Equestrian NLP Coach Practitioner Tracey Cole answers some profile questions on Equus Education below.  She outlines how she uses coaching in mental mindset to help horse riders.

How much of your day/week is related to horses?
Almost all of my time! I’m either coaching or training riders, working on equestrian blogs and social media posts or going to see my own horses!

What is it exactly that you do?
I coach and train riders in mindset. A rider may have a obstacle, block or fear that’s stopping them enjoying their riding and for some professional riders it can be impacting on performance. I also train riders and instructors in accredited mindset and mental strength courses. Specifically in NLP, NLP Coaching, Hypnosis and Time Line Therapy®

In this field of work, is it possible to be a full-time professional and earning a liveable income?
Absolutely! I work full-time as an equestrian mindset coach and trainer. There are so many riders with mindset challenges – from performance anxiety in competitions, clinics and lessons to those who have limiting beliefs and emotional issues that lie underneath their riding problems. There are 1.8 million riders in the UK alone and many suffer with nerves and anxieties.

Confident riders also benefit, because you can feel confident in your physical riding of a horse, yet have doubts about your ability to do well, you may be conflicted about next steps, you could be carrying around old emotional baggage, fears, anger, hurt, shame, that affect your concentration and focus.

Profile On: Tracey Cole, Equestrian NLP Coach

What are the general steps taken to be employed in such a role?
First of all seek out an NLP trainer. Preferably one with equestrian or sporting knowledge, so that they can give you specialist tips on how to support your clients. Gain a certification as an NLP Practitioner, this allows you to coach clients and be insured to do so. You may want to add extra strings to your bow: Practitioner qualifications in Hypnosis, Time Line Therapy® for emotional issues and NLP Coaching. This gives you a comprehensive toolkit to help those with anything from trauma to mild riding nerves to stress, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias and a few more!

From there, you can study further to become a Master Practitioner in the field already listed. This really helps you to take on even the most ingrained and stubborn client issues. You learn to bring about changes in people’s thinking using conversation, as well as with defined techniques.

If you’d like to train people to become Practitioners and Master Practitioners, then you have to complete NLP Trainer’s Training. This is very different to the other trainings. You have to pass a written exam (mine was 7 hours non-stop), show that you can perform any given technique, without any scripts or prompts and be able to teach others. Then you give 2 presentations, which must contain a set list of structures and training strategies. It’s quite tough and rightly so! When you can train NLP, you can train further to become a trainer of Hypnosis, Coaching and Time Line Therapy®

Favourite horse memory?
I re-started my riding again aged about 30 in Kansas. After my evening lesson, I could take the horse for a quiet walk around the grounds. With the heat of the day disappearing, the sounds of the crickets, cicadas and coyotes and the sun setting in the most stunning purples and oranges, that cool-down was always very special to me. I’d think, “How did a girl from Warrington get to be doing this?!”

Future goals?
To continue with my online, face to face and Zoom trainings and make mental strength training completely accessible for all riders. I’d love for riders to turn to an NLP Practitioner as soon as they needed to, so that it’s as commonplace as getting professionals out to our horses!

Best thing about your sport/profession?
The horses are inspirational in themselves. They are always communicating with us, they do tell us what they think! By getting out of our own heads for a moment, we can feel so fortunate to be around these beautiful animals.

It’s been a little while since someone was profiled on Equus Education.  And this profile is unique in that it has two lots of responses!  Whiskey Ranch-Horse and Lisa Wolters-Broder share about their lives as equine writer and the world’s most perfect ranch horse.  Enjoy!

Equus Education Profile Questions

How much of your day/week is related to horses?
Whiskey: Seeing as how I actually am a horse, all of my day/week, all the time is related to being a horse.

Lisa: In my chief role as the bucket gal in Whiskey’s world, I spend 2-4 hours a day taking care of Whiskey and his two sidekicks, between feeding, schlepping buckets, mucking, other assorted barn chores, and then grooming and riding. When I’m done with that, then it’s time to get to work as Whiskey’s translator. Or my day job, in addition to all of that, when COVID-19 hasn’t left me unemployed. My last job was as a technical editor for a software company, to support my horse habit.

What is it exactly that you do?
Whiskey: I’m a 32-year-old bonafide retired ranch horse who tells entirely true tales about my life on the County Island, which is filled with pampered pet horses instead of honest working horses. It’s a strange land filled with Arabians that prance for a living, pet cows with names like Chocolate Chip and Moo, bad beagle dogs, and even stranger things like the barenaked jogger. I like to take long naps in the sun.

Lisa: See above! Also, I mostly feed Whiskey on time.

In this field of work, is it possible to be a full-time professional and earning a liveable income?
Whiskey: Working ranch horses get paid in feed and water and the satisfaction of doing an honest day’s work. I was a full-time professional ranch horse until I was in my teens.

Lisa: Since being laid off right before COVID-19 and unable to find a new job during the pandemic gave me this strange opportunity, I’ve been working at turning Whiskey’s stories into at least two books. Whiskey has written his County Island blog for fun for 10 years and has a very loyal following. I figured now was my chance to share him with more people in print. I have also worked full-time professionally in the horse industry as a writer/editor.

What are the general steps taken to be employed in such a role?
Whiskey: Being born on a ranch likely helps, but any horse can overcome his birthright and learn to be honest and work hard. You have to listen to your rider, and trust them, and get them to trust you. Always do your best. And be an honest horse. People appreciate an honest, good horse far more than a purty face or a purty tail. But being palomino doesn’t hurt.

Lisa: If writing about horses is your goal, start writing! Just do it. Finish what you start, and then start publishing it as a blog, or online series to get your name out there. If you want to work as an editor, get an education in technical writing or English literature. The tech world pays the best and offers the best flexibility for horse people and our unique needs for work/life/barn balance.

Profile on Lisa Wolters-Broder and Whiskey Ranch-Horse

Favourite horse memory?
Whiskey: Well, seeing as how all my memories are horse memories, I’ll try to pick one. Maybe it was the day I was at a sale and snoozing in the sun, and I felt something real nice and gentle scratching my withers. When I opened one eye, I saw a lady dressed in funny riding clothes, which I later learned was “English,” and that’s how I met the bucket gal.

Lisa: A definite favorite was trying out Whiskey for the very first time, when we were looking for a gentle and bombproof second horse, and ending the ride with a huge grin on my face, knowing in every possible way I had found the horse.

Future goals?
Whiskey: To keep being as honest as the day is long, and maybe try to tell more stories and impart more of my hard-earned wisdom to the younger horse generation. Pampered pet pleasure horses could use a lot more wisdom.

Lisa: Keep writing, keep riding and keep listening to the tales Whiskey tells me.

Best thing about your sport/profession?
Whiskey: Nowadays it’s the food and the buckets, which are filled with food. Also short rides and long naps. And by telling my tales, I get to meet a lot of good folks with good horses, even if I meet them indirectly.

Lisa: Getting to share the world’s most perfect ranch horse with the world.