Newsletters

The Spirit of Connection

When I first grew from horse trainer to travelling clinician my original business slogan was Discover Your Horsepower. But I found over the years that too many people assumed Horsepower had to do with sports cars and auto-racing.

What exactly is my work with horses and people about? What business slogan applies to everything from horse training to EAPD? What covers horse training but also the people learning, healing and personal development?

I show people how to connect with horses. And to connect with the horses people find they are first and foremost learning how to connect within themselves. We connect with our own inner anima in order to connect with the horses. We connect body, mind and spirit. And so the slogan has emerged:

SPIRIT OF CONNECTION

And so it was with much spirit and a desire to connect that I arrived in Holland on November 13 to give a lecture at the University of Utrecht.

Also from Europe, I’m happy to report that my French publisher tells me that Horses Don’t Lie has become a big success in France. So now they have also purchased the rights to Dancing With Your Dark Horse. Plans include 2 weeks of promotional touring of France in the spring of 2015. I know, poor me.

Congrat’s Lisa Wieben – 1st Platinum Certified Trainer!

Back in Canada, congratulations to Lisa Wieben of Mountain View Training Stables in Bowden, Alberta, for becoming the first trainer to achieve Platinum Certification!

Kathryn – Taking The Reins in the USA

I am so very happy to report that Kathryn and I have formed a wonderful new alignment with Snowslip Farm in Lake Placid, New York. Our relationship with Snowslip began with Kathryn first being hired as a coach to help sort out some “issues” with a few of their more challenging horses.

As the owners of Snowslip Farm, John and Lesley Trevor, witnessed the incredible results Kathryn was achieving with their horses they made the connection and realized how much personal development for people is involved with our work.

Soon the conversation shifted to equine assisted personal development and Kathryn shared with the team at Snowslip a little taste of her own magic with horses for human potential that she calls Equiana. Wow! Talk about the spirit of connection! Thanks Kathryn! Suddenly I’m headed to New York to deliver an EAPD themed presentation to the Lake Placid community called The Dark Horse Challenge!

The Dark Horse Challenge demo has changed lives. The people of Lake Placid appreciated the presentation so much that Kathryn and I both felt like we had finally found our true place among kindred spirits. And so while Riversong will always be our personal retreat in the Canadian wilderness, Lake Placid has now become our 2nd home and centre for American business operations.

EAPD on TV

Our first order of business in the U.S. is to produce an EAPD themed television show. We are now planning to produce a pilot episode for the show this January at Creek Hollow Ranch in Ramona, California. Beginning in spring 2014, we plan to produce most of the weekly episodes from Snowslip Farm in Lake Placid. More news on this exciting new development to come soon!

2014 Event Schedule

With Kathryn now settling into our home in Lake Placid my travel plans for 2014 will no longer have me flying off in so many different directions for clinics. In the new-year I will focus much of my work in the northeast United States, centered out of Snowslip Farm at Lake Placid. I will also travel to events closer to home in Alberta, and enjoy my winter events from Creek Hollow Ranch in San Diego, California.

Come stay One to One at Riversong

People are asking about coming to Riversong to visit the ranch and take private lessons. So, also new in 2014, I will soon be offering limited openings for private stays with me in my home.

For what I’m calling the One to One at Riversong program we have a lovely guest room available for just 1 or 2 guests. With only 1 guest room, you would be my exclusive guest, or guests if a couple, during your stay.

Each home visit at Riversong includes deliciously fresh, home-cooked organic meals prepared by my darling daughter, Raven, plus 3-4 hours of private time for lessons or consultation with me per day. Riversong also includes all the horses, dogs, cats, wildlife, river and forest you want to play with, along with random outbursts of campfires and homegrown music.

If you’re interested in coming to Riversong in 2014 for a few days, or a few weeks, please contact me personally to discuss a customized plan just for you. But don’t wait too long to make contact because there are limited openings available.

Clinic Partner With You

If you would like to host an event at your own facility, or if you are interested in working with me to coordinate a demo, clinic or EAPD workshop in your area, please contact me so we can discuss options.

Video Library

Well, after much research and hard work, it looks like our webmaster extraordinaire, George Plumley, has finally worked out the techno-glitches with the video library on the website. So, thanks to so many of you for keeping the faith! You should now have no problem watching the video tutorials on-line.

Horses for Sale

This winter, during February and March, I will be staying home to write my next book and work with some of the Riversong horses we will be offering for sale in the spring of 2014. So if you’re searching for a great horse anytime soon remember to check in with us first. I have more then a few awesome horses that need to find good homes.

Meanwhile, here is a link to a short video of an incredible Dutch Warmblood gelding by the name of Pherarri that I started under saddle last winter for Bob and Betty Bauman. Pherrari has had some jumping training and is now for sale. And WOW, this is a lot of very sweet horsepower! I am not the one riding Pherrari in this video and he is not for sale with me at Riversong – and I did not make this video – I only include this link because he is such a cool horse and Bob and Betty are good friends and I wish them and this magnificent horse well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNaJFCZQcm4

Betty Bauman can be reached at: wyakin@telus.net

In closing, we wish happy holidays to your and yours and all the very best for a healthy, happy and prosperous new year!

Chris Irwin

 

 

I often remind students “not to buy into the drama of their horse.”  As the leader, we must mentor the same quality of calm, self-assured focus that we expect from our horses.

In EAPD, equine assisted personal development, the message is “anything we can do for our horses we can do for ourselves”.

And so I begin this newsletter with EAPD because I’ve realized that I have too often become reactive with the challenges of my business in much the same way that people get stressed out by a difficult horse.   How ironic! Talk about Healer Heal Thyself!

So I can’t help but laugh at myself as I finally learn the difference between reacting and responding.   I now see that to “re-act” means to be an actor in a repetitive drama. Better late then never, I’m learning how to respond instead of react.  To respond is to be responsible.   And so my next great lesson in life is to consciously practice responsibility instead of unconsciously repeating drama!

I have within me a wild horse that has been fighting, fleeing and shutting down about all the “boundaries” of administrative responsibilities that come with owning a complex business.

For instance, the Train the Trainer program has grown into an international movement for change in the horse industry.   And I have morphed over many years from clinician into a War Horse determined to fight the good fight for the humane training of horses.

I wanted to build an Army of Empathy for the horses.  But war is not pretty.  War is not fun.  War leaves casualties.

I must expand awareness for how we work with horses while also spending more time at home with my family and responsibilities at Riversong.  I must now rein in my time spent travelling to clinics and instead stay home more to write my next book and produce a television show from Riversong.  It is time for my warhorse to evolve into a SHOW horse.

The timing is perfect and all indicators are promising. For instance, I have been selected as the keynote speaker for the upcoming conference for the Alberta Equestrian Federation.  And while so many of our Certified Trainers are doing great work with their students we have successfully launched our community EAPD initiatives for local at-risk youth at Riversong.  I’m finally inspired to write my next book and we are now in the beginning stages of planning an EAPD themed television show to be broadcast in the United States.

But first, I need to hold my anxious horses for the future as I bow and apologize for the recent gaps and lapse in professionalism in my business administration these last few years.

There is not enough space in this newsletter to explain why a few of the Founding Members still have not received your jackets.  And I will not list all the reasons why emails and phone calls are too often not returned in a timely manner, why the EAPD dvd is still not finished, or why frustrations continue with the website.  Suffice to say that while I have found my way with horses I’m just now realizing what it takes for me to find my way with managing the complexities of my business.

Horses Don’t Lie and here’s the simple truth.  We got kicked incredibly hard by the recession in America during 2009/2010. The issue has been that I can now see that my reactions to our financial challenges (as opposed to responsible responses) have been more like that of a high-strung horse instead of a competent horse trainer.

As the economic crisis continued to haunt us I have too often responded to our vulnerability like a horse in fight or flight and sometimes even just “shutting down” and refusing to go forward.

While the future indicators look great, the fact is that we are now hunting for the financing we need to stay in business.  I feel like a horse galloping to the biggest, most daunting fence it has ever approached!  There is no guarantee that we can make this huge jump and it is such a very long way to fall!

So my friends, I will still travel to events such as horse industry expo’s and speaking engagements, but soon I will hand over the reins of my clinics into the good hands of a select few of the top certified trainers I am confident to endorse.  And these trainers will have lots of work ahead of them as requests for clinics are coming not only from my established markets in North America and Europe but now also from as far and wide as France, Germany, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Australia and South America.

I will restructure and evolve the Train the Trainer program once again in 2013 and this will likely involve fewer events instead of more.  I say this because while my goal for the television show is to exponentially expand our movement for change in the horse industry, and more effectively promote my certified trainers, when it comes to my personal time in the arena with students I will continue to focus on quality instead of quantity.

Meanwhile, to assure the quality of the Train the Trainer Program my first responsibility is to start upholding my own boundaries regarding certification qualifications.

It has long been policy that I must work with certified trainers at least once per year (in a clinic or private session) to maintain or upgrade their certification.  But I have been too forgiving and am past due for culling out the trainers who have not maintained their certification.

So, the time has finally come and those certified trainers who have not felt it necessary to participate in a workshop in 2012 will soon be removed from the trainer directory.

EAPD is much more then a metaphor. EAPD is working with Horse Sense as Natural Law.  And I know that as soon as I start managing my business like I do the horses then I will be the change I have needed to be.

And so I bow deeply and ask for your support.  Please buy the videos you have yet to add to your collection or purchase a few books or dvd’s to give away as gifts.  Please come as a spectator, and bring a few friends with you the next time I am in your area for an event.

Perhaps you can treat yourself to a visit with us at Riversong, stay in our cozy guest cabin and take a clinic or a private lesson with Kathryn or myself.  Please do whatever you can to help us make it over this incredibly difficult jump.  The show MUST and WILL go on.

There are 3 new Train the Trainer and private clinic events now posted on the website.  These events will take place at Blue Heron Stables in Ontario, Riversong Ranch in Alberta and Stal Mansour in the Netherlands.

Each of these Train the Trainer workshops will include a special evening celebration of food, drink and good cheer, and everyone is welcome to attend.  You do not need to be a certified trainer nor be enrolled as a participant at the event to join us in these celebrations.  For more information please visit my website at www.chrisirwin.com
In closing, it warms my heart to honestly say that I am not ashamed to bow and bend to loyal students that I can truly call friends.

Thank you for your continued support, keep the faith alive and May the Horse be with you.