The Vital Horse Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, I discuss the question “Have we really ruled out pain?” when it comes to the veterinary investigation of behaviours like bucking under sadlle, girthiness, or other signs that there might be an underlying health problem, pain or discomfort. Quite often we are left unsure as to how far we have answered this question - we might find obvious reasons for the behaviour and treat them but be unsure whether we have successfully resolved them or the pain associated with them, or we might not find obvious reasons and be left scratching our head as to why the behaviour is happening. This is a common reason for people to approach me for online consultations, in-person visits, or my rehabilitation boarding service.

In this episode, I am joined by Peggy Hogan and Anat Shalev, from whom I have learned so much about ethical and effective training. They are both pioneers in the field of cooperative care, where you can train horses for medical and husbandry procedures, and they employ the use of choice and control on the part of the horse to create amazing wholehearted behaviour offerings from horses.

In this episode, I explain my approach to helping needle shy horses ethically, yet effectively. The basis of this is two-fold - address the underlying causes for the individual horse's needle shyness, and teach cooperative care behaviours that allow for two-way communication, giving the horse choice and a voice in the process.

In this episode, I am joined by Karen Rohlf of Dressage Naturally to talk about the interconnectedness of horse health and happiness and the role our relationship with them also plays in this. We discuss the three pillars and four deep roots of my approach, which Karen helped me to identify, and definitely practices herself.

In this episode, I explain why I named this The Vital Horse Podcast and my business Nurturing Nature Equine. I outline and explain the three pillars and four deep roots of my approach. The three pillars I call Attuned Assessment, Wholehearted Decision-Making, and Compassionate Implementation. The four deep roots are Husbandry for Happiness, Movement Medicine, Cultivating Comfort, and Communication, Compassion, and Consent.

In this episode I am joined by Sarah Schlote, psychotherapist, counsellor, and Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner with extensive training and experience in a number of trauma treatment approaches. We talk about attunement in relationship, and trauma as applied to veterinary and husbandry procedures in horses, and what we can do to both help minimise this and recover from it.

In this episode, I talk about coping and thriving. My aim is vitality as opposed to simply health as the absence of disease. In this episode, I talk through my thoughts on horses' ability to cope with the inevitable stressors that are a part of life, and how their capacity for doing this is the key, with building this capacity opening the door to thriving.

About the host:

Dr Lily Wilson is a veterinary surgeon practicing in the UK. She runs a veterinary rehabilitation facility on a track system in West Sussex and has particular interest and expertise in species-appropriate lifestyles, postural improvement, and ethical behaviour modification. She also does home visits for whole horse evaluations and dentistry, and runs online courses, consultations, and coaching calls.

Lily’s passion is helping people and animals to live their best life together by nurturing their all-round wellbeing and unique partnership. She is fascinated by all aspects of wellbeing from how the body functions in health and disease to how we all learn, think and feel, and how all of this is intertwined. She wants to help people on their journeys of discovering how to keep horses’ bodies and minds healthy, comfortable, active and engaged and to explore the integral role of both the horse’s and our emotions in all of this.

Relevant links:

Attuned Assessment online workshop - next dates May - June 2025

Needle shyness online course

In this episode, I talk about what we can learn about our horses by observing signs as diverse as their body and hoof shape, behavioural responses, facial expressions, and movement. We can gather information that can help us answer questions about their underlying health, any pain, how they sense and learn, and what they need.

About the host:

Dr Lily Wilson is a veterinary surgeon practicing in the UK. She runs a veterinary rehabilitation facility on a track system in West Sussex and has particular interest and expertise in species-appropriate lifestyles, postural improvement, and ethical behaviour modification. She also does home visits for whole horse evaluations and dentistry, and runs online courses, consultations, and coaching calls.

Lily’s passion is helping people and animals to live their best life together by nurturing their all-round wellbeing and unique partnership. She is fascinated by all aspects of wellbeing from how the body functions in health and disease to how we all learn, think and feel, and how all of this is intertwined. She wants to help people on their journeys of discovering how to keep horses’ bodies and minds healthy, comfortable, active and engaged and to explore the integral role of both the horse’s and our emotions in all of this.

Relevant links:

Attuned Assessment online workshop - next dates February - March 2025

Online consultations

Rehabilitation boarding service

In this episode, I talk about interpreting signs that your horse is showing. Do certain signs lead us to certain interpretations? Sometimes, but more often than not, we need to do a bit more detective work than that. This detective work includes figuring out the underlying processes that makes the signs come about, exploring which parts are relevant when, and checking back in over time to see what is changing. To avoid tunnel vision, it is often helpful to view the investigative or diagnostic process as more of an untangling work in progress than a linear check-box-exercise.

About the host:

Dr Lily Wilson is a veterinary surgeon practicing in the UK. She runs a veterinary rehabilitation facility on a track system in West Sussex and has particular interest and expertise in species-appropriate lifestyles, postural improvement, and ethical behaviour modification. She also does home visits for whole horse evaluations and dentistry, and runs online courses, consultations, and coaching calls.

Lily’s passion is helping people and animals to live their best life together by nurturing their all-round wellbeing and unique partnership. She is fascinated by all aspects of wellbeing from how the body functions in health and disease to how we all learn, think and feel, and how all of this is intertwined. She wants to help people on their journeys of discovering how to keep horses’ bodies and minds healthy, comfortable, active and engaged and to explore the integral role of both the horse’s and our emotions in all of this.

Relevant links:

Attuned Assessment online workshop - next dates May - June 2025

Needle shyness online course

Rehabilitation boarding

Please do subscribe and share this podcast where you think others also need to hear it.

In this episode, I talk about how investigating and addressing healthcare concerns is an opportunity for improving our relationship with our horses. Aspects of husbandry or veterinary procedures that our horses find difficult can be indicators of underlying physical, mental, and emotional factors that will be helpful for us to address. And acknowledging and honouring their signals to us that this is the case builds connection and a more rewarding relationship.

About the host:

Dr Lily Wilson is a veterinary surgeon practicing in the UK. She runs a veterinary rehabilitation facility on a track system in West Sussex and has particular interest and expertise in species-appropriate lifestyles, postural improvement, and ethical behaviour modification. She also does home visits for whole horse evaluations and dentistry, and runs online courses, consultations, and coaching calls.

Lily’s passion is helping people and animals to live their best life together by nurturing their all-round wellbeing and unique partnership. She is fascinated by all aspects of wellbeing from how the body functions in health and disease to how we all learn, think and feel, and how all of this is intertwined. She wants to help people on their journeys of discovering how to keep horses’ bodies and minds healthy, comfortable, active and engaged and to explore the integral role of both the horse’s and our emotions in all of this.

Relevant links:

Needle shyness online course

Needle shyness free webinar

Please do subscribe and share this podcast where you think others also need to hear it.