A Leg Up: The Magic of Horsecraft and Life!

Welcome to A Leg Up!

Do you look at others and wonder how they do the magical things they do, with their horses? With their lives? They must be Magicians, right! Do You wonder, Will it ever be possible for YOU? Welcome! I’m Paige Wilde and this is my podcast, A Leg Up; the MAGIC of Horsecraft and Life; This is a podcast aimed at helping YOU access the Magic needed to find joy in the shitstorms of your life, AND, to connect like one of the Wizards in the World of Horsecraft. I don’t care whether you ride your horses forwards, backwards or sideways - if YOU are struggling to find the connection that you always dreamed of, this podcast is for YOU! In fact, since we will be examining what it takes to succeed in life and to overcome our obstacles and debacles, you don't have to be a rider at all. Our horses and our stories are a metaphors to inspire you and to show you how WE ARE ALL THE SAME!Join me as we explore the ingredients needed to find joy in our shitstorms, AND to create Magic with horses. Together, we'll examine whether feel, connection and resilience are learnable. Spoiler alert: they ARE! Turns out, the Magic Sauce ALL Wizards in the World of Horsecraft are dipped in ... is the same as the Magic Potion that Remarkably Resilient People use, to find joy in the chaos of their lives. We’ll check out these ingredients by sharing stories with the most extraordinary humans I know, renowned for their Wizardry with horses, AND for overcoming stupendous obstacles.As an International competitor in the equestrian sport of 3 Day Eventing, I was one of those people seemingly BORN with the magic. In the horse world, the consensus is that the 'Magic' is not teachable.I am here to call HORSE SH*T and demonstrate that it IS! I know, because I LOST the Magic. When bankruptcy, divorce, homelessness and cancer came calling, they stole more than my health – they stole my identity. With my frayed nervous system, horses fled my touch. Thankfully, the ultimate shitstorm trifecta of cancer, chemo and covid 19 gave me time to study and I cracked the code! I am regaining the Magic a little more, every day! And my interviewees? Join me for a mini-series of interviews with my friends and peers in equestrian sport as we share stories of resilience and connection. Carmen Theobald – the Queen of Connection - How trauma inspired her to live wholeheartedly and courageously and help others do the sameLeslie Grant-Law – Bullet Proof Bitch of Eventing … or just a regular gal? Leslie is known for her no bullsh*t candor and will dispel our misconceptions about what it takes to succeedTyk Maynard – Master of Magic with Horses – his pursuit of connection and the path that lead him to Liberty work with horses will open your eyes to possibilitiesKim Walnes – known as ‘Mother Goose’, Kim is The Mother of Resilience – we’ll explore what it takes to come back from a broken life, how horses can help humans in their spiritual growth, and what they most want us to knowDenny Emerson – The Master of Reinventing Life with Horses – Denny has owned his mistakes in a way that allows us freedom to do the same, opening the doors for change and greater harmony to our riding and our lives. We’ll explore what we could do with new understandings of the science of connection and a time machine, to connect with a shared horse from our past – Speed AxcelThis is a podcast to inspire anyone who ever felt like a Muggle in a world of Magicians – We are ALL the same and ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! Listen in, to get a Leg Up in Horsecraft AND Life!

The Mission

Welcome to the first episode of my first podcast – my ‘Mission Episode’; where you will find out what led to my theories about the magic of ‘feel’ being learnable and to discovering my superpower. Turns out, I can find joy in a shitstorm! I talk about how my life’s trajectory was blown onto a new course by the blow of a young horse’s hoof … and how a little Mustang named Cimarron outed me for having lost the ‘magic’ I was seemingly born with. In the end, you will see that we are all the same, that anything is possible and that YOU can do it, too!To learn more about me and read my blog: https://www.paigelockton-wilde.caSign up for the beta version of my courses in development: https://www.paigelockton-wilde.ca/coursesI am a certified HeartMath practitioner. To learn more about HeartMath and their tools, check this out: https://www.heartmath.comMusic credit: The Wilds Beyond by L-Ray MusicA Podcast Launch Bestie production

Elements of Connection with Carmen Theobald

Today’s show is all about the elements of connection. In my experience as a coach, many riders struggle to access the elusive ‘feel’, instincts and timing needed to work the magic they witness in others and have always dreamed about having for themselves. It turns out, the same ingredients needed to establish these things, are also the foundation of resilience. I know, because I once had the ‘magic’ with horses and lost it, through my response to trauma. Two workshops on the science of sentient communication and nervous system regulation were key to unlocking this lost gift, and to discovering I had a superpower: I can find joy in a shitstorm! And YOU can, too.Join me for a conversation with my friend and mentor in Equine Facilitated Learning, Carmen Theobald; an Advanced Eponaquest Instructor certified with Linda Kohanov. Carmen specializes in the horse-human connection and helping us access the clarity, connection, and courage we need to live an authentic life. Together, we revisit the ‘ahah’ moments that lead me to a deep dive into nervous system science and a conviction that the ‘Magic of connection’ is learnable. We’ll talk about the pre-requisites we need to connect with others – horses OR humans. If you ever wondered how it is that your coach can connect with your horse at a level that eludes you, or how some people pull off seemingly superhuman feats of resilience, listen in. This show is for you, if you are looking to develop the qualities you need to become more resilient, to deepen your feel with horses, or to enhance your connection with horses and the people around you. Together we will explore: * How vulnerability is a both a superpower, and a strength we can build for connection* How horses recognize when we are incongruent (when what we show on the outside doesn’t match what we feel on the inside) and why it matters * How horses communicate through their energy field (and how we can to) * The ingredients needed for ‘The Magic of connection’ * The foundation we need for ALL healthy relationships – horse or human * How our nervous system functions, the states of fight, flight, freeze and why it matters * How to use our breath to connect with others * What pressure and release can look like – the roots of Liber work with horses*Note: Todays show comes with a trigger warning, as it discusses trauma and our responses to it.LINKS:You can find me at: https://www.facebook.com/paige.wilde1 https://www.instagram.com/wilde_paige/ https://www.paigelockton-wilde.ca/To discover more about HeartMath and tools that measure our nervous system states through our HRV (heart rhytms): https://www.heartmath.orgTo check out Carmen and what she has to offer: : https://horsesensenorth.com/ : https://www.facebook.com/horsesensenorth/ : https://www.instagram.com/horsesensenorth/To learn more about our course ‘The Music of Horsemanship’: https://horsesensenorth.com/events/2022/5/28/the-music-of-horsemanship-introductory-workshop-to-explore-the-heart-of-horse-human-relationshipsMusic credit: The Wilds Beyond by L-Ray MusicA Podcast Launch Bestie production

Lesley Grant-Law; Bulletproof Bitch of Eventing … or just like you and me?

Get ready to meet and love my friend Lesley Grant-Law. You will resonate with Lesley if you have ever looked at someone else's life and wondered how the hell they did it??? Lesley will tell you! Lesley's superpower is her honesty and ability to be gritty and real. She just LOOKS like a fairy tale princess, and we often assume that anyone who lives a life with horses is living a fairy tale. That is partly true. There IS a dreamlike quality to ANY life we create around horses when we strive to do it to the highest level possible … but Lesley will tell you what it takes if you were NOT born a Rockefeller, OR with boat loads of ‘talent’. Lesley has been short or long listed for the Canadian team 8 times, a reserve for the Pan Ams twice, and would have represented Canada in Beijing, were it not for a heartbreaking last-minute lameness with her horse Timber Spirit. She is married to British riding phenom Leslie Law, and together they run their successful business Law Eventing, while at the same time raising their son Liam and running off to soccer practices. Recently, I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks with them at their farm in Ocala Florida and witness the reality of what it takes to pull off what looks like magic … but in reality is something quite different … and perhaps even attainable for the rest of us ‘Muggles’. Together we’ll look at:~ How Lesley deals with self-doubt~ How she made it to the top without being born with a silver spoon~ How her superpower has more to do with being like a cockroach than being talented~ How tenacity can turn into ‘feel’ and make magic with horses~ How ANYTHING is possible!Links:https://www.facebook.com/leslielaweventing/https://www.paigelockton-wilde.ca/podcasthttps://www.facebook.com/paige.wilde1https://www.instagram.com/wilde_paige/Music credit: The Wilds Beyond by L-Ray MusicA Podcast Launch Bestie production

Kim Walnes and Gideon Goodheart on the core of self-trust

To any horse-crazy girl from the 80’s, Kim Walnes is already an icon. Many of us know her as ‘Mother Goose’, famous for her unusual partnership with her horse, ‘The Gray Goose’ and their accomplishments in the world of International Three-Day Eventing. Kim’s unlikely background and her intuitive approach with an ungainly, fearful horse .. .and the odds they overcame together to succeed in the male-dominated world of Olympic level Three-Day Eventing, all with her two young kids in tow … is the stuff of legends! That someone like Kim EXISTED - with her propensity for talking out loud to the Gray with the absolute certainty he understood - shaped MY trajectory in sport, opening a whole other level of possibility when I aimed for ‘connection’ with my own horses. Her life story is worth a Disney movie, if not its own Netflix series! Of course, if you have lived a ‘Netflix-series-worthy life’, you will know that as the mixed blessing that it is. As Kim said, “This resilience thing isn’t all sunshine and buttercups!”Sometimes life is a full blown shitshow. In 1991, Kim’s life went from sunshine to shitshow in a second, when she lost her daughter Andy to abduction and murder. Kim’s world went upside down.Not all of us have lost a daughter, but many of us know what it feels like to have the fabric of our lives ripped out from under us. So how do we cope? How do we find hope? I like to turn to our elders, like Kim, who show us that we CAN find joy again. Hearing stories of what they have survived has never failed to alter my perspective. Recently, I got to share stories with Kim Walnes, about her ancestors and what it took for her to find joy after the hardest tests of her life. Together, we looked for the commonalities. Join me for a conversation about: ~ Trust ~ Endurance ~ The day when, “All of a sudden, the sun broke through” ~ The story of her amazing ride, when she clung to The Gray’s mane with two transverse fractures in her spine, to come home with Team and Individual Bronze medals in the World Championships ~ And her stallion Gideon Goodheart’s message about the importance of connectionYou can learn more about Kim and the movement that needs you support, to turn her life story into a film, by following the links below.Kim’s website: http://thewayofthehorse.com Kim’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063750034342 These are the two trailers for the documentary project:2021 EQUUS Film & Arts Fest - Mother Goose The Kim Walnes Story - Trailer (by Tory Kelly, and this won an award at the Equus festival) (teaser) Mother Goose -- The Kim Walnes Story (By Sybil Miller)You can find me at: https://www.facebook.com/paige.wilde1 https://www.instagram.com/wilde_paige/ https://www.paigelockton-wilde.ca/Music credit: The Wilds Beyond by L-Ray MusicA