
The Whole Horse Podcast | Episode 21 | With EQUUSOMA founder Sarah Schlote
What an honour to have Sarah Schlote, founder of EQUUSOMA™ on the podcast! In this potent episode, Sarah shares about her work with Somatic Experiencing®, attachment theory, neuroscience, and trauma-informed horsemanship as they apply to humans and horses… whether horse and rider, during groundwork, or in equine-assisted therapy/learning. We cover a lot of ground, and as you’ll hear during this episode, I can’t wait to take part in an EQUUSOMA™ program with Sarah in the future and have her back on the podcast for more of her “couples therapy” for humans and their horses.
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 (coming soon).
Correction: When discussing anthropomorphism, Sarah suggested adopting a different lens and used the words animalocentrism or mammaliacentrism. These terms were used in error; the words should have been animalomorphism or mammaliamorphism (a term she coined in 2017); that is, looking at human and animal behaviour from the lens of our shared mammalian traits/form (commonalities as described in affective neuroscience, polyvagal theory, and other frameworks) as opposed to looking at animals through a human lens.



Episode 134 | A whole horse perspective on veterinary care with Dr. Tomas Teskey
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Episode 133 | Sacred contracts with horses and how to recognize them with Brittany Ashworth
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Episode 132 | Understanding equine postural mechanisms with Dr. Karen Gellman
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Episode 131 | Shifting how we think about breathing with Holly Barnett
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Episode 130 | Horses as muses, teachers, and guides with artist Kim McElroy
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Episode 129 | Unmasking sensitivity to be better (horse) people with Lori Halliday
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Episode 128 | Becoming nervous system navigators with Wired 4 Connection author Lucie Klaassen
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Episode 127 | Speaking the language of horses with Belinda Bolsenbroek
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Episode 126 | What horses can teach us about healthy boundaries with Kim Hallin
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Episode 125 | Taking a 3Fs approach to providing good horse care with Lauren Fraser
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