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My Guest today is Kim Wende of Passionate Horsemanship.
I am wondering Kim you could tell everyone a bit about you and what you do?
Sure. Like what Laura says I am Kim Wende, the owner of Passionate Horsemanship. I have over 40+ years of working with horses and 27+ years of experience using holistic products and methods. What I do is I work with horse owners that get frustrated or having confusion or fear when working with their horse I help them to gain confidence, and get past their fear gain clarity. I do this through horse agility; in hand trail and ridden trail because the obstacles bring a lot to the horsemanship piece and make a huge difference when you work with obstacles with horses.
Passionhorsemanship.com is your website?
Yes
The idea of leading a trail ride, I find that so interesting I’m not sure I have ever heard of that. You hear a lot about trail riding and trail classes at horse shows. Leading trail is that becoming a popular thing now.
In hand trail, horse agility and ridden trail obstacle. To me horse agility and in hand trail are basically the same thing. It’s just that in hand trail is what they do in the breed shows.
So specific breeds, popular breeds, Arabians, Morgans and Quarter Horses, do they do in-hand trail?
Yes they do.
Do you have a video on your Passionate Horsemanship.com site that shows that? I’m not sure that I have seen it. I’ve seen ridden trail, and the extreme cowboy thing and the extreme trail class that seems to be popular. I’m not sure I’ve seen the in hand one.
You can go to my YouTube channel – KimWende and be able to find videos over there of the trail stuff.
That’s just another avenue that people can do with their horse.
That’s right
When I got into miniatures, and Shetland I did a lot of the in hand trail because a lot of them are just too small to ride.
How big is a mini?
Well, miniatures can’t go over 38 inches. Then they can go down real small. I don’t know how small but for example we have a miniature horse that is, he is 28 inches tall.
That’s pretty tiny. But those suckers can jump to can’t they?
Oh ya, some of the classes they have for the miniatures, they have hunter classes and they have jumper classes. And on the jumper classes you are running as fast at you can beside that horse that is jumping and it is timed.
So you have to be fit as well! Were you always involved with minis? Or how did you get started with riding?
I got my first equine at 12, it was a donkey. That’s how I got into riding. I have always been horse crazy. That was my first equine. I learned to ride on him. From there I got horses and moved on from there.
What did your donkey think about it when you got a “real horse”?
He didn’t have any problem with it.
Did you do agility with your donkey? I think agility is the “new kid on the block” as far as equestrian stuff goes.
It is new. The donkey I first got, I didn’t do agility with him I just rode him a little and that was about it.
Excellent. Riding a donkey? Was he broke to ride?
No he wasn’t broke to ride. I broke him to ride.
So you broke a donkey when you were 12?
Yes. And he would do just about anything for me. He didn’t care for my Dad. When my dad would come around he would sit down and wouldn’t move or anything else..
Excuse me, he sat down!
Yes. That’s what they’ll do at the donkey show. I have a couple of friends they show miniature donkeys and full size donkeys there and you’ll see them going around the ring and if they decide they don’t want to do something they’ll just sit down.
Done… I don’t want to play any more!
Yup.
That’s funny. I don’t want to get too off track with the donkey thing.
As far as your business goes, what is the driving force that keeps you going with your projects? And what type of projects do you have going on?
Well I have online courses. And I am working on getting them out there to everybody. I have 4 online courses and some of them I am still working on to get developed. You know it just takes time to get the videos and then have the pdf files to go along with them. And then I have done blog talk radio and doing more of that.
So, on your courses, where do they go to find your courses? Passionate Horsemanship.com?
Yes they can go to there.
When do you have your shows on BlogTalkRadio?
Blog talk radio it’s under Passionate Horsemanship.
I haven’t done one for a while. I have to get back onto doing those. I’ve realize that equestrians like to listen while we’re at the barn cleaning stalls. Where as it isn’t always easy to come back to the computer during the day.
I agree with you on that. I think you mentioned that in one of our mastermind meetings you mentioned that, and I thought what a great idea. Same as what you were saying when you are out at the stable you can put it on, or download it, or listen to it while you are out at the stable or tacking up. Or on your drive you can do it on iTunes on your car. I agree with you it is a great way to get your voice out there and get heard. But there are so many avenues we can channel into aren’t there? You just have to focus on one and shout it out.
That’s for sure.
Here I am. Here I am! Come listen to me.
Yes. There are so many things out there that you can get going in too many directions and then not get anything done.
Yes I agree with you.
Are there many other people doing what you are doing? With Passionate Horsemanship.com?
You know, there are pieces of it that I see people doing. But I feel for me with Passionate Horsemanship, what I bring to the table is not just about helping people training their horses. I look at the whole horse and whole and the people and everything because each horse is an individual and each person is an individual and then you have to bring those two together. And it’s about nutrition, and hoof care and about tack fitting properly.
And then teaching people how to be grounded and their intention and breathing and all those things.
So I bring all that together to help them with their horses.
Excellent and you have had some very good success with that.
Yes, Yes
I think that everyone who is in that line, training and helping people with their horses they each bring a certain specific thing with them, not just, Ya I know how to train a horse, but they bring, like you said, you have the whole, it’s like holistic horse training, it’s not just about do you have your eyes up and your heels down or if you are holding the whip, or carrot stick or flag or whatever you happen to have the correct way. It’s the whole horse you are thinking about.
Right. Because if you are feeding your horse a bunch of sweet feed and keeping him locked up in his stall and getting him out one day a week, you have to think about that nutrition part. It would be kind of like feeding your kid donuts all day. He’ll be hyped up.
He may thank you for it but ya, he’ll be hyped up. I know my son would be.
Then they get mad at their horse. Because it’s like, this stupid horse won’t mind me or do anything. Well, what are you feeding him. You know you have to look at those things.
That’s just one piece of the entire puzzle.
Oh ya,
What the nutrition is, turn out, farrier, all that type of stuff.
Right.
What do you think the number one thing is hold people back from doing what they want to do? You are doing what you what you want to do. You’ve got your business, you’ve got your courses, you’ve got your courses going and you are helping people. What is some advice you could give someone who wants to get going and do that? What is the number one thing that is holding people back?
I think it is not believing in themselves and having fear.I mean, I hear that a lot from people. I mean it is something that I struggled with so, I think those are the biggest things that people have. Like I said, I hear it a lot.
Not believing in themselves. Thinking that they CAN’T do it.
Yes.
What is a path they could take to help them with that?
You know, if they have some doubts. I would say start small. Start with some when you put your program or what ever you put out there. Start with some friend who really believe in you and start around them and maybe a couple of other people and a small group and keep a small group until you get more confidence and you can expand more.
Such great advice. And once you get those little, little benefits. Those little little things that make you feel good. You think, great! You know what, I can do it!
Little success and wins create confidence.
Little success and wins create confidence. That is so true and that should be on a t-shirt or one of those pictures, success pictures you post on Facebook. That should be on your calling card.
We talked about some of your successes, what was your biggest “flop”? What was one thing you did wish you didn’t do or something that held you back?
The thing for me, I would say is, just quitting my job and not getting a coach. I thought because of the years of experience and training I had I could put my shingle out there and people would hire me.
Getting a coach that has been down the path you want to go can really help save you time, money and a lot of mistakes.
You can’t see me right now but I am nodding my head in agreement. That is so true, to have a mentor. Someone to show you the pathway you should be taking. It’s an investment in yourself right?
Yes
And although it does cost some money. You end up saving that money in the long run because you haven’t wasted your time.
Right. Because otherwise you will go down so many different roads and you will get so frustrated and you think, oh, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.
Then you break through that.
It can be prevented if you have a mentor to show you the way.
Yes, you get a mentor to show you the way and decrease the time. Would you rather have a mentor to show you spend some money to get a mentor that could get you on a path and get you going in a year or two or would you rather drag it out over nine or ten years before you even figure it out?
Or sometimes not even figure it out.
I think we all do a bit of that to, we get “sticker shock” and then you say ‘well I should have done that’.
What’s the number one reason people succeed when others don’t?
I would say, it is the mindset and who they surround themselves with, because people who come in with the mindset of I can succeed and I can do this and surround themselves with people who are uplifting and encouraging. I see those people succeed.
Mindset is so important. If you don’t have your mind set in the right direction, if you don’t have your mindset right, no matter what you do you, unless you have the mindset right, you’re going to have a hard time.
Right, I think that kind of goes along with everything you have been talking about right? You have to be positive, you have to make sure you know where you are going, and you have to have the right people around you. It’s the whole package, it is not being negative it’s being positive in your whole outlook.
So what was your big “Ah-Ha” moments when you knew you overcame one of your major road blocks? So what was one of your major road blocks when you were making your courses for your horses?
My major roadblock was not believing in myself. Thinking that I wasn’t good enough. To do what I had done, even though I had all this experience and it was when I had some students and they were giving me feed back and testimonials said you can pick up the smallest thing. You are so good at teaching. Like the lady who competed in the horse agility. It was the first time she ever competed at horse agility. I believe there were forty that she competed against. And she scored 100% her first try.
Holy smokes, that’s amazing.
And she I knew she was going to do well but I didn’t know she was going to get a perfect score.
You know.
Is that an unusual thing? Someone getting a perfect score?
Yes it is unusual.
Unusual, yah.
It’s like Wow, wow, wow.
And it, just to me, Like, I know what I am doing, I think when you factor in people, and you think you are going to get judged and stuff, because when I am out there with the horses there is no problem but then you factor in the people. When this happened it kind of solidified things.
I definitely know what I am doing.
I know what I am doing
I think you really hit on it. When you are interested and have a passion for something, something you really love. It comes through in the minucea in the little little things. Like you said, your students said, you know Kim you pick up on the littlest things. It’s because you have that passion for it and you just want to share it with everybody.
Right
Cause I truly care about people’s success. Although it’s not about the money although we have to care about the money to pay for our horses.
And our vet, and our shoeing
Exactly
And… and…
And hay… speaking of paying, how much is a bale of hay?
I haven’t priced a bale of hay because I use round bales
So what’s your round bale worth.
Having them delivered is eighty five dollars.
So that is 700-800 pound bale?
That’s 800 to thousand pound bale.
Oh! That’s a big bale.
Ya.
So that’s why we need to have these courses so we can buy hay for our horses.
And pay for insurance and all those other things that come along.
Oh yes insurance is another one.
Okay Kim, we are going to move on to some equitation questions.
Why do you think equitation or riding well is so important?
Well for that, it is so important that the person rides well, is because; if you are out of balance you are going to cause your horse problems. Then they might wind up with a sore back or a sore knee. When I was taking jumping lessons years ago, the coach told me, people when they jump they tend to look down. Your head weighs about thirteen pounds and when you do that you really cause that horse to come down more and not able to propel them up over the jump, so you need to focus ahead.
And you need to be helping your horse. Riding in balance is going to keep your horse from being sore and unsound.
Riding in balance. I like to think of it as a domino effect. If you are not in balance you’re going to put the horse off balance and if the horse is off balance the horse will compensate somehow. His back may get sore, the saddle is going to slip, or the saddle is going to twist. I like what you said about looking down, particularly over jumps.
Ya your head weighs 13 pounds, and if you are looking down at the horse’s head that means your horse is going to have to lift up 13 more pounds over top of the fence, right? I mean if you are looking down that’s going to… If he hits the jump with his front legs it is probably because you are looking down or throwing your upper body at him right?
Ya.
Yes I agree with you about riding in balance. It is very interesting when you see someone NOT riding in balance and they say. Well my horse isn’t cooperating. Well, if you take a step back and take a look at your riding you will probably understand why he isn’t cooperating.
Ya, exactly. I always think about it from that perspective like if I were the horse would I like it. If someone was on my back out of balance I’d be like, would I like, get off of me.
Get the heck off of me.
Ok, so, what do you think the biggest challenge you see people are struggle with their horses? What’s the biggest challenge that people struggle with their horse?
What I see is them… I’m a big believer in ground work. I don’t care what discipline people ride in. That them not preparing their horse on the ground and then, when they ride, they don’t have that intention and the focus. Then they are off all over the place.
Yea, you hit on two really important words that people sometimes miss when they ride INTENTION and FOCUS. Those are huge aren’t they? The horse will follow the heard leader right?
And if you don’t have that herd leader focus or that herd leader intent the horse will become the herd leader.
Yes they are.
What kind of exercises can people do to help them with that?
Well, again that is why I love doing the obstacle work to because it’s not just about lunging your horse. If you lunge your horse do it mindfully. Don’t just do it “wily nilly” and oh well were just going to go out there and act silly and all that stuff. Be mindful in your lunging and see how they are carrying themselves and how they are placing their legs and what they are doing because watching a horse you can tell a lot about them if they are out of balance or hurting or things of that nature. So be mindful of what you do on the ground when you are working with them.
Be mindful and have a purpose
Yes!
So what are some tips you can give RIGHT NOW to help people who are listening to prevent, stop or correct a riding problem that they may have. You mentioned one of the biggest things you saw that needed to be corrected is riding in balance. So what is one exercise you could give to help people who are not in balance to get back into balance?
Well I have a blog post on my site that talks about some exercises to help you with balance. What I have people do is, we have a little beam, like a landscape timber. It is something like 4 inches by 6 inches. Just walking on that to help you with your balance.
Or standing with one leg up. Just standing there to get your balance. So those little things like that while you are not on your horse that you can do every day to improve your balance.
So off the horse exercises. You see those gymnasts that go on the balance beam. They have good balance and they have all those little muscles you need to keep yourself in balance.
Those are great exercises. I’m going to try that. There is a yoga pose standing one leg and bend your other leg up so the bottom of your foot is on your calf or calf.
Or like when you are getting out of the shower and your drying off don’t put your foot up on something to dry it off, stand on one leg and balance.
And then the other thing that is important is to have a strong core. That is your center of balance. Your core has to be strong to help you balance.
So sit ups you cant get away from them right?
Ok Kim, Do you have any final words?
So One thing I will say is when you are working with your horse stay in the present moment watch for intention and breathing. I work with so many people who hold their breath. If that’s something that you do, because I’ve told people, breathe, breathe and what happens is I see them starting to hold their breath again. So I will have them sing or whistle to their horse. Make sure you do those. And set good boundaries with your horse.