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Being Real With Ourselves Is Courage. Lets Get Brave!
Emma Bryant's Story
Emma was raised on a 3000 acres sheep & wheat farm in N.S.W. Her mother had a stud of part bred Arabians crossed with an Australian Stock Horse palomino stallion. The progeny excelled in the dilute classes at the shows and even reached the movies, with their horses staring in the movie "The Silver Brumby".
Her passion for horses was sparked from an incredibly young age, as she was surrounded by herds of horses of all ages. This allowed her to interact with foals and observe herd dynamics all the time.
"Hanging with the horses was one of my most peaceful times, playing with the foals befriending them, was magical and still is one of my most loved special moments. Listening to the foal’s responses is where I started to discover the process of acceptance that every horse goes through." she states.
Emma was NOT a Brilliant child rider. Her first pony Misha was not a trustworthy kids pony as her mother used to have to take her for a big ride and "get the sting out of her" or she would buck and throw Emma off. Knocking her confidence yet sparking the curiosity which lead to a lifetime quest to find out why horses buck.
The typical training of the horses back then was something she could never understand as the horses look fearful. At 11 she recalls one incident that made her sob for a better way for the horse. This was the monumental start of her passionate quest to find kinder ways. She wanted to understand the horse from the inside out.
With her mother’s support Emma took advantage of being exposed to many great American and Australian horseman and women throughout her teenage years and was a very keen student. "From each person I found things that felt in line with my mission for kinder ways and I just decided to disregard the things that weren't." she proclaims.
With guidance she started her first horse at 14yrs old, then spent every weekend helping out at what was then called Natural horsemanship clinics, before eventually going to a college to study horse breaking, Stock Horse training, Quarter Horse sale prep and shoeing. "College was old school horse breaking, (still a battle, man verse horse). I was heckled for the way I rode, and the way I trained and treated my horses, but I stuck to what I felt was better for my horse." Emma stated.
Over the years she has competed in Reining, camp-drafting, western pleasure and trail, gymkhanas, stock-man’s challenge, bronco branding and Heavy horse events including ploughing, slide, Ridden/led show classes and long reining obstacle courses and the most recent the Australian Brumby Challenge. Throughout all the competitions Emma has stayed focused on the relationship with her horse, not pushing to win despite of her horse’s feelings but achieving new things together as a team.
"None of the ribbons won meant as much as meeting a truly traumatized horse and get them to trust humans again or helping someone that was on the verge of quitting find the love for their horse again. That fills my heart with joy." she says.
After 20 years of studying and 6 years starting horses for the public Emma gained the most knowledge from the damaged/dangerous horses, she never had the heart to say no to. Here is a snippet of what she learned direct from the horses who, had spirits so strong they could not be broken by other people:
"I have learned that horses and people both learn better when they are at ease, trust the people around them and are not functioning out of their survival instincts. For horses and people alike we all have the same instinctual responses when we feel threatened, and nobody likes to be scared or in pain ever. It is scientifically proven that when the survival brain is in function, the horse or human can achieve tasks but their ability to retain what was intended to be learnt is inhibited and the stress/cortisol levels have catastrophic effects on the body, especially if most of the time is spent in this state. (Ulcers, muscle damage, more accidents, and injuries.) The only way to protect your horses’ body, mind, and spirit, is to help them learn how to become relaxed and calm in a human world. To achieve true relaxation in our horses a trusting, empathetic bond needs to be built. Only then the horses have an unbelievable capacity to do things that are not natural to them, for us.
Horses having sensitive instincts they are really in-tune to how we make them feel in any given moment, so our intentions, being honest and real is needed to achieve this type of trusting friendship." Stated Emma.
After years of development, Emma has a flexible forever growing mentor program that dose the kind nature and spirit of the horse justice. This program can be accessed by her Horse help Videos, also you can access free content via her Face book Group/page, and You Tube channel. All under the name Equality Equine Services.
Emma currently travels around Australia teaching people how to get that calm, confident, connection with their horse. To find out more and dates of a clinic near you, subscribe to the mailing list.
In closing Emma believes, "Horsemanship is a continuing path of self-development for me and I am excited to share that journey with all the brave souls that cross my path. Equality Equine services is here to help horses and humans heal equally to become empowered. Having simple, yet REAL conversations between our mates, four legged or two is the answer.
Come join us for the ride!”
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