Speaker 2 (00:42)
Today we're going to be visiting with Lucy Klassen and she's going to be sharing with us her work. And her work focuses a lot on the connection and the connection that starts with us with our horses. Traveling the world, she's helped countless riders create deeper trust and harmony through breath, presence and communication. Her approach is transformative and I'm excited to dive into the magic of the horse human connection today. Recently, she wrote a book, Wired for Connection.
which is available in 20 different countries and two languages, both Dutch and English. So welcome Lucy, it's great to have you here and great to have you as a part of the fair.
Speaker 1 (01:16)
Well, thank you. Thanks for inviting me. know, together we create a ripple effect of like inspiring people that, there's different ways.
Speaker 3 (01:25)
for that.
Speaker 2 (01:26)
I think that's important. And you bring that in to your work as well, as well as bringing in some of the science and some of the spirituality of coming from the heart. And I'd love for you to dive into, first of all, your journey, how you started with horses and how that's arced and evolved to where you are at right now.
Speaker 1 (01:47)
Okay, how long do we have?
Speaker 3 (01:49)
Take as much time as you'd like.
Speaker 1 (01:50)
So when I was a little kid I didn't have a pony but of course like everybody else you dream of your own pony but I always had ponies to look after. Shetland ponies, Fjord like the robust horse ponies. And at home it wasn't always like safe, not that there was physical something but my mother was bipolar so I never knew exactly how the situation was at home. So the horses
The ponies were my safe spot and I spent really every afternoon after school with those ponies. And looking back, I think that's when I learned how to communicate with horses in a very natural way because there was no riding school. I didn't have a saddle. So if I wanted to hop on, I had to explain to the pony to park next to the fence so that I could hop on. So that just evolved.
in very natural way. Like 10, 15 years ago, people started telling me that like, you have so much fun with your horses, horses want to be with you, how do you do that? And I was like, just normal. And then I realized that it started 55 years ago, I turned 60 this year, so I think I started with ponies when I was six or seven. So, and then I didn't do then of course, at some point you need to do a career. So I didn't do
I didn't ride horses for a couple of years and then like I was in a management job and like a really head person because that's also when you do when it doesn't, if it's not really safe, if you don't know how to connect, because when you're very young and you learn to do everything by yourself, then that is your survival mechanism when you grow older. And then I had my first burnout and I,
I wanted to do things, I wanted to do like a career switch. And when you, when you're in a professional job and you have your health insurance and a good, payment and your pension plan, it's very hard to quit. It's like a golden cage. But when everything is gone, like I didn't work for about a year, then I thought, well, if I don't do it now, I never do it. So I was in my forties actually.
When I bought my first horse, my first own horse, and I started exploring things of doing it in a different way. And then my first horse, Bombero from Spain, he had a physical issue in his right front foot. And it took me like two years, a two year journey in first the regular, like the veterinarian stuff, then alternative. And then I found the straightness training, academic art of writing and the Masters in method.
And with that, could help him have a like two feds told me to put him down to have another six happy healthy years with him. So he taught me the physical aspect. And then a couple of years ago in 2020, that was like a really tough year. We forget about that. I had some like really life events and I had another. Well, burnout slash depression. And I'm very open about that now.
I wasn't before, but in that year, also in 2020, my brother ended his life. So that was a major event that had me dive into development trauma, because we both had the same childhood and yeah, I can say that has a big effect.
So I went into therapy, I learned about the polyvagal theory, I learned about the window of tolerance and applying that into my own life has literally changed my life. Because with the window of tolerance, you learn to detect, to see and feel the early signals when you go out of the window so you can regulate yourself again. And then in 2021, I get a horse with a trauma.
And I started to translate everything that I learned for myself and about trauma to him because when I first saw him, I immediately recognized his constant alertness. And he was trained for bullfighting in Portugal. He has scars on his body. There was a wound in his mouth. And I started translating everything and we started filming that. And then two years ago, I did a webinar on that.
how the Polyvagal principles changed Shazow, at least on the ground by then from anxious and stressed into calm and connected. So I have videos that he goes through all the nervous states from dorsal shutdown, standing with his head in the corner to fight flight attacking me to calm and connected. And then from that place, I always say, now I can go to cool and collect it because I don't want to be calm all the time.
but I want to start from a calm place and then I can activate. So I did a webinar, I had 800 people who joined and I was like, I'm onto something. People were, I got messages like, oh, now I understand why I this or now I understand why my whore is that. And they wanted to see those videos. So I turned the videos into an online course, the Wired for Connection course. And then somebody said, you should write a book. So last year I wrote a book and
then I translated it and now I'm working on my second book. So, wow, that was in 10 minutes my life story.
Speaker 2 (06:58)
that was great. That's great. And how neat that it came about so organically. And isn't it funny how there's events or people or horses that come into our lives when we are when we are exploring certain parts of ourself and they are there to reflect both ourself and our learnings so that we can even go deeper.
in for ourselves and in this case it was for your horse. The timing, you don't even, sometimes you just can't say it's, it's fluky. Things happen for a reason sometimes and that's so interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:34)
And I say, always say teaching what you know is the best way to learn and grow. Cause a lot of people say I need to learn this first and I need to need to learn that first before I can share this. And I say, well, in the sharing in the teaching, I learned the most. Because you get questions and then you start to like, how do I explain this? You dive deeper and. And yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:51)
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:58)
So starting like the online courses, I always started with a pilot version first so that then the people would give me feedback. So I explained something and then sometimes I am already two steps ahead. So I forget steps and then they will say, but how did you do this and that? So I can even break it down in smaller steps.
Speaker 3 (08:15)
Exactly. to be able to teach something is really either mastery or getting closer to that goal of mastering something. Being able to take what you know and put it into words is another level of understanding. And to get somebody else to understand it is a higher level of doing this art, right?
Speaker 1 (08:33)
I remember like โ I'm also like a Masterson, Masterson method practitioner and instructor. when Jim asked me to start teaching, he said, I have a lot of people that are great body workers, but I don't have many people that can teach and explain it to someone. And he knew I was already teaching all over the world. So he said, can you just add this weekend course? I'm like,
Speaker 2 (08:55)
that's great. And I think in the teaching, especially when you're working with students and getting the feedback from them, and our horses are students too, you know, so we are having to constantly be in this conversation where we're taking in another's perspective and you're coming at whatever the teaching is from their perspective and trying to step into their shoes, which causes us to further refine and deepen our own understanding because now we've got to come at it from a completely different
perspective and the more horses you work with and the more students you have, the more your wealth of knowledge just grows because they cause you to find the other pieces that you might be missing.
Speaker 3 (09:32)
If somebody were to purchase a horse for the first time, because there are a lot of first time horse buyers, owners, where would you have them start and what would you recommend the? Well. โ
Speaker 1 (09:42)
Nobody ever told me
anything. I just learned everything. But you're right. I hear a lot of people that have this image of, you know, this dream horse, and then it turns into a nightmare. And I see that a lot with, โ like I have that, I have a Lusitano and a, and a PRE. So they get this beautiful horse from Spain or from Portugal that has been trained in a very strict way. And now we go like, Ooh, he's such a sweet horse. And the horse doesn't understand. So I always say clarity with softness.
And where would I have them start? I don't know. There should be a foundation course actually. I think we could start with the nervous system. If you understand your own nervous system, you are able to relax yourself. Be the safe spot for your horse, not spook when your horse spooks. So you can be the grounded present person. Yeah, I think that's where I would start. And then of course you need some basic knowledge on how horses, what their...
basic needs are, they need enough movement, they need food, they need social interaction, you know. Working with the nervous system, I know now is essential. So the Wyatt for Connection course was the last course I created, but I put it in front of the journey of the.
Speaker 3 (10:51)
Yeah,
it's interesting because we talk to horse professionals all the time, you know, all over the, all over the world and the good ones, they understand that it starts here. It starts with us and the power of observation.
Interpreting what the horse is saying and the nuances of what they're saying and then that we are present within ourselves to notice what's taking place so that we can set the situation up to have happen what we would like to have happen. And so that's the common theme when I talk to everybody and I ask that question, it's really starting with ourselves and you work on that so much with people and there's so much that people can do.
to work on their horsemanship journey, but they can do it away from their horse. They can do it on their own. Would you like to talk a little bit about what people can do when they're away from their horse to work on themselves?
Speaker 1 (11:43)
Well, I've been teaching body awareness for riders for more than a decade. So when I started teaching and people, they normally come with you, my horse doesn't do this and my horse doesn't that. And I always, I always ask, well, can you show me? And then I look at them and then I was like, this has nothing to do with the horse. That's when I, when I started to dive into this and in the book, I've included 10 strategies.
where I say to drop from the head into the body, because we live in a world that has so many, like so much input and so many signals that we are constantly living in our head. So step one is, as you said, become the observer of yourself. So I say, I used to say become the, like there has to be a helicopter. Now I say a drone. So there's the drone that's flying over you when you watch yourself. And I have this like little check-in thing like
the external, extraception, what do I see, what do I hear, what do I feel from the external, and then three fingers for internal, what do I feel on the inside physically, what do I feel emotionally, and what are my thoughts, without judging them, just observing them. So first the observer, then it's the check-in, and then I have all these exercises to drop from the head into the body, and that starts with some neck exercises and eye exercises with that activate the vagus nerve.
Of course, breathing, breathing is always, I see it as the bridge between the body and the mind. we breathe out longer than we breathe in, it shifts already to the parasympathetic nervous system. And then a very important one is shaking. Most know this, if an animal sees something frightening, they run away and then they turn around and they do like what we do after something scary happens, we go like.
Fine! And we store that trauma energy in our body and shaking, making sounds, that releases that energy. So what I say, I say I have 10 strategies and they're short, simple, and you don't need any props. So you can do them standing in line and then feel which one resonate with you. And I call that make that your emergency routine.
So if you practice that often enough with neuroplasticity, you create new neural pathways in your brain. So when something scary happens, you have a new option. So then you don't spook when your horse spooks because you don't activate your survival mechanism. You have created a new path. That for me is like, so I ground, I make sound and I have a little shake. That's my emergency routine. So yeah.
People can practice that.
Speaker 3 (14:19)
it's interesting. And it's very interesting what breath work can do and how quickly we can relax ourselves for riding horses or falling asleep or waking up in the morning. horses breathe all the time. And so it's interesting, you know, we're hearing more and more, it's becoming more normal, I think, for horse people to understand the power of like the breath and how much of a difference that can make with horses.
Speaker 1 (14:41)
But a lot of instructors may say breathe, but they don't explain how. That's one I created a couple of years ago. I have a free ebook, which is called three steps to the heart of your horse. And the first exercise is the full breathing. the three instead, some, the most people breathe like high up. And then I start, I heard I need to breathe in the belly, but then I forgot the top part.
Speaker 3 (14:47)
definitely.
Speaker 1 (15:06)
So I was only breathing in the belly. And then with the pranayama from the yoga, I learned about the three-phase breathing. And that's a full body breathing. And that really
Speaker 2 (15:15)
that's so interesting. I did the same thing. All you're doing is breathing into your belly and you forget about here.
Speaker 1 (15:23)
You
need to open for this.
Speaker 3 (15:25)
And it's so much of this is the same thing the horse does. So we'll do an exercise. I'll have somebody on the ground, maybe work on leading their horse and I'll work on exhale and sort of slouchy on purpose. And then we'll inhale and lift up. And as soon as people breathe in, their horse breathes in because the horse gets ready and they go together. And then to halt, they exhale. And when we get on their back, it's the same.
Speaker 1 (15:49)
exactly the same. I call that the announcement breath because a lot of people when they start walking with their horse they start walking there's tension on the on the line and then the horse goes okay I need to go but if we stand relaxed and I I bring life into my body I breathe energy into my body that's the announcement for the horse like something's gonna happen and they go like what what and
When you have a young horse, they basically automatically come with you. When you have a conditioned horse that has learned to ignore all the signals because people are lunging their horse while being on their phone or whatever. So horses shut down partially. We have to like open them up again first, but young horses, they're easy.
Speaker 2 (16:31)
that's interesting. I think, you the horse is such a reflection of ourselves and people have so much narrowed their focus and shut down and brought instead of being open and having โ a divergent focus, they're very convergently focused, you know, in the mind on the phone, you know, and I don't know if you're familiar with Sally Swift, always talked about soft eyes, but
Speaker 1 (16:52)
I'm a writing instructor also, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:54)
So teach us about how you or let us know about how you work with your horses and you do a lot of lateral movements and those sorts of things, which again, I think opens up possibilities, opens up the focus because we have to be both ourselves and our horses. We're not just thinking, you know, in front of us now. Now we're thinking about the whole
space around us, how do you use the lateral movements to both create more collection in your horses and also not end up creating, you know, sometimes I think people if they really want to focus on getting their horses to do lateral movements, it can be a little bit of a compression sort of thing, or we're asking a lot, how do you use those lateral movements to help increase the bond between the horse and rider?
Speaker 1 (17:45)
say that every training has two components. One is trust, connection and communication. And then I start with the physical work. And when I have explained to my horse to connect to my breathing, like Jack just explained also, then I don't need
the rein and to stop or like a whip or pointing device as I like to call it to go forward. So then I can refine it. Now my horse Bombero, that first horse, I needed to do this lateral work with him because he had an issue on his front leg. So you need to shift the weight to the hind legs. A lot of people learn how to ride, but they don't learn how to educate a horse on the ground because
Every horse is crooked basically and that is no problem when they are out in the field. It's natural that they have 60 % of the weight on the front legs because that brings them to the next piece of grass. But if we want to ride the horse, it is our responsibility to shift that to at least 50-50 or more weight to the hind legs so that the horse can carry him or herself and the rider in a healthy way.
because the front legs are stacked on top of each other and the hind legs have the angle, the hip joint, the knee and the hog that need to close. And now you're suddenly riding the hind legs, which is much more comfortable. In order to shift the weight, you first have to prepare those hind legs. So you have to tell the horse to go to the gym. Meaning I'm using the body weight, that's 600 kilos.
by placing the shoulders in front of the inside hind leg, that inside hind leg is stepping under the body and is basically weightlifting. With haunches in, I'm putting the outside hind leg under the body. Now the outside hind leg is weightlifting. So then half-pass pirouettes, alternating, creating more balance, and then you can just translate it into riding. So once those hind legs are strong,
And flexible, meaning the joints know how to close because that's quite difficult because horses have this standing apparatus where they lock the knee, the patella. So if you do the school hold, for instance, you shift the weight, then some horses lock. they shift too much backwards, but they don't lower. And if you teach everything, then you can shift the weight and have a collected horse and have a, also a safe horse, a balanced horse is a safe horse because a horse is on the front legs.
or is vertically out of balance, meaning, you know, they lean in and then they put their head out because they don't bend through their whole body. They speed up because that's the way it's a flight animal. So if they, if they feel they're not balanced in their body, they will run. So yeah, that's when I created the whole, like it's, it's a six month journey, like every, because people, people want to do PF. People want to learn PF.
I did this, this video on how I heard that somebody even taught a cow to Piaf and then they just tap the hind legs and that's not Piaf, that is handstand because they're lifting the hind legs and then you press the horse on the shoulders. And it's awful how I see other trainers teach Piaf in four weeks and then they add a couple of whips. You have to tap them here, you have to tap them there, you have to tap them there.
And people want that end result. And I always tell them, I cannot teach you PF in four weeks. I have a six months program that maybe at the end, your horse might offer a diagonal step because the horse is so balanced. And then maybe after a year, you get your first steps of PF. Maybe. People want things quick. I, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:23)
They do. And they're direct. People are so direct. They say, is what I want. And it's like, what are the movements that in the understanding that the horse needs to lead up to this end goal, this end movement or horse show or whatever it is they're doing? people are very direct line. And it's like all of these, this is a process and it's like a tree. It's like a tree growing. It's slow, but in the end, it's beautiful. Right. Enjoy the journey. Right.
Speaker 1 (21:46)
You don't see.
Speaker 3 (21:49)
Right, so I-
Speaker 1 (21:50)
love
doing groundwork and the people that are in like my tribe are the people that love the journey. If there's hardly any competition riders or it's a competition rider that doesn't need the validation of the judge anymore, they just want a happy healthy horse that they can ride for as long as possible. Yes, I'm definitely not for everyone.
Speaker 3 (22:13)
Same, and that's okay. We like you that way.
Speaker 2 (22:17)
I do. I love I love that you focus really on the connection and the relationship. And, and your new book gets into into that. And I'd love to hear more about that. Your new book. โ no, no wired for connection.
Speaker 1 (22:29)
You mean the book I wrote or my new book? My new book that I'm going to write.
That would be it. So that book is, well, it's basically a translation of the course that I created. So the content wasn't that difficult. So the first, it has four parts and the first part talks about the polyvagal theory, about neuroception, about the early wiring of the brain, about trauma, about the window of tolerance. So it's the theory behind it. Then part two is how I translated it to horses and
I always explain I'm not a therapist. I'm not a scientist. I've studied a lot and I've translated it with my horse and with like many other horses. Then part three is the 10 self-regulating strategies. So how can I become the safe person for my horse? And then part four is co-regulation. So how from that calm place I can now help my horse.
to relax and from there also add a little bit of energy so that we can train as long as I every time can go back into that green ventral zone.
Speaker 2 (23:38)
Can you
explain a little bit about the zones that you're?
Speaker 1 (23:40)
So we are used to. or that's what I learned that we have everybody basically knows about the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system sympathetic. said was fight flight freeze parasympathetic is rest and digest. Well, the free case is not in the sympathetic. It's in the parasympathetic. It's like the shutdown. So that's already a thing that's that puts an additional layer. And Stephen Porges in the early nineties discovered that.
The main nerve for the parasympathetic nervous system is the vagus nerve. And the vagus nerve has two exits from the brainstem, the dorsal and the ventral branch that's wandering in the body. So we basically have sympathetic, we have ventral vagal, and we have dorsal vagal. Now, Daniel Siegel put these states in a window of tolerance. So it is a window.
If you Google it, you see three layers. So you say that you see the mid one is the ventral vagal state, which is safe. That's where we are open for learning. We have social interaction. Then the top is the fight flight system or hyper arousal. And the bottom part is the hypo arousal, which is the shutdown. And then I was, I've translated that to horses and then I was like, but I'm missing something.
because I do need a little bit of activation if I want to train my horse as long as the horse feels safe. So I made it into the ventral vehicle, then sympathetic with the ventral break. This is where I play with my horse or I go for a trail ride or I'm doing my lateral work. And then if you do trigger stacking, so you ask and you ask and you ask, that's when we go into overwhelm.
or the horse goes into overwhelm and you have to fight flight. If you start to recognize the early signals in your horse that your horse is building tension, you can give the horse a break because horses also know how to self-regulate so that the horse goes back into a regulated state. So what you often see is somebody takes the horse out of the stable, they walk, drop, canter for an hour and puts the horse back.
They at my stable, my horses are at the age of five stable, they think I'm doing nothing. I do something, two minutes, I give the horse a break. I do something, maybe three minutes, give the horse a break. So it's very short exercises and then a pause. And I wait for a deep sigh or a lick and chew or the dropping of the head. And then I know my horse is open again for learning. And I continue with the next step. So learning.
learning to recognize the signals in an early state both with yourself and with your horse gives you the time and the tools if you have the tools to regulate yourself because if you're in the extreme in the hyper arousal or hypo arousal it's very hard because the only thing then is survival so you don't listen anymore you can't hear anymore you cannot learn anymore so people when the horse doesn't listen they start to talk louder
additional whip, additional here. You push the horse into that state of overwhelm. And then if it's too much, they go into dorsal shutdown. They like, I like to use the trailer loading example. Like first, the horse tries to back off. Like I want to get away. When that doesn't work, the horse starts to fight, like pull on the rope. Then somebody puts a line behind the butt and somebody says, well, give them a, like with the whip and horses go into complete shutdown.
Because they think they're going to die basically. By adding the pressure, they go in hyperarousal or even worse in hypoarousal.
Speaker 3 (27:14)
Interesting. that explains that very well.
Speaker 2 (27:17)
very well. And I think that we're the same way with giving our horses lots of breaks after each little tidbit. it, you know, people might be watching you and going, well, you're not getting anything done out there. But in reality, the horses, they grow so quickly because they are actually.
remembering and processing all of those little lessons. So now you're just building one thing on top of the other on top of the other.
Speaker 3 (27:45)
And I might
have horses in three different areas, but they can see each other. And so I start at this time in my life, I'm starting more horses again. It happens. And so I might get on a young one in the arena and I sit on it and it's, it's, good and it's calm and I step down and then I work, I walk out of the arena and I go to the next arena and the horses can see each other. So they see me come and go and they watch what I do with each other.
And even my horses come up to the fence and they stand there and they watch what I'm doing with the horses. And it gets to the point where they're like, bring me in the arena. So pretty soon I'll cycle through. I'll take one horse out, bring mine in. And they're like, let's do it. That last horse did. that idea.
Speaker 1 (28:25)
believe they learn
also by watching and by seeing that the other horse is relaxed in your presence they go like โ apparently that's a nice spot to be.
Speaker 3 (28:33)
Exactly, exactly. So use it, you know, use it to your advantage. And like we were saying, people are so direct focused that they work on that one horse, like you said, walk, trot, canter for an hour, both directions. And they go through this routine for themself because they want to feel like they've done all these things. But is that what the horse needs? Probably, probably not.
Speaker 2 (28:33)
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:52)
And a very interesting thing that I learned from Steven Peters, he's a neuroscientist, is that there is this saying, we know all, it's โ pressure motivates, it's the release that teaches. Well, it's not the release, it's the pause after the release, because in that break, the information is transferred from the short-term memory to the long-term memory. So that's what I found so interesting.
Speaker 3 (29:16)
It is interesting and giving I've learned wait longer. So when we do let the horse settle and let down and relax that I wait longer and the more I wait, the more relaxed they get and the more processing that goes on. I wish I could go back and I was always in a hurry.
And so I didn't value standing and letting down and licking and chewing and rolling the eyes and yawning. now I'll wait longer. And it's like, yes, people don't think you're doing anything, but you really, you really are.
Speaker 1 (29:46)
My fascination for the nervous system started in 2012 when I learned the Masterson method. That's when I learned to see all these little signals and I asked Jim, how does this work? He said, we're working on the nervous system, but he couldn't explain at that time how. But it started back then. I always say slow down to catch up with your horse.
Speaker 2 (30:03)
โ
Speaker 3 (30:06)
That's great.
Speaker 1 (30:08)
I
need that as well. and that's the last my horse Shijau. I mean, I wrote in front of my book, I'm saying I dedicate this also to him because he taught me the real meaning of patience. Because if at any time I would go like, you know, I'm not going to hit you. I could go back three days. Like,
The moment my energy went into that state, he's like, I know this energy and that's not safe.
Speaker 2 (30:31)
and that's why you're starting with people first. You're people about themselves because that's the biggest ingredient is us.
Speaker 1 (30:39)
Absolutely.
And then they go, I'm so frustrated because this and this and that. And then I asked them, so tell me something about this. Why did you buy this horse? What did you like about the horse? And immediately their energy shifts. โ know, it was so nice and kind and you know, it's so, yeah, it's that hard coherent state that horses love to be in.
Speaker 2 (30:59)
Yeah, that's why with the fair and with the website, I did the because of the horse statements. It's to bring gratitude into our practice with our horses. So when we really stop and reflect on how much our horses give us in our life and how much they've taught us about being better ourselves and the richness that they just bring, if we come to them in gratitude, in appreciation, that feel
that intention because really it's our intentions, right? So that feeling intention comes through even before we step into the pasture. They can see us a mile away, feel us a mile away and know exactly where we're at and they will, you'll be triggering their nervous system at that point already. And so if we can just make those little shifts in our own self,
then we will see those shifts come through from our horses. So now what is your vision for the horse world? Because...
Speaker 1 (31:57)
Well, I've, I've come to realize I cannot help all horses and horses have helped me my whole life. They've been my lifesavers. So I want to give back what I've, my way is by educating, by education. So I cannot help all horses, but if I spread this information about the nervous system and help people to regulate themselves. I indirectly create a better world for horses. And if people are not open for it, then I can't help them. So it's just.
hoping that this is a little ripple effect. And yeah, do that, do it in that way, like you do with all the work that we're sharing. Hopefully people pick it up and.
Speaker 3 (32:33)
And it is. It's, you think about first, you sort of had, and I hate to say the natural horsemanship, but that kind of came about. And then that was a ripple, huge ripple. And it's moving. And now we're getting more into the spiritual end of it, but the scientific end of it as well. So why the nervous system and more more even getting into the horses.
hormones and people understanding this, it's adding layers to this and you're definitely making even more than a ripple. It's good. It's good. It's making a wave out there and it really is going to make a difference and it's already making a difference. It's just going to spread. So we appreciate all the work that you're doing and your words and how you explain things. It makes sense. You explain it so that people can understand it and that's an art in and of itself.
Speaker 2 (33:21)
Thank you. Can you share a little bit about what you're presenting at the fair?
Speaker 1 (33:25)
That's the third time
that you've invited me. So thanks for that.
Speaker 2 (33:30)
I
said, you're popular.
Speaker 1 (33:32)
Do you get like surveys of like who do you have to invite?
Speaker 2 (33:36)
I get email feedback from people that, yes, that let us know which presenters.
Speaker 1 (33:43)
So I've chosen from the courses, like I started with the True Connection course in 2019, and that is exactly about first becoming the person, like breathing, meditation, grounding, then seeing the little signals, talking about spinal alignment. The spinal alignment, it was in the last fair. So I've chosen now a few from the second part, which is more the lateral movement.
It's from various course, so from the lateral movement, because of this collection thing and Piaf thing, I wanted to educate people a little bit about collection also. And I have a video where I do collection in liberty. So I want to share with people, inspire people that the collection doesn't come from the head, because I can ask collection without anything around the head, on the ground, by positioning the shoulders and positioning the hind end and then ask for a weight shift.
and my horse starts to give a few steps of piaf at liberty. So I hope people get inspired by that and it's not hold them here and tap them there, but it's a whole process of can you move your shoulders a little bit? Can you move your haunches? Yes, now you are aligned, shift your weight.
And I think there's one, yeah, there's one about heart coherence. That's from like one of the strategies from how to become the human your horse wants to be with. it's, I do that in the field with my horses where you can just see the response from my horse, how I'm just doing that. He's grazing. The moment I start to get into that state, he approaches me, he stays with me. And then at some point he's out of it again and he walks away and goes grazing again. So, but you can really see the effect.
of what I'm doing in my body, how that affects his state.
Speaker 2 (35:23)
I don't think people realize the huge magnetic field our heart puts off around us and horses, just so sensitive.
Speaker 1 (35:31)
Yeah, apparently the field of the horse is five times bigger than human field. And that's also why horses are so often like the facilitator in coaching with people to help, to help people. And I now want to turn it around. Cause when I say, you know, I'm doing this with horses. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We do that as well. have horses in our coaching programs for people with problems and self-development and whatever. I said, no, no, no, I do it the other way around.
I want to educate horse people to see that their horse also has trauma and that we can help our horses. So I don't think anybody has done this yet because I couldn't find anything about
Speaker 2 (36:07)
that's another one of your presentations is helping a horse with trauma and how do you go about doing that?
Speaker 1 (36:13)
Yeah, that's the one with Shizhao where, I mean, he was ridden, but with the spur marks, I started all over again. So you will see how I approach him the very first time with a pet, โ like a bearbeck pet, and how I, it's a seven or eight minute session where I look at every time, do I have a yes or a no, and the horse is allowed to walk away. I only want to do this when I have full, willing,
cooperation of the horse and not because I'm holding him and I'm throwing a saddle pad on him.
Speaker 2 (36:44)
you're creating an active participant in the training process rather than just doing it to them.
Speaker 1 (36:49)
How do I become a safe and interesting enough person so that the horse wants to be with me and not pressure and release the horse? You add pressure when the horse leaves and then the pressure is gone when the horse is with you. I don't want my horse to be with me because otherwise he will experience pressure. I want him to want to be with me, to seek my presence.
Speaker 2 (37:11)
I think that's lovely. And I think that's going to resonate with a lot of our audience because I think really when you get down to it, that's what the majority of us want is they want and we want our horses to want to be with us. Just like any relationship you're in, right? mean, a friend wants to be with you because they want to be with you because of what you bring to the relationship, not because of what you create if they're not in the relationship. And it's the same with our horses.
Speaker 1 (37:36)
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (37:37)
well Lucy, we sure appreciate you being here today and appreciate you being involved with our fair for a few years now and I'm so excited for you with your new book. It's doing great and
Speaker 3 (37:49)
And where can people
find more information about you? I know you're out. If they look at you up online, they'll find you. But do you want to do you want to tell them about your new book or websites or anything?
Speaker 1 (37:58)
The Wired4Connection book is available on Amazon worldwide, but you have to add my name, otherwise you get computer cables. if you just put Wired4Connection, Amazon gives you computer cables. And it's available on other sites as well. So best thing is put Wired4Connection with a 4 and then my name. And then of course my website, Instagram. share a lot of educational videos, Lucy Klassen. So L-U-C-I-E.
And then K L double A double S E N and then you'll find me. Somebody found me when they just put Lucy horse.
Speaker 3 (38:29)
That's cool. I like that. Well, thank you so much for being here today and being part of the fair. We really appreciate everything you're doing to help help people help horses.
