Pony Professionals Podcast

Do you identify as a person who is nice to horses but don't know if you are doing Natural Horsemanship? Unsure if Natural Horsemanship trainers have anything to offer you if you can work with green horses and ride decently? Unsure if Natural Horsemanship is too aggressive? What's the difference between Liberty Horsemanship and Natural Horsemanship? Do you need to know CAT-H? This is a podcast to help people understand what 'Natural Horsemanship' is and what 'Liberty Horsemanship' is. The target audience for this podcast is people who have some horse experience but grew up riding in English or riding bareback at home. Find answers to all your questions here!

Imagine you are living in Ireland before the time of cars and tractors. You can only afford one horse. You need a horse that can plough an acre of land, pull a carriage, go hunting, but really, more than anything, you need a horse that isn’t lame a day in his life. Enter the Irish Draught. Many people are worried about the Demise of the Irish Draught Breed and rightly so. In this episode, you’ll learn about the Irish Draught horse, 'Steeped in Luck', who made history in dressage and why Irish Sport Horse stallions have been among the top ranked eventing producers for nearly 30 years. Hear about 'Flexible' (the fastest horse in Europe) and 'Mr. Medicott' who competed in 2 different Olympics, once for Germany and once for the USA. Plus, learn about Newgrange, a monument in Ireland that is older than Stonehenge and older than the Pyramids of Giza. Lastly, hear why Dublin, Ireland has front doors of every color. Keywords: Kali Kiger, Rich Fellers, Denielle Gallagher-Legriffon, Irish Draught Horse Society of North America (IDHSNA), Draft Horse, show-jumping, horse jumping, history, social studies, Slieve League Aurora, Riverdance, St. Patrick's Day

Imagine riding 60 miles side-saddle in a dress. The early US was so crowded with trees that it was difficult to travel by carriage. If you can’t travel in a carriage, what do you do? Whether you’re a Civil War general like Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant, or a pioneer house wife, in early America you needed a smooth, fast horse with amazing endurance. While today the Saddlebred is a somewhat passé breed, the breed was indispensable in the 1700’s and 1800’s. Learn what happens when hunter/jumper riders and saddle seat riders swap places, about rock climbing in Red River Gorge, fish with no eyes in Mammoth Cave, Louisville Slugger bats, fiddle championships, Chess Pie, and Mega Cavern (a mine turned underground zipline, MTB dirt jump course, ropes course, and Christmas Light show).

Canadian Horses are rare, but maybe they shouldn't be! Learn about the versatile and economical-to own-horse breed known as 'The Little Iron Horse'. From skijoring, to sleigh racing, to eventing and Working Equitation, they are handy horses for the increasingly complex world that we live in and might just live-up to the breed slogan 'a horse for the future'. Additionally, learn some cool facts about Canada. Hear about the The Great Trail (the longest multi-use trail in the world), amazing sky-bridges in Jasper National Park and Whistler, B.C., the coldest city in the world (Winnipeg, Canada, home to the longest ice rink in the world), a rap group called Nomadic Massive that raps in 8 languages, and orcas eating moose (you read that right- whales eating a member of the deer family).

Are there native horse breeds in Japan? Find out in this week's episode. Learn about Yabusame, Japanese mounted archery, and the Kiso, the horse of Samurais. Hear about the Yoguni horses from the tropical southern area of the island chain and the Hokkaido horses who battle heavy snows in winter. For a cultural twist we have a quick nod to Karen Polle, Japow snowsports with Travis Rice, showjumpers Ryuuma and Shino Hirota, the history of Top Ramen, and the edible artform of Amezaiku.

Kali Kiger describes her experiences training a Welsh Pony named Sam who was particularly reactive. Sam was known as being a very hot pony but through training, Kali revealed aspects of his personality that were reminiscent of Autism. Kali shares how she discovered that Sam processed things differently, as well as their successes and failures as partners.

Kali Kiger describes the tools used at Pony Pros to build confidence in rescue horses and untrained ponies. Bombproofing is discussed from 3 innovative angles.

Kali Kiger tells listeners all about an amazing pony she had called Evans Thistle Isle. Kali describes what made Thistle an ideal first pony type and Thistle’s transition into therapeutic riding.

Kali Kiger describes her style of teaching, including explanations of what she does to make lessons fun and to make the student an expert.

Kali Kiger interviews Cavalia horse show trainer Julien Beaugnon. In this episode Julien describes his experience working for Cavalia and other horse shows. We discuss the living conditions for the horses, the principles in the training, and who Julien has learned from. Julien ends with some tidbits for those who might be interested in working for Cavalia one day.

Kali talks about her foolish early days of training and how being an accomplished rider doesn’t always give you a clear runway for training.

Kali shares her tips for feeding up thin horses, including what to feed as well as ideas about ‘set point theory’ and how it relates to weight.

Kali explains how Koa and CuteZilla help her create magical experiences for riders who come visit. Kali describes teaching techniques used and the tricks the ponies do and why these things are great for helping timid riders have a great time and get braver.

Kali talks about meeting CuteZilla and their early history together. She describes some of the challenges and benefits of having CuteZilla in her riding school. She also describes how this fantastic pony got her name.

Kali describes the process of buying a feedlot pony and selling her 9 months later as a champion hunter pony. Kali explains how she craftily found young riders to help develop the pony using the free section of the newspaper. Kali was disqualified at a hunter/jumper show for riding bitless, but was still able to successfully sell her pony.

Kali talks about the idiosyncrasies of her childhood POA pony. The pony was hard to catch and not a great jumper. Kali describes being contacted 10-15 years later by someone who was contacting her for training advice and didn't realize she owned a pony Kali learned to ride on. Kali also describes how POAs fair as jumping horses and the factors that might be at play. The podcast is briefly interrupted by a Great Horned Owl soaring overhead!

Kali talks about being a shy kid and huge animal lover. She also discusses anthropomorphism, her first horse show, starting to ride hunter/jumpers, overcoming fear in riding, learning to find a state of flow, and the opportunity horses give us to be present.

Kali talks about the pony she got for her 9th birthday that bolted nearly every lesson for 3 years. So many of us had a crazy pony growing up. It's a sort of unofficial right of passage and makes you a great rider.

Kali Kiger from Pony Pros talks about how she became a horse trainer. Pony Pros is a natural horsemanship and positive reinforcement riding school for kids and kids at heart. Pony Pros is located in Bend, Oregon and is offers national and international clinics.