Next question: What has cribbing got to do with the climate change crisis. It turns out quite a lot. We are in the habit of living a modern, energy-consuming life style. What are some of the simple changes we could make that collectively can make a big difference? Are you in the habit of remembering to take your reusable shopping bags to the grocery store? When you’re in the store, are you in the habit of thinking about the environmental impact of the choices you’re making? When you’re cold, are you in the habit of reaching for a sweater instead of turning up the thermostat? These are just a few examples. There are many simple habits of thought and action that added all together will make a difference in the climate change crisis. In this podcast I have brought two people together who look at the world in very different ways. Manda Scott teaches meditation and Shamanic dreaming. Michaela Hempen studies applied behavior analysis. They connect through their interest in behavior change. Good habits begin with small loops. The changes you begin with are small ones, sandwiched into habits you already have. Happy New Year! May this be the year filled with many positive changes for the planet. Let’s make it our New Year’s Resolution to choose actions that move things in that direction.

In previous podcasts we talked about biodiversity in our pastures. In this conversation with Carol Hughes the focus is the gut biome of horses. How does this relate to our horse's health? And is this related to the biodiversity in our pastures? There are so many questions. Dr. Hughes equibiome project gives us a tool to gather data that will help us to answer these questions.

In the climate change crisis horse people can make a difference. We've been looking at biodiversity in our pastures. In this week's podcast we're looking at the gut biome of horses. How does this relate to our horse's health? And is this related to the biodiversity in our pastures. Lots of questions - the equibiome gives us a tool to gather data that will help us to answer these questions.

We read so many news reports about climate change induced disasters. But those news reports can feel very distance. They are happening to someone else, a long way away. They aren't personal - until they are happening to us or to someone we know. This is an interview with Heather Binns whose property was threatened by the fires that are burning along the east coast of Australia. The climate crisis is real. People are beginning to experience directly what this means - flooding for some, droughts for others, fires, hurricanes, forced evacuations, loss of life. Heather and I agreed that if she still had an internet connection after Tuesday, we would do a podcast interview. I am sharing her interview to help make what is happening around the planet personal for all of us. We stand on the precipice of climate catastrophe. This week there were far too many people waiting, watching for the fires that were coming towards them. It is horrifying. We are all waiting. Climate is not local. It effects us all. This is a beautiful planet. We need to remember what we are working for because we could all too easily lose what we love.

In our second Horses for Future podcast Jane Myers continues to describe the equicentral system and can use it in a variety of different climates and soil types. She talks about the benefits of biodiversity. When your horse is turned out, do you want him to walk more? Jame explains why a biodiverse pasture is more important than the actual size. How do you manage farm ponds so they don't become an algae-filled mess? How do you improve your soil health? How do you encourage wildlife corridors? How do you manage invasive species? How do you manage your manure piles? What role can chickens and other farm animals play in good pasture management? All these questions and many more are addressed in this podcast.

Jane Myers describes her equicentral system. Pastures which are overgrazed or have turned to mud lots can be restored. Healthy pastures contribute to healthy horses and a healthier planet.