The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 24 | Sarah Schlote
So awesome to have Sarah Schlote, founder of EQUUSOMA™ back on the podcast! In this incredible follow-up episode (check out Episode 21 for an intro to her work), Sarah opens up about how Attachment theory applies to horse-human partnerships, the impact of stress and trauma, the process of “thawing out” that many horses experience when they’re moved into a new home and why it happens, the pitfalls of “anthropomorphism”, the importance of mammaliomorphism as a lens, and much much more. This podcast is full of cutting-edge resources (scroll down to find the list) – Sarah is as thorough as they come!
Sarah Schlote, MA, RP, CCC, SEP is a Registered Psychotherapist, trauma therapist and Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner who has been involved in the field of animal-assisted interventions since 2003. A former St. John Ambulance Therapy Dogs volunteer, her main focus aside from her in-office private practice is partnering with horses to support health and healing. She is the founder of EQUUSOMA™, a training model integrating Somatic Experiencing®, attachment theory and equine-assisted trauma recovery, and has started promoting Therapist-Assisted Horsemanship™, bringing a trauma and attachment lens as well as trauma-informed horsemanship principles to improve the relationship between owners and their horses (and their coaches and instructors)
Learn more about Sarah and her work at www.equusoma.com and www.sarahschlote.com.
Whole Horse Podcast Resources – Sarah Schlote (pdf with links)
Sources referenced in the podcast (in order):
How wild horses deal with death and grief: A rare insight
Anthropomorphic double-talk: Can animals be happy but not unhappy? No!
Why ‘good welfare’ isn’t ‘good enough’: Minding animals and increasing our compassionate footprint
Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions (Jaak Panksepp)
The Archaeology of Mind: Neural Origins of Human Emotion (Jaak Panksepp)
Fear and the defense cascade: Clinical implications and management
Nature’s Lessons in Healing Trauma: An Introduction to Somatic Experiencing (video)
The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication and Self-Regulation (Stephen Porges)
The Pocket Guide to The Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe (Stephen Porges)
The polyvagal theory: Phylogenetic substrates of a social nervous system (Stephen Porges)
The polyvagal perspective (Stephen Porges)
Social engagement and attachment (Stephen Porges)
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers (Robert Sapolsky)
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma (Peter Levine)
In An Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness (Peter Levine)
Staggering levels of gastric lesions seen in weaned foals in a study
Addiction, childhood trauma, stress, and the biology of addiction
Crib biting behaviour in horses: A review
EquiFACS: The equine facial action coding system
Horses discriminate between facial expressions of conspecifics
Functionally relevant responses to human facial expressions of emotion in the domestic horse
Domestic horses discriminate between negative and positive human nonverbal vocalizations
Animals remember previous facial expressions that specific humans have exhibited
Training methodologies differ with the attachment of humans to horses
Exploring the existence of potential underpinnings of dog-human and horse-human attachment bonds
First suckling: A crucial event for mother-young attachment?
Anxiety and pain in horses measured by heart rate variability and behavior
Episode 121 | Allowing room for Emergence in our relationships with our horses and their habitats with Shannon Beahen
It was such a pleasure to have Shannon Beahen back on the show today for an impassioned discussion about our mutual interest in stewarding and cultivating relationship with land – with special attention as to how that endeavour relates to keeping horses, obviously!
Episode 120 | A call for collaboration to support horses with Dr. Rachel Heart Bellini
The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 120 | A call for collaboration to support horses with Dr. Rachel Heart Bellini This week on the podcast I was joined by holistic veterinarian Dr. Rachel Heart Bellini for her perspective and experience of the scope of vet...
Episode 119 | All about track systems for horses with Amy Dell
The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 119 | All about track systems for horses with Amy Dell I was excited to be joined by Amy Dell of Abbotts View Livery for this episode, who wrote the book Horse Track Systems and runs her own track livery in England. What I...
Episode 118 | Leading with relationship with Jodine Buydens
The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 118 | Leading with relationship with Jodine Buydens This week I was joined by my long-time friend and colleague Jodine Buydens (pictured here with her mare Breeze) for a beautiful conversation on the horses who have shaped...
Episode 117 | Restoring functional movement through fascial chains + rib sling work with Christy DiColla
The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 117 | Restoring functional movement through fascial chains + rib sling work with Christy DiColla Tune in to this episode with equine sports therapist Christy DiColla for a great chat about her latest work and area of...
Episode 116 | Centring the horse in our horse keeping and training with Lockie Phillips
The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 116 | Centring the horse in our horse keeping and training with Lockie Phillips It was lovely to have Lockie Phillips back this week for his fourth time on the podcast. We got to chatting about how he’s feeling and what...
Episode 115 | Healthy Land, Healthy Horses with Jane Myers of Equiculture
The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 115 | Healthy Land, Healthy Horses with Jane Myers of Equiculture I was so excited to welcome Jane Myers of Equiculture onto the podcast for our first episode of 2024! Jane is a wealth of knowledge on the subject of land...
Episode 114 | Holistic + horse-first hoofcare with Kendra Skorstad
The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 114 | Holistic + horse-first hoofcare with Kendra Skorstad In this episode with farrier Kendra Skorstad, our conversation covers my many (and maybe yours too!) hoof-related questions from both the perspective of horse...
Episode 113 | Geek out with Alexa and Elisse: Senior Horse Care + The Rule of the Artery
The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 113 | Geek out with Alexa and Elisse: Senior Horse Care + The Rule of the Artery Today’s conversation with Elisse Miki is a special edition podcast episode that we are affectionately dubbing a ‘geek out’, and we want to...
Episode 112 | How empathy creates safer spaces for humans and horses with Michele Arana
The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 112 | How empathy creates safer spaces for humans and horses with Michele Arana In this potent conversation with Michele Arana of In Stride Equestrian, we dive into the parallels between advocating for more ethical...