The Pony Girls Podcast

Milly Paton Horsecraft: Kindness to Ourselves, Our Horses, and Each Other

Milly is a horse trainer, equine sports massage therapist, and registered Mental Health Nurse. In this conversation, we discuss how she combines her areas of expertise to foster joyful partnerships and agency for humans and horses. To learn more about Milly's amazing work, visit her website, https://millypatonhorsecraft.com/.

In Conversation with Dr. Kelsey Dale John (Diné)

Kelsey Dayle John (Diné) is an enrolled citizen of the Navajo Nation and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research is on interspecies learning in Indigenous communities, Native American & Indigenous studies, and equine-assisted services. In this conversation, Kelsey shares with us her personal experience and relationship with horses, and shares her research. We discuss Indigenous vs. Western worldviews, where non-Indigenous people fit into the relationship with Native knowledge and worldviews, horses as part of the colonial narrative, and how history and cultural belief systems shape our interactions with humans, land, animals, and horses. To learn more about Kelsey's work, visit Kelsey John | Ethnic Studies | University of Colorado Boulder [https://www.colorado.edu/ethnicstudies/kelsey-john] https://www.colorado.edu/ethnicstudies/kelsey-john [https://www.colorado.edu/ethnicstudies/kelsey-john] The horse is Indigenous to North America: Why silencing the horse is so important to the settler project https://www.academia.edu/101835784/The_horse_is_Indigenous_to_North_America_Why_silencing_the_horse_is_so_important_to_the_settler_project Anthropomorphizing with Critical Reflexivity: The Danger and Potential of Anthropomorphizing in Equine-Facilitated Learning and Psychotherapy https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11851769/

Sam Collier: Co-Creating with Other Species

In this episode, we learn about Sam Collier's work in theatre as a playwright and director. In particular, we learn about her interdisciplinary, interspecies production, Canine Capture: a performance in which her dog, Auberon, is one of the authors. Through this discussion, we explore what it means to collaborate with other species, both in our personal lives and in the arts. We investigate the role of listening, shifting perspectives, and the arts in bringing empathy to our interactions. To learn more about Sam's amazing work, visit her website, samcollierplays.com [https://www.samcollierplays.com/] and Canine Capture at colorado.edu/atlas/canine-capture [https://www.colorado.edu/atlas/canine-capture]

Working from Challenging Histories Part 2

How do we respond when we are working from a history that contains challenging ethics and grief? How do we responsibly use the knowledge for good, without erasing the violence of the past? Taylor and Christa delve into these questions in relation to Behavior Science, Shakespeare, and Classical Dressage. In part 2 of this conversation, we focus on Classical dressage and romanticizing the past. References: Beran, A.(2017). Classical Dressage with Anja Beran (2nd ed.). Cadmos Publishing. Horowitz, A. (2019). Our Dogs, Ourselves. Scribner. Loch, S. (1997). The Classical Rider. Trafalgar Square Publishing.

Working from Challenging Histories: Pavlov, Shakespeare, and Classical Dressage

How do we respond when we are working from a history that contains challenging ethics and grief? How do we responsibly use the knowledge for good, without erasing the violence of the past? Taylor and Christa delve into these questions in relation to Behavior Science, Shakespeare, and Classical Dressage. References: Horowitz, A. (2019). Our Dogs, Ourselves. Scribner.