Winning Horsemanship
  • Home
  • Book
    • Book Reviews
  • About
    • Meet Joanne
    • Gallery
    • Media & Awards
    • Community
    • Events
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
  • Free Stuff
    • Blog
    • Memes & More
    • Helpful Links
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Book
    • Book Reviews
  • About
    • Meet Joanne
    • Gallery
    • Media & Awards
    • Community
    • Events
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
  • Free Stuff
    • Blog
    • Memes & More
    • Helpful Links
  • Shop
  • Contact

Author interviewer Fiona McVie talks with Joanne Verikios

24/7/2017

 
Introduction: it was a pleasure, an honour and something of a challenge to be interviewed by the dynamic, respected and prolific Scottish blogger, Fiona McVie. Fiona's blog, which is called authorsinterviews, is well known across the literary community and especially among readers and writers – hardly surprising since she has interviewed thousands of authors over the last four years – no doubt with many more to come.
Picture
CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A LINK TO AUTHORSINTERVIEWS OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT BELOW

Fiona: Let's get you introduced.  Your name is Joanne Verikios and you're 61. Tell us a little about your self, i.e. where are you from, your education, family life etc.
I grew up in Toowoomba, Queensland, the eldest of three children and the only one who was besotted with horses. We were blessed with amazing parents and my childhood was very happy. I graduated from the University of Queensland with an Honours Degree in Russian. Despite that, I joined the Australian Public Service and spent more than three very full and fulfilling decades in a range of interesting Departments before resigning in 2010. After a bit of a rest and regroup, I reinvented myself as a businesswoman and author. Highlights included getting my first pony, working in Antarctica, representing Australia in the sport of powerlifting and breeding a champion Warmblood stallion.

Fiona: Tell us your latest news?

Read More

How To Have A Difficult Conversation With Your Horse

17/7/2017

 
Picture
Photo credit: Jeanne O'Malley
Okay, every now and then, a situation crops up that cries out for resolution - and fast. The problem, or rather the challenge, is that these situations usually relate to things which are awkward to deal with. As a result, we then to adopt a wait and hope strategy where we wait and hope that the issue will just go away.

So how is that working for you?

Are you waiting and hoping that your horse will stop biting, stop fidgeting while you mount, stop being difficult to load? Maybe he will grow out of it? That's a bit like waiting and hoping that a co-worker will wake up to the fact that they have bad body odour, or that your kids will spontaneously stop leaving their clothes and toys on the floor. It's not going to happen any time soon without a word, action or intervention on your part. What will happen, though, is that you get more and more frustrated and maybe angry, to the point where one day you might explode into a disproportionate reaction. We don't want that.

So what's the answer? Well, the first step in solving a problem lies in acknowledging that there is a problem (please understand that I am using the word "problem" in a loose, generic sense. Feel free to mentally substitute another word like "issue" or "situation" or "challenge" or whatever if you prefer). Once we have our problem defined, we need to act on it and fast. Believe me, having the conversation or initiating the response will not get any easier with the passage of time. The opposite is true: the longer you leave it, the more difficult and uncomfortable it will be for all concerned.

Imagine that you notice your new employee's B.O. on day one and every day after that but say nothing until weeks have gone by. Do you think they will thank you for not making them aware that they were offending you and who knows who else for all that time? No. Do you think that your attitude to and therefore your relationship with them won't be influenced because they aren't nice to be near? No. Do you think other colleagues won't also be affected and resentful? No.

Now during my long career as an executive, I have had to have many tough, delicate and downright embarrassing personal conversations with colleagues on everything from bad breath to smelly feet, not to mention a fascinating range of behavioural quirks. While neither of us enjoyed these little chats at the time, they always ended with the person involved thanking me for telling them and taking steps to remedy the situation. It may take guts, but it's worth it.

It's the same with your horse, whether you have a foal, a colt, a filly, a mare, a gelding or a stallion. I know, because I've had them all!

Firstly, the longer you delay taking action, the more potentially difficult the conversation will be. Secondly, if your horse is exhibiting some behaviour that irks or hurts you, letting it continue is counter-productive and can get dangerous. It will also erode your relationship and weaken the bond between you. Not to mention reducing the value of your horse in the eyes of others. Thirdly, "bottling up" our frustrations never ends well, whether we're dealing (or failing to deal) with horses or humans or other things in our lives. One day the cork will pop under pressure and we are horrified to find ourselves saying and doing things that would never have been the case if we had acted sooner.

Remember all those old sayings about nipping things in the bud and a stitch in time saves nine? They're true. Another classic is that prevention is better than cure and in this case, we're talking about preventing budding habits from getting established. Take nipping, for instance, which probably began as lipping and licking and can escalate into biting.

No matter what you need to address, I want to offer you a few tips to make it easier on all concerned.
  1. Define the issue.  Get really specific about what is actually happening, when, where, how etc. Stick to the facts. If you have more than one challenge, just pick one to start with. You will probably find that the others begin to improve "on their own" once you take action and gain traction on the first thing.
  2. Examine your feelings about whatever the issue is and then get control of your emotions. You need to act professionally and dispassionately, not emotionally. You absolutely must not act or react from a position of anger, revenge, fear or any other negative place in your psyche. As the person initiating behavioural change, you need to be cool, calm and collected.
  3. Come up with a goal. How will you know when the situation is remedied? What will progress look like? What will it be like when you have achieved your objective?
  4. Devise a plan and some strategies and maybe assemble some tools.
  5. Execute your plan. Be equally prepared for immediate success or for a series of interventions where you make incremental progress and find a good spot to stop. Then you rinse and repeat. Be kind, firm and tactful and try to see things from your horse's point of view too. Two things are important here. The first is do not procrastinate and over-analyse - get on with it! The second (and a major secret to success) is don't have a time limit. Allow plenty of time and take the time it takes but no longer.
  6. Give your horse space to process the feedback you have given her. Some horses are quicker on the uptake than others, so work at each horse's own pace. Let her lick her lips, blink her eyes, have a think. Believe me, everything you teach a horse sinks in, so make sure you are teaching the right things! Have you ever had a conversation with someone where they asked you for a response on the spot? Maybe you didn't know what to say right then and there; later you thought of the perfect reply but it was too late. Don't put your horse in that position. Once he has made a little try, even a tiny step in the right direction, praise him and put him away; tomorrow is another day.
  7. Monitor how your horse feels about the new world order. Chances are she will be happier because she will appreciate knowing the boundaries (or whatever it is that you have had the conversation about). Horses respond to open communication better than simply taking orders.

If you stick to those seven things, problem solving with your horse won't be a difficult as you may have thought.

Thank you for reading to the end. If you enjoyed this post and found it of value, why not like it, share it and recommend it to your friends? And please contact me if there are questions I can help you with.
Picture
Photo credit: Jeanne O'Malley

    Joanne Verikios Winning Horsemanship Blog
    Hi! I'm Joanne Verikios. I've spent a lifetime studying horses and I'm happy to say I'm still learning.

    From a very early age I have been able to tune in to what horses and ponies were thinking and what they were likely to do next.

    Sharing my understanding of their ways and needs with other horse lovers is my way of giving back for every neigh, whinny, nuzzle and exhilarating ride.

    I write for people like me - mad about horses, passionate about becoming better owners/riders/trainers/breeders and keen to learn as much as they possibly can.


    read more

    RSS Feed

    Protected by Copyscape

    Archives

    September 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    Categories

    All
    Blindfold
    Book Reviews
    Budget And Saving
    Colts And Stallions
    Disaster
    Equestrian Author
    Equine Assisted Learning
    Fire
    Flood
    Folk Lore
    Grooming
    Guest Posts
    History
    Horse Business Tips
    Horsemanship
    Horses In Greece
    Horses In Japan
    Human Health
    Human Horse Bond
    Infographic
    Interspecies Communication
    Interviews
    Judging And Showing
    Leg Lumps
    Mares
    Mares And Foals
    New Year Resolutions
    Poetry
    Powerlifting
    Quotable Quotes
    Rare Horse Breeds
    Success Strategies
    Survival
    Taxation
    The Melbourne Cup
    Trailer Loading
    Training
    Travel
    Writing & Publishing