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 horsemanship in the equestrian industry and practicing allyship for BIPOC members of our horse communities. She shared how prioritizing diversity, inclusion and equity can make being with horses better for all.  We also had a chance to nerd out about Michele’s volunteer work for Equus-Soma Equine Osteology and Anatomy Learning Centre (a.k.a. the Bone Room) and talk about the value in horse trainers educating themselves about what’s going on beneath their horses’ skin. I am so appreciative of Michele’s willingness to offer her perspective and share solutions and ideas surrounding these important topics, as well as her emphasis on empathy as a guiding standard when it comes to working with horses and humans. I hope you learn something new from our chat, and that it motivates you to take action in your corner of the horse world to help push forward much needed change to make our industry more inclusive, equitable and diverse.

Michele Arana is the founder of In Stride Equestrian, a lesson and training facility that is dedicated to inclusion and education in the equine industry. Michele’s program ties two of her passions, activism and horses. As a Nuyorican woman, she is more than familiar with the discrimination BIPOC people in the equine world face and looks to have horses bridge that gap in her program. As an ethical and education based trainer, her lessons are very informative and help students truly understand their equine partners while also connecting on a much deeper level while having fun!

You can read Michele’s great blogs posts on her website https://www.instridequestrian.com and follow In Stride Equestrian on FB, IG and TikTok.

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