Pony Professionals Podcast Kali Kiger

Do you identify as a person who is nice to horses but don't know if you are doing Natural Horsemanship? Unsure if Natural Horsemanship trainers have anything to offer you if you can work with green horses and ride decently? Unsure if Natural Horsemanship is too aggressive? What's the difference between Liberty Horsemanship and Natural Horsemanship? Do you need to know CAT-H? This is a podcast to help people understand what 'Natural Horsemanship' is and what 'Liberty Horsemanship' is. The target audience for this podcast is people who have some horse experience but grew up riding in English or riding bareback at home. Find answers to all your questions here!

Imagine you are living in Ireland before the time of cars and tractors. You can only afford one horse. You need a horse that can plough an acre of land, pull a carriage, go hunting, but really, more than anything, you need a horse that isn’t lame a day in his life. Enter the Irish Draught.

Many people are worried about the Demise of the Irish Draught Breed and rightly so. In this episode, you’ll learn about the Irish Draught horse, 'Steeped in Luck', who made history in dressage and why Irish Sport Horse stallions have been among the top ranked eventing producers for nearly 30 years. Hear about 'Flexible' (the fastest horse in Europe) and 'Mr. Medicott' who competed in 2 different Olympics, once for Germany and once for the USA.

Plus, learn about Newgrange, a monument in Ireland that is older than Stonehenge and older than the Pyramids of Giza. Lastly, hear why Dublin, Ireland has front doors of every color.

Keywords: Kali Kiger, Rich Fellers, Denielle Gallagher-Legriffon, Irish Draught Horse Society of North America (IDHSNA), Draft Horse, show-jumping, horse jumping, history, social studies, Slieve League Aurora, Riverdance, St. Patrick's Day

Imagine riding 60 miles side-saddle in a dress. The early US was so crowded with trees that it was difficult to travel by carriage. If you can’t travel in a carriage, what do you do? Whether you’re a Civil War general like Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant, or a pioneer house wife, in early America you needed a smooth, fast horse with amazing endurance. While today the Saddlebred is a somewhat passé breed, the breed was indispensable in the 1700’s and 1800’s. Learn what happens when hunter/jumper riders and saddle seat riders swap places, about rock climbing in Red River Gorge, fish with no eyes in Mammoth Cave, Louisville Slugger bats, fiddle championships, Chess Pie, and Mega Cavern (a mine turned underground zipline, MTB dirt jump course, ropes course, and Christmas Light show).

Canadian Horses are rare, but maybe they shouldn't be! Learn about the versatile and economical-to own-horse breed known as 'The Little Iron Horse'. From skijoring, to sleigh racing, to eventing and Working Equitation, they are handy horses for the increasingly complex world that we live in and might just live-up to the breed slogan 'a horse for the future'. Additionally, learn some cool facts about Canada. Hear about the The Great Trail (the longest multi-use trail in the world), amazing sky-bridges in Jasper National Park and Whistler, B.C., the coldest city in the world (Winnipeg, Canada, home to the longest ice rink in the world), a rap group called Nomadic Massive that raps in 8 languages, and orcas eating moose (you read that right- whales eating a member of the deer family).

Are there native horse breeds in Japan? Find out in this week's episode. Learn about Yabusame, Japanese mounted archery, and the Kiso, the horse of Samurais. Hear about the Yoguni horses from the tropical southern area of the island chain and the Hokkaido horses who battle heavy snows in winter. For a cultural twist we have a quick nod to Karen Polle, Japow snowsports with Travis Rice, showjumpers Ryuuma and Shino Hirota, the history of Top Ramen, and the edible artform of Amezaiku. 

Kali Kiger describes her experiences training a Welsh Pony named Sam who was particularly reactive. Sam was known as being a very hot pony but through training, Kali revealed aspects of his personality that were reminiscent of Autism. Kali shares how she discovered that Sam processed things differently, as well as their successes and failures as partners.