Questions

Starting a business can be hard and lonely. Joining a supportive community and understanding your why can help. Do research to figure out the best certification or modality for your business. Consider the level of involvement and skill needed from others when choosing what type of equine assisted work to offer. In this podcast, the speakers talk about the importance of community in equine assisted learning and business. They also mention that understanding and consistently applying the principles are key to success in this field. They give tips on how to join the community and talk about how horses communicate through body language. The podcast ends with a reminder to be open to learning and growing in order to better help horses and serve clients. In order to have a successful equine assisted wellness program, it is important to understand your purpose and who you are wanting to help. This will help you market to the right clients and use the appropriate language in your marketing material. Building a program in a rural area should not be a concern as people are willing to travel for this type of market. Having proper certification can also help with marketing and credibility. It is also helpful to market to organizations rather than individual clients in order to have repeat business.

Woo hoo! We're here. Our little Instagram tribe. I like it. This is very exciting. Carolyn's got a frog in her throat, so we're going to start this off correctly. Yes. That's always the best way to start it when you can't speak. So we're pretty excited to get back to some of the questions you guys have been

asking. And the group which is the Equine Assisted Learning Hotline success group for Horse-preneurs. That's you. And it doesn't matter if you're in another certification or you got certified elsewhere. If you're a therapist who is using an equine assisted component or modality, this is for all of us to grow and learn together how to be the best horse-preneur for our business, most importantly for our horses and of course, for our clients. Because as we always say, if the number one thing is the horse needs to feel is safe, the number one thing should always be the welfare of the horse. And if we are doing that as professionals, which we are, then boom, your clients are continually safe. But then there's other problems that come up. And again, being a horse-preneur is flippin hard and it's lonely out there. If you don't have other people to be a part of helping you move forward and grow.

To start off, my name is Carolyn Charles. I am the Director of Sales and marketing, as well as an instructor and facilitator for the Equine Connection, the Academy of Equine Assisted Learning, Inc.

Hi everyone! My name is Kari Fulmek and I am the founder of the Equine Connection and Master Instructor helping people globally around the world to do what it is that we do. And that is the greatest job in the world because it's working with the horses and it's literally not mounted. So it's on the ground. It's working with objectively driven programs to help all humans, but we help in understanding how you target the humans that you're wanting to help. To be able to understand how to build skills in their life and to be able to move forward all through the power of the horse, literally doing the teaching. It is the most purposeful job that you could ever have in your entire life. Because you get to work with horses. Smell them all the time. And then, of course, you get to make a business out of it. We've been doing this since 2008, and when we first started, nobody knew us. Nobody. No one knew Equine Assisted anything.

Now, there's so many types of equine assisted modalities. So if you're looking for a group that's going to help you and share with you the secrets to how you maintain a successful horse business, you are in the right place, my friends, because we don't keep any secrets. And to get all of the stuff, the goods, the gold, you want to definitely go and join the Facebook group. Just throw in the word community on our Instagram (equineconnection_intl) then it will take you over there (Equine Connection - Academy of Equine Assisted Learning is our Facebook page) you can be a part of this incredible group, which of course is where people are always very positive. If we have any meanies in this group. You go bye bye because we don't have any time for that.

So here is the beauty. When you get into this group by putting the word communityin the Instagram comments, what will happen is, you can start asking as many questions as you want in the business that you are wanting to run with horses. And then each week we come out, come on and we answer all of the questions. It's always recorded, then it's put back into that Facebook group so you can hear all of the answers.

We do have a few questions already. I'm wanting to start my own equine business. What's the first step? Joining this community, for lack of a better way to say it, because it really is a good first step. You have to figure out what you're planning on doing, how you're going to do it. There's a lot of questions you have to get answered. But it takes a village to get there sometimes because sometimes we don't even know what's out there first, and foremost, to get started. So we'll get to a few more questions as well. And, you know, it actually is a great question because we are going to talk about that today. The first thing in starting an equine business and again, it can be any kind of the equine assisted modalities, is understanding, first of all, why are you doing it? Because if you don't understand why you're wanting to do it, how can you explain it to others?

Most times we as the humans who are wanting to start this business to be a horse-preneur is because something has happened to us. The horse has done something for us, has helped us, and because it's helped us to be able to move forward, we want to also have that purposeful piece to help another human to be able to do that. But understanding our whys, we want to do this. Is huge. And it's not just about making money. So, you know, I know we all want to make money, and that's why you have to have a solid base and a foundation in starting your business. But you really do want to know your why.

And then once you have your why, you want to understand who are the people it is that you want to help?

I know lots of us say we want to help everybody. You can't. In marketing you can't have everybody because first of all, you'd need a bazillion dollars to actually market to everybody. This is a reason you need to be very specific. You end up helping nobody when you try to help everybody. You need to be a lot more specific with that piece.

So a big piece is research, figuring out what's the base piece that you want to do. We have some people saying that they're breeding horses. Some people want to do riding lessons. Some people are wanting to do an equine assisted modality where you work down the ground with people too. So once you figure out what that journal piece is, who's out there? It can feel like it's overwhelming. So you do have to figure out what's important to you about the certification that you're going for, or about the group that you're wanting to join. Is that training facility going to be there for you in five, ten, fifteen years? Are they taking the horse's welfare into account? How long are the courses? Where are the courses? What are the things that are really important to you? Can you figure out which course is going to be the one that gets you to where you need to be as well?

I know for myself, I personally never wanted to be a riding coach. I thought, I don't like how people pull. And you know, people don't always listen because they’re being human. So it's really difficult. To all of you who are riding coaches, huge kudos and congratulations because I think it takes the patience of Jobe to do it. So that was one thing that I knew in my research I didn't want anything that had to do with horses and people riding them.

It helped me to break it down, okay, so I'm wanting to do something with horses, but groundwork only. And of course then it's kind of specific again, what kind of ground work? I remember when we first started we were totally in with equine assisted learning, but we went to see some hippotherapy. Hippo, I guess you would say. And that was really interesting. But my business brain said, oh my goodness, if I created anything in this area, that means I need a lot more people to be a part of running my business, because you have to have side walkers, and it takes a lot of people to be able to work with one person, with the horse. So that kind of helped me to know that, no, that's too much for me. Again, it felt too overwhelming. And therapy would be another piece where you either need to be a licensed clinician or you need to have one on hand. So again, I mean, one thing for us is we're happy with depending on each other for our business because we both know we're totally invested and this is what we do full time. However, being dependent on somebody else to be able to run our business, it wasn't something that flowed for us, and we definitely didn't want to get into the therapy side of things because, well, we're not licensed to do so, and we don't want to have to bring in a therapist in to ethically run our programs.

So that's why we want the skill development piece, because it's much nicer to know that you've got everything you need to run a program right now. And, you know, even in an equine assisted modality, some of the bonuses are, you know, the humans going through your programs or actually doing a lot of their own therapy. Because if you're allowing that horse to literally be a teacher, man, the epiphanies, the ahas that they get because the horse told them versus a human saying you need to do it this way, it is outrageous. So no matter what, any time you're with a horse, we know it's always therapeutic.

But, you need an understanding of what kind of a business you are in? Because if you don't understand, how are you going to market to the people you're wanting to help?

These two things are really huge. Why do you want to do this and then who do you want to help? Your words, the verbiage that you put out either on your social media or talking one on one, or doing network clubs or doing a website, the words have to match to what the human might be searching for on Google. You need to know what they're looking for. So I'm going to tell you a little secret. Here's a very good secret. Don't ever use equine assisted whatever you're in. Your client is never sitting down at 1 a.m. in the morning and saying, is there any equine assisted learning that helps me with depression? They're not doing that. So you see your verbiage, your business has to reflect that. If you're helping, let's say, women who are moving through life and dealing with depression, what are the words that Google would connect them with? At 1 a.m. in the morning? It's not equine assisted learning because nobody knows, even 16 years later nobody knows about equine assisted learning.

Especially our non horse people because most of all of our clients would always be non horse people. So you really have to understand this client so that you're using the right words. We totally believe that all of us, no matter what we're doing in this industry, help and support each other because there's truly so few of us. Like if you think globally, very few of us. We need to really help each other. So we can help humans, the purpose piece, why we're all doing this and being a horse-prenuer, is wewantpurposeinourlife. We want our last breath to be. I want to help a human to be able to move forward. So this is why we're here. So the more we can help, help each other and share the successes. The more these clients who are needing us globally, around the world, will come to you, they'll come to us, they'll come to the other person because we need more people. We can't have all the people in the world but we’ll find some.

We at no point sit there and think to ourselves, my goodness, we're professionals now. We've got it. And we know a lot, a lot about horses, but we don't know everything. So we are always open to learning new things, deciding different ways we can do things for the betterment of our horses and of our program. And that is pretty huge, if you ask us.

Our certification at the Equine Connection is what ours is, the betterment of our horses. We always call it a living certification, which means it changes with the times. So of course all of our certified facilitators continually get that retraining and support because we have to move with the new knowledge and understanding. A huge jump that we have just done and we've been in this business since 2008. We made a change last year in 2023. This is no pulling on a horse's head and we’re using the horse's own body language to direct them. So what I mean by that is, the energies that they actually use in the herd. We as humans can use it. We're just not all aware of it. This has changed our horses' lives.

Of course our 400 and some facilitators globally around the world, they get that retraining because when you know better for the welfare of the horse, you go with it. I'm sorry, my friends. You can never go back. You can never allow a non-horse person or horse person to ever do the things that are not right anymore because it's for their welfare and you know better, but wow. Life changing. Yeah. And when you know better, you have to do better. So you have to share that knowledge as well. So we might be a little opinionated on things, but we're cool with it. But it's okay, it helps our horses.

Getting to some of the questions that were in the group, from last week. So one was about the location piece. I have many questions. First and foremost in my mind, if I build it, will they come? We live 30 minutes from the city limits, the last eight kilometers to our place is gravel. I worry clients won’t make the drive. They will make the drive. I don't think we've ever had groups come in that are less than 45 minutes away. Like even being in a hub close to a hub city, it still takes some people 45 minutes to an hour. We have had people for our Authentic You Women's workshops, fly here. They fly from the US and they'll come to our location just outside of Calgary.

We have had corporate workshops in the Chicago area. We don't have a market in the US but we get people flying in. So you see people will always come, even our little school group that we had worked with, they were an hour and fifteen minutes away.

Yeah, an hour and fifteen on a school bus. And that principal believed in this program. Those kids came once a week for an eight week period, and then we would do another session of eight weeks. So, you do build it with the action. When people know that you exist, people will come.

You never have to worry about it because think about it this way. Most of our clients are not horse people. They don't ever get to have this opportunity of literally being with horses or being out in the country. This is a bonus of relief and peace when you create this beautiful little atmosphere. You have the odd porta potty and humans are coming out to learn in a peaceful setting, you're taking them away from chaos. I'm bringing them out for something that they didn't even know existed, and they're looking for that.

They're not looking for marble floors and everything else. They're looking to get out in the country and feel nature, the fresh air and all the good pieces that come with it.

And even when we first started, we were in Strathmore, which is a town. It’s about 45 minutes outside of Calgary, we thought, well, the local schools and others here will come because it’s five minutes away, but they didn't come. However, the 45 minutes to an hour away or so did. So it was a big difference. But, don't worry about clients being further away. Even our group that comes every week from Simon House, they come from the exact opposite end of a busy city, so it takes them at least an hour to get here every time. So not a concern. If you build it, they will come.

I have a small arena, some nice horses and donkeys, 30 plus years in management and customer service. Once I've taken the course, I'm certain I can make it go if I can get clients. So again, if I can get clients. Part of it is all about figuring out who your client is first and foremost, and you know, understanding if you're looking at a certificationbecause you do want that. You know, that credential that backs

you. Make sure that your certification that you're looking at is going to support you through that piece as well.

I know for us, our motto is actually, we're not successful until you are and we literally mean it. We literally help our 400 and some facilitators when they ask. Because here's the thing you still gottaaskforhelp. But we've created a business system that helps you to understand the clients that you want to come into your facility. Because here's another little secret. This is very smart. In business. And again, we’re not in therapy.

Ours is equine assisted learning. I love this piece, because you can work with groups of people.

So in my business brain it's always why would I market to one person coming to my facility when I can go and market to an organization who's doing something to help clients already move forward, like, people in recovery, addiction centers, alcoholism, whatever,abuse, whatever those systems are. I'm going to market to them because our programs add to the bonus of what it is that they're already doing for their clients. And then that way, now you've got a group of people who continually come in once a week.

It's like smart marketing. It's so much easier. Can you imagine if we had to fill up with new people every single time? No fees. Tons of work is worth so much. Working this way is a steady flow. It's lovely how it all works.

And then, of course, if you have specifics, like you want to do a weekend workshop. Well then of course you are marketing to the individual's as your target market. It's beautiful because then you're still only filling with 4 to 6 people at a time on a weekend workshop. Just a few people will be able to work with your horse safely and your clients will be able to get those remarkable transferable skills and be able to move forward. You can do so many different things.

Somebody asked where we are located? We're based just outside of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and we do have different in-person training across North America, as well as Australia and New Zealand, usually once a year as well.

We just had a facilitator move from one location to another and it still works because you can take these programs with you. We had somebody who was certified in Australia and then brought her business here. It still works because it's transferable skills. Any which way that you go, you got it.

So remember to be in our Facebook group, which is alive and active and fun. You're learning all kinds of things and you get some great gifts when you join it. Write in the word community on Instagram. So community is the key word.

But you want the gifts, because the gifts are a part of helping you to be that course pursuer. Whether again, you're in any kind of equine assisted modality, this is going to help you. And if you don't get the message back because we have like, a super high blockage, and that sort of thing on your messages. If you don't get it back when you type in community, you can go to our bio. And just check out our profile and all the info is in there and how to get to the group.

A lot of these questions we’re discussing, please put them in there, because it's a fantastic way to get other people's thoughts and ideas as well, plus their experiences. Everybody has had a different life and way of doing things.

 We aren't ignoring the course questions but know what you're asking about. Is your horse shaking their head or stomping hooves or that kind of thing. Those kinds of questions are not going to be addressed as much, as this is more of a business group, soit'sfiguringthatbusinesspieceout.But there definitely are lots of different options as to where you can find out some of that information, to figure out how to best take care of your horses, too. And if you're looking into it, there's a welfare guide that is in the group. Ask for it in the group too.

Of course because it has to do with the welfare of the horse and I still believe we need that, to be the best horse-prenuer you want to be. If there are horsey questions and we can answer them, of course, we definitely will. We at least have the resources to even help you to find those people who can also help you.

One thing to keep in mind, anytime you're working with your horse, no matter what's happening, if he's going to shake his head, the pawing of the foot. One thing to keep in mind because horses are the most feeling of all animals and most intuitive. They react. Instead of taking it to your brain and thinking it out, go to, whatdoesitfeellikeinfrontof you? Because that would be a piece. Where were you at? What were you thinking about? Were you present? What are they doing for you? Or what is it that they're trying to tell you? Lots of times we actually are smart humans but because we think so much, it kind of takes away our intuitive selves.

So really think about being grounded, feel in the moment, feel through your intuition. What do you think that horse is trying to say? I do know the shaking of the head is definitely a release. So what kind of release is it? Did it happen before? Did it happen after? Shakes happen after?When they jump, when they're going to jumps? When they jumped?So it could be that, oh I got over it, shaking it off. There could be some options when you know what it means. Maybe you can apply it in a little different way too. And that’s also the key because, you know, we always say we're not mind readers. There's no way we're ever going to say, your horse is telling you he wants to be higher or he doesn't want to jump, because that may not be true. This is why the power is in understanding our horse's body language, their culture, and what it means.

When we help as individual humans working with our horses, be present and feel what it is that you think is happening, make sure it matches the horse's body language.

Because that would be different for me riding the horse versus you riding the horse. That's why it's such a powerful piece that everybody can get to know, as long as it matches the horse's body language.

Feel those pieces. I hope that helps a little. We love to talk about how the number one thing a horse needs to feel is safealways. You’ll pretty much realize that at one point and everything you ever see us in, we will bring that up.

Somebody asked about their horse’s reactions. He’s good under saddle but aggressiveinastall.So again, if they're getting aggressive in one place but they're good in another, is it the saddle or is it that safety piece? So what is it about the stall that changes things for them? Or maybe they're not feeling safe in that area as well.

Horse world is just a world that we continually have to learn from. So definitely always ask questions. I think it's valuable because in the group, someone may have gone through what you have gone through, but it really is like we like to say, community. If you put that in, it is for people who are definitely wanting to move forward in their horse business and understanding. But if you always have a horse question. There's lots of us to be able to help you out, or at least refer you to those pros that are the pros at doing it. That's why we are the pro at horse business. But again, just like Carolyn said before, we don't know until we do know, until then we know nothing. Yeah we know a lot. But in the grand scheme of things, all of us know nothing. Well, you know, we had said that to an elder and it was funny.

We were at a trade show and we're talking about equine assisted learning, he's in a different modality than we are. But he was an older elder. So picture this. Carolyn says, this is the one thing we have learned in our life. We know nothing. Now. This elder thought this was the most profound thing he had heard in a long time. He said, you know, people are always just selling themselves and selling this. And they talk and they think they’re up on everything. But when you're open to knowing that you know nothing, that means you're open to learning and growing continuously. He goes, that's pretty profound. And that means you're doing it for the right reasons when you're open to do those things as well. Because it isn't just about us as humans, it's about our horses. If we wreck our horses, or if we aren't treating them well or understanding them, we're doing a disservice to equine assisted programs, to our horses, to everything. If we are not being open enough to learn more about how to do something better.

Well, it has been fun today, and I think we've highlighted two majors you need to have. We've given you two secrets. Plus, when you put in community and you get into this group, you are going to get gifts. Again, if it doesn't pop up for you because you got a block on your messages, you can find all that same information in our profile and our bio there. It'll come up and there's lots of info in there as to how you can get into the group as well. So check us out one way or another and we will see you in this beautiful community where we're all moving forward to help people with horses. And we'll answer all the questions.

Have a great one, everyone. Bye, everybody.