{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Equine Assisted World with Rupert Isaacson","title":"Why Learning Stops When Curiosity Is Lost | Katja Mehlhorn | EAW 45","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":7123,"description":"In this episode of Equine Assisted World, Rupert Isaacson speaks with Katja Mehlhorn — psychologist, academic, and founder of Horse Kids Groningen in the Netherlands. Katja bridges two worlds that rarely meet: university‑level research and deeply embodied, nature‑based equine‑assisted practice.\nFrom her early work in PATH programs in the United States to building a highly individualized, child‑led practice on a Dutch farm, Katja shares how curiosity, movement, imagination, and horse welfare shape everything she does. Together, Rupert and Katja explore how neuroplasticity, safety, and play support learning in children who struggle with anxiety, school refusal, autism, and social‑emotional challenges.\nThis conversation ranges widely — from teaching maths through Formula One role‑play on horseback, to helping traumatized clients rebuild self‑worth by caring for horses, to using landscapes, wildlife, foraging, and even horse poo as gateways to regulation and learning. Along the way, Katja reflects on leaving a secure university career to grow her farm‑based work, and on what the equine‑assisted field must do to stay ethical, relevant, and humane.\nIf you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome\n🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode\nHow curiosity and play create safety and open the brain for learning \nWhy following the child matters more than following a protocol \nHow movement and balance activate neuroplasticity through the vestibular system \nWays to introduce maths, numbers, and academics without fear or pressure \nHow horses provide emotional feedback when children cannot verbalize \nWhy horse welfare, fitness, and variety of work are essential in equine‑assisted programs \nHow in‑hand and classical groundwork benefit both horses and humans \nWhy nature, foraging, animals, and landscape are powerful therapeutic tools \nHow rescue horses paired with at‑risk youth can transform both \nWhat equine‑assisted practice can offer to...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/PuJAXgaKmhfeBRqqEPEATMHDH_c-iN9O1OlaUtqD0-g/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzQwMDI3LzE2ODI0/MjQ0MTQtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}