Live Free Ride Free with Rupert Isaacson

✨  “The principal thing is love, passion, love, passion and passion and love.” – Luis Valença
✨ “The first thing is to communicate with the horse, and for the horse to accept you.” – Luis Valença 
✨ “It’s not gymnastics.” / “Our work is like music. It’s the same as listening to Chopin or Beethoven.” – Luis Valença
✨ “I have the same enthusiasm because I love life, I love the horses, I love the family.” – Luis Valença 
✨ “Never take the personality from the horse.” – Luis Valença

Rupert Isaacson welcomes Mestre Luis Valença of Lisbon, whom he calls a living legend, a national treasure and the greatest living exponent of equestrian art, together with his daughter Sofia. Luis describes his method as a connection between human and horse built on love, comparable to the way we communicate with our children, and traces it back through his three masters: his godfather Fernando Ralão, Cunha Menezes (a Baucherist), and Nuno Oliveira.

The conversation explores what the word dressage truly means (to dress the horse so he feels soft and good in his own body), the comparison of the work to music like Chopin and Beethoven, and how older, arthritic or traumatized horses are given back their trust and often rejuvenated. Sofia and Rupert also discuss the simplicity and flexibility of the method, learning to read the student in front of you, the contrast with competition dressage, and why the Valença family's inclusive, tribal approach sends people home with real tools.
A rich, story-filled conversation with a family at the heart of classical equestrian tradition.
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What You'll Learn in This Episode
00:02:37 – Luis describes his method as a connection between human and horse, built on love and the same communication we use with children.
00:07:47 – How the method works for young horses and old ones alike, clearing negative memories and rebuilding trust before any work begins.
00:11:08 – Luis introduces his three masters and what each gave him, from his godfather's farm to Cunha Menezes and Nuno Oliveira.
00:25:10 – Rupert asks what dressage really means, and Luis explains "to dress" the horse as something soft, like music.
00:29:31 – Sofia explains dressage as helping the horse feel good in his own skin, and why the joy should begin the moment he enters the arena.
00:32:16 – Luis shares how he adapted a session for a horse showing back pain, staying with what worked without force.
00:48:15 – Sofia describes what a method really is and why the most important skill is learning to read the student in front of you.
00:50:12 – Rupert recalls Luis's sequence of lunging, in-hand work and the laterals that grow into piaffe and passage.
01:02:48 – Luis explains why you must never take away a horse's personality and how each horse has its own specialty.
01:35:38 – Luis and Sofia share their parting thoughts: love and passion, and learning to listen to what your horse is saying.
Memorable Moments from the Episode
00:18:17 – Luis recalls receiving lessons from the ailing Cunha Menezes, who taught him from a chair with two reins and a spoon in his hand.
00:20:30 – Nuno Oliveira phones Luis's mother after watching him ride and invites him to begin working with him.
00:38:31 – Nuno chooses the "worst" horse from a group of Russian youngsters, Bunker, to prove his method could solve it.
01:16:47 – The story of a polo player's horse that fought its strong-handed owner and then opened up for a rider it trusted.
01:37:21 – Luis explains his habit of giving a carrot or sugar at the start and end of each lesson as discipline without force.
Guest Contact & Links
Valença Equestrian Academy: https://valencaequestrianacademy.com

Social media: Valença Classical Riding and Sofia Valença
https://www.facebook.com/ValencaEquestrianTours/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069242888414

About Luis & Sofia Valença
Mestre Luis Valença, introduced by Rupert as the living master of equestrian art, lives in Lisbon, where he has practiced and taught equestrian art for decades, keeping a stable of school master horses that he and his family have prepared themselves. His approach centers on love, passion and a soft, communicative way of working that respects each horse's personality, drawing on the old masters, including Baucher and Nuno Oliveira. His daughter Sofia teaches the method in around 40 countries and helps people learn to read their horse and apply it with a simple language. Their work is relevant to anyone who wants joy and softness in their riding, and you can find them at valencaequestrianacademy.com.
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✨ "For me, competition has always been real feedback, not what I think is good." – Sinead Maynard
✨ "There's nothing about me that's gonna make you do this. You gotta love it, and we gotta love it together." – Sinead Maynard
Sinead Halpin Maynard was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Irish immigrant parents and grew up in South Carolina, where she stumbled into eventing via a hunter-jumper barn that didn't approve of her mother's black saddle. At 15 she drove herself to Middleburg, Virginia, as a working student, went on to train with David and Karen O'Connor, and after losing a horse on course, moved to England to ride for William Fox-Pitt. On the French-bred Manoir de Carneville ("Tate"), she finished third at her first five-star at 30, was first reserve for the London 2012 Olympics and rode on the US team at the 2014 World Championships in Normandy. Today she and her husband, Tik Maynard, run their farm in Florida, teach clinics, and Sinead commentates on top-level eventing and serves as a US team selector.
Rupert and Sinead talk candidly about the money and hustle behind a competitive career, why she still loves competing, and how she uses competition as honest feedback on her partnership with the horse. They explore sports psychology and narrow-versus-broad focus, whether riders have the right to ask horses to compete at all, and the difference between training from fear and training from play. Sinead explains retreat and approach, why she'll swap a bigger bit for a rope halter, how rider selection now weighs horse welfare, and why fitness and varied terrain are the foundation of a sound, happy horse.
A frank, funny and wide-ranging conversation between two eventers at heart.
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What You'll Learn in This Episode
00:03:19 – Why eventing's camaraderie comes from competing against the track and your own preparation, not other riders
00:17:59 – The honest truth about money, sponsorship and getting a "leg up" in upper-level horse sport
00:37:58 – William Fox-Pitt's two pieces of advice: go five-star by 30, and don't let anyone change a horse's natural style
00:52:15 – Why Sinead competes: taking the relationship out under pressure to find the flaws you can't see at home
00:56:00 – Narrow focus, broad focus and visualization: the sports psychology that turned fear into a skill set
01:06:07 – Do we have the right to ask horses to compete? Matching the horse to the job and calling it when it isn't a fit
01:09:26 – Fear versus love, the role of play, and how skill sets and familiarity make room for joy
01:17:42 – Why "tough it out" training fails, and how retreat and approach builds a horse's confidence in you
01:34:36 – How to watch a top-level horse: expression, balance and why independent balance means safety
01:45:20 – Fitness as the foundation of welfare: varied terrain, interval work and heart rate monitoring
Memorable Moments from the Episode
00:19:33 – Karen O'Connor tears up Sinead's lesson check; years later she pays David with her first big prize money
00:33:04 – Sinead takes a 30-quid ferry to France to see a "skinny and ugly" horse who becomes her five-star partner
00:36:00 – Days after arriving at William Fox-Pitt's, a surprise pony provokes Tate into kicking through a metal door
00:55:32 – David O'Connor's "one jump at a time" gets a terrified Sinead around the course after breaking her femur
01:38:00 – An Italian rider jumps off his horse one fence from home at the World Championships because something feels wrong

Guest Contact & Links
Copperline Equestrian (Sinead & Tik Maynard): https://www.copperlineequestrian.com
About Sinead Maynard
Sinead Halpin Maynard is a five-star event rider who represented the US at the 2014 World Championships and was first reserve for the London 2012 Olympics with Manoir de Carneville. She learned her trade as a working student in Middleburg, with David and Karen O'Connor and as a rider for William Fox-Pitt in England. Now based in Florida with her husband, Tik Maynard, she combines competition with a horse-first approach built on retreat and approach, play and honest feedback. She teaches clinics, commentates on top-level eventing and serves as a US eventing team selector.
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✨ "Dressage should be for the horse — the horse should not be for dressage." – Mark Russell, quoted by Patrick King
✨ "Speed is the enemy of balance." – Patrick King
Patrick King is a classical dressage trainer based in Lexington, Virginia, who came up through Western horsemanship — 4-H as a kid, an apprenticeship with legendary colt-starter Ray Hunt, then mentorship from the late Mark Russell before he found his way, like Rupert, to Luis Valença and the Portuguese school. He's since studied with Charles de Kunffy and Bettina Drummond, earned bronze and silver dressage medals, and now teaches through his online Academy for Classical Horsemanship and clinics from his farm.
He and Rupert trace how diagonal balance actually works and why the word "driving aids" gets lost in translation from the German, why competition pressure changes how horses and riders move, and how Western pleasure and saddle seat drifted from practical function into pure fashion. Patrick also walks through his simplest test for good training — could the horse explain to its paddock mates what you just asked of it — and why he stops mid-exercise to wait for a full diaphragmatic breath before asking a horse to go forward.
It's a wide-ranging, technically rich conversation between two horsemen who share a mentor but arrived from opposite directions — and it's only part one. They run out of time before finishing, so a follow-up conversation is coming.
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What You'll Learn in This Episode
00:01:50 – A shared mentor, Luis Valença, connects two very different paths into classical horsemanship
00:04:21 – Patrick's apprenticeship with Western horseman Ray Hunt and learning to "get to the mind through the feet"
00:08:29 – Mentor Mark Russell's insight that the feet are an extension of the spine
00:19:49 – The real difference between submission and relaxation in horse training
00:34:28 – Mark Russell's guiding principle that dressage should serve the horse, not the other way around
00:45:00 – Training the test versus testing the training, and how competition pressure changes the ride
01:23:06 – Diagonalization explained: how horses balance on diagonal leg pairs, and what that means for every transition
01:31:18 – Luis Valença's "position, balance, execute," and why "prepare, don't repair" beats fixing a movement mid-stride
01:36:36 – The "driving aids" mistranslation from German, and the physical, mental, and emotional dimensions of the half halt
01:54:37 – Why "is my horse breathing?" might be the most overlooked question in training
Memorable Moments from the Episode
00:13:44 – Patrick's story of an abusively trained Western pleasure horse that once cornered him in a stall as a teenager
00:27:38 – Rupert's breakdown of dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin, and why riding this way feels so good
01:06:52 – The surprising history of dressage as a European import tied to wealth and status
02:01:00 – Two hours fly by, and Rupert and Patrick agree on the spot to record a part two

Guest Contact & Links
https://pkhorsemanship.com
https://academyforclassicalhorsemanship.com
About Patrick King
Patrick King is a classical dressage trainer based near the Blue Ridge Mountains in Lexington, Virginia. He grew up riding a wide range of breeds in Western Pennsylvania, apprenticed with Western horseman Ray Hunt, and was later mentored by the late Mark Russell before training with Luis Valença in Portugal and riding as a guest student at Spain's Royal School. He teaches a busy clinic schedule, competes occasionally — earning bronze and silver dressage medals with encouragement from Charles de Kunffy — and runs an online Academy for Classical Horsemanship with monthly live lectures. His approach blends the Western horsemanship principle of "getting to the mind through the feet" with classical dressage biomechanics, with a particular focus on balance, breath, and treating the horse as an active participant in training. 
Website: pkhorsemanship.com.

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✨ "You do it by offering before you ask, connection before direction." – Jenifer Zeligs
✨ "Look with appreciation. Look with delight. Look with interest. Look with curiosity." – Jenifer Zeligs

Jenifer Zeligs has spent her life reading animals of every kind, from cheetahs and wolves to sea lions and horses. She started at the National Zoo at nine years old, mentored by exotic animal trainer Casey Cover, and went on to a career that helped shape modern liberty horse training. She is also the person that legendary horse trainer David Lichman credits with the "come bearing gifts" philosophy that underpins his own work.
The conversation ranges across the two foundational techniques of animal training, why prevention beats correction in a crisis, and the true story of training sea lions to film humpback whales in the open ocean. Jenifer and Rupert also explore how a childhood horse allergy set her on this path, why individual variation matters more than breed or species, and how her practice as a Buddhist has shaped the way she teaches fearlessness and calm to horses.
A wide-ranging, generous conversation between two people who have spent decades thinking about what animals need from us.

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What You'll Learn in This Episode
00:04:23 – How a childhood horse allergy led Jenifer into a lifelong career as an animal behaviorist
00:10:18 – The two foundational techniques of bridging (reward markers) and targeting that changed how she trains any species
00:14:13 – The "come bearing gifts" principle: offering trust before ever asking for anything in return
00:35:42 – What actually makes you a safe space for an animal, and what makes you unsafe
00:41:31 – Systematic desensitization, and why announcing your intentions changes everything
00:52:15 – The difference between behavioral and environmental enrichment, and why horses are missing out
00:56:00 – Why consistency matters for communication but variety matters for motivation
01:09:19 – The extraordinary story of training sea lions to film whales in the open ocean
01:28:00 – "Contra freeloading," and why animals (and humans) are wired to want to work for things
02:08:24 – Teaching a horse to find calm through a simple "head down" cue
Memorable Moments from the Episode
00:14:43 – Jenifer describes conditioning trust with cheetahs, mountain lions, and wolves through patient, positive interactions from behind a safety barrier
01:14:43 – A sea lion caught between orcas and open water swims 20 miles home, then leaps into the boat exhausted
01:40:18 – Jenifer's reminder that the best trainers "don't get into the crash" in the first place
02:10:00 – The story of the notoriously aggressive horse David Litchman connected her with, and how a new paradigm transformed him
02:15:00 – Rupert traces the story of the Buddha's own horse, Kantaka, and its place in Buddhist legend
Guest Contact & Links
animaltraining.us
Books: Animal Training 101: The Complete and Practical Guide to the Art and Science of Behavior Modification https://amzn.to/3UA43YZ
Mindful Partners: The Zen Art and Science of Working with Animals https://amzn.to/4xM2KVw
About Jenifer Zeligs
Jenifer Zeligs is an animal behaviorist, psychologist, and author who has spent decades working with species ranging from horses and dogs to cheetahs, wolves, and sea lions. She began her training career at the National Zoo at nine years old, mentored by exotic animal trainer Casey Cover, and later became a foundational influence on liberty horse trainer David Lichman, who credits her "come bearing gifts" philosophy as central to his own approach. She is the author of Animal Training 101 and Mindful Partners: The Zen Art and Science of Working with Animals, and teaches online courses at animaltraining.us. Now based in Oxford, England, she brings together decades of hands-on behavioral science with a practicing Buddhist's approach to trust, safety, and fearlessness.
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✨ "I think love is just not blocking out your connectedness to anything else." – Warwick Schiller
✨ "The same action with a different intention has a different energetic signature." – Warwick Schiller
Warwick Schiller joins Rupert Isaacson for a wide-ranging conversation on altered states of consciousness in horsemanship, a subject the two first began exploring together on Warwick's own podcast. Rupert opens with the story of his son Rowan's healing ceremony with Kuku Yalanji shamans in Australia's Daintree Rainforest, and the two trace the theme from there into what "consent" and so-called horse slapping actually look like through a horse's nervous system.
From there the conversation moves through the deep history of horse worship, from the goddess Epona and Xenophon's writings to Roman cavalry rituals and Mongolian shamanism, and lands on a central idea both men keep circling back to: that intention itself changes the energy, or as Warwick puts it, the "energetic signature," of any action, whether that's patting a horse, backing one up, or riding into battle.
A wide-ranging, unhurried conversation that moves from hardware stores and rodeo bulls to henbane, King Arthur, and a closing reading from the Hadith.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
00:00:36 – Rupert opens the episode by introducing the theme of altered states of consciousness in horsemanship
00:05:24 – Rupert recounts his son Rowan's healing ceremony with Kuku Yalanji shamans in the Daintree Rainforest
00:11:03 – Warwick unpacks consent, "horse slapping," and what it means to actually be present with a horse
00:24:13 – Why Warwick loses all sense of time while running clinics, and what that says about altered states
00:38:38 – A journey through the ancient history of horse worship, from Epona and Xenophon to Roman cavalry and Mongolian shamanism
00:44:49 – What it might look like to bring ritual and reverence back into everyday training
01:09:20 – Warwick on his real job as a teacher: "busting" people's long-held truths
01:27:00 – The henbane story, and how intention changes the "energetic signature" of an action
01:41:00 – How a Horse Boy fox hunt became a bloodless, inclusive tradition for kids with special needs and refugee children
01:51:24 – Ancient horse divination rituals from the Baltic to Rajasthan, and the Hadith reading that closes the episode
Memorable Moments from the Episode
00:56:21 – Warwick's story about trying to buy "starter cord" from a bemused hardware store clerk
01:01:14 – Rupert admits he prays before every clinic or talk, weaving together Christian and Germanic horse-god iconography
01:28:56 – The Elizabeth Gilbert and Raya story: the same purse-saving gesture, told twice, with two very different meanings behind it
01:57:15 – Warwick closes with a line from the Hadith that, as he puts it, ties the whole conversation together
01:59:24 – Rupert describes something "coming out of the cliff" and speaking to him during a retreat in Sweden
Warwick Schiller https://warwickschiller.com
Journey On Podcast Warwick's own podcast, referenced throughout the conversation as the place he and Rupert first began discussing these ideas
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Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.