Healing and Horsemanship

Over the past year so much has changed. The podcast has been quiet, but under the surface, so much has been happening. Let’s get caught up!
This episode is about big 2025 happenings, and an evolution that’s occurred in my horsemanship. Time is a scarce resource in my life as a mother of two little ones. And most recently, as a homeowner and land steward working to build my dream horse property from scratch, it has become even harder to find a sustainable routine to continue this work and put out new episodes. Out of necessity, time I get with my herd has become more restorative, as I sink into slow, relational skills that prioritize mutualistic horse-human relationships. And also out of need to embrace a more sustainable lifestyle, this year has changed my work and caused me to decide what I want to go all in on, and what I need to let go of.
In this episode I talk about:
+ The need to let go of things that are causing us to fight the tide, and embrace what is in alignment with our purpose and returns the greatest joy
+ Our physiological need for connection and the pillars of support we all need in our lives
+ How horses are built for social connection and thrive when they have herd members as their layers of support
+ Why the grind cultures view of productivity is damaging and how true productivity is fed by rest just as much as effort and drive
+ The wild horses I got to work with this Fall who reminded me where my greatest passion lies and how they reignited my purpose
+ How the gentling process has informed my practice of restorative horsemanship
+ The importance of being a good herd member, and how to gain clarity about our role as a layer of support for another person or a horse

Resources
This show is supported by The Herd, a holistic horse community. Herd Members gain access to the Herd Members Only Group at The Wild Side, along with my ever-growing Health, Wellness, & Horses resource library, and much more.
Check out the transcript for this episode, ‘Restorative Horsemanship and New Beginnings’ on the blog.
Links from this episode:
+ Medicine Stories Podcast episode ‘Reshaped by Parenthood: Families, Fathers, and the First Year - Rachelle Seliga’
+ Wild Willing
+ Wild Willing on Instagram
+ The Herd Membership
+ Podcast cover photo by Tricia Mogensen

Janelle, also known as the Equestrian Motion Coach, is a strength and performance coach inspiring equestrians to move better both on the ground and in the saddle.
This interview was recorded way back in March of this year (2024). Listening to it again, it was re-inspiring to hear Janelle’s perspective on balancing and aligning our bodies for our own sake, and our horses. Especially now, as I’m currently 9 months pregnant at the time of this episode being published, I’m learning again in a whole new way how the importance of a daily movement routine is so essential. Movement is life, perhaps even more so for horses than ourselves. So, if we aren’t already prioritizing balanced movement in our lives, it’s high time we start!
In this interview we talk about:
+ Why all riders are athletes, regardless of how they feel about it because they’re a teammate to their horse
+ How Janelle began connecting her studies of Kinesiology and biomechanics of humans to horses
+ How body awareness is the missing piece for many riders
+ How to motivate yourself to prioritize a movement practice (and even be able to do it in your jeans)
+ Why breathing mechanics are essential in your movement practice and how it will change your life
+ Ways we can become more aware of the core muscles and how to use them more effectively
+ Training our bodies to be strong and balanced so that we are better able to ride through any trip or unexpected movement our horse makes
+ The mind-body connection, and how we need to have both our physical and mental game strong to perform our best
Resources
This show is supported by The Herd.
Saddle up to find greater harmony in your health and horsemanship. Join the holistic horse community by becoming a Herd Member today! Membership offers behind-the-scenes bonuses for each episode, access to my growing content library on all things health, wellness, and horses, and much more.
Check out the transcript for this episode, ‘Body Awareness and Balanced Movement with Janelle Cameron’ on the blog.
This episode’s bonus for Herd Members is access to the full behind-the-scenes post, ‘Turning Pain Into Purpose, Part Two’ which elaborates on ways we can both prevent pain and restore vitality through care strategies, and explores pain through an Ayurvedic lens.
Links from this episode:
The Motion Coach
The Motion Coach on Instagram
The Motion Coach on FaceBook
Wild Willing Therapeutics & Training
Wild Willing on Instagram
The Herd Membership
Podcast cover photo by Tricia Mogensen

Grief and pain will make you a stranger to yourself. It will compromise your system. Everything becomes a reminder of what you’ve lost, or your limitations.
How do we prepare ourselves for the end of life? How do we move on after the loss of a loved one? And how can we find strength of spirit even when it feels like our body is working against us?
This episode is about my journey navigating grief after the devastating loss of a loved one, and coping with chronic pain in a condensed timeline. My journey with grief and pain is unique in that it’s also been inextricably linked to creating new life, as I found out I was pregnant not long after losing one of the most important people in my life. However, it’s made me see that when we break down the process down into its bare parts, the cycle of death bringing new life is something we all experience in some way.
In this episode I talk about:
+ The importance of training ourselves our eyes to see signs of pain (in both human and nonhuman animals)
+ How strength of spirit is so much more valuable than physical strength
+ The phenomenon of losing a loved one and then birthing new life into the world
+ How grief and pain transform us when we unflinchingly open our senses to them
+ My insights on how to navigate the grieving process, and how there is no right or wrong way to grieve
+ Why I have the utmost respect and empathy for those who suffer from chronic pain
+ How time with my horses, even very limited, has helped me to find strength of spirit when I needed it most
Resources
This show is supported by The Herd.
Saddle up to find greater harmony in your health and horsemanship. Join the holistic horse community by becoming a Herd Member today! Membership offers behind-the-scenes bonuses for each episode, access to my growing content library on all things health, wellness, and horses, and much more.
Check out the transcript for this episode, ‘Navigating Grief and Transforming From Pain’ on the blog.
This episode’s bonus for Herd Members is access to the full behind-the-scenes post, ‘Turning Pain Into Purpose, Part One’ which introduces important research on signs horses are in pain under saddle, and how we can learn to identify behavioral triggers and prevent pain in our own lives.
Links from this episode:
Wild Willing Therapeutics & Training
Wild Willing on Instagram
The Herd Membership
Podcast cover photo by Tricia Mogensen

Dana is an Equine Massage Therapist, Energy Worker for horses & humans, and a wild horse advocate who eloquently speaks volumes about her work - and something you may not have heard of, but you should know about: Active Pendulum Dowsing.
This episode truly needs little introduction. To preface, though as I like to do, I’ll simply share some highlights that we get into in this interview. Also, I’m excited to say that Dana is offering 15% off of her offerings to Members of The Herd who support the podcast. So enjoy the episode, and get in on this deal if you’re as curious about this mind-blowing modality as I am!
In this interview we talk about:
+ How Dana’s childhood horse helped her co-regulate and get through traumas she didn’t yet have the tools to cope with
+ Why Dana says her leaving the horse world was her biggest regret - and how she came back to horses later in life
+ How unprocessed emotions are stored in the body
+ Dana’s introduction to the world of energy work and pendulum dowsing through working with a shaman
+ How horses came back into Dana’s life when she began to heal herself
+ Her journey becoming an Equine Bodyworker, and why she feels that the energy work she was doing facilitated her getting to that point
+ How everyone has the gift of intuition - it’s up to us whether we trust, believe in, or cultivate our abilities
+ And finally how energy work can help us come back into balance in a number of ways, through clearing obstacles, patching energy leaks, and opening us to positivity on the subtle body frontiers.
Resources
This show is supported by The Herd.
Saddle up to find greater harmony in your health and horsemanship. Join the holistic horse community by becoming a Herd Member today! Membership offers behind-the-scenes bonuses for each episode, access to my growing content library on all things health, wellness, and horses, and much more.
Check out the interview transcript for this episode, ‘Raising Energy and Active Pendulum Dowsing with Dana Jenkins’ on the blog.
This episode’s bonus for Herd Members is a 15% discount on Dana’s offerings at Elevation Equine - including remote Active Pendulum Dowsing. Go to The Herd’s membership site to learn more.
Links from this episode:
Elevation Equine Services
Elevation Equine on Instagram
Wild Willing Therapeutics & Training
Wild Willing on Instagram
The Herd Membership
Podcast cover photo by Tricia Mogensen

Wild horses spark inspiration in our hearts and minds, but that isn’t all that they fuel. They are also source of hundreds of years of controversy and debate, that continues to this day in the not-so-wild west.
This episode is about my journey coming to know wild horses, from an activists perspective, then a trainer’s perspective, a guardian’s perspective and then finally from the perspective of a researcher. In this episode I’ll be sharing all about the history of the wild horse in North America, as well as their present day plight, and why it’s even of consequence.
The main reason I’m devoting this episode to wild horses, though, is because over the last decade I have essentially voluntarily and figuratively been dragged away by wild horses. I wouldn’t be where I am today without their influence in my life.
And that said, I have some big announcements to share - all of which, were inspired by wild horses.
I’m self publishing a book, What We Tame, a collection of stories on gentling wild mustangs! Pre-sale options will be coming soon. The book will be available in print and as an e-book (soon, I promise)!!!
I’m also breathing new life into an old project, geared towards better understanding American mustangs, and all stories and perspectives that weave their narrative. I've launched The Wild Side - which is part Archive, part Community, designed to bring the wild horse community closer together and educate people about why wild horses matter. So if you are voluntarily dragged away by wild horses too, I hope to see you over at The Wild Side.
In this episode I talk about:
+ The history of the wild horse in North America, as well as their present day plight
+ What exactly an American mustang is, and why they matter
+ The graphic details concerning the violence committed against them that led to the grassroots activism campaign and the passing of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act
+ The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program and the complex pros and cons of the current management practices
+ How my interactions with wild horses as a trainer led me to question the management practices of on-range populations
+ Why my research on American mustangs in my postgraduate program in Anthrozoology drove me to gallop headlong into the wild horse controversy
+ The importance of reflecting on our beliefs, unpacking our perspectives, and truly listening to others who think differently
+ The difference between wild horse activists and wild horse advocates (and why I call myself an advocate)
+ Why I believe that wild horses are the main character in my story
+ How essential it is to think outside of ourselves - to think what the horse would want, instead of just what we want, and why there is often a difference between the two
Resources
This show is supported by The Herd.
Saddle up to find greater harmony in your health and horsemanship. Join the holistic horse community by becoming a Herd Member today! Membership offers behind-the-scenes bonuses for each episode, access to my growing content library on all things health, wellness, and horses, and much more.
Check out the post that expands on this episode, ‘Wild Horses and Rewriting Stories’ on the blog.
Links from this episode:
The Wild Side Archive
The Wild Side Community
What We Tame - my book coming soon!!!
Montgomery Creek Ranch
Wild Horse Native Species Research
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program
Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West by Deanne Stillman
Wild Horse Country: the History, Myth, and Future of the Mustang by David Philipps
Population Genetics of Great Basin Wild Horses
Wild Horse Annie and the Last of the Mustangs by David Cruise and Alison Griffiths
Wild Horses Adopted Under a Federal Program are Going to Slaughter by Dave Philipps
Wild Horses, Wilder Controversy by Ben Masters
Wild Willing Therapeutics & Training
Wild Willing on Instagram
The Herd Membership
Podcast cover photo by Tricia Mogensen