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Rupert Isaacson: Welcome to Live Free
Ride Free, where we talk to people who

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have lived self-actualized lives on
their own terms, and find out how they

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got there, what they do, how we can
get there, what we can learn from them.

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How to live our best lives, find
our own definition of success,

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and most importantly, find joy.

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I'm your host, Rupert Isaacson.

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New York Times bestselling
author of the Horse Boy.

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Founder of New Trails Learning
Systems and long ride home.com.

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You can find details of all our programs
and shows on Rupert isaacson.com.

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Welcome back to Live Free, ride Free where
we talk to people leading self-actualized

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lives finding out how they got there.

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What they do how they make it work.

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What can we learn from them?

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How can we take this into our daily lives?

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And today I've got Sophia Valenza.

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Now, if you are in the horse
world, you may or may not know

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who the Valenza family are.

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They to some degree
are a well kept secret.

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If you are in the world of classical
dressage you probably do know the name

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and if you live in Europe and you've
ever seen This amazing show that goes

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around called Cavaluna, which is sort
of like Cirque du Soleil with horses.

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Well, you may or may not know that
they are a large part of that.

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If you ever were seeing some of the big
equestrian shows like, Cavalia and so

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on in the USA these really had their
inspiration from a lot of this work.

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That has been done by the Valencia
family over many, many years,

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but it's a greater story there.

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And it's not limited to horses and horse
stuff because they represent the, the,

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the Valencia family really represent a
culture within Europe, within Portugal

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that is a hangover, a survivor, you could
say really from the Baroque age and.

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It's almost like a national treasure
that exists there in Lisbon with

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Sophia, her father and her sisters
running this extraordinary,

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extraordinary place, but where they're
really a bit of a dream factory.

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So whether you're into horses or not,
if you've, if you've had a sort of

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dream of a fairy tale forest and horses
doing something in that, and you want

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to go and look at that show or you
want to be part of that, or you've,

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that's sort of what they do and they've
been doing it for decades and doing

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it very, very well, but it's not easy.

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It's the kind of thing many of us
would love to do, run away with a

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circus, but they are the circus.

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So, Sophia.

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Thank you for coming
on live free ride free.

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Tell us who you are.

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Sofia Valenca: Well, thank you for
your invitation it's really a pleasure

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to be part of this and Who am I?

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Oh, I'm just a lucky girl that was
born in this family and I was lucky

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enough to be able to grow up watching
my father teaching and learning

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from him And in a very natural way.

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So he was never forcing us to be in
this life was a life we chose and we

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do it with a great, great passion.

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It's really important to be in this life.

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If you just, if you don't have the
passion, it's could be a disaster

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because it's usually we say, if you
do what you love, you don't have

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to work a single day in your life.

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And this is what I do.

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I don't work a single day in my life,
and I live not on holidays because

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it's, it's quite a hard work, but
it's done with a lot of passion.

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So, who am I?

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I am just a girl that grew up around
animals, and I was always moved by the

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passion of being surrounded with animals.

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Animals, not just horses, but dogs.

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And I was always like, you know, I
was the one always bringing dogs home.

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I was the one only always having
more connection with the horses,

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not just being riding them, but,
you know, creating good connections.

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And yeah, I can, I'm able, I'm able,
no, I'm fortunate to be able to have

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them every single day of my life.

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So, what we do and you were, it was really
enjoyable to listen the way you describe

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what we do because it's, it's true.

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We live like in a fairy tale.

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And when people come to us.

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It's a little bit what we provide.

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It's experiment, a dream, a dream
that they can bring home and then

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start to create with their own horses.

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And this is a little bit what we try
to do, not just with the shows, like

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you said, and it's not just some people
come and they say, it's not just a

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circus, or if you come here, it's
not, you will not just see the show.

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You will see A real school and
when I say a real school, it's

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not just about learning or how we.

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might teach you to deal with your
horse or to understand or to develop

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a language that will help you
to understand better your horse.

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It's also a school of life.

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And today we were here with some clients,
a lady from the United States, and she

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was amazed the way we handle the horses,
the way she feels how happily the horses

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live and how happily they work every day.

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That it's, it's really beautiful.

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So it's, it's, it's a bless.

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I think it's a bless to be
able to do what we do daily.

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Rupert Isaacson: So for those listeners
who don't really know what we mean

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by the word classical dressage.

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Let me just enlighten you a bit.

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The word classical means handed
down from generation to generation.

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Dressage comes from this word
in, it's a Viking word actually,

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dresir, which means to put together.

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That's why you have salad dressing.

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That's why you are dressed
when you wear your clothes.

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You dress a horse, you put it together.

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And in this old manner of doing it, which
arose On the steps where Europe meets Asia

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5, 000 years ago, probably, but they have
a very hot type of horse and the locals,

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they went, well, I might be quite useful
for, you know, making that an extension

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of my thoughts on the battlefield.

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I wonder how I do that.

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And they figured out this system.

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Which got passed down, ended up in
Mesopotamia with the Persians and

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the Babylonians and ended up going
over to Greece as those guys went

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to war with the Europeans and then
of course the Europeans took it on.

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As the classical civilizations of the
Mediterranean, Greece and Rome mostly,

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expanded west, they encountered these
Ibero Celtic tribes down in the southern

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end of what is now Spain and Portugal.

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Where they found a particular kind
of horse, which was even better in

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the battlefield, even better for
working the livestock, even better

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for everything than the horses that
originally were coming out of Persia.

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And so, and through the Renaissance
a number of great masters developed.

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And if you've gone to an art gallery,
you've seen pictures of monarchs.

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of kings and queens of Europe
sitting on these very beautiful

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horses in the 17th and 18th
century, and they all look the same.

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They all have these big necks,
they have these big flowy manes,

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they're very, very beautiful and
they look like they're dancing.

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And that's the horse that
was found in this part of the

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Mediterranean and ended up being
exported out to the rest of Europe.

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And everyone ever since then
has looked down to this area of

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Europe for the expertise in this.

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And This is the line that Sophia's
family and Sophia's father have

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promulgated and create, allowed to
be a living culture even to this day.

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So when you enter their riding
hall, you basically feel like you're

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going back to the 18th century.

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It's really extraordinary.

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It's like, oh my gosh, I'm
in one of those paintings.

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It's like, oh, that sort of exists.

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That's real.

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Oh, how wonderful.

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How amazing.

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So, Sophia, tell us about
this Lusitano horse.

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What is it?

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that made the Greeks, the Romans,
and everybody else and their dog

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throughout the medieval period,
throughout the renaissance, and

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ever since go That is the horse.

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That is the meta horse.

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This is the horse.

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Why?

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Why is it the meta horse?

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Sofia Valenca: Because, you
know, we need to go back in time.

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And the horse was created by the nature.

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And the natural selection of this horse,
which is still nowadays the same horse

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that The same kind, the same type of horse
that you were talking from those times.

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That horse who create this horse was
The living together with the bull,

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the wild bull, the ones that we still
have nowadays that were used on the,

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that are used still on the bullfights.

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And what what happened is that
this bull created a Nali, a pact

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living together with the horses.

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And this bull is very aggressive.

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They can live together, but
they have a very fine line.

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If you cross that territory, the
bull will attack you to kill.

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So this is where it starts.

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The men, the natural selection of these
horses, these Siberian horses that are

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very fast, very flexible, very agile, very
noble, very warriors, very brave, very.

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There's so many positive aspects that
when they, these warriors arrived and

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saw the potential of these horses for
the war, they started to, to really

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work with those horses because in the
battle one-to-one, those were the horses

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that could save his ride is warrior.

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When the war changed and the battle one
to one didn't when the, the machine guns,

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sorry, when the machine guns arrived, the
type of horses needed in the battlefield

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was another type of horses, was when
you have the cavalry where they need

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to run on a straight line because then
they were charging with machine guns.

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So in Portugal, we still had,
we, we started to use those

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horses for the bullfight.

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So that's why they always
kept the same lines.

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Of this horse that is very fast,
very agile, very playful, very brave.

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And it's the same horse that is
still now used in the bullfight.

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What bring us to keep the classical
dressage is that if you use a

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modern dressage, training this
horse in a modern way, you will.

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Destroy this, this beauty of these horses
because what we need to always keep

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them updated, it's their flexibility.

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And with the modern dressage,
they kind of ruin the flexibility

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the way the train is doing.

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So we have always.

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Respect the needs of these horses
to always, always respect their

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morphology, the way they should
understand their own bodies, the way

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they learn how to use their own bodies.

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And in a very natural
way, this is what we did.

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So we have developed our method
based on the training of those

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horses to always respect their best
qualities, which is the flexibility.

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Rupert Isaacson: Well, you
also mentioned playfulness.

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This is really interesting to me.

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Because one tends to think of
dressage riders as control freaks.

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You know, any of us that.

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Watch the sport of dressage
on, on TV for the Olympics.

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For example, we can often appreciate
it's it's looks beauty, beautiful.

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Maybe it looks very controlled
perhaps and disciplined, but it

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doesn't look like a lot of fun.

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In fact, one could say it looks
a bit, should it be dressage

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or should it be stressage?

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You know, it looks a bit stressy and one
has seen horses looking a bit robotic.

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Yet you mentioned this playful
nature and this, this necessity.

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of respecting that sort of
joyful side of the horse.

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How do you bring that in?

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How do you marry that with the need for
the kind of control that you have to have

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when you're doing these massive balletic
shows that you send out all over Europe?

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Because they can't go wrong, right?

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Sofia Valenca: No, they can't go
wrong, but also they should not be

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taken as robots or like machines.

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So what we need is that, and when
we start a young horse, the first

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thing we do, we start to analyze
his personality, his character.

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How does this horse
reacts to certain things?

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And another thing we do is
that we will never destroy the

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beauty of the nature of a horse.

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A horse should always be able to
be a horse and to express himself.

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Like you said, we, we work for
the shows, entertainment shows.

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So we do need a horse
to speak to the crowd.

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That horse, when it goes into the
arena, He needs to speak for himself.

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He needs to, to be proud.

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He goes into the scene and he goes like,
I'm here and I'm performing to you.

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And with the crowd needs
to, to listen to that.

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And, and I think this is one of the.

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The biggest challenge is and beauty at
the same time because I prefer to have a

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partner that is enjoying and you know, we
allowed him to express himself, then just,

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you know, ride a bike and no emotions.

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Not that they don't ride bikes and
but I think mostly of you understand.

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I prefer it's not machines.

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Exactly.

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Rupert Isaacson: When you have a horse
though, that is so powerful playing and

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being playful and expressing itself on
a stage in close proximity with several

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thousand people where you're asking for
an almost sort of an explosion of energy.

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How do you do that in a way allows the
horse to express himself, but not so much.

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that it could become dangerous.

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How do you, how do you tread that line?

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Sofia Valenca: But express himself,
it's not a horse that is bucking

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or a horse that is losing his mind.

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Express himself is like, if I ask
him, for example, to do, imagine

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we do a transition to the counter.

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That horse, he needs to bring emotion
to the way he will bring himself

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into that transition encounter.

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It's not just, now I have this horse,
and in A, I need to do this transition

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to, it's, you know, they need, if a
horse, Goes a little bit with his head

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a little bit more, he can look around
if he, if his ears look a little bit

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to the audience and then he comes
back to me, it's okay to do that.

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It's just, they don't need to
feel like a prisoner performing

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and not feeling the crowd.

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But when we want them to express
themselves in a way that we will lose

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their mind, because then that it's
not expression then that is stress.

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So a horse needs to be calm, it needs
to be zen, it needs to be with you, and

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once you have his soul, he will go to
the end of the world with you, so they

00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:25.439
can perform to, well, 10, 000 people.

00:16:26.209 --> 00:16:30.919
And having lights, having the sounds
and they are still enjoying and they

00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:36.419
are still there with you performing for
you, with you to, to, to the audience.

00:16:36.909 --> 00:16:44.499
And honestly, I, I think the best world
nowadays, if you combine this fusion of

00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:47.629
the modern dressage with a classical way.

00:16:48.829 --> 00:16:50.999
Honestly, I think you have the best.

00:16:51.414 --> 00:16:54.364
way of being with a horse in the world.

00:16:54.694 --> 00:16:58.234
And I can bring my, my, the
name of my daughter in here.

00:16:58.234 --> 00:16:59.614
She's, she's doing dressage.

00:16:59.624 --> 00:17:04.084
She loves dressage competition, but she
has a very nice background on the shows.

00:17:04.534 --> 00:17:06.604
So when she performs in the dressage.

00:17:07.229 --> 00:17:10.679
And imagine she's doing
a free freestyle test.

00:17:11.579 --> 00:17:14.189
It's like, it's like she's performing.

00:17:14.199 --> 00:17:18.679
She's, she's enjoying the music and
she's, it's, it's really beautiful to

00:17:18.679 --> 00:17:23.619
see because it's the fusion of this
classical world with modern dressage

00:17:23.889 --> 00:17:26.859
where you respect the body of the horse.

00:17:26.889 --> 00:17:31.789
The horse has to be understand
how to bring all his beauty.

00:17:32.679 --> 00:17:40.109
And for this, and I think that the secret
lies on, if you want to allow the horse

00:17:40.109 --> 00:17:46.689
to express himself, he needs to work
with suppleness and using his body and

00:17:46.689 --> 00:17:52.629
not just, you know, performing like with
stiffness or forcing him to do something,

00:17:52.989 --> 00:17:57.439
it's, you need to allow the horse to think
on himself so that he can really bring the

00:18:01.544 --> 00:18:03.854
Rupert Isaacson: Right, you say
when you bring the horses in in

00:18:03.854 --> 00:18:06.454
the beginning of their training,
you analyze their personality.

00:18:06.794 --> 00:18:09.154
Do you look for a certain showmanship?

00:18:09.364 --> 00:18:14.514
Do you look for a certain horse that, that
does have this kind of, hey, attitude?

00:18:14.884 --> 00:18:16.284
Is that what you're looking for?

00:18:16.284 --> 00:18:17.384
You say, okay, that's the horse.

00:18:17.964 --> 00:18:21.384
Which we need to bring to the
show or how are you select that

00:18:22.254 --> 00:18:24.664
Sofia Valenca: way the way
we the way we select them?

00:18:24.774 --> 00:18:33.134
It's it's in a so every horse will be
special on Something like every words

00:18:33.204 --> 00:18:38.974
in the world was born for something and
if you really understand in what he's

00:18:38.994 --> 00:18:46.744
good at He will be amazing on it, but
I cannot force a horse That was not

00:18:47.064 --> 00:18:52.069
enough skills to be a Grand Prix horse
And I cannot force him to be a Grand

00:18:52.309 --> 00:18:57.659
Prix horse, but maybe this horse will
be an amazing working equitation horse.

00:18:58.119 --> 00:19:01.739
And then if you really find
his own way, he will be amazing

00:19:02.349 --> 00:19:04.239
doing what he was born for.

00:19:04.769 --> 00:19:08.109
That's why sometimes, you know, in
the show and you have seen our shows,

00:19:08.109 --> 00:19:12.029
you see, we have the horses that
perform the hairs above the ground.

00:19:12.549 --> 00:19:14.939
Not everybody is able to do a capriole.

00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:20.149
Only a few horses in the world
are able to do a capriole.

00:19:20.469 --> 00:19:24.039
So when you choose a horse, and
this is a very specific exercise

00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:27.499
I'm, I'm bringing here because
I think it's easy to understand.

00:19:28.929 --> 00:19:33.809
If a horse, well, how you see a horse
is good to make, to perform a capriole.

00:19:34.329 --> 00:19:38.449
So first, this first behavior
has to be a little bit too spicy.

00:19:38.804 --> 00:19:40.924
It has to really be very, very hot.

00:19:41.504 --> 00:19:45.544
And a little bit naughty, a
little bit naughty, and then.

00:19:46.994 --> 00:19:50.754
You will use that and
giving him the right tools.

00:19:51.004 --> 00:19:54.374
You will be amazing doing a Capriol.

00:19:54.724 --> 00:19:58.324
But what is important to understand
is that this horse that can be a

00:19:58.324 --> 00:20:02.394
little bit hot, can be a little bit
naughty, can be a little bit spicy.

00:20:02.674 --> 00:20:05.844
Once he has the basics,
you will have the power.

00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:08.849
Of telling this horse to
control his own strength.

00:20:09.579 --> 00:20:11.239
Otherwise it's just a crazy horse.

00:20:11.639 --> 00:20:16.039
And unfortunately we see a lot of crazy
horses out there just because people

00:20:16.039 --> 00:20:22.559
don't know how to deal with this hotness
and, and sometimes it's, it's hard.

00:20:22.609 --> 00:20:27.049
And if you, you cannot just force them
to do something they were not born to do.

00:20:27.049 --> 00:20:32.339
And, and it's really important that
we, we understand their nature and to

00:20:32.339 --> 00:20:36.739
explore their nature in the way that
they will understand how to, to become

00:20:37.139 --> 00:20:39.169
the horse we want them to become.

00:20:39.949 --> 00:20:41.349
So this is just an example.

00:20:41.619 --> 00:20:47.069
We don't search for something
special, but this horse will tell us.

00:20:47.674 --> 00:20:53.204
is special on something and then we
will drive the horse to his speciality.

00:20:53.654 --> 00:20:57.454
That's why, you know, in the world you
have doctors, you have mechanics, you

00:20:57.454 --> 00:20:59.554
have engineers, you have architects.

00:21:00.224 --> 00:21:04.704
In the end, they're all people, but
they have to choose their own way.

00:21:05.044 --> 00:21:09.624
And the ones that are really good in the
things they have choose to be something

00:21:09.634 --> 00:21:11.604
professionally, they become very good.

00:21:11.944 --> 00:21:13.174
It's the same with the horses.

00:21:13.794 --> 00:21:17.194
So again, we will not choose
them to in a certain way.

00:21:17.444 --> 00:21:22.014
They kind of tell us what they
are good at, and then we try to.

00:21:23.404 --> 00:21:28.184
Give them the way in the best,
in the best lines that they

00:21:28.184 --> 00:21:30.014
would, they can perform better.

00:21:30.534 --> 00:21:31.934
Rupert Isaacson: For those
listeners who don't know what a

00:21:31.934 --> 00:21:34.074
capriole is let's just explain.

00:21:34.074 --> 00:21:35.464
It's rather spectacular thing.

00:21:35.464 --> 00:21:38.514
So I just want you to sort of shut
your eyes for a moment and what you...

00:21:38.829 --> 00:21:42.439
Imagine you may have seen pictures
or films from maybe the Spanish

00:21:42.439 --> 00:21:45.169
riding school of Vienna or something
like that with the white stallions,

00:21:45.479 --> 00:21:49.469
where you see a horse jumping into
the air in a really controlled way.

00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:54.979
And, but really high into the air
and then kicking back violently, but

00:21:54.999 --> 00:22:00.929
controlled in this sort of balletic,
yes, sort of martial arts type movement,

00:22:01.199 --> 00:22:02.939
kicking back with the back hooves.

00:22:03.609 --> 00:22:06.429
The front hooves are tucked up,
maybe has a rider on the back.

00:22:06.429 --> 00:22:09.859
Maybe it's done with people
on the ground and it's always.

00:22:10.664 --> 00:22:13.964
Something that when the crowd sees
it, and any of us who've ever seen

00:22:13.964 --> 00:22:18.794
it, the explosion of power always
brings an emotional reaction.

00:22:19.004 --> 00:22:19.634
You cannot...

00:22:20.194 --> 00:22:23.554
see an animal that beautiful doing
something like that without having this

00:22:24.184 --> 00:22:28.514
lift of the heart where whether you know
anything about horses or not, it's it's

00:22:28.514 --> 00:22:32.944
just flat out beautiful and The could
that controlled explosion of power is a

00:22:32.944 --> 00:22:39.269
very very difficult and somewhat dangerous
thing to do tell us There must be a

00:22:39.269 --> 00:22:44.449
system, there must be a method, in the
these old books that were written by these

00:22:44.449 --> 00:22:46.349
old masters down through the centuries.

00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:50.139
I've looked at them, I've read
actually quite a few of them.

00:22:50.299 --> 00:22:50.989
They're unreadable.

00:22:51.374 --> 00:22:56.444
Unfortunately, they were written by, you
know, noblemen who were not particularly

00:22:56.444 --> 00:22:57.984
worried about editing themselves.

00:22:58.284 --> 00:23:01.564
They were certainly not trained
as writers and they contradict

00:23:01.564 --> 00:23:02.774
themselves every five pages.

00:23:03.114 --> 00:23:08.114
And what they're trying to get across
is if you already happen to know

00:23:08.154 --> 00:23:11.664
an awful lot about it, it's like
reading a book about math written by

00:23:11.684 --> 00:23:13.254
mathematicians for mathematicians.

00:23:13.264 --> 00:23:15.544
Because if you're outside of
that closed priesthood, it's

00:23:15.544 --> 00:23:18.744
very hard to To understand what
on earth they're even on about.

00:23:18.934 --> 00:23:24.844
One of the things which I found
revelatory about coming into contact

00:23:24.894 --> 00:23:29.714
with the Valencia family was that I
had always thought that this dressage,

00:23:29.714 --> 00:23:32.304
this classical dressage, these
beautiful movements, this sort of,

00:23:32.594 --> 00:23:36.604
was something a little bit reserved
for a higher priesthood of writers.

00:23:36.974 --> 00:23:39.294
Certainly that not somebody
like me could achieve.

00:23:39.774 --> 00:23:44.794
And when I walked through the door
in Lisbon with you and your father,

00:23:44.814 --> 00:23:50.354
Saphir, the first time, someone said,
Oh, actually, no, I can explain it.

00:23:50.804 --> 00:23:52.384
The concept is relatively simple.

00:23:52.534 --> 00:23:55.184
Okay, doing it's going to be quite
difficult because we're dealing with

00:23:55.184 --> 00:23:58.114
a horse who has his own ideas and
his own nervous system and his own

00:23:58.114 --> 00:23:59.704
sense of humor and you're the joke.

00:24:00.054 --> 00:24:00.474
But!

00:24:00.829 --> 00:24:03.569
Nonetheless, the concept
is relatively simple.

00:24:03.569 --> 00:24:08.169
And when you guys explained it I realized,
Oh my gosh, this is actually replicable.

00:24:09.349 --> 00:24:10.799
Why isn't everyone else doing this?

00:24:11.049 --> 00:24:17.269
So can you give us the one, two, three
of what this old master system, which

00:24:17.269 --> 00:24:21.319
you would now call Valencia method
that you've inherited from these

00:24:21.409 --> 00:24:26.959
many centuries of equine technology,
if you like, how does it work?

00:24:26.999 --> 00:24:27.589
What do you do?

00:24:28.289 --> 00:24:29.249
How do you train these horses?

00:24:30.234 --> 00:24:33.514
Sofia Valenca: But not specifically
to achieve the Caprio, correct?

00:24:33.764 --> 00:24:34.974
Rupert Isaacson: No, just in general.

00:24:34.974 --> 00:24:39.314
Just how do you lay the base for Where
you would eventually end up there?

00:24:39.314 --> 00:24:39.464
Yeah,

00:24:39.524 --> 00:24:42.794
Sofia Valenca: because in, in a very
simple way, I could explain you how we

00:24:42.794 --> 00:24:48.524
do teach at Caprio and if, if you put
it in small fractions, it's quite easy.

00:24:48.974 --> 00:24:53.834
But to go there first, the horse needs
to understand what its primary school.

00:24:54.124 --> 00:24:59.374
So what we do, and it's a
little bit the same learning

00:24:59.374 --> 00:25:01.354
process as a, as a young kid.

00:25:02.124 --> 00:25:03.354
So we start to develop.

00:25:04.509 --> 00:25:05.319
primary school.

00:25:06.139 --> 00:25:11.589
And I always defend that a kid with six
years old, you will spend the first four

00:25:11.589 --> 00:25:14.629
years on his life learning in school.

00:25:14.879 --> 00:25:16.989
So in Portugal, they
start at six years old.

00:25:17.499 --> 00:25:20.159
I believe in Europe, it's a
little bit the same, right?

00:25:20.159 --> 00:25:24.449
The kids go to primary school his
first year around six years old.

00:25:25.249 --> 00:25:32.799
And those first four years are the most
important years in the life of a student.

00:25:33.099 --> 00:25:40.039
If those four years they are weak
giving their basics, they will have

00:25:40.039 --> 00:25:44.349
gaps and they go to college and some
they will never finish high school.

00:25:44.389 --> 00:25:48.849
Some never be able to go to college
because they don't understand

00:25:49.089 --> 00:25:50.769
because the basics are not good.

00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:56.029
So when we start, we always like
to introduce the first level.

00:25:56.464 --> 00:25:59.204
of the Valencia Method
as the primary school.

00:25:59.324 --> 00:26:03.034
It's where the horse starts to
develop a language that will

00:26:03.954 --> 00:26:06.154
assess him to understand you.

00:26:06.524 --> 00:26:09.154
You want to develop a simple language.

00:26:09.939 --> 00:26:16.809
So that the horse starts clearly,
understand, yes, no, the basics.

00:26:17.479 --> 00:26:20.259
Once you have that, then
you can start to progress.

00:26:20.459 --> 00:26:23.569
And those basics that you
will start on this first stage

00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:25.089
that we are talking about.

00:26:25.769 --> 00:26:29.069
So we usually start the horses with
the age of three and a half years old.

00:26:30.009 --> 00:26:33.679
Between three and a half, four and
a half, it's the best age to start.

00:26:34.169 --> 00:26:36.139
You can always start them later.

00:26:36.339 --> 00:26:40.709
But the more the horse lives in the
freedom, the more difficult then it will

00:26:40.979 --> 00:26:43.759
be to start to introduce those basics.

00:26:43.979 --> 00:26:45.289
The same happens with a kid.

00:26:45.629 --> 00:26:51.409
If you, you leave the kids starting,
imagine you put a kid with 10 years

00:26:51.409 --> 00:26:56.459
old to his first year of school, you're
going to be a little bit more hard

00:26:56.459 --> 00:27:01.329
for him than a kid with six years old,
just because they are more greenish.

00:27:01.609 --> 00:27:05.809
They know less about life
and they are more open to.

00:27:06.159 --> 00:27:11.409
Learn in a more simple way, the kid
with 10 years old is already more

00:27:11.429 --> 00:27:15.569
naughty because life have taught
him a little bit more things.

00:27:16.179 --> 00:27:20.499
And then when you want to bring him to
the basics on school, sometimes it's a

00:27:20.499 --> 00:27:22.699
little bit more hard, not impossible.

00:27:23.084 --> 00:27:24.464
just a little bit more hard.

00:27:25.224 --> 00:27:28.784
Before three and a half years old, we
should not start because the horses,

00:27:28.804 --> 00:27:32.184
they are still growing and maturing.

00:27:32.314 --> 00:27:36.514
So the perfect age is between three
and a half to four and a half.

00:27:37.984 --> 00:27:43.354
So when you start to work them,
you really want the basics of the

00:27:43.354 --> 00:27:49.184
basics is the horse needs to learn
that you are there as friend.

00:27:49.764 --> 00:27:55.789
And once you have this friendship,
the horse starts to respect you

00:27:56.529 --> 00:27:58.589
and the real mean of respect you.

00:27:58.959 --> 00:27:59.609
Respect.

00:28:00.189 --> 00:28:03.719
If I want the horse to respect
me, I need to respect him.

00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:05.569
Otherwise, it will never respect him.

00:28:07.109 --> 00:28:14.019
Based on these feelings, you start
to, to gain the, the soul of this

00:28:14.019 --> 00:28:17.699
horse and he starts to be there
for you because he respects you,

00:28:18.049 --> 00:28:19.329
because you have respect him.

00:28:19.929 --> 00:28:21.079
And and then it's easy.

00:28:21.479 --> 00:28:23.129
Then once you have his respect.

00:28:23.979 --> 00:28:27.599
And again, respect not in the mean
that he has to be afraid of me.

00:28:27.989 --> 00:28:29.869
I mean the real mean of respect.

00:28:30.119 --> 00:28:31.289
I'm here for you.

00:28:31.479 --> 00:28:32.369
Let's do this.

00:28:32.369 --> 00:28:33.739
Let's start this journey.

00:28:33.949 --> 00:28:34.879
I trust you.

00:28:35.089 --> 00:28:36.959
I will go to the end
of the world with you.

00:28:37.749 --> 00:28:41.809
Then, simply, you start
to use your body language.

00:28:42.029 --> 00:28:43.389
You start to use your voice.

00:28:43.999 --> 00:28:49.549
You start to use a few tools, even
before he knows the rider on top of them.

00:28:50.059 --> 00:28:53.399
When you have this, then
you can start to progress.

00:28:54.014 --> 00:28:58.854
And the horse will start to have some
tools that if for some reason he starts

00:28:58.854 --> 00:29:01.754
to be more stressful, he can rely on you.

00:29:01.774 --> 00:29:06.924
So somehow you can down the stress because
a horse under stress, he will not learn.

00:29:07.204 --> 00:29:12.014
So it's really important that we have
to create tools to control the amount

00:29:12.014 --> 00:29:14.154
of stress that the horse can have.

00:29:14.204 --> 00:29:18.544
Because either you want or not,
when a horse is learning something,

00:29:18.864 --> 00:29:22.754
sometimes they get confused and
the way they deal with confusion.

00:29:23.239 --> 00:29:24.169
It's with stress.

00:29:24.449 --> 00:29:29.789
So we need to be able to control
those stress to calm them down

00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:31.369
and then he's able to learn.

00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:33.499
So a horse under stress will never learn.

00:29:33.579 --> 00:29:34.789
And this is really important.

00:29:35.199 --> 00:29:39.569
We develop tools to control
those moments of stress.

00:29:40.629 --> 00:29:42.239
Rupert Isaacson: How do you
minimize stress with a horse?

00:29:42.339 --> 00:29:43.499
What are your go to?

00:29:45.709 --> 00:29:49.579
Sofia Valenca: The first tool you will
have to have, the most powerful tool,

00:29:50.149 --> 00:29:52.769
is that the horse accepts you as friend.

00:29:53.919 --> 00:29:58.299
Because, you know, in Portugal, the horses
are born in the wild, in the nature.

00:29:58.679 --> 00:30:03.034
And for three, during the three
years old, three years, The first

00:30:03.034 --> 00:30:06.964
three years of their life, they do
not have much contact with the men.

00:30:07.444 --> 00:30:11.364
So when we start to train them,
there's a lot of stress in them

00:30:11.384 --> 00:30:13.614
because they don't trust us.

00:30:13.964 --> 00:30:16.294
And a horse is a fleet animal.

00:30:16.584 --> 00:30:21.084
So as soon as he's afraid of something,
his first reaction is to run away.

00:30:21.354 --> 00:30:23.764
That's why they are still
alive in this world.

00:30:23.844 --> 00:30:25.114
Otherwise they would be dead.

00:30:25.584 --> 00:30:29.204
So they need to have this
instinct to protect themselves.

00:30:29.584 --> 00:30:35.344
So if you don't have, if you
don't gain his trust, a horse will

00:30:35.344 --> 00:30:38.124
live in, in stress all the time.

00:30:38.554 --> 00:30:42.064
So this is our first lesson.

00:30:42.324 --> 00:30:44.344
It's a horse coming into the arena.

00:30:44.979 --> 00:30:48.429
And learn that we are there to be friends.

00:30:48.969 --> 00:30:50.159
He needs to respect me.

00:30:50.199 --> 00:30:53.329
I don't want to be his best friend
where he will sit on my lap.

00:30:53.689 --> 00:30:55.509
I want him to always be a horse.

00:30:55.509 --> 00:31:00.749
I want him to understand there's a line
that will super me as a human being.

00:31:00.959 --> 00:31:01.929
I love you.

00:31:02.009 --> 00:31:04.299
I respect you, but you
will not jump on me.

00:31:05.739 --> 00:31:06.839
This kind of respect.

00:31:06.839 --> 00:31:09.129
It's important that there's boundaries.

00:31:09.189 --> 00:31:10.619
And sometimes.

00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:17.259
It's very, very easy to let them
cross this line, this boundary.

00:31:17.299 --> 00:31:21.719
And sometimes they want to be more
friends than they are supposed to be.

00:31:22.019 --> 00:31:27.809
So it's also important that we are smart
enough to always design this line of.

00:31:28.724 --> 00:31:30.854
In the end of the day, I'm your friend.

00:31:30.974 --> 00:31:31.624
I trust you.

00:31:31.674 --> 00:31:32.304
I love you.

00:31:32.544 --> 00:31:34.084
But I'm still the alpha.

00:31:34.764 --> 00:31:35.924
I need you to listen.

00:31:36.224 --> 00:31:41.194
And once you really start to
have this feeling of being the

00:31:41.234 --> 00:31:44.914
alpha, then you are in control.

00:31:45.644 --> 00:31:48.734
In control in a way that the
horse is not afraid of you.

00:31:49.124 --> 00:31:54.394
He respects you and he will be as
soon as he takes you as your alpha.

00:31:54.914 --> 00:31:57.694
You will, you will want to follow you.

00:31:58.194 --> 00:31:58.694
Why?

00:31:59.054 --> 00:32:00.634
A horse will always need a half.

00:32:00.714 --> 00:32:05.524
That's why in, in a yard, you will
erd, yard, erd, my English sometimes

00:32:05.524 --> 00:32:09.834
it's a little bit Portuguese but
in, in the, how you say, erd?

00:32:11.324 --> 00:32:12.004
Rupert Isaacson: In the pack?

00:32:12.574 --> 00:32:13.394
Oh, in the herd.

00:32:13.634 --> 00:32:14.244
In the herd.

00:32:14.294 --> 00:32:14.524
Yes.

00:32:14.994 --> 00:32:15.414
In the herd.

00:32:15.414 --> 00:32:16.754
In a wild herd of horses.

00:32:16.754 --> 00:32:16.964
Yes.

00:32:17.034 --> 00:32:17.394
In nature.

00:32:17.444 --> 00:32:18.054
They, they,

00:32:18.144 --> 00:32:20.314
Sofia Valenca: they need,
they need their leader.

00:32:20.574 --> 00:32:20.994
Right?

00:32:21.424 --> 00:32:22.344
And then they follow.

00:32:22.474 --> 00:32:26.814
And the leader also has to be,
usually it's the smartest horse is

00:32:26.824 --> 00:32:29.564
the one that is more aware of dangers.

00:32:29.764 --> 00:32:34.014
So not everybody, not every
horse was born to be a leader.

00:32:34.064 --> 00:32:37.484
And in nature, they will
develop this leadership.

00:32:38.394 --> 00:32:40.174
When a horse comes into the arena.

00:32:40.479 --> 00:32:43.379
You need to show them
you are their leader.

00:32:43.679 --> 00:32:44.659
Rupert Isaacson: How do you do that?

00:32:44.809 --> 00:32:47.629
How do you do that in a way that
doesn't make the horse feel threatened?

00:32:47.899 --> 00:32:50.069
Because at the end of the day,
we are a horse's predator, right?

00:32:50.069 --> 00:32:51.819
We spent two million years hunting them.

00:32:52.199 --> 00:32:54.019
Now suddenly we want
to sit on their backs.

00:32:56.059 --> 00:32:58.099
How do we cross that line?

00:32:58.369 --> 00:32:59.384
Predators are predators.

00:32:59.944 --> 00:33:00.574
Sofia Valenca: Exactly.

00:33:00.594 --> 00:33:06.484
You need to really have a very good body
language and and, but the same, that's

00:33:06.504 --> 00:33:11.114
why nowadays there's a lot of therapies
that are used for leadership, you

00:33:11.114 --> 00:33:15.874
know, big companies that have problems,
people that are bullied by others.

00:33:16.194 --> 00:33:20.294
So they use this kind of therapy and
they use the animals so that people

00:33:20.294 --> 00:33:22.094
understand what leadership means.

00:33:22.524 --> 00:33:25.594
And leadership means that
I, now you are afraid of me.

00:33:25.594 --> 00:33:26.449
You do what I do.

00:33:26.589 --> 00:33:28.669
Told you to do and now you have to do it.

00:33:28.689 --> 00:33:33.969
It's not by fear because a good leadership
cannot transmit fear because they will

00:33:33.969 --> 00:33:35.869
never have a good team working for them.

00:33:36.389 --> 00:33:39.839
So leadership is that I'm here for you.

00:33:40.189 --> 00:33:41.189
I will help you.

00:33:41.299 --> 00:33:42.199
I will guide you.

00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:46.039
I need you to trust me and
I need you to follow me.

00:33:46.039 --> 00:33:51.099
So there's a few exercises that in
the first lessons they will learn,

00:33:51.849 --> 00:33:56.049
which are quite hard to explain
them with just the voice, because

00:33:56.049 --> 00:33:58.429
I need you to picture some images.

00:33:58.429 --> 00:33:59.449
Rupert Isaacson: Well,
well, we can do that.

00:33:59.449 --> 00:34:03.559
Have us shut our eyes and let's
go into the arena with you.

00:34:03.559 --> 00:34:07.149
We, we we're going to the arena with
you with this three and a half year

00:34:07.149 --> 00:34:08.889
old horse who's coming from the wild.

00:34:09.624 --> 00:34:10.314
As you say,

00:34:11.394 --> 00:34:11.704
Sofia Valenca: what's happening?

00:34:12.789 --> 00:34:17.119
There's this exercise that sometimes
we don't give enough importance.

00:34:17.479 --> 00:34:19.739
It's, it's really,
really, really important.

00:34:20.059 --> 00:34:22.009
That is, imagine you're launching a horse.

00:34:22.579 --> 00:34:25.899
And the horse, okay, he already
goes, well, into the circle.

00:34:25.899 --> 00:34:27.709
He understands he has to do the circle.

00:34:28.109 --> 00:34:32.579
But then we stop them, and we do
something that we call meeting point.

00:34:33.059 --> 00:34:34.309
And what is a meeting point?

00:34:34.329 --> 00:34:35.189
Is that you go...

00:34:35.664 --> 00:34:39.944
Into a certain point and the horse
that is going on a circle, you will

00:34:39.974 --> 00:34:48.234
keep going until you will meet you on
that meeting point and all the horses.

00:34:48.764 --> 00:34:52.944
that come from the field and they
are afraid of the man because

00:34:52.964 --> 00:34:54.464
we are predators for them.

00:34:55.054 --> 00:34:59.554
They will stop a few meters and
even if they don't want to run away

00:34:59.554 --> 00:35:04.384
because after a while they don't want
to run away, but they are still not

00:35:05.284 --> 00:35:07.804
trusting you enough to go to you.

00:35:08.654 --> 00:35:13.164
And one thing that we always explain
when we give our lessons and we start

00:35:13.164 --> 00:35:18.254
to explain how we develop the method,
we always say, even if the horse The

00:35:18.254 --> 00:35:23.704
horse stops like one meter away from
you, and you are happy with that, but you

00:35:23.704 --> 00:35:25.884
want the horse to move forward to you.

00:35:26.789 --> 00:35:30.359
But he's not going and you
say, Oh, it's just a meter.

00:35:30.549 --> 00:35:31.249
No problem.

00:35:31.329 --> 00:35:36.149
I go to him and the horse accepts you
going to him and you pat him and the

00:35:36.149 --> 00:35:42.249
horse is quite calm and did accept that
you go into his world, but he was, he

00:35:42.249 --> 00:35:47.229
didn't accept, he was not trusting you
enough to follow you to your own world.

00:35:47.759 --> 00:35:54.809
If you don't have this, if you
to move this, that one meter

00:35:54.839 --> 00:35:56.679
to bring him to my world.

00:35:57.139 --> 00:35:58.779
I don't have the trust of this horse.

00:35:59.239 --> 00:36:00.819
So he was being the alpha.

00:36:00.949 --> 00:36:02.469
He said, I stop here.

00:36:02.879 --> 00:36:03.849
I don't trust you.

00:36:04.009 --> 00:36:05.099
You will come to me.

00:36:05.369 --> 00:36:07.239
And this is what mostly of the people do.

00:36:07.449 --> 00:36:09.409
They go to them and they pet him.

00:36:09.569 --> 00:36:11.919
And the horse says, I got you.

00:36:12.219 --> 00:36:14.659
I make you trust you to come to my world.

00:36:14.729 --> 00:36:16.679
I don't trust you enough
to go to your world.

00:36:17.239 --> 00:36:21.929
And you see, this is just a little detail
that people think, Oh, he stopped there.

00:36:21.929 --> 00:36:25.739
I just go to him and it
will be something that.

00:36:27.159 --> 00:36:31.299
Later on time there's a gap there and

00:36:31.629 --> 00:36:33.099
Rupert Isaacson: you know,
how do you make the horse take

00:36:33.099 --> 00:36:34.659
that meter step towards you?

00:36:34.969 --> 00:36:35.339
So

00:36:35.829 --> 00:36:40.609
Sofia Valenca: it's sometimes you just
need to be patient You invite him like

00:36:40.619 --> 00:36:45.949
using your body energy, like, you know,
like you, you want him to follow you.

00:36:45.979 --> 00:36:50.359
Like some, somehow, sometimes
we do this with dogs, you call

00:36:50.359 --> 00:36:52.339
your dog, you want him to come.

00:36:52.509 --> 00:36:55.609
So you kind of inviting him
because it's not the word that

00:36:55.609 --> 00:36:57.349
will make the dog come to you.

00:36:57.389 --> 00:36:59.509
It's the energy you put in the world.

00:37:00.299 --> 00:37:01.729
And, and this, this is.

00:37:02.294 --> 00:37:04.624
I can tell my dog, get away
from here, get away from here,

00:37:06.304 --> 00:37:07.434
you will come to me, right?

00:37:07.704 --> 00:37:08.434
It's not the word.

00:37:08.494 --> 00:37:10.224
It's the energy you put in the word.

00:37:10.264 --> 00:37:15.934
And if that doesn't work, sometimes
we need what we call a ghost help.

00:37:16.824 --> 00:37:21.054
What is a ghost help is that you
ask someone to go into the arena

00:37:21.404 --> 00:37:25.634
and from the behind of the horse,
like a little bit far away, but the

00:37:25.634 --> 00:37:30.054
person from the behind will send the
horse to move forward a little bit.

00:37:30.309 --> 00:37:35.429
That little bit that make the horse
come to you, trust you, because what he

00:37:35.429 --> 00:37:37.869
will receive when he goes to you, love.

00:37:38.844 --> 00:37:41.804
When he comes to you, what
you give him, you pet him.

00:37:42.164 --> 00:37:44.874
The horse will feel your
hand touching his body.

00:37:45.214 --> 00:37:46.384
And it's, it's nice.

00:37:46.514 --> 00:37:48.304
Who does not love to be pet?

00:37:48.774 --> 00:37:49.174
Right?

00:37:49.464 --> 00:37:50.504
The horses are the same.

00:37:50.504 --> 00:37:52.324
They love to be touched.

00:37:52.564 --> 00:37:54.444
They love to receive love.

00:37:54.814 --> 00:37:59.874
So they learn that when I go to her,
I can trust her because she's kind.

00:38:00.254 --> 00:38:02.374
She will give me love.

00:38:02.954 --> 00:38:05.594
And, and, and I'm not giving him treats.

00:38:06.439 --> 00:38:13.329
I'm, I'm gaining his trust by the love
I can give him and not just by a carrot.

00:38:13.369 --> 00:38:14.909
I don't want to buy his trust.

00:38:15.349 --> 00:38:17.869
I want him to feel what love is.

00:38:18.279 --> 00:38:22.459
And this is how we really, and you
know, after a while, this ghost,

00:38:22.469 --> 00:38:26.789
why we say ghost, because the person
is there and then he's not there.

00:38:27.729 --> 00:38:29.829
The horse is sending forward.

00:38:30.179 --> 00:38:35.419
by someone that behind just said a little
bit just move or it does a sound or with

00:38:35.419 --> 00:38:40.589
a whip sends him a little bit forward and
we need to do this two or three times and

00:38:40.589 --> 00:38:47.069
the horse learns that he can come to me
he have trust that he can come to my world

00:38:48.349 --> 00:38:51.449
Rupert Isaacson: and that you are
the safe you are the safe place to

00:38:51.449 --> 00:38:54.719
Sofia Valenca: come to i am the safe
place but he needs to understand

00:38:54.839 --> 00:38:56.779
that we are the safe place

00:38:57.354 --> 00:39:00.984
Rupert Isaacson: Are you tapping in also
to the horse's natural sense of curiosity?

00:39:00.984 --> 00:39:02.874
I mean, horses are intelligent animals.

00:39:03.114 --> 00:39:04.824
They're curious about life.

00:39:04.924 --> 00:39:06.904
And they need to be curious, presumably.

00:39:06.904 --> 00:39:12.724
Otherwise, they're not going to be able
to explore their environments in nature.

00:39:13.144 --> 00:39:13.984
How do you...

00:39:14.574 --> 00:39:20.074
Are you tapping into the horse's
natural sense of curiosity as well?

00:39:21.534 --> 00:39:22.284
Sofia Valenca: You have to.

00:39:22.814 --> 00:39:23.514
You have to.

00:39:24.404 --> 00:39:26.644
Remember when we started
this conversation?

00:39:27.049 --> 00:39:31.219
When I, when we defend it, a
horse needs to express himself.

00:39:31.919 --> 00:39:36.249
So when you analyze a little bit,
the horse, you need to, to, to

00:39:36.249 --> 00:39:39.379
see his reactions to everything.

00:39:39.869 --> 00:39:47.009
If he comes to me and he wants to smell,
we, we, we kind of, we let him smell.

00:39:48.079 --> 00:39:51.019
When he starts to smell,
it starts to relax.

00:39:52.819 --> 00:39:56.579
You touch him and you feel
how he reacts to the touch.

00:39:57.409 --> 00:39:59.539
And if a horse is a little bit stressed.

00:40:00.754 --> 00:40:06.204
When he starts to trust you and you
pet him, you have the power of control

00:40:06.204 --> 00:40:09.034
stress just by the way you touch a horse.

00:40:09.574 --> 00:40:14.604
It's like, it's like you, you can transmit
that energy to him when you touch his,

00:40:14.754 --> 00:40:16.634
his neck, when you touch his eyes.

00:40:17.114 --> 00:40:20.674
Another thing when a horse comes
from the field, they come very

00:40:20.674 --> 00:40:23.334
suspicious about the touch in the head.

00:40:24.034 --> 00:40:26.204
Some of them because.

00:40:26.969 --> 00:40:32.429
They, they are in the field and,
and, but the vets, they need to take

00:40:32.439 --> 00:40:36.069
care of them because they need to,
to be treated because they need the

00:40:36.069 --> 00:40:41.329
vaccines because they need to, to,
to, to take medicine to clean inside.

00:40:42.459 --> 00:40:46.909
And so their first contact with the men.

00:40:47.409 --> 00:40:52.309
It's not the most friendly contact
because it will come this they will be

00:40:52.329 --> 00:40:57.239
in a place and then they call this this
man that needs to give him an injection.

00:40:57.539 --> 00:41:03.369
And sometimes things are changing and
people are learning, but sometimes they

00:41:03.369 --> 00:41:05.919
hold their ears, so they don't move.

00:41:06.299 --> 00:41:10.369
And that can be very traumatizing
for a horse when we start them to,

00:41:10.839 --> 00:41:13.769
to be there to start their journey.

00:41:14.039 --> 00:41:16.709
So it is really important that the horse.

00:41:17.274 --> 00:41:22.944
starts to allow us to touch on
those parts of the body that

00:41:22.984 --> 00:41:25.124
can be more reactive to them.

00:41:25.784 --> 00:41:28.584
The ears Touching their eyes.

00:41:28.784 --> 00:41:30.684
Well, their eyes not touching their eyes.

00:41:30.954 --> 00:41:32.254
Now the vision of you.

00:41:32.524 --> 00:41:33.894
We are not touching their eyes.

00:41:33.934 --> 00:41:37.694
But if we pack a horse, it will
make them close their eyes.

00:41:38.054 --> 00:41:40.554
And somehow that can be very calm.

00:41:41.094 --> 00:41:44.944
The phrase some horses will not
allowed to touch their mouth.

00:41:45.524 --> 00:41:52.534
They and especially if they are born and
growing in fields with electrical fences.

00:41:53.644 --> 00:41:54.884
You see them a lot, right?

00:41:54.894 --> 00:41:56.824
To contain the paddocks.

00:41:58.004 --> 00:42:02.284
They, and all horses to learn,
they need to touch that fence.

00:42:02.914 --> 00:42:05.824
And then they learn because they
touch it and it's a little bit ouch.

00:42:05.964 --> 00:42:07.174
So they will not touch again.

00:42:07.504 --> 00:42:12.034
But we start to feel that they get
very sensitive on their nose because

00:42:12.034 --> 00:42:15.444
they get very like, Oh, don't touch
me here because when you touch me

00:42:15.444 --> 00:42:18.114
here, I, I'm afraid of the fence.

00:42:18.454 --> 00:42:23.404
So, you know, some horses,
they don't even care.

00:42:23.959 --> 00:42:29.679
When we touch them, but some others,
they're very, very sensitive and the head

00:42:29.709 --> 00:42:38.569
was really it's one of the most difficult
parts to to conquer their their trust.

00:42:39.164 --> 00:42:43.004
We need to be able to
pet the horse everywhere.

00:42:45.684 --> 00:42:49.854
Rupert Isaacson: So the horse must be
able to accept the human touch pretty much

00:42:50.314 --> 00:42:52.094
all over the body before you can begin.

00:42:52.094 --> 00:42:52.804
All over.

00:42:52.934 --> 00:42:53.184
Yeah.

00:42:53.684 --> 00:42:54.134
Yes,

00:42:54.204 --> 00:42:55.234
Sofia Valenca: yes, yes.

00:42:55.564 --> 00:42:58.044
Rupert Isaacson: In a way that makes them
feel this is a safe thing, this is...

00:42:58.374 --> 00:42:59.074
Sofia Valenca: Exactly.

00:42:59.104 --> 00:43:00.387
Because if a horse does not...

00:43:00.387 --> 00:43:01.314
He does make me sick.

00:43:01.314 --> 00:43:01.884
Imagine.

00:43:02.434 --> 00:43:02.874
If.

00:43:03.014 --> 00:43:04.394
Imagine, imagine now.

00:43:04.974 --> 00:43:09.434
Imagine that you are afraid that I will
touch you because, you know, you had

00:43:09.484 --> 00:43:15.744
something that, you know, you don't trust
and you are afraid if I, if I don't pass

00:43:15.784 --> 00:43:19.244
this barrier, how can I handle this horse?

00:43:19.849 --> 00:43:26.099
that not even being able to touch him,
it does not trust me to touch him.

00:43:26.429 --> 00:43:28.199
How can I ride this, this horse?

00:43:28.249 --> 00:43:28.899
You understand?

00:43:29.339 --> 00:43:33.169
So it's really important that
we go through that phase and,

00:43:33.189 --> 00:43:37.669
and that phase it's, it's really
important that we don't rush phases.

00:43:37.849 --> 00:43:44.139
If a horse is taking more time to accept
you, we need to give them that time.

00:43:44.859 --> 00:43:50.424
Some horses, the day they come from the
field, You can launch them, you can touch

00:43:50.424 --> 00:43:56.504
them everywhere, and some horses, after
a month, you are still trying to break

00:43:56.544 --> 00:43:58.754
barriers, and barriers, and barriers.

00:43:59.134 --> 00:44:04.504
So, we cannot rush, and we need
to respect the time each horse

00:44:04.504 --> 00:44:06.504
is showing you that he needs.

00:44:06.964 --> 00:44:08.544
And, and this is really important.

00:44:09.854 --> 00:44:15.524
Rupert Isaacson: So here you are now
creating these extraordinary equestrian

00:44:15.524 --> 00:44:22.324
shows which go all over the place and
basically show a fairy tale on horseback.

00:44:22.324 --> 00:44:24.144
It's sort of Cirque du
Soleil on horseback.

00:44:24.704 --> 00:44:27.454
And then, but you also have, you
know, your daughter, as you say,

00:44:27.514 --> 00:44:31.864
who's in the competition world
and you're the sort of excellence.

00:44:33.014 --> 00:44:33.504
And.

00:44:34.919 --> 00:44:42.589
You have this effectively living free and
riding free family culture of every day

00:44:42.589 --> 00:44:47.599
you getting together with your your tribe
with with your father with your sisters

00:44:48.559 --> 00:44:53.219
and Pretty and the rest of your family
producing these extraordinary Animals and

00:44:53.219 --> 00:44:58.539
the teams that will go out and present
them to the world, but it wasn't always

00:44:58.709 --> 00:45:05.079
so I believe I think It's always a it's
always a bit easy to jump to conclusions

00:45:05.089 --> 00:45:08.609
and one would assume, Oh, well, you
know, if Sophia Valencia is coming out

00:45:08.609 --> 00:45:11.629
of this family that produces these fancy
dressage horses everywhere, then they

00:45:11.629 --> 00:45:13.119
must come from, you know, a lot of money.

00:45:13.119 --> 00:45:15.579
They must be aristocrats or they
must have something like that.

00:45:15.929 --> 00:45:17.889
And I know that that's not true.

00:45:17.889 --> 00:45:21.649
In fact, I know that you were actually
born into quite difficult times 1974.

00:45:21.689 --> 00:45:26.849
What was happening in in Portugal
in 1974, that year that you were

00:45:26.849 --> 00:45:27.109
Sofia Valenca: born.

00:45:28.359 --> 00:45:33.709
So, in, in 74, there was this
big revolution in Portugal, and

00:45:33.759 --> 00:45:41.029
we, we went from a dictator to,
to, so you went for extremes.

00:45:41.309 --> 00:45:44.839
We had a dictator, and then
we came with a communism

00:45:44.889 --> 00:45:49.989
So you came from, so suddenly
from one day to the other the

00:45:49.989 --> 00:45:51.779
life change of a lot of people.

00:45:52.669 --> 00:45:54.859
And I was not born yet in April.

00:45:54.859 --> 00:45:57.399
This was in, in, in April that happened.

00:45:57.949 --> 00:46:04.949
I was born in December, but my father that
was working with horses was found in he

00:46:04.949 --> 00:46:10.689
found himself in a very hard time because
he was working horses from other clients.

00:46:11.259 --> 00:46:16.319
And some of those clients, they, they,
they had the money, but suddenly from one

00:46:16.319 --> 00:46:21.649
day to the other, they lost everything
because suddenly if you had horses,

00:46:21.659 --> 00:46:24.259
you were considered like a rich person.

00:46:25.349 --> 00:46:30.674
And you know, as a communism thing
they, they would go after you.

00:46:31.124 --> 00:46:34.874
So a lot of people that had
big farms that had horses.

00:46:35.234 --> 00:46:39.374
So suddenly they said, I need to
finish all that or we are in trouble.

00:46:40.004 --> 00:46:43.554
So what happened with my father,
he was not the rich person.

00:46:43.864 --> 00:46:49.884
He was just working horses because he
always, I always say he had a rich life

00:46:49.934 --> 00:46:52.454
because he was able to follow his passion.

00:46:52.804 --> 00:46:56.664
So he was rich because he
was doing what he loves.

00:46:56.999 --> 00:47:01.419
was being around horses and, you
know, working the horses and, and

00:47:01.849 --> 00:47:04.059
follow, following this passion.

00:47:04.859 --> 00:47:11.269
So suddenly my, I'm the youngest
of three of three sisters and

00:47:11.269 --> 00:47:15.219
my father and mother, my mother,
she was not working at the time.

00:47:15.809 --> 00:47:17.129
Suddenly they had no.

00:47:17.739 --> 00:47:23.229
Job and my father had a few horses,
so he decided to move to Spain.

00:47:23.959 --> 00:47:26.999
So there we went to Spain in 75.

00:47:27.059 --> 00:47:33.189
I was born in December 74 and in 75
they just wait that I had a few months.

00:47:33.709 --> 00:47:38.619
So that, you know, traveling with
a born baby, it's, it's not easy.

00:47:38.989 --> 00:47:43.979
So maybe I was like four or five months
when they moved to Spain and they had

00:47:43.979 --> 00:47:49.869
to start all over again, my father
and mother, they had the three girls.

00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:53.169
They, we, the three of
us, we were very tiny.

00:47:53.569 --> 00:47:54.079
And.

00:47:55.114 --> 00:48:01.424
But they are very strong, and I always, we
always have them with a very nice example

00:48:01.844 --> 00:48:11.124
of of a couple that love each other, and
and they, they believe they could just go

00:48:11.164 --> 00:48:17.644
to another country with three children,
with a few horses, and, well, they did not

00:48:17.654 --> 00:48:20.014
have a dog at the time, but there we went.

00:48:20.429 --> 00:48:23.599
And two and a half
year, we lived in Spain.

00:48:25.059 --> 00:48:29.349
My father always followed
his dream working with the

00:48:29.349 --> 00:48:31.619
horses, so that's what he did.

00:48:32.059 --> 00:48:33.344
He, he...

00:48:33.774 --> 00:48:35.494
He works some horses in Spain.

00:48:35.784 --> 00:48:37.314
Then we moved to this.

00:48:37.314 --> 00:48:40.034
We started in Jerez de la Frontera.

00:48:40.064 --> 00:48:41.674
My father had good friends.

00:48:41.974 --> 00:48:45.364
Don Alvaro Domecq was a good
friend of him that have helped him.

00:48:46.014 --> 00:48:50.724
He was having the horses where
the Spanish Riding School is.

00:48:51.319 --> 00:48:56.309
in Jerez was actually beautiful because
we have been there like two weeks ago.

00:48:56.349 --> 00:49:01.389
The, there was a show there with the
four schools and we, it was nice to,

00:49:01.659 --> 00:49:06.689
for my parents to be back there and
see old friends and, and it was really,

00:49:07.129 --> 00:49:08.909
really nice to, to be back there.

00:49:09.519 --> 00:49:12.859
Then after Jerez, we
went to the Gran Canaria.

00:49:13.269 --> 00:49:18.549
So my father had this proposal for
work there and this is where he start

00:49:18.559 --> 00:49:21.029
to gain experience with the shows.

00:49:21.869 --> 00:49:25.349
Gran Canaria, it's an island that
always worked with a lot of tourists,

00:49:25.779 --> 00:49:31.619
so it was the proposal of work
there was to, to build a show with

00:49:31.639 --> 00:49:33.779
horses to entertain the tourism.

00:49:35.019 --> 00:49:37.949
So for two years, they,
they did this show.

00:49:38.579 --> 00:49:42.979
We were not part of the show yet
because we were really small my sisters,

00:49:42.989 --> 00:49:45.459
they were already riding horses.

00:49:45.969 --> 00:49:47.169
But not part of the show.

00:49:47.879 --> 00:49:58.779
And then in 78, 78, the end of 78, I don't
really remember the dates, they decided

00:49:58.859 --> 00:50:02.899
things were more calm in Portugal, and
they decided to come back to Portugal.

00:50:03.499 --> 00:50:10.969
In 79, My father met this Spanish
man in Portugal, and together they

00:50:11.439 --> 00:50:17.189
decided to do the project of the
SELGE, so our writing center, the one

00:50:17.189 --> 00:50:19.389
you know, the one you have been here.

00:50:19.829 --> 00:50:24.119
And because of the experience he
gained in Spain during the show,

00:50:24.119 --> 00:50:28.819
he, he could do something that
was really unique in Portugal.

00:50:28.829 --> 00:50:32.529
So we were the ones
starting to create a big...

00:50:33.739 --> 00:50:34.379
events.

00:50:34.609 --> 00:50:39.409
So it was like evenings where
people came and have this gala

00:50:39.949 --> 00:50:41.899
dinner with the show included.

00:50:42.379 --> 00:50:48.359
And I have to say was we were pioneers
doing this kind of project and it

00:50:48.359 --> 00:50:50.259
worked really, really, really well.

00:50:50.499 --> 00:50:55.219
So it was our golden days when we
came back to Portugal and then they

00:50:55.569 --> 00:50:57.309
developed this these facilities.

00:50:58.209 --> 00:51:00.889
And Was really amazing.

00:51:01.439 --> 00:51:10.209
So bringing back for your question, we
were never rich people in terms of money,

00:51:10.439 --> 00:51:16.079
because, you know, if you want to make a
small fortune on horses, better to start

00:51:16.079 --> 00:51:18.799
with a big one, like everybody knows this.

00:51:19.369 --> 00:51:25.759
So we were always able to survive around
horses in terms of financial, but.

00:51:26.124 --> 00:51:28.534
You know, money, it's not everything.

00:51:29.404 --> 00:51:33.604
Of course, everybody needs money and
we need money because we have a lot

00:51:33.604 --> 00:51:40.904
of forces that depend on us, but our
goal in life, it's not to be rich in

00:51:40.904 --> 00:51:46.294
terms of money, but it's to be rich
in terms of the passion that we have

00:51:46.464 --> 00:51:49.934
and that we are able to say that.

00:51:50.404 --> 00:51:53.874
We wake up every morning,
and we do what we love.

00:51:54.214 --> 00:51:58.754
I think this is the best it's the
most rich way of being in life.

00:52:00.184 --> 00:52:00.744
So there you

00:52:00.744 --> 00:52:04.164
Rupert Isaacson: are, you're a
girl, and you've, you've, you're

00:52:04.174 --> 00:52:06.524
back in you're back in Portugal.

00:52:06.534 --> 00:52:14.404
Your father and his partner are putting
together this sort of pioneering show,

00:52:14.414 --> 00:52:19.519
sort of showcasing This old masters, this
sort of Baroque way of, of presenting

00:52:19.519 --> 00:52:23.959
the horse as if it was like a royal court
to the kings, but the kings are now the

00:52:23.959 --> 00:52:26.759
people, you know, sitting there having
the dinner and paying for the show.

00:52:27.199 --> 00:52:29.589
And you at some point do start.

00:52:30.484 --> 00:52:33.334
working in and writing in these
shows, presumably you must have

00:52:33.334 --> 00:52:36.724
sort of seen this as a little girl
and go, Oh, my gosh, that's just,

00:52:36.734 --> 00:52:38.324
you know, fairytale come to life.

00:52:38.324 --> 00:52:39.484
And that's my dad.

00:52:39.734 --> 00:52:41.054
And I get to be part of it.

00:52:41.644 --> 00:52:45.514
How did you how did you yourself
and your sisters flow into?

00:52:46.049 --> 00:52:49.009
Becoming part of these shows and,
and, and what did you do in them?

00:52:50.169 --> 00:52:54.409
Sofia Valenca: You know, it just
said it, how did we flow in?

00:52:55.279 --> 00:53:02.089
It was so natural that if, if I want
to remind myself, when was the first

00:53:02.089 --> 00:53:08.309
time I was sitting on a horse, I
cannot remember because I was so young.

00:53:08.669 --> 00:53:12.809
That was before where you develop
memories that, you know, those

00:53:12.869 --> 00:53:14.889
memories that you remember when you're.

00:53:16.884 --> 00:53:25.124
So it was so natural that I think we all
start to ride even before we were walking.

00:53:25.554 --> 00:53:34.924
So it's a, it was so like, it was
just there, it's like breathing air.

00:53:36.584 --> 00:53:38.224
Do you know how you start to breathe?

00:53:38.724 --> 00:53:39.564
You have no idea.

00:53:39.564 --> 00:53:40.324
You just did it.

00:53:40.594 --> 00:53:44.044
So everything, it was so, so natural.

00:53:44.894 --> 00:53:50.834
And, and another thing that was so
natural that nowadays I start to

00:53:50.874 --> 00:53:56.654
think that was really natural was
the way we learn to do what we do.

00:53:58.894 --> 00:54:03.784
It's also natural that you don't
even think what you are doing

00:54:03.784 --> 00:54:08.084
because it comes naturally because
you have grown up doing it.

00:54:08.334 --> 00:54:13.154
For example, the, when you work
the in hand work we, we started.

00:54:13.409 --> 00:54:19.769
To, to train people like you do train
people to work the horses on the ground

00:54:19.849 --> 00:54:24.439
or to do a little bit what we do,
and we start for with the groundwork.

00:54:24.439 --> 00:54:26.499
So this is a primary thing.

00:54:26.759 --> 00:54:29.919
If you want to learn the method,
you need to learn how to work

00:54:29.919 --> 00:54:32.079
the horses from the ground and.

00:54:33.439 --> 00:54:36.519
So we teach all kinds of people,
people with more experience, less

00:54:36.519 --> 00:54:41.669
experience, people, older people,
younger people, and they all come.

00:54:41.729 --> 00:54:44.749
And once we start to put them on
the ground with the horses and

00:54:44.749 --> 00:54:47.959
you know, it's like dancing with
the horses, you just move around

00:54:47.969 --> 00:54:51.789
with the horses, cannot even walk.

00:54:52.859 --> 00:54:54.639
And you go like, but this is so easy.

00:54:54.649 --> 00:54:55.569
This is so natural.

00:54:55.569 --> 00:54:57.249
This is how can you not walk?

00:54:57.249 --> 00:55:05.759
So it's, you see, it was so
natural that it just happened.

00:55:06.249 --> 00:55:12.794
So I, suddenly If I try, I'm trying
to think when, when was my first show?

00:55:12.794 --> 00:55:13.734
I don't remember.

00:55:14.234 --> 00:55:15.194
I was really young.

00:55:15.724 --> 00:55:21.424
I do remember that we missed a lot school
because we were already doing the shows.

00:55:21.854 --> 00:55:25.344
And in those times, you know, you
were allowed to, to miss school.

00:55:25.464 --> 00:55:26.544
It's not nowadays.

00:55:26.544 --> 00:55:31.084
If you, if your sons or daughters don't go
to school, then you're in trouble because

00:55:31.094 --> 00:55:33.414
school it's mandatory until a certain age.

00:55:33.414 --> 00:55:33.714
Right.

00:55:34.244 --> 00:55:40.074
So in my time, I remember my mother
sometimes was Called into school, like

00:55:40.074 --> 00:55:44.184
saying, you know, your daughters, they,
they, they miss a lot, a lot school.

00:55:44.184 --> 00:55:48.234
And my mother was like, I know, but
you know, we do these shows and they

00:55:48.234 --> 00:55:49.864
do these shows and we travel the world.

00:55:49.864 --> 00:55:51.174
And this is also important.

00:55:51.174 --> 00:55:56.144
So it was a, was a really nice
school of life that we were

00:55:56.204 --> 00:55:58.814
able to live and learn from it.

00:55:59.204 --> 00:56:02.484
I'm not ashamed saying I was
not in college because, you

00:56:02.484 --> 00:56:04.684
know, I achieve what I achieved.

00:56:05.154 --> 00:56:09.674
Because I really had a very
rich life in terms of, of seeing

00:56:09.674 --> 00:56:11.814
the world doing what we do.

00:56:12.224 --> 00:56:16.234
And and we, we, with all the cultures
of, you know, when you perform for

00:56:16.234 --> 00:56:20.194
those shows, you were performing for
different cultures because we, we

00:56:20.194 --> 00:56:21.724
work with a lot of tourist people.

00:56:22.324 --> 00:56:24.554
And that also bring us...

00:56:24.824 --> 00:56:31.294
To another world, I think, was a very
rich way of learning what the world is.

00:56:32.064 --> 00:56:37.044
So again, I don't remember how I started.

00:56:37.544 --> 00:56:38.214
I don't know.

00:56:39.664 --> 00:56:40.334
Was there.

00:56:40.644 --> 00:56:41.644
Was always there.

00:56:42.024 --> 00:56:42.084
Every day.

00:56:42.094 --> 00:56:42.334
Here's

00:56:42.694 --> 00:56:42.954
Rupert Isaacson: a question.

00:56:43.134 --> 00:56:44.284
Here's a question about that.

00:56:44.284 --> 00:56:49.184
When, when you grow up with something
naturally it can be quite hard to

00:56:49.194 --> 00:56:50.354
teach other people how to do it.

00:56:50.364 --> 00:56:52.054
Because if you, if you haven't had to.

00:56:52.354 --> 00:56:54.114
Break it down yourself.

00:56:54.574 --> 00:56:57.744
And then, as you say, there you are
trying to show somebody how to walk

00:56:57.744 --> 00:57:00.084
with the horse for this in hand work.

00:57:00.084 --> 00:57:03.544
And for those listeners who don't know
what in hand work is, in hand work is

00:57:04.144 --> 00:57:08.844
basically where you, you teach the horse
to do the stuff that you're going to do

00:57:08.844 --> 00:57:10.824
when you ride him, before you ride him.

00:57:11.014 --> 00:57:15.814
So the horse effectively understands
before you add the rider what these

00:57:15.814 --> 00:57:18.179
things are, and therefore there
is less stress and there's a...

00:57:18.569 --> 00:57:22.559
a smoother learning curve and that
is really the basis of this of this

00:57:22.559 --> 00:57:25.649
old master master system and what
different makes it different from.

00:57:26.084 --> 00:57:27.594
just going for riding lessons and so on.

00:57:28.294 --> 00:57:30.854
It is a relatively complex thing to learn.

00:57:30.854 --> 00:57:34.664
I mean, to learn to dance with
a human is complex enough and

00:57:34.724 --> 00:57:36.234
humans both speak monkey, right?

00:57:36.234 --> 00:57:41.184
So one monkey can to the other monkeys
communicate in a way, even if they don't

00:57:41.184 --> 00:57:44.484
share an actual spoken language in a
way that they can sort of work it out.

00:57:44.484 --> 00:57:45.634
But a horse doesn't speak monkey.

00:57:45.864 --> 00:57:48.634
And in fact, the horse regards
the monkey, the upright ape with

00:57:48.644 --> 00:57:50.304
the eyes in front as a predator.

00:57:50.854 --> 00:57:53.104
And they're a bit skeptical
of us with good reason.

00:57:53.154 --> 00:57:56.254
Because It's terrible, but, you
know, if you got hungry enough,

00:57:56.694 --> 00:57:58.434
you'd eat every horse in your stable.

00:57:58.674 --> 00:58:01.604
You wouldn't, if your, if your kids
were gonna starve, you wouldn't be

00:58:01.604 --> 00:58:03.094
happy about it, but you'd do it.

00:58:03.364 --> 00:58:05.674
So the horse is right to
be a little bit skeptical.

00:58:05.954 --> 00:58:11.459
So, when you come to something like
this, as you say so naturally, And

00:58:11.459 --> 00:58:16.279
to such a high standard where from,
you know, very, very, very young,

00:58:16.289 --> 00:58:20.589
you are, as you say, traveling the
world, showing what most people only

00:58:20.589 --> 00:58:21.569
dream of being able to do with horses.

00:58:21.819 --> 00:58:27.329
Now it's your job to go around the world
and teach people how to do what you do.

00:58:27.329 --> 00:58:29.989
And I'm going to plug this
at the end for the listeners.

00:58:30.549 --> 00:58:35.369
You should, if you ever want
to do anything meaningful

00:58:35.369 --> 00:58:38.889
with horses, you should go and
work with the Valenza family.

00:58:38.899 --> 00:58:38.929
Okay.

00:58:39.239 --> 00:58:41.409
So how do you then, as a.

00:58:42.154 --> 00:58:45.384
Natural, teach someone
who is not a natural.

00:58:46.524 --> 00:58:47.874
How do you bridge that gap?

00:58:47.984 --> 00:58:48.524
How do you break

00:58:48.524 --> 00:58:48.884
Sofia Valenca: it down?

00:58:49.444 --> 00:58:56.354
You know, it's, life is made of
opportunities and we have a very

00:58:56.404 --> 00:59:02.304
dear friend, a very good friend,
that one time he said to us, you

00:59:02.314 --> 00:59:04.424
know what, you have a method here.

00:59:05.494 --> 00:59:06.654
And what is a method?

00:59:07.509 --> 00:59:11.989
Is that when you do something in the
same way, you will achieve a purpose.

00:59:12.689 --> 00:59:18.099
So if you break this method through
into little pieces, you are able

00:59:18.359 --> 00:59:20.659
to teach even a monkey to do this.

00:59:22.029 --> 00:59:31.329
And this dear friend that is actually
now talking to me, Rupert Isaacson, was

00:59:31.329 --> 00:59:40.799
the person that really bring out the
name of method to the Valesa method.

00:59:41.359 --> 00:59:44.829
So, How many years were you here?

00:59:45.279 --> 00:59:46.129
How many years ago?

00:59:46.159 --> 00:59:46.529
Ooh,

00:59:46.569 --> 00:59:51.999
Rupert Isaacson: that, I think we first
came out to you in fifteen, was it?

00:59:52.049 --> 00:59:55.379
I seem to, because Ileana was
pregnant, with little man.

00:59:56.829 --> 00:59:57.509
No, no,

00:59:58.069 --> 00:59:58.819
Sofia Valenca: no, no, no.

00:59:58.819 --> 01:00:02.049
No, much before that, much before that.

01:00:02.059 --> 01:00:02.089
Gosh.

01:00:02.119 --> 01:00:03.259
Yeah, much before that.

01:00:03.259 --> 01:00:03.459
Twelve?

01:00:03.459 --> 01:00:03.719
Was it twelve?

01:00:04.499 --> 01:00:05.069
It was a while ago.

01:00:05.339 --> 01:00:07.309
Well, it was in another life, right?

01:00:07.349 --> 01:00:07.469
Back

01:00:07.469 --> 01:00:08.699
Rupert Isaacson: in the Pleistocene, yes.

01:00:09.029 --> 01:00:12.429
When mammoth bellowed to mammoth
across the primeval swamp,

01:00:12.479 --> 01:00:12.729
Sofia Valenca: yeah.

01:00:12.959 --> 01:00:18.779
Anyway, so we were doing this because
we all were always doing this.

01:00:18.869 --> 01:00:22.979
And when we want to teach someone
to do something that you are...

01:00:23.699 --> 01:00:30.139
Doing so naturally, not always
is easy, but if you start to

01:00:30.139 --> 01:00:34.709
break it down into little pieces,
it's more easy to pass the word.

01:00:35.329 --> 01:00:39.849
So this is what we start to develop.

01:00:40.089 --> 01:00:47.169
We start to break into small fractions,
what we want people to understand so

01:00:47.169 --> 01:00:50.169
that they can be able to pass the same.

01:00:50.839 --> 01:00:52.149
language to the horses.

01:00:52.779 --> 01:00:58.859
So if that's why everybody that comes
here and even if they have experience

01:00:58.859 --> 01:01:03.899
on the groundwork, if they have not
go through the Valencia method, if

01:01:03.899 --> 01:01:08.839
I want to speak the same language as
this person that wants to learn the

01:01:08.839 --> 01:01:14.779
method, we need to go from the basics
and we start to introduce you from the

01:01:14.779 --> 01:01:17.249
beginning because it's in the beginning.

01:01:17.249 --> 01:01:21.569
It's this basic word work that
will give you the pillars.

01:01:21.909 --> 01:01:28.009
For the future work, if you really speak
the same language I'm speaking to the

01:01:28.009 --> 01:01:33.869
horse later on, we have a lesson and
I can bring you to that world because

01:01:33.869 --> 01:01:38.419
we speak that same language and we are
not, you know, this one is not speaking

01:01:38.419 --> 01:01:42.419
Chinese and I'm speaking Portuguese and
we go like, Oh, can't you understand why?

01:01:42.829 --> 01:01:45.639
And then he speaks in Chinese and
I don't understand why you don't

01:01:45.639 --> 01:01:47.089
understand if I'm speaking to you.

01:01:47.149 --> 01:01:50.689
So it's exactly the same
that happens with the horses.

01:01:51.029 --> 01:01:51.359
So.

01:01:51.859 --> 01:01:55.679
If the horse will not speak the
language I want him to understand,

01:01:56.589 --> 01:01:58.599
it's more difficult to go somewhere.

01:01:59.649 --> 01:02:09.929
So, this is what the biggest change we did
over the years was to become, we need to

01:02:09.929 --> 01:02:12.189
put ourselves in the place of the student.

01:02:13.209 --> 01:02:15.234
And, okay, this is natural for me.

01:02:16.034 --> 01:02:21.024
But it's not for them and if he's not able
to walk, it's not because they are stupid.

01:02:21.144 --> 01:02:25.694
They are not able to walk because
they are frozen and they are

01:02:25.694 --> 01:02:27.144
not understanding what we want.

01:02:27.144 --> 01:02:33.464
So we need to stop and, you know, go into
little pieces and then everything, Sorry,

01:02:34.234 --> 01:02:36.054
everything starts to make sense for them.

01:02:36.471 --> 01:02:37.271
Rupert Isaacson: I have a question.

01:02:37.321 --> 01:02:38.201
I have a question for you.

01:02:38.341 --> 01:02:41.701
So, you said that what people
need to learn how to do is

01:02:41.701 --> 01:02:43.631
how to walk with a horse.

01:02:43.681 --> 01:02:46.531
This is intriguing, in a
way that is like a dance.

01:02:47.451 --> 01:02:51.551
What is the, what is this walk?

01:02:51.552 --> 01:02:55.031
This isn't just a walk from
A to B to the supermarket.

01:02:55.366 --> 01:02:57.496
to buy a bottle of milk.

01:02:57.516 --> 01:02:58.966
It's a different kind of walk.

01:02:59.266 --> 01:03:01.916
What are the steps of this
dance that somebody needs

01:03:02.316 --> 01:03:02.356
Sofia Valenca: to know?

01:03:03.196 --> 01:03:06.846
It's exactly if you are
learning how to dance.

01:03:08.346 --> 01:03:12.576
So when you learn how to dance,
first you need to know the steps.

01:03:13.006 --> 01:03:15.796
It's because they're so
different kind of dances, right?

01:03:16.116 --> 01:03:23.596
So we will explain where you need to
move and then you need to understand that

01:03:23.636 --> 01:03:26.036
when you move you will have a partner.

01:03:26.736 --> 01:03:31.201
And that partner, so when you start to
dance If you're a man and you start to

01:03:31.391 --> 01:03:37.561
dance and you know that when you use your
steps of dancing it's to move forward, you

01:03:37.561 --> 01:03:39.751
know your partner needs to move backwards.

01:03:40.716 --> 01:03:41.866
Simple, right?

01:03:42.276 --> 01:03:47.836
So now let's imagine we do our partner
will be the horse and we always have

01:03:47.836 --> 01:03:52.576
to bear in mind that our partner is
the one that needs to move forward.

01:03:52.856 --> 01:03:57.396
Therefore, we always need to
think of moving backwards.

01:03:57.796 --> 01:04:01.546
And this is the first step of learning.

01:04:01.636 --> 01:04:05.716
It's to move backwards and
inviting the horse to follow you.

01:04:06.226 --> 01:04:07.756
And then, of course, there's more things.

01:04:07.776 --> 01:04:09.436
The horse needs to be familiar.

01:04:09.711 --> 01:04:12.541
With the touches of the whip,
because the whip will invite

01:04:12.541 --> 01:04:14.351
also the horse to move to you.

01:04:14.911 --> 01:04:19.701
But then also, remember on the
first lessons, you were helping your

01:04:19.701 --> 01:04:22.491
horse to trust you, to follow you.

01:04:22.881 --> 01:04:27.081
So you need, that wall
was already broken, right?

01:04:27.131 --> 01:04:28.511
The horse is following you.

01:04:28.531 --> 01:04:30.741
So he's no longer afraid to follow you.

01:04:31.211 --> 01:04:33.451
So all those little steps have to happen.

01:04:34.641 --> 01:04:38.841
One after the other after the
other and if you block in one

01:04:38.841 --> 01:04:40.591
step, you cannot move forward.

01:04:40.621 --> 01:04:47.441
We need to find a way to pass that
step so that we can move forward.

01:04:47.801 --> 01:04:52.601
So when we do the groundwork,
it's really like a dance.

01:04:53.121 --> 01:04:57.261
And in the beginning, you feel like
you are Looking into your steps,

01:04:57.541 --> 01:05:01.861
seeing where you are putting your feet,
and then suddenly it just comes out

01:05:02.141 --> 01:05:04.851
naturally and it's like just music.

01:05:04.981 --> 01:05:09.231
You will, you will start to dance with
a, with a horse and, and it's beautiful.

01:05:09.481 --> 01:05:10.411
It's really beautiful.

01:05:10.601 --> 01:05:13.351
Rupert Isaacson: That's quite intriguing,
the idea that you have to basically

01:05:13.351 --> 01:05:18.171
take the male part of the dance in a
partner dance where you're the leader,

01:05:18.511 --> 01:05:22.621
but instead of moving your partner
backwards in the traditional way.

01:05:23.076 --> 01:05:25.806
you have to induce your
partner to follow you.

01:05:26.966 --> 01:05:31.136
That is, so I would imagine that even
people that understand partner dancing

01:05:31.136 --> 01:05:35.426
quite well, if you're the person in the
partner dance who's walking backwards,

01:05:35.766 --> 01:05:42.096
you're being directed, you're being
led, yet you're moving backwards now

01:05:42.106 --> 01:05:45.066
in a way that is the leader, which
that's an intriguing psychology.

01:05:45.336 --> 01:05:48.586
Sofia Valenca: It, it depends
on the dance you're dancing.

01:05:49.306 --> 01:05:51.586
I don't remember which one it is now.

01:05:52.136 --> 01:05:58.736
If it's a Brazilian dance or like a tango,
there is one that the woman moves forward.

01:06:00.446 --> 01:06:02.906
So you know, it's just a mindset.

01:06:03.316 --> 01:06:06.706
You can still be the leader
and you say, you follow me.

01:06:06.876 --> 01:06:12.296
I need you to, you will still be leading
just you are leading on a movement

01:06:12.306 --> 01:06:16.506
more backwards because remember,
you always need to remind yourself

01:06:16.606 --> 01:06:18.146
that your partner has four legs.

01:06:18.571 --> 01:06:20.341
He needs to control four legs.

01:06:20.341 --> 01:06:22.021
You only need two legs to control.

01:06:22.331 --> 01:06:25.251
So it will be easier for you
to move backwards, right?

01:06:25.811 --> 01:06:30.341
But you know, it's, it's, it's
just difficult until it becomes

01:06:30.371 --> 01:06:32.431
easier and then it's easy.

01:06:33.031 --> 01:06:33.801
Rupert Isaacson: So, okay.

01:06:33.881 --> 01:06:34.931
Let's take a listener.

01:06:35.071 --> 01:06:35.921
We'll take listener.

01:06:36.491 --> 01:06:37.111
That one over there.

01:06:37.112 --> 01:06:40.001
I'm going to pick him up and I'm
putting him in your living room.

01:06:40.501 --> 01:06:44.461
What are the first steps that you're
going to teach this person how to do?

01:06:44.471 --> 01:06:45.301
It's got to start.

01:06:45.716 --> 01:06:48.136
Every, every dance, you go for a
salsa lesson, they tell you how to

01:06:48.136 --> 01:06:49.976
put this foot forward, this foot back.

01:06:50.106 --> 01:06:50.876
There is a step.

01:06:51.166 --> 01:06:53.556
What is the first step of Valencia method?

01:06:54.206 --> 01:06:58.486
The actual physical step with the foot
that someone is doing, that you show them.

01:06:58.556 --> 01:06:58.826
It's,

01:06:59.096 --> 01:07:00.056
Sofia Valenca: it's moving backward.

01:07:00.856 --> 01:07:01.136
How?

01:07:02.851 --> 01:07:03.851
just go backwards.

01:07:04.061 --> 01:07:04.501
Okay.

01:07:04.561 --> 01:07:05.661
And, and

01:07:05.931 --> 01:07:07.521
Rupert Isaacson: what speed
am I running backwards?

01:07:07.561 --> 01:07:10.151
Am I, am I going backwards on my bottom?

01:07:10.201 --> 01:07:11.751
Am I going backwards on
a pair of roller skates?

01:07:12.071 --> 01:07:12.611
You just,

01:07:13.451 --> 01:07:16.451
Sofia Valenca: you just, you
just, you just close your eyes

01:07:16.451 --> 01:07:18.301
and just give one step back.

01:07:18.551 --> 01:07:21.681
Imagine someone is pushing
you and you just go back.

01:07:22.421 --> 01:07:27.401
And then when this is backwards, then
you start to want to draw a circle.

01:07:28.271 --> 01:07:31.901
And go a little bit backwards
and stepping on a circle line.

01:07:31.911 --> 01:07:38.201
This is quite hard for me to
explain without visualizing it.

01:07:38.551 --> 01:07:38.731
But...

01:07:39.451 --> 01:07:44.031
You need to, to be able
just to be coming backwards.

01:07:44.031 --> 01:07:47.181
And when you do this without the
horse, you just close your eyes

01:07:47.531 --> 01:07:51.131
and you imagine the horse with you
and you just, you want to invite

01:07:51.136 --> 01:07:53.811
him to come backwards and what is

01:07:53.811 --> 01:07:55.311
Rupert Isaacson: the tempo
and what is the rhythm?

01:07:55.741 --> 01:07:57.491
What, what, what you counting in your

01:07:57.491 --> 01:08:01.861
Sofia Valenca: head, the tempo, the
tempo and the rhythm will, will be

01:08:02.341 --> 01:08:03.901
because all horses are different.

01:08:04.451 --> 01:08:07.451
And imagine if you have a little
horse or you have a big horse, you

01:08:07.451 --> 01:08:09.041
have a laser horse, you have a very.

01:08:09.946 --> 01:08:16.756
Sensitive horse, it, the horse will
give you the tempo, but just, you

01:08:16.756 --> 01:08:21.506
know, just to start, you just, you
just move backwards on the same

01:08:21.506 --> 01:08:24.256
speed as if you were going forward.

01:08:24.966 --> 01:08:31.476
And imagine yourself on a shopping
mall, watching the shops, you're

01:08:31.476 --> 01:08:33.996
not running, you're just observing.

01:08:34.276 --> 01:08:35.386
I like this.

01:08:36.271 --> 01:08:37.001
Pair of shoes.

01:08:37.111 --> 01:08:41.541
Oh, but I like that watch and I
like this t shirt and you go from

01:08:41.641 --> 01:08:47.711
one shop to the other and On a pace
that will allowed you to see the

01:08:47.711 --> 01:08:50.761
clothes that shop has in the outside

01:08:51.041 --> 01:08:52.941
Rupert Isaacson: So you're not rushing
you're going at a negative pace

01:08:54.641 --> 01:09:00.151
Sofia Valenca: You just go on a
pace that you you need you can

01:09:00.151 --> 01:09:04.611
go on a pace of a collect walk.

01:09:06.821 --> 01:09:08.141
Imagine collect walk.

01:09:08.901 --> 01:09:11.221
Rupert Isaacson: So a collected
walk would be, and what is a walk?

01:09:11.241 --> 01:09:12.471
Is it a four beat?

01:09:12.491 --> 01:09:13.571
Is it a two beat?

01:09:13.611 --> 01:09:14.501
Is it, what is it?

01:09:15.411 --> 01:09:15.911
A walk

01:09:15.911 --> 01:09:16.761
Sofia Valenca: is a four beat.

01:09:17.081 --> 01:09:20.621
So a walk, the walk,
the horse has four legs.

01:09:21.266 --> 01:09:25.246
The horse has four legs, you'll
need the horse has to, the

01:09:25.246 --> 01:09:26.666
walk is always four beats.

01:09:26.666 --> 01:09:30.286
It's one leg after the other, after the
other, after the other, one after the

01:09:30.286 --> 01:09:31.246
other, after the other, after the other.

01:09:31.636 --> 01:09:37.726
This is one, two, three, four, one,
two, three, four, one, two, three, four.

01:09:38.306 --> 01:09:43.856
A walk always needs to
have the four beats.

01:09:45.221 --> 01:09:48.301
Otherwise, if you have two
beats on a walk, you'll have

01:09:48.381 --> 01:09:50.621
how you call on blood on blood.

01:09:50.751 --> 01:09:51.801
That's not a good walk.

01:09:52.001 --> 01:09:56.391
I don't know the name in English when
they go like, like the natural steps.

01:09:56.791 --> 01:09:57.151
Indeed.

01:09:57.811 --> 01:09:58.261
I'm black.

01:09:58.301 --> 01:09:58.801
I don't know

01:09:58.801 --> 01:09:59.251
Rupert Isaacson: the name.

01:09:59.681 --> 01:09:59.921
Like it's

01:10:00.111 --> 01:10:00.421
Sofia Valenca: a good.

01:10:00.781 --> 01:10:01.331
It's a bad.

01:10:01.541 --> 01:10:02.761
It's a bad walk.

01:10:02.911 --> 01:10:04.021
We don't want the bad

01:10:04.031 --> 01:10:06.621
Rupert Isaacson: walk You want
to actually you want an even for

01:10:06.621 --> 01:10:09.461
beer of one, two, three, three

01:10:09.671 --> 01:10:10.301
Sofia Valenca: four

01:10:12.221 --> 01:10:12.621
Rupert Isaacson: Four

01:10:12.811 --> 01:10:14.641
Sofia Valenca: moving a little bit
if it's one two, three four one

01:10:14.641 --> 01:10:15.891
two, three four, it's not good.

01:10:15.991 --> 01:10:22.131
Yes Yeah, so really need that the pace
you want to go backwards will be the same

01:10:22.131 --> 01:10:29.816
pace You want to move forward and then you
know, you just not go backwards Sometimes

01:10:29.816 --> 01:10:35.706
you need also to move forward, but when
you move forward, you turn yourself and

01:10:35.706 --> 01:10:37.566
you still move forward with the horse.

01:10:38.596 --> 01:10:41.176
And, and this is where it's more complex.

01:10:41.186 --> 01:10:48.466
It's that you need to move backwards
or forward, always thinking that

01:10:48.476 --> 01:10:50.946
the horse always needs to move.

01:10:51.506 --> 01:10:52.606
in that direction.

01:10:53.086 --> 01:10:56.876
So for example, if I say, okay,
now you move backwards and the

01:10:56.876 --> 01:11:01.456
horse will follow you, but now I
need you to turn and move forward.

01:11:01.836 --> 01:11:05.896
The direction that the horse is
moving will always be forward.

01:11:06.266 --> 01:11:11.296
Just you have to be the ability
of sometimes you turn facing

01:11:11.296 --> 01:11:13.066
the horse and you go backwards.

01:11:13.266 --> 01:11:17.736
Sometimes you turn yourself and you
give the back to the horse and you move.

01:11:17.931 --> 01:11:19.131
Backwards forward.

01:11:19.131 --> 01:11:19.551
Sorry.

01:11:20.371 --> 01:11:26.141
Bear in mind, the horse will always be
moving forward unless later on you want

01:11:26.151 --> 01:11:30.151
to work on more collections and you
start to teach the horse to rain back.

01:11:30.421 --> 01:11:31.361
That's the different thing.

01:11:31.881 --> 01:11:34.551
That's the only moment the
horse will move backwards.

01:11:35.756 --> 01:11:36.956
later on, right?

01:11:36.956 --> 01:11:42.076
So when we start to introduce the steps
of the groundwork, this is what you need

01:11:42.076 --> 01:11:49.386
to be able to move backward, forward,
or sideways without interfering on the

01:11:49.386 --> 01:11:52.106
pace that the horse needs to perform.

01:11:53.956 --> 01:11:58.736
Rupert Isaacson: To guide and
allow rather than pull or hustle.

01:12:00.156 --> 01:12:00.906
Never pull

01:12:01.016 --> 01:12:01.386
Sofia Valenca: and have a

01:12:01.386 --> 01:12:05.686
Rupert Isaacson: hustle and this I imagine
can be quite difficult for people if

01:12:05.686 --> 01:12:10.616
they're feeling The natural stress that
comes, you know, it's something new with

01:12:10.616 --> 01:12:16.326
a very powerful animal standing at the
end of your hand It is how do you stop

01:12:16.336 --> 01:12:18.996
rushing the most calm down not stress

01:12:19.136 --> 01:12:24.796
Sofia Valenca: because we use trained
horses So this is where the difficult

01:12:24.806 --> 01:12:31.996
the difference comes is that if you come
to us, you will be learning how to dance

01:12:32.246 --> 01:12:34.566
with a partner that knows how to dance.

01:12:35.086 --> 01:12:38.526
So you are not teaching, you are
not learning at the same time

01:12:38.526 --> 01:12:40.156
you are teaching your horse.

01:12:40.306 --> 01:12:40.446
So

01:12:40.446 --> 01:12:43.056
Rupert Isaacson: you're learning from
a dancing master that has four legs.

01:12:43.166 --> 01:12:45.376
Sofia Valenca: Yeah, exactly, exactly.

01:12:46.096 --> 01:12:51.476
It is really difficult to
teach at the same time you are

01:12:51.526 --> 01:12:52.896
teaching your horse to do so.

01:12:53.296 --> 01:13:00.176
So what we want when people come to us is
that we recreate feelings, experiences,

01:13:00.826 --> 01:13:06.406
that people gain memory muscle, so that
when they go back home, at least they

01:13:06.406 --> 01:13:12.326
can be fair enough for their own horses,
and ask them what they want them to ask.

01:13:12.846 --> 01:13:17.961
Because sometimes, You know, sometimes
you just want to do a shouldering, but

01:13:17.961 --> 01:13:19.831
you have never rode a shouldering before.

01:13:20.121 --> 01:13:25.151
How do you know what your body needs
to feel when you perform a shouldering?

01:13:25.586 --> 01:13:26.046
Correct.

01:13:27.086 --> 01:13:28.996
Rupert Isaacson: Just for the
listeners who do not know what a

01:13:28.996 --> 01:13:31.386
shoulder in is, let's just clarify.

01:13:31.986 --> 01:13:38.286
A shoulder in is when a horse is
being asked to put its inside hind

01:13:38.286 --> 01:13:42.246
leg under its point of gravity,
which is one of the first...

01:13:42.726 --> 01:13:47.386
Exercises that will help the
horse to contain his energy in a

01:13:47.386 --> 01:13:50.926
way that we would call collected
and learn therefore how to dance.

01:13:51.266 --> 01:13:54.856
Later there'll have to be another one
for the, for the outside hind leg to come

01:13:54.856 --> 01:13:59.266
under, but it's one of the foundation
exercises that you see in the horse

01:13:59.286 --> 01:14:02.216
training world and it's not easy.

01:14:02.586 --> 01:14:03.606
So back to you.

01:14:03.626 --> 01:14:03.956
Okay.

01:14:04.096 --> 01:14:08.391
So someone is trying to learn a
shoulder in, but they've Never felt it.

01:14:08.511 --> 01:14:09.231
Never seen it.

01:14:09.321 --> 01:14:09.981
Never done it.

01:14:10.191 --> 01:14:10.401
Yeah.

01:14:10.581 --> 01:14:11.511
How, how can they learn it?

01:14:11.621 --> 01:14:11.911
Yeah.

01:14:12.381 --> 01:14:17.451
Sofia Valenca: How, how can you
tell your horse to perform something

01:14:17.871 --> 01:14:19.161
that you have never felt before?

01:14:19.671 --> 01:14:25.271
And this is just a small example, so it's
not impossible, it's just it'll bring

01:14:25.271 --> 01:14:32.011
your journey a lot more difficult because
sometimes, and sometimes it'll bring you

01:14:32.011 --> 01:14:40.951
to a way of, Okay, my horse is doing the
shoulder in, and then we arrive there

01:14:40.991 --> 01:14:45.911
to give a lesson, and we go like, this
is not a shoulder in, this is a head in.

01:14:46.151 --> 01:14:46.851
So what happens?

01:14:46.861 --> 01:14:49.761
The horse is turning his head,
he's not bringing the shoulders in.

01:14:51.001 --> 01:14:54.771
You know what I'm saying, because
you, you understand dressage.

01:14:55.091 --> 01:14:57.631
So for those who don't
understand dressage, maybe you

01:14:57.631 --> 01:14:58.971
should bring another example.

01:14:58.971 --> 01:15:00.391
But just so that.

01:15:01.846 --> 01:15:06.446
We need to be fair teaching our horses.

01:15:06.766 --> 01:15:13.706
We need at least to have felt them
at least once in our lifetime.

01:15:13.966 --> 01:15:14.716
So that at.

01:15:15.516 --> 01:15:19.776
You will become much more fair when
asking to the horse the feeling

01:15:20.176 --> 01:15:22.386
you are searching for him to give

01:15:22.386 --> 01:15:22.566
Rupert Isaacson: you.

01:15:23.036 --> 01:15:23.686
Absolutely.

01:15:23.736 --> 01:15:26.116
Now I went through this
learning curve myself.

01:15:26.266 --> 01:15:28.936
When I first, obviously I grew
up with horses, but I didn't

01:15:28.936 --> 01:15:30.336
grow up with horses in that way.

01:15:30.756 --> 01:15:33.306
And then when I realized
that I needed to learn.

01:15:33.916 --> 01:15:39.816
Something about dressage, as you know,
Sophia, it happened in a very strange

01:15:39.816 --> 01:15:43.956
way because it was tied up with my
son's autism and my son had started

01:15:43.966 --> 01:15:48.016
speaking in the saddle in front of me
when he wouldn't speak anywhere else.

01:15:48.026 --> 01:15:53.186
And I noticed that when the rhythm
of the horse was dance, like what

01:15:53.186 --> 01:15:55.726
people call collected, he spoke more.

01:15:56.156 --> 01:15:59.056
And then I noticed that this
happened with other kids as well.

01:15:59.376 --> 01:16:01.866
And then I thought, okay,
why is this happening?

01:16:01.866 --> 01:16:02.856
So I went to.

01:16:03.236 --> 01:16:07.766
Neuroscientists and they said, Oh, it's
because when the hips rock in this way,

01:16:07.786 --> 01:16:11.986
in this soft way, the child is getting
filled with a communication hormone and

01:16:11.986 --> 01:16:13.136
a feel good hormone called oxytocin.

01:16:13.776 --> 01:16:15.426
I go, Oh, Oh, well, okay.

01:16:15.426 --> 01:16:16.846
Well then I need to learn more about this.

01:16:17.246 --> 01:16:18.946
So then I began this research journey.

01:16:18.956 --> 01:16:21.556
And as you say, I started learning.

01:16:21.626 --> 01:16:26.156
And even with my background in
horses, I found that people's

01:16:26.156 --> 01:16:28.576
explanations were incredibly unclear.

01:16:29.116 --> 01:16:32.886
And what happened was they
would sit you on your horse.

01:16:33.536 --> 01:16:35.086
who also didn't know it.

01:16:35.586 --> 01:16:39.866
And then they would try to tell you
and the horse at the same time, how to

01:16:39.866 --> 01:16:41.886
do something that neither of you knew.

01:16:42.276 --> 01:16:45.356
And I could see immediately just on
a practical level, well, that that's

01:16:45.356 --> 01:16:46.586
just not going to work very well.

01:16:46.986 --> 01:16:47.776
What do I do?

01:16:47.796 --> 01:16:49.756
And so I started asking people.

01:16:50.526 --> 01:16:53.106
Okay, if you're in my position and
you need to learn this thing that

01:16:53.106 --> 01:16:56.746
everyone says is impossible to
learn in under 500 years in a bit

01:16:56.746 --> 01:16:58.696
of a hurry, where would you go?

01:16:58.706 --> 01:16:59.426
What would you do?

01:16:59.446 --> 01:17:03.616
And then everybody said that was a
professional in the field that I asked,

01:17:03.636 --> 01:17:05.116
they said, Oh, you should go to Portugal.

01:17:05.881 --> 01:17:06.731
I said, but why?

01:17:06.891 --> 01:17:10.531
And as you pointed out, they said, ah,
because of the Portuguese bullfight,

01:17:10.541 --> 01:17:16.381
they still train the riders there from
the get go on educated horses, and then

01:17:16.601 --> 01:17:20.521
gradually bring the rider up to that
level where they can educate a horse.

01:17:20.521 --> 01:17:22.021
And they do a lot of the
work from the ground.

01:17:22.021 --> 01:17:22.981
I thought, Oh, that makes sense.

01:17:23.021 --> 01:17:25.741
And then of course, I went down
to Portugal, found it was true.

01:17:25.921 --> 01:17:30.231
And then this name kept coming
up Valenza, Valenza, and.

01:17:30.766 --> 01:17:33.636
People saying, well, if you really want to
learn, like if you really, really, really

01:17:33.636 --> 01:17:37.136
like really want to learn, not just like
a bit learn, but like actually learn,

01:17:37.336 --> 01:17:40.736
you got to go to this family because
they're doing it in the purest form.

01:17:40.736 --> 01:17:42.876
And I said to them,
well, why is that then?

01:17:43.806 --> 01:17:44.586
Why are they so good?

01:17:45.406 --> 01:17:51.226
And it was pointed out to me
that your dad and you guys had

01:17:51.226 --> 01:17:52.836
to not just train these horses.

01:17:53.421 --> 01:17:59.541
To work in a normal context like a
riding school or or a competition had

01:17:59.541 --> 01:18:05.501
to go out For three to six months of
the year two thousand kilometers away

01:18:05.541 --> 01:18:11.371
up in Germany and do this show that
went around Seven months seven months.

01:18:11.541 --> 01:18:15.741
Okay do this show in front of
the most critical audience in the

01:18:15.741 --> 01:18:19.646
world the Germans where you're not
allowed, you're not allowed to suck.

01:18:19.676 --> 01:18:22.206
You can't, you can't have a
bad day, you know, they'll,

01:18:22.226 --> 01:18:23.246
they'll, they'll eat you alive.

01:18:23.616 --> 01:18:26.586
And they're, they're an educated
audience when it comes to horse stuff.

01:18:26.586 --> 01:18:30.426
It's an, you know, it's a horse
culture and you cannot suck.

01:18:30.436 --> 01:18:35.196
You, you've got to, you've got, your
dad has to sleep at night, knowing

01:18:35.206 --> 01:18:38.756
that that show is going to work and
he's not going to lose the contract.

01:18:39.086 --> 01:18:41.166
Because if he loses the contract,
he can't feed his family.

01:18:41.756 --> 01:18:46.726
And he's got to, if a rider falls
sick, he's got to replace that rider.

01:18:46.726 --> 01:18:48.726
If a horse has a problem, he's got
to be able to replace that horse.

01:18:49.526 --> 01:18:53.306
And I thought that's the person,
those are the people I need to learn

01:18:53.306 --> 01:18:57.256
from because what they're doing is
they're creating a universal horse.

01:18:57.506 --> 01:19:00.426
They're not just creating a
horse that an expert can ride.

01:19:00.846 --> 01:19:02.166
They're creating a horse that.

01:19:02.496 --> 01:19:03.986
Can go out and do something like this.

01:19:04.266 --> 01:19:07.866
That means there must be
some secret to the training.

01:19:07.866 --> 01:19:09.866
Of course, I went and found it was true.

01:19:09.876 --> 01:19:10.986
You guys are geniuses.

01:19:11.566 --> 01:19:16.746
Where I want to bring people
into your world a little bit.

01:19:17.576 --> 01:19:21.026
Whether they're horse people or not,
let's say they've dropped now into

01:19:21.026 --> 01:19:24.706
your riding arena and you've taught
them these first steps of the dance

01:19:24.706 --> 01:19:30.016
in this Vivaldi type adagio, you know,
moving backwards, one, two, three,

01:19:30.036 --> 01:19:35.046
four, inviting us moving forwards, one,
two, three, four, inviting the horse

01:19:35.046 --> 01:19:39.646
moving to the side, one, two, three,
four, inviting and directing the horse.

01:19:40.326 --> 01:19:45.186
Once they've learned to do some of
this at the walk, what comes next?

01:19:46.926 --> 01:19:48.156
What's the next thing you teach them

01:19:48.156 --> 01:19:48.596
Sofia Valenca: on the ground?

01:19:50.066 --> 01:19:53.626
On the ground then we move
on more to the reading work.

01:19:54.046 --> 01:19:57.486
We develop more the chat and
the canter on the reading work.

01:19:57.776 --> 01:20:00.276
Later on, we will come back to the ground.

01:20:00.946 --> 01:20:04.196
to work and start to introduce
more collected work like

01:20:04.196 --> 01:20:06.446
the payoff Spanish walk.

01:20:07.116 --> 01:20:11.626
Some people, and I, you'd have to
do it, you do develop the horses

01:20:11.626 --> 01:20:16.136
and trot and canter on the ground
because you have a purpose for it.

01:20:16.546 --> 01:20:20.866
You need the horses to work from the
ground because you need to prepare them

01:20:21.276 --> 01:20:26.236
and then to to more collected work, but
still with assistance from the ground when

01:20:26.236 --> 01:20:28.396
you work with the kids on the program.

01:20:28.396 --> 01:20:31.036
So that's, that's a
very good tool for you.

01:20:31.656 --> 01:20:38.246
When we don't like too much to teach
trot and canta from the ground,

01:20:39.066 --> 01:20:45.856
just because you will start to, to
give, it will be a more difficult

01:20:45.866 --> 01:20:47.456
journey to do it by yourself.

01:20:49.006 --> 01:20:54.346
When you go to trot on the
ground, you start to go away

01:20:54.346 --> 01:20:55.616
from the rhythm of the horse.

01:20:55.876 --> 01:21:01.656
Some horses have big trots, some have
less big trots, but the horse to work

01:21:01.656 --> 01:21:06.976
in a good tempo in trot to develop
well his rhythm, that one, two,

01:21:06.976 --> 01:21:09.756
one, two, it's a bigger pace, right?

01:21:09.916 --> 01:21:12.996
More difficult to follow
him from the ground.

01:21:13.416 --> 01:21:18.306
So when we start, so in very, very
easy, I tell you in a very easy

01:21:18.306 --> 01:21:20.296
way how we develop a young horse.

01:21:20.986 --> 01:21:27.837
So the first month It will be 70
80 percent groundwork and then the

01:21:27.837 --> 01:21:32.997
30 or 20 percent that we do the
written work is just so that he gets

01:21:33.007 --> 01:21:35.427
used to have a rider on top of him.

01:21:35.787 --> 01:21:40.387
We are not develop the horse
with the rider is not developing

01:21:40.397 --> 01:21:41.887
the horse with the written work.

01:21:42.357 --> 01:21:44.117
So we do launch work.

01:21:44.472 --> 01:21:48.232
Groundwork the groundwork is a little
bit that kind of a dance that will

01:21:48.242 --> 01:21:54.182
work his flexibility and then the rider
sit on him, but the horse is still

01:21:54.622 --> 01:21:56.502
controlled by the person on the ground.

01:21:57.362 --> 01:22:03.192
The horse can, is ready to move on, so he
says, like, I'm okay with you being on top

01:22:03.192 --> 01:22:10.062
of me, I don't care that you are there, I
accept you, I'm not tense, I, it's cool,

01:22:10.432 --> 01:22:17.202
I can do what a srot hunter, and I don't
feel that, what are you doing there, what

01:22:17.332 --> 01:22:18.982
are you doing there, so he accepts me.

01:22:19.957 --> 01:22:24.507
The horse can start to be
loosened from the launch work.

01:22:24.557 --> 01:22:27.857
That means that the person that is
launching the horse on the ground

01:22:28.297 --> 01:22:31.407
starts to become the ghost help.

01:22:32.107 --> 01:22:33.057
What does that mean?

01:22:33.227 --> 01:22:36.247
He's still there, but he's not there.

01:22:36.527 --> 01:22:43.887
So he's still giving his presence from
the ground, but the horse is being more

01:22:43.927 --> 01:22:46.587
controlled now by the rider on top of him.

01:22:47.107 --> 01:22:47.297
Now

01:22:47.297 --> 01:22:50.077
Rupert Isaacson: explain
to us what lunging is.

01:22:50.117 --> 01:22:51.787
Not everybody knows what lunging is.

01:22:51.787 --> 01:22:53.097
What is lunging and why is it?

01:22:53.637 --> 01:22:57.177
Sofia Valenca: Lunging is the horse
is learning what a circle means.

01:22:57.177 --> 01:22:59.867
Well a circle, I think everybody
knows what a circle means.

01:23:00.287 --> 01:23:02.027
A circle is not a square.

01:23:02.797 --> 01:23:03.477
The circle

01:23:03.597 --> 01:23:03.956
Rupert Isaacson: is not a potato.

01:23:03.957 --> 01:23:06.317
Why does a horse need to
learn what a circle is?

01:23:07.647 --> 01:23:08.327
Why not a square?

01:23:08.717 --> 01:23:09.567
Why not a triangle?

01:23:10.262 --> 01:23:14.182
Sofia Valenca: Because a circle,
it's once the horse goes into the

01:23:14.452 --> 01:23:19.812
dynamic of the circle, it will
start to develop his balance.

01:23:20.152 --> 01:23:24.682
It will start to go into a
dynamic of going by its own.

01:23:24.972 --> 01:23:27.432
It will start to have
this kinetic movement.

01:23:27.952 --> 01:23:32.082
He no longer needs someone to be
pushing him because he went into

01:23:32.122 --> 01:23:34.562
this, this rhythm, this balance.

01:23:34.812 --> 01:23:37.562
And you really be starts to
be aware of his own body.

01:23:39.007 --> 01:23:43.187
So, and when we launch the
horse, we create circles.

01:23:43.577 --> 01:23:46.697
Sometimes we add some straight lines,
but then we come back to the circle.

01:23:47.647 --> 01:23:50.387
So that's what lunging means.

01:23:50.517 --> 01:23:54.607
Lunging means that the person there's
a person in a center of the circle.

01:23:54.867 --> 01:24:00.557
There's a lunge that will connect the
person to the head of the horse and

01:24:00.557 --> 01:24:05.347
the horse that imagine a compass, you
know, that things to draw a compass.

01:24:06.032 --> 01:24:08.912
There's, there's one leg of
the compass, which is the rider

01:24:08.912 --> 01:24:10.272
on the center of the circle.

01:24:10.582 --> 01:24:13.572
And the other leg of the, of
the compass, it's the horse.

01:24:14.002 --> 01:24:17.992
And by going on a circle, we'll,
we'll perform that perfect line

01:24:17.992 --> 01:24:20.152
that a compass can draw on a paper.

01:24:20.832 --> 01:24:25.282
It's exactly what we want when we launch
a horse to create a perfect circle.

01:24:26.102 --> 01:24:30.752
So, later on, the horse starts to be.

01:24:31.837 --> 01:24:34.617
more controlled by the
rider on top of him.

01:24:35.277 --> 01:24:36.407
How that happens?

01:24:36.457 --> 01:24:38.927
Because we start to develop contact.

01:24:39.117 --> 01:24:43.447
The contact is developed through
a snaffle that he will use on his

01:24:43.447 --> 01:24:48.347
mouth, connected with the reins that
will hold then on the rider's hand.

01:24:49.017 --> 01:24:54.257
And so before the horse knows
what the reins means, he is

01:24:54.697 --> 01:24:58.917
Connected with the person on the,
on the ground with the lunge.

01:24:59.497 --> 01:25:03.077
And then when he starts to be aware
that there's a contact, there's the

01:25:03.077 --> 01:25:07.457
right train, there's a left train,
this person on the ground starts to

01:25:07.487 --> 01:25:11.107
have a less presence in the work.

01:25:12.397 --> 01:25:15.767
This is when we start to
call this presence ghost.

01:25:16.407 --> 01:25:17.067
Is there?

01:25:17.507 --> 01:25:18.297
Is not there.

01:25:18.747 --> 01:25:19.317
Is there?

01:25:19.407 --> 01:25:20.087
Is not there.

01:25:20.127 --> 01:25:26.287
And progressively, there's a passage of
the learning aids that the horse has.

01:25:27.117 --> 01:25:30.067
learn from the groundwork
to the rhythm work.

01:25:31.117 --> 01:25:34.557
And each horse we have
will have his own time.

01:25:34.557 --> 01:25:38.427
Some horses, they start to be
less dependent from the person

01:25:38.427 --> 01:25:40.887
on the ground easily than others.

01:25:41.187 --> 01:25:44.117
So again, we always need
to respect those timings.

01:25:44.277 --> 01:25:49.257
And if a horse is still very dependent
from the groundwork, it's because it

01:25:49.267 --> 01:25:52.367
still needs to be more more confirmed.

01:25:54.032 --> 01:25:58.032
On what he's learning so that we
can give him always good basics.

01:25:58.352 --> 01:26:04.652
If we rush steps, we will create gaps and
those gaps later on, we will fill them.

01:26:04.922 --> 01:26:09.232
It's like if you learn math,
you know, two plus two is four.

01:26:09.592 --> 01:26:14.922
But when you start to put the things
more complex, if you keep going

01:26:14.962 --> 01:26:19.432
and putting things more complex,
more complex, the person that is

01:26:19.432 --> 01:26:21.362
following the math, it will collapse.

01:26:21.492 --> 01:26:24.842
So sometimes we need to go back
a few steps so that we can move.

01:26:25.317 --> 01:26:26.947
more, more, more steps.

01:26:28.427 --> 01:26:31.907
And, and again, it's, it's, you
know, it's, it's hard to explain it.

01:26:32.207 --> 01:26:38.837
Such a long process of learning
curve in, in, you know, in,

01:26:38.857 --> 01:26:40.477
in a few, in a few hours.

01:26:40.477 --> 01:26:41.767
It's, it's not easy.

01:26:42.517 --> 01:26:42.867
Rupert Isaacson: Sure.

01:26:43.157 --> 01:26:48.987
And obviously we understand that
this unfolds over five plus years

01:26:48.987 --> 01:26:51.607
or so in an education which.

01:26:52.402 --> 01:26:57.042
I guess, you know, really is, is similar
to education in any field, right?

01:26:57.112 --> 01:27:00.302
Five to ten years is normal
to learn any skill, you know.

01:27:00.702 --> 01:27:03.222
But here you've got two, two
things trying to learn a skill.

01:27:03.222 --> 01:27:05.442
A monkey and a zebra at the same time.

01:27:05.742 --> 01:27:08.862
With the zebra being vaguely worried
that the monkey might eat him.

01:27:09.212 --> 01:27:12.952
And the monkey being vaguely worried that
the zebra might chuck him onto the ground.

01:27:13.132 --> 01:27:13.532
Back him out.

01:27:14.072 --> 01:27:14.522
Do something else, yeah.

01:27:14.992 --> 01:27:18.782
One of the things which stands out when
you say you talk about the importance

01:27:18.782 --> 01:27:25.362
of the circle is a couple of things and
earlier you said that your school in

01:27:25.362 --> 01:27:32.292
Portugal that it's not just a school
of horsemanship, it's a school of life.

01:27:32.992 --> 01:27:41.142
One of the curious things about the
literature of the old masters is

01:27:41.142 --> 01:27:43.912
that this correlation is parallel.

01:27:44.357 --> 01:27:50.027
Between the dressage of the horse
and emotional regulation in the human

01:27:51.357 --> 01:27:55.547
seems to have been noticed from the
get go in there is, there was a Greek

01:27:55.547 --> 01:28:00.027
writer who wrote the first manual of
horsemanship that we know of in Europe.

01:28:00.457 --> 01:28:02.157
Of course, it's not a European tradition.

01:28:02.177 --> 01:28:03.287
It goes back before.

01:28:04.037 --> 01:28:08.677
I found out that the first exercises
that you were describing actually

01:28:08.677 --> 01:28:11.837
were written down as the first
ones that we've ever found were

01:28:11.847 --> 01:28:13.587
found written in cuneiform script.

01:28:13.967 --> 01:28:20.997
In on clay tablets in Nineveh in Babylon
from 1375 BC, describing exactly what

01:28:21.027 --> 01:28:25.577
you described, Sophia, and we even know
the name of the man who wrote them.

01:28:25.827 --> 01:28:30.507
His name was Kikuli because he
signed these clay tablets and he was

01:28:30.577 --> 01:28:35.037
managing the stables of the Royal
Hittite Kings in Babylon at the time.

01:28:35.567 --> 01:28:37.517
So clearly we're dealing with.

01:28:38.262 --> 01:28:41.962
Something that's been functioning
for a while, you know, millennia, not

01:28:41.962 --> 01:28:45.802
just centuries, but when it came to
Europe after the wars of the Greeks and

01:28:45.802 --> 01:28:49.832
the Persians, there was a man called
Xenophon who wrote what we know as the

01:28:49.832 --> 01:28:52.802
first manual in a European language.

01:28:53.042 --> 01:28:56.422
And what's interesting about Xenophon
is he wasn't just a horseman.

01:28:58.112 --> 01:29:01.232
He was a philosopher and he was a
friend of a man called Socrates and

01:29:01.232 --> 01:29:05.622
he was a friend of another man called
Plato and a lot of philosophers know

01:29:05.632 --> 01:29:07.991
Xenophon not for his writing work at all.

01:29:08.412 --> 01:29:12.122
But for his philosophy, which is very
similar to platonic, but what they don't

01:29:12.122 --> 01:29:13.492
know is that he was actually a mercenary.

01:29:13.932 --> 01:29:16.982
And that he worked for the Persians
who were actually the enemy.

01:29:17.402 --> 01:29:19.932
So like working for Wagner or
something, because they were

01:29:19.932 --> 01:29:21.062
the ones who had these skills.

01:29:21.072 --> 01:29:23.712
And then he brought them
back after he finished.

01:29:24.152 --> 01:29:28.142
Working for the Persians and what fought
for the Athenians again and opened

01:29:28.142 --> 01:29:29.982
a writing school and wrote a book.

01:29:30.022 --> 01:29:32.142
And he actually said,
I'm not the best at this.

01:29:32.142 --> 01:29:35.212
The best is a guy called Simon who
has a writing school down the road,

01:29:35.212 --> 01:29:36.262
but he doesn't want to write a book.

01:29:36.262 --> 01:29:37.132
So I'm going to write the book.

01:29:37.132 --> 01:29:40.382
So, Hey, and he writes this
book describing many of the same

01:29:40.402 --> 01:29:41.532
things that you've described.

01:29:41.952 --> 01:29:48.102
But he draws this parallel as well
between the circle as a sort of

01:29:48.102 --> 01:29:54.072
sacred geometry of transformation,
almost like a sacred mathematics.

01:29:54.567 --> 01:29:58.697
through which the horse and the
rider learn to balance themselves and

01:29:58.697 --> 01:30:04.887
not fall over and find their rhythm
and learn how to carry themselves

01:30:05.407 --> 01:30:07.957
to the point where they could go
into battle and become one mind.

01:30:08.497 --> 01:30:18.107
And this business of schooling the
mind then comes up again in the, in

01:30:18.107 --> 01:30:23.537
the 17th century, there was a very
famous French horseman called Pluvinel.

01:30:24.237 --> 01:30:31.097
Who established the whole thing in France,
and he went to the French king and said,

01:30:31.517 --> 01:30:33.827
our, our nobility are out of control.

01:30:34.357 --> 01:30:40.237
We've had 150 years of civil war, all
our, all the aristocratic youth, they

01:30:40.237 --> 01:30:41.577
just fight duels with each other.

01:30:41.577 --> 01:30:42.437
They kill each other.

01:30:42.667 --> 01:30:46.097
And then the estates never have stability.

01:30:46.557 --> 01:30:48.857
And then they go fight
private wars with each other.

01:30:48.857 --> 01:30:52.447
And if we keep going like this, we
will never be able to push Spain.

01:30:52.892 --> 01:30:56.152
off the top of the pyramid
where it's sitting right now.

01:30:56.512 --> 01:30:59.942
For this, we need to get control
of our young men, of our nobility.

01:31:00.142 --> 01:31:05.172
I propose four riding academies in
France, in which they're also taught

01:31:05.202 --> 01:31:09.652
mathematics and fencing and dance
and astronomy and, but, but music,

01:31:09.972 --> 01:31:15.002
but specifically horsemanship because
of the need for emotional control.

01:31:15.662 --> 01:31:16.932
What do you have to say about that?

01:31:16.942 --> 01:31:20.372
You, you talked about
the school of life there.

01:31:20.922 --> 01:31:23.982
at your, at SELGE, your,
which is the name of your, the

01:31:24.002 --> 01:31:25.702
acronym for your riding school.

01:31:25.982 --> 01:31:27.802
Tell us about this emotional regulation.

01:31:27.802 --> 01:31:29.422
Tell us about this school of life.

01:31:31.012 --> 01:31:34.372
Sofia Valenca: You know, I can, I
can just say it in a very simple way.

01:31:34.422 --> 01:31:41.107
If, if you want, if you want to
gain the respect of a horse, you

01:31:41.107 --> 01:31:42.827
need to learn how to respect him.

01:31:43.407 --> 01:31:44.577
And in life, it's the same.

01:31:44.577 --> 01:31:49.947
If you want to be, if you want to sleep
at night, you need to be a good person.

01:31:50.597 --> 01:31:56.337
And our family, family, as an
example, we are three, three sisters.

01:31:57.777 --> 01:32:02.687
And Honestly, I think my parents,
they really did an amazing work,

01:32:03.177 --> 01:32:09.207
an amazing job, the way they always
have taught us the values of life.

01:32:10.887 --> 01:32:15.327
And Rupert, you have been here, you
know how much we respect each other.

01:32:16.292 --> 01:32:19.812
In this world, there's a lot
of, especially in this dressage

01:32:19.812 --> 01:32:24.242
world, there's a lot of egos,
like I'm better than you are.

01:32:24.612 --> 01:32:29.822
And the people go to the competition tests
and it's always about I'm better than you.

01:32:30.062 --> 01:32:33.702
And it's not about themselves,
but it's like proving to the

01:32:33.702 --> 01:32:35.032
others that I'm better than you.

01:32:35.502 --> 01:32:40.702
And this is something you
will not feel at our home.

01:32:41.702 --> 01:32:48.217
It's like, there's a respect for the work
of each other that This is what I think

01:32:48.217 --> 01:32:51.527
it's really what will bring a good team.

01:32:52.327 --> 01:32:57.347
If I'm, if I'm doing something and
I need help, I will be the first one

01:32:57.367 --> 01:33:02.147
to ask either my sisters, either my
colleague that it's next there, or

01:33:02.227 --> 01:33:06.177
my father, of course, and we go very
in a very humble way saying, you

01:33:06.177 --> 01:33:07.677
know, I'm dealing with this problem.

01:33:07.677 --> 01:33:08.507
What do you think?

01:33:08.807 --> 01:33:10.927
What are you seeing that I'm not seeing?

01:33:10.967 --> 01:33:13.147
How can I be better?

01:33:14.122 --> 01:33:18.462
And, you know, my sister, she jumps
and she goes like, show me, show

01:33:18.462 --> 01:33:19.772
me what you're doing, show me.

01:33:20.292 --> 01:33:23.582
And then, ah, maybe it's this, or
maybe it's that, or maybe it's that.

01:33:23.852 --> 01:33:29.202
And this formula, it's what will bring
you to success, success, success,

01:33:29.212 --> 01:33:39.202
success and it's not just about the
horses, it's just, you know, we.

01:33:40.267 --> 01:33:42.937
I'm 40, almost 49 years old.

01:33:42.967 --> 01:33:44.817
My sister, she's 40, 52.

01:33:45.627 --> 01:33:47.197
My other sister, she's 50.

01:33:48.777 --> 01:33:53.687
We still, every day, sit at
the table with my parents.

01:33:54.732 --> 01:34:03.312
Every day, every day from at one o'clock,
we go home, we sit, we have lunch and we

01:34:03.352 --> 01:34:08.312
talk about, well, always about horses,
of course, but you know, just because

01:34:08.322 --> 01:34:15.742
we are paranoid about horses, but it's
everything like in a very nice way.

01:34:16.022 --> 01:34:18.502
Always to become better every day.

01:34:18.502 --> 01:34:20.562
We want to be better than the day before.

01:34:21.042 --> 01:34:25.902
And every day we want to teach
the people that work with us.

01:34:26.382 --> 01:34:32.742
To be better than we are, you know,
it's it's the biggest proud we we have

01:34:32.892 --> 01:34:39.342
is to see riders that have started my
father riders that have start with us,

01:34:40.002 --> 01:34:44.942
either myself or my sisters, and that
nowadays they are teaching and they

01:34:44.972 --> 01:34:50.722
are immediately you see the lines,
the way they work, the way they teach.

01:34:51.812 --> 01:34:55.672
It's like you see yourselves and
And this is, I think it's the most

01:34:57.142 --> 01:35:03.302
beautiful homage people can give us,
is that if I teach someone and he

01:35:03.302 --> 01:35:10.922
becomes better than I am, then was a
good, was a good way of being in life.

01:35:10.922 --> 01:35:17.542
It's always about trying to, we, we,
we, what we do, it's not a secret.

01:35:17.652 --> 01:35:20.672
What we do, it's on the
benefit of each horse.

01:35:21.262 --> 01:35:21.842
In the world.

01:35:22.162 --> 01:35:25.982
So if we are helping people to
understand better their horses,

01:35:26.792 --> 01:35:28.652
so why not give them the tools?

01:35:29.167 --> 01:35:30.637
that it's not a secret.

01:35:30.707 --> 01:35:35.937
We don't want to bring that to,
to the, to the, to our coffin.

01:35:36.427 --> 01:35:40.427
We don't want to put it in a
book that only when we die,

01:35:40.547 --> 01:35:42.117
everybody will see about it.

01:35:42.537 --> 01:35:44.757
We want it to pass in life.

01:35:45.627 --> 01:35:49.406
And every day the horses will teach
you new things because, you know,

01:35:49.407 --> 01:35:51.127
it's a, it's a learning curve.

01:35:51.127 --> 01:35:53.447
You, you learn every day you
are learning something new.

01:35:54.197 --> 01:35:58.642
And and if we are really helping
people to understand better their

01:35:58.652 --> 01:36:05.182
horses, then, you know, I think it's
a good, it's, there's no egos here.

01:36:05.632 --> 01:36:08.322
There's not this thing,
I'm better than you are.

01:36:09.102 --> 01:36:12.792
There's this thing, you know, let's
do this together because we will

01:36:12.792 --> 01:36:17.012
become stronger if we go together
on the same, on the same way.

01:36:18.142 --> 01:36:21.162
Rupert Isaacson: It's definitely one of
the things which I think anyone who's

01:36:21.162 --> 01:36:26.422
come into contact with the Valencia
school comes away with is this sense of.

01:36:27.097 --> 01:36:32.657
Of a wider family and tribe that,
as you say, you guys set the example

01:36:32.657 --> 01:36:37.447
by operating as both a close knit
family and an extended family,

01:36:37.777 --> 01:36:39.277
but you're very, very welcoming.

01:36:39.297 --> 01:36:43.167
So it's like coming to an
African village or a Mongolian

01:36:43.167 --> 01:36:44.507
gare and you're welcomed in.

01:36:44.507 --> 01:36:46.637
I had this experience with you
guys, you know, you won't say,

01:36:46.637 --> 01:36:48.417
well, we're off for lunch right now.

01:36:48.707 --> 01:36:52.367
We'll see you, you know, back in the
afternoon you, it was like, no, no,

01:36:52.367 --> 01:36:55.707
come to lunch, come to lunch with
us and engage in the conversations.

01:36:56.322 --> 01:37:04.192
That we are engaging in and share with us
this family, this tribal, this clan life.

01:37:04.262 --> 01:37:09.392
And if one traces back the whole
lineage with horses, one sees, Oh yes.

01:37:09.392 --> 01:37:10.642
Well, it came from tribes.

01:37:10.642 --> 01:37:11.642
It was a tribal thing.

01:37:11.922 --> 01:37:15.492
It was granddad and grandma
transmitting the knowledge.

01:37:15.927 --> 01:37:20.427
To the next generation, to the next
generation and the young people up on

01:37:20.427 --> 01:37:22.837
the young horses, because it didn't
matter if they got thrown off because

01:37:22.837 --> 01:37:26.927
they're made of rubber and the older
people who don't bounce anymore, you

01:37:26.927 --> 01:37:30.057
know, with the knowledge directing
and the knowledge being passed on in

01:37:30.057 --> 01:37:34.437
this familial really friendly way.

01:37:34.487 --> 01:37:35.957
Not an authoritarian way.

01:37:36.407 --> 01:37:43.347
And then of course, in the modern
world, so many places where one goes to

01:37:43.347 --> 01:37:46.847
try and acquire knowledge, whether it
doesn't have to be writing, it could be.

01:37:48.377 --> 01:37:51.707
It could be a musical college,
it could be any university,

01:37:51.717 --> 01:37:52.867
it could be business school.

01:37:53.197 --> 01:38:00.027
So often the transmission of the knowledge
is done in this top down hierarchical way.

01:38:01.102 --> 01:38:05.102
Which of course is never as good and I
remember one of the first lessons I ever

01:38:05.112 --> 01:38:08.952
had from your father When I at the end of
the lesson, I said, oh, thank you for the

01:38:08.952 --> 01:38:13.432
lesson He said I know Rupert that wasn't
a lesson that was simply a conversation

01:38:13.442 --> 01:38:17.412
about a particular aspect aspect of
equestrianism and that's let's continue

01:38:17.412 --> 01:38:22.552
talking about this over lunch and it blew
my mind because everywhere else I had been

01:38:22.562 --> 01:38:27.047
the the the transmission had been much
more militarized because of course You

01:38:27.047 --> 01:38:31.607
know, so much of riding particularly has
come down through the military tradition.

01:38:32.047 --> 01:38:36.657
This thing of, and then, and then, as,
as one meets the other people who've

01:38:36.857 --> 01:38:40.237
kind of gone through contact with
the Valencia school, a lot of them

01:38:40.857 --> 01:38:43.537
support each other and remain in touch.

01:38:43.917 --> 01:38:47.817
And then those of us that now run
riding schools of our own, we always

01:38:47.817 --> 01:38:49.557
end up sending our people down to you.

01:38:49.952 --> 01:38:52.852
You know, it's that logical thing where we
say, well, you know, at a certain point,

01:38:53.192 --> 01:38:56.592
really, you shouldn't be learning from me,
you should be learning from my teacher.

01:38:56.922 --> 01:39:00.732
And that there's this very easy flow
to the whole thing, which really

01:39:00.732 --> 01:39:02.162
comes down to family and tribe.

01:39:02.162 --> 01:39:06.342
And it seems to me that family and
tribe, it's one of the great lost

01:39:07.012 --> 01:39:09.812
ethics, really, of our modern age.

01:39:10.082 --> 01:39:14.042
Do you feel that in Portugal
that is just simply stronger?

01:39:14.992 --> 01:39:18.802
Or do you think that your family and
what you do, it's even within Portugal,

01:39:18.802 --> 01:39:19.992
it's something a bit exceptional?

01:39:19.992 --> 01:39:20.061
You know?

01:39:21.742 --> 01:39:22.252
Well,

01:39:22.692 --> 01:39:25.962
Sofia Valenca: I think it's a
little bit exce exceptional.

01:39:26.342 --> 01:39:32.172
I think, I'm not saying that other
families will not do this, but I

01:39:32.212 --> 01:39:40.122
think my parents were really able
to transmit the, the good values.

01:39:40.542 --> 01:39:46.382
of us to be able to work together and
keep working together with the respect

01:39:46.392 --> 01:39:49.192
of always supporting each other.

01:39:49.612 --> 01:39:53.722
Because sometimes, especially in
families, you always have a little bit,

01:39:53.772 --> 01:39:59.112
this kind of jealousy or now I need
to be better than you because I want

01:39:59.112 --> 01:40:01.232
to, you know, I'm the youngest sister.

01:40:01.352 --> 01:40:03.902
I need to be a little bit
more smart because, you know,

01:40:03.902 --> 01:40:05.402
I'm, I'm the smallest one.

01:40:05.792 --> 01:40:06.102
And.

01:40:06.547 --> 01:40:09.957
And this, because this is a little bit the
nature of the human being, it's a little

01:40:09.957 --> 01:40:15.487
bit like unfortunately, it's a little
bit part of the nature of human animals.

01:40:15.817 --> 01:40:18.517
They don't have this
kind of feelings, right?

01:40:18.627 --> 01:40:24.787
There's, there's a dog is not, it's not
it does not want to be better than him.

01:40:24.937 --> 01:40:29.957
It's just, maybe he wants to be
the, the leader, but not always

01:40:29.967 --> 01:40:34.617
he is able to be the leader, but
it's, you understand what I mean?

01:40:34.627 --> 01:40:35.517
They don't have this.

01:40:36.097 --> 01:40:41.987
This, this kind of feelings that is only
part of the human being, and that's why

01:40:41.987 --> 01:40:44.457
I think they really were very smart.

01:40:44.457 --> 01:40:49.167
And again, don't ask me how they
did it because it was so natural.

01:40:50.107 --> 01:40:51.207
I don't even know.

01:40:51.517 --> 01:40:56.547
It's just, it's just there, but you
know, my father, a lot of you that

01:40:56.557 --> 01:40:58.507
have listened my father's name.

01:40:58.857 --> 01:41:02.877
It's like, for example, today, and
it, it, it just happened today, he

01:41:03.067 --> 01:41:06.987
was on the phone with this Spanish
man and because he was just asking, he

01:41:06.987 --> 01:41:11.217
saw a horse in, in in a public thing.

01:41:11.757 --> 01:41:15.817
And so he was calling this man saying,
Oh, I see this horse and you know,

01:41:15.817 --> 01:41:20.387
I'm looking for the horse with this
aspect and this, and and the man was

01:41:20.427 --> 01:41:22.567
asking him, yes, but where do you live?

01:41:22.907 --> 01:41:24.077
This, all this in Spanish.

01:41:24.447 --> 01:41:27.267
And then my father said,
I live in Portugal.

01:41:27.637 --> 01:41:28.897
Him in a very humble way.

01:41:29.177 --> 01:41:30.527
I live in Portugal.

01:41:30.527 --> 01:41:31.917
I have a writing center.

01:41:32.117 --> 01:41:32.487
Yes.

01:41:32.517 --> 01:41:33.177
What's your name?

01:41:33.347 --> 01:41:35.027
I, my name is Felice Valenza.

01:41:35.317 --> 01:41:36.717
And the man goes like, what?

01:41:37.867 --> 01:41:39.237
You're not Felice Valenza.

01:41:39.437 --> 01:41:41.537
You are Don Luis Valenza.

01:41:41.537 --> 01:41:47.727
So the man knew him and he was being
so humble because, you know, he was

01:41:47.727 --> 01:41:49.917
not, you know, I'm Luis Valenza.

01:41:49.947 --> 01:41:53.127
Like he was like, no,
I'm just, I'm just me.

01:41:54.197 --> 01:41:56.537
And it was really funny because sometimes.

01:41:57.057 --> 01:42:02.967
People think he's in a pedestal and he's
not reachable, and then you arrive in our

01:42:02.967 --> 01:42:09.777
facility, and maybe he's doing the garden,
or, you know, or putting water in the

01:42:09.777 --> 01:42:15.922
arena, or painting a wall because it was
dirty, or, You know, it's the most humbled

01:42:16.042 --> 01:42:24.662
man that I have ever met and, and I, it's,
I think this is beautiful because, and

01:42:24.662 --> 01:42:29.542
if you go to him and you say, you are the
greatest master, it just shrinks himself.

01:42:29.602 --> 01:42:33.992
And he says, no, I'm just a
person that every day tries

01:42:33.992 --> 01:42:35.772
to be better than yesterday.

01:42:36.312 --> 01:42:41.092
And every day I, and you know,
my father is now 77 years old.

01:42:42.687 --> 01:42:47.907
And nowadays, if there's a horse that
arrives, and he goes, you know, a

01:42:47.907 --> 01:42:51.877
little bit more complicated because he
needs to be, you know, the basics are

01:42:51.877 --> 01:42:55.597
not there, and the horse is a little
bit more complex because the horse is

01:42:55.597 --> 01:42:59.697
lost, that night, he will not sleep.

01:43:00.427 --> 01:43:05.527
Or if he sleeps, He will dream
about what he will do the day after.

01:43:05.727 --> 01:43:07.127
How can I help this horse?

01:43:07.177 --> 01:43:10.347
How can I help this
horse to become better?

01:43:10.387 --> 01:43:12.857
How can I help this horse
to understand what I want?

01:43:13.087 --> 01:43:15.767
So it, and he's 77 years old.

01:43:15.817 --> 01:43:20.647
And this is what real
still drives him every day.

01:43:21.037 --> 01:43:22.787
To jump out from bed.

01:43:23.267 --> 01:43:27.247
And he's the first one to arrive at
the facility is not the last one to

01:43:27.247 --> 01:43:30.557
leave because it's like the chickens
when the sun goes down, he likes to

01:43:30.557 --> 01:43:34.247
go to his home, but it's amazing.

01:43:34.577 --> 01:43:40.817
It's amazing that the passion every
day he has to be there with the

01:43:40.817 --> 01:43:48.047
horses, and I think this is, this is
very, this is very nice and unique

01:43:48.397 --> 01:43:50.727
and and every day it gives us.

01:43:51.742 --> 01:44:02.542
Lessons of life and and I just hope to be
as wise as he is passing all these values

01:44:02.542 --> 01:44:11.062
to my, to my son, my daughters and well,
if, if I, if I was able to be half of what

01:44:11.072 --> 01:44:14.592
he is, I was already very proud of myself.

01:44:16.552 --> 01:44:20.962
Rupert Isaacson: Do you think
that whatever sphere in life,

01:44:20.992 --> 01:44:25.972
it's not just about passion, it's,
it's about the tribe, the family?

01:44:27.202 --> 01:44:33.852
And is it, do you feel that it's
as important in life to find

01:44:33.882 --> 01:44:37.152
that tribe, to find that family?

01:44:37.562 --> 01:44:40.302
You know, because not everybody comes
from a functional family, obviously.

01:44:41.142 --> 01:44:44.882
And how do we, how would we,
you know, how do we go about

01:44:47.202 --> 01:44:50.632
finding such a functional tribe?

01:44:50.952 --> 01:44:54.162
Because I don't believe that
humans can thrive otherwise.

01:44:54.282 --> 01:44:55.342
It's our

01:44:55.342 --> 01:44:55.662
Sofia Valenca: nature.

01:44:55.662 --> 01:44:56.192
It's hard.

01:44:56.712 --> 01:44:57.322
It's hard.

01:44:57.902 --> 01:45:04.292
It's hard and and you know, because
it's not, my father was also lucky

01:45:04.482 --> 01:45:06.822
because it was not just his wisdom.

01:45:07.342 --> 01:45:13.332
He was also lucky he had three girls and
the three of us in a very natural way.

01:45:13.392 --> 01:45:16.782
And with the same passion,
we wanted to do what we do.

01:45:18.472 --> 01:45:19.632
I give you an example.

01:45:19.662 --> 01:45:22.402
Nowadays, my father has
seven grandchildren.

01:45:22.987 --> 01:45:30.047
And only one is following this, this
passion which is Ines, my daughter.

01:45:30.497 --> 01:45:31.507
She, she's crazy.

01:45:31.517 --> 01:45:38.257
She, she was bitten by the bug and she's
like horse crazy, like as crazy as we are.

01:45:39.497 --> 01:45:42.187
But then I have Beatrice.

01:45:42.907 --> 01:45:44.067
She's a biologist.

01:45:44.287 --> 01:45:45.767
And then I have Francisco.

01:45:46.147 --> 01:45:49.347
That is still a 12 years old kid
that has no idea what he wants

01:45:49.347 --> 01:45:51.577
to go to be when he grow up.

01:45:52.287 --> 01:46:01.187
But as a tribe, as you mentioned, a
tribe will work with, with a direction

01:46:01.537 --> 01:46:04.347
of bringing a project all together.

01:46:04.347 --> 01:46:09.846
A tribe thinks in a
simple way, effective way.

01:46:10.687 --> 01:46:12.197
But with the same purpose.

01:46:12.677 --> 01:46:16.417
So for example, I give you the
example of my side of my family,

01:46:16.417 --> 01:46:17.857
the one that I have built.

01:46:18.747 --> 01:46:24.967
I choose for a man that I have married,
a man that has nothing to do with horses.

01:46:25.487 --> 01:46:26.827
I do not regret it.

01:46:27.767 --> 01:46:29.437
And just because.

01:46:30.077 --> 01:46:36.637
He accepts who I am because he has
the same passion for what he does.

01:46:36.907 --> 01:46:42.497
So he does understand there's, there's
this craziness about something that

01:46:42.537 --> 01:46:48.637
make us work every day, every single
day, without stopping and without,

01:46:48.667 --> 01:46:52.937
you know, there's no weekends, but
he has the same passion for what he

01:46:52.937 --> 01:46:58.087
does has nothing to do with horses,
but he, he, he, he understands.

01:46:59.457 --> 01:47:02.797
But then I was lucky.

01:47:03.372 --> 01:47:05.932
Because he also has this
passion for something else.

01:47:05.932 --> 01:47:10.232
So he understands, because if I had
a person in my life that would not

01:47:10.232 --> 01:47:17.472
accept what I do, then the function of,
of bringing a tribe was not possible.

01:47:17.922 --> 01:47:23.862
So it's not just what we do or
what my parents have created.

01:47:24.242 --> 01:47:29.352
They were lucky because the three
of us, we wanted to do this.

01:47:29.782 --> 01:47:34.542
So building this tribe, you know,
all the ingredients were there.

01:47:35.272 --> 01:47:43.732
So will I be enough bringing the tribe
and having the tribe together like

01:47:43.732 --> 01:47:45.732
my parents were able to do with us?

01:47:46.372 --> 01:47:51.732
I don't know, because, you know,
Beatrice, one day she will want to

01:47:51.762 --> 01:47:57.022
maybe go abroad and be a biologist,
a biologic, or a scientist, I

01:47:57.022 --> 01:47:58.642
don't know, in German, or in China.

01:47:58.812 --> 01:47:59.342
I don't know.

01:47:59.362 --> 01:48:02.322
She will no longer be here, closer to us.

01:48:03.032 --> 01:48:04.242
My son, I have no idea.

01:48:04.432 --> 01:48:11.572
I know Ines, she will, she will keep
doing what we do, but I think the,

01:48:11.782 --> 01:48:19.582
the ingredients to the success of, of
what we did was because we always, we

01:48:19.582 --> 01:48:21.482
were all crazy about the same thing.

01:48:22.332 --> 01:48:24.522
And so you understand

01:48:24.522 --> 01:48:24.702
Rupert Isaacson: what I mean?

01:48:24.702 --> 01:48:28.052
I do, I do, but it begs
another question though.

01:48:28.102 --> 01:48:32.182
So for example, you say, so we all know
that horse people can be very insular.

01:48:33.547 --> 01:48:35.947
We, we, we are a little
bit autistic in our way.

01:48:35.947 --> 01:48:40.607
We, we are very, very, very focused on
one thing and we can send an entire dinner

01:48:40.607 --> 01:48:44.477
table to sleep, you know, talking about
the shoulder in and then be mystified that

01:48:44.487 --> 01:48:45.887
they were not as interested as we were.

01:48:46.047 --> 01:48:50.237
But you said, for example, that your
husband does not share the passion

01:48:50.237 --> 01:48:51.487
for horses, but he has a passion.

01:48:51.617 --> 01:48:52.397
What's his passion?

01:48:54.777 --> 01:48:56.367
Sofia Valenca: His
passion is a water sports.

01:48:57.062 --> 01:49:03.472
So he's my husband is an athlete, okay,
he's an, is an athlete and he is a high,

01:49:03.842 --> 01:49:05.372
how you say high level competition?

01:49:05.372 --> 01:49:05.802
High level.

01:49:06.302 --> 01:49:06.972
Yeah, yeah.

01:49:07.272 --> 01:49:07.552
Yeah.

01:49:07.822 --> 01:49:10.332
So to, to achieve

01:49:10.332 --> 01:49:11.102
Rupert Isaacson: what he has, what's he,

01:49:12.502 --> 01:49:13.142
Sofia Valenca: what's he doing?

01:49:14.042 --> 01:49:15.542
He does kayak.

01:49:15.662 --> 01:49:22.482
So he was running on marathons in
kayak and he won a lot of things.

01:49:22.522 --> 01:49:25.422
And nowadays is the national coach.

01:49:25.737 --> 01:49:31.797
Of Portuguese team of kayak in
marathon underwater in the open ocean.

01:49:33.477 --> 01:49:41.267
So when someone has dedicated, you know,
as an athlete, if you want to be a top

01:49:41.397 --> 01:49:48.957
athlete, you need to train every day and
you need to be focused in what you're

01:49:48.957 --> 01:49:51.677
doing if you want to be on top, right?

01:49:52.597 --> 01:49:54.517
So he understands this passion.

01:49:55.282 --> 01:49:59.152
on his own world because, you
know, he's crazy about training.

01:49:59.202 --> 01:50:01.952
He's crazy about, he
needs to train every day.

01:50:01.952 --> 01:50:05.382
He needs to be doing
something related with sports.

01:50:05.992 --> 01:50:10.612
He don't know the difference between
a donkey and the horse, even if

01:50:10.612 --> 01:50:17.832
we are together for 28 years old
years, but is, is he always have

01:50:17.892 --> 01:50:21.612
accept and respect and he share.

01:50:22.102 --> 01:50:28.762
He is happy that I have this passion
because he also, he understands because

01:50:28.762 --> 01:50:30.742
he also have a passion for another world.

01:50:30.902 --> 01:50:33.832
So he understands because some
people, they don't understand why

01:50:33.852 --> 01:50:36.802
we are so crazy about what we do.

01:50:38.032 --> 01:50:39.812
Rupert Isaacson: I mean, this is it.

01:50:39.812 --> 01:50:45.082
So, so it's what I'm feeling, groping for
here, I think is, is the, what, what makes

01:50:45.082 --> 01:50:47.902
a tribe, what makes a tribe functional?

01:50:47.902 --> 01:50:52.102
Because it, as you say, your, your parents
are quite lucky that the three daughters.

01:50:52.557 --> 01:50:53.487
All wanted to do it.

01:50:53.737 --> 01:50:56.957
But now there are these grandkids,
seven of them, only one, that's your

01:50:56.957 --> 01:50:58.897
daughter, is going that direction.

01:50:59.117 --> 01:51:04.407
Yet, your family's very tight, and you
all live in effectively a tribal compound.

01:51:04.407 --> 01:51:07.737
You know, you, you, your houses
are, you know, very close to each

01:51:07.737 --> 01:51:10.807
other, same bit of land on that
hillside, overlooking the river.

01:51:11.387 --> 01:51:12.357
All very lovely.

01:51:12.417 --> 01:51:14.247
You're, you're still
meeting for lunch every day.

01:51:14.257 --> 01:51:17.587
Even the ones who are, you know, your
husband's coming up from the water,

01:51:17.757 --> 01:51:19.347
you're coming up from the riding arena.

01:51:19.952 --> 01:51:21.302
and you're exchanging.

01:51:22.682 --> 01:51:25.862
So is the, and then you say,
as you know, Beatrice, she's

01:51:25.872 --> 01:51:27.362
not, doesn't care from horses.

01:51:27.842 --> 01:51:31.962
But she's loves the animal world, but
she's going to go a different direction.

01:51:32.192 --> 01:51:36.292
But two words kept coming up
in, in, in, in, in this podcast.

01:51:36.622 --> 01:51:37.992
One is respect.

01:51:38.332 --> 01:51:39.412
The other one is passion.

01:51:40.082 --> 01:51:42.992
So is the, is the way to find your tribe.

01:51:43.462 --> 01:51:46.492
So for example, you and your
husband have found your own tribe

01:51:46.502 --> 01:51:50.292
within the tribe, which one of
you has this thing with the horse.

01:51:50.382 --> 01:51:51.532
One of you has this thing with.

01:51:51.882 --> 01:51:56.102
with the water, but both of you
give each other the space to

01:51:56.102 --> 01:52:02.442
perform that, because ultimately
you respect the each other value.

01:52:02.452 --> 01:52:06.102
Well, also you see the value in, in,
in, in this passion and this endeavor

01:52:06.372 --> 01:52:09.392
for its own sake, no matter what it is.

01:52:09.392 --> 01:52:10.382
Is that the key?

01:52:10.697 --> 01:52:14.897
Is that the key to the functioning
tribe, going back to this idea of, you

01:52:14.897 --> 01:52:18.177
know, horses and the humanities and
these riding schools in the Renaissance

01:52:18.177 --> 01:52:22.947
where people were engaging with it as
much for emotional regulation, to train

01:52:22.947 --> 01:52:27.647
people to be courtiers and diplomats,
not just warriors, et cetera, et cetera.

01:52:28.257 --> 01:52:30.047
Is this what it boils down to?

01:52:30.137 --> 01:52:33.027
Is it passion and then respect
for other people's passions?

01:52:34.532 --> 01:52:35.372
Sofia Valenca: I think so.

01:52:36.542 --> 01:52:43.372
Now that, putting it like that I think,
I think that's, that's what it resumes.

01:52:43.472 --> 01:52:51.052
It's like, if you respect and you have
a passion, I think it's the ingredients

01:52:51.082 --> 01:52:53.262
that every family should have.

01:52:54.007 --> 01:52:59.567
Respect and passion because respect
because you need to respect the other

01:52:59.567 --> 01:53:01.327
if you want the other to respect you.

01:53:01.717 --> 01:53:09.617
So it's, it's a mutual feeling and passion
because every morning you need to have

01:53:09.617 --> 01:53:13.187
something that make you jump out of bed.

01:53:13.677 --> 01:53:19.127
And if you don't have a passion in life,
what makes you wake up in the morning?

01:53:21.807 --> 01:53:22.177
Rupert Isaacson: Yeah.

01:53:22.217 --> 01:53:23.237
It's, it's, it's.

01:53:24.012 --> 01:53:26.862
It, it makes me think of
the shows that you guys do.

01:53:27.372 --> 01:53:29.582
So we've talked a lot about the
training, but we haven't talked

01:53:29.732 --> 01:53:31.922
as much about the Appassionata.

01:53:31.942 --> 01:53:33.652
Now it's called Cavaluna, the show.

01:53:34.132 --> 01:53:38.172
But when people see this show that
goes out, as you say, for seven months

01:53:38.572 --> 01:53:43.992
all over Germany and has inspired
other similar types of show, which

01:53:43.992 --> 01:53:47.382
you guys have helped to put together
as well in other parts of the world.

01:53:48.842 --> 01:53:50.842
What that seems to come
down to me is dream.

01:53:53.922 --> 01:53:54.902
People have a dream.

01:53:55.082 --> 01:53:57.692
Maybe this dream is a little
girl's dream about riding a horse.

01:53:58.482 --> 01:54:02.542
Maybe it's, somebody else's dream
about putting on a show or dance.

01:54:02.562 --> 01:54:04.992
Maybe it's somebody else's
dream about being a biologist

01:54:04.992 --> 01:54:08.622
or, or being a a kayaker.

01:54:10.142 --> 01:54:13.552
But at some point before the passion,
there has to be a dream, doesn't there?

01:54:16.122 --> 01:54:18.912
Sofia Valenca: Well, how, I think so.

01:54:19.592 --> 01:54:25.662
I think that everybody, if you love
horses, even before you have been

01:54:25.692 --> 01:54:29.302
a dresser rider, I'm pretty sure
that you have dream about horses.

01:54:31.237 --> 01:54:31.657
Right.

01:54:32.527 --> 01:54:37.317
So, and sometimes you dream about
something that you have no idea why

01:54:37.317 --> 01:54:40.877
you dream about and then you discover
later on it will be a passion.

01:54:40.907 --> 01:54:43.787
It's what is life without dreams?

01:54:45.537 --> 01:54:46.797
What is life without passion?

01:54:47.327 --> 01:54:48.927
It's everything is related, right?

01:54:49.367 --> 01:54:52.677
So we need to dream like my father.

01:54:52.937 --> 01:54:56.607
Sometimes he dreams about the horse
is going to train the next day because

01:54:56.607 --> 01:54:58.817
it makes it's because it's a passion.

01:54:58.817 --> 01:55:01.897
It's it's, we are, we
are quite crazy about it.

01:55:01.897 --> 01:55:02.197
Right?

01:55:02.507 --> 01:55:03.577
So you need to dream.

01:55:04.187 --> 01:55:09.037
And if you don't dream,
you will not be motivated.

01:55:10.317 --> 01:55:11.197
We need to dream.

01:55:11.287 --> 01:55:14.947
I need to dream to be, to
what do I want in the future?

01:55:14.947 --> 01:55:15.847
You need to dream.

01:55:16.697 --> 01:55:19.407
When you think about the
future, you are dreaming somehow

01:55:19.907 --> 01:55:21.547
because you are not yet there.

01:55:21.997 --> 01:55:24.737
But you are already imagined,
what if I was there?

01:55:24.867 --> 01:55:25.687
So you are dreaming.

01:55:25.687 --> 01:55:27.987
So every, everybody
dreams about something.

01:55:27.997 --> 01:55:30.297
Everybody dreams about the future.

01:55:33.097 --> 01:55:34.457
It's all related with passion.

01:55:34.457 --> 01:55:35.767
Everything is connected.

01:55:37.527 --> 01:55:38.657
Everything is connected.

01:55:39.727 --> 01:55:45.137
Rupert Isaacson: So is, is, is the
functional tribe, is the secret to that

01:55:46.257 --> 01:55:52.927
encouraging the dreams of your children
so that the tribe can continue to find

01:55:52.927 --> 01:55:57.017
passions and develop whether it's.

01:55:57.977 --> 01:56:03.527
horses or whether the passion changes,
but the dreams of the children has to be

01:56:03.557 --> 01:56:07.387
Sofia Valenca: always there, you
know, and that you need to encourage

01:56:07.387 --> 01:56:09.457
your children to follow their dreams.

01:56:11.477 --> 01:56:16.687
Even if you are afraid that their
dreams will bring them into a future

01:56:16.717 --> 01:56:20.657
that you know, maybe they will, they
will have more difficulties because,

01:56:21.327 --> 01:56:27.937
you know, for example, Inej, she wants
to follow this as a, as a professional.

01:56:29.027 --> 01:56:30.277
And that's her dream.

01:56:31.367 --> 01:56:35.217
I know it's hard because, you know, I
know in the end of the month, I really

01:56:35.217 --> 01:56:39.027
need to be careful because, you know,
the horses, you can make money, but

01:56:39.027 --> 01:56:41.027
they eat more than what they create.

01:56:42.117 --> 01:56:42.457
So.

01:56:43.772 --> 01:56:49.382
But, you know, one day my father
gave an example to someone, a

01:56:49.382 --> 01:56:53.522
father of some children, that they
wanted to follow their dreams.

01:56:53.562 --> 01:56:56.542
And nowadays they are very
important riders in the world.

01:56:57.392 --> 01:57:01.252
And this parent, he was very
concerned because the kids, and

01:57:01.262 --> 01:57:03.032
we are talking like 40 years ago.

01:57:04.092 --> 01:57:08.422
So those kids, they wanted to follow their
passion, which was working with horses.

01:57:10.052 --> 01:57:13.222
And this parent, he was very concerned
with the future of these kids.

01:57:13.607 --> 01:57:18.617
And my father said to this, to
this father, you know, better if

01:57:18.617 --> 01:57:20.897
they eat soup, but they are happy.

01:57:21.387 --> 01:57:24.037
Then they eat lobster,
but they are unhappy.

01:57:24.737 --> 01:57:29.467
And this sentence always
stayed inside of my mind.

01:57:29.987 --> 01:57:33.397
Because, you know, we only live once.

01:57:34.577 --> 01:57:37.777
And we really should
do what make us happy.

01:57:38.167 --> 01:57:44.977
And if we are able to survive doing what
make us happy, then life was enough.

01:57:45.877 --> 01:57:48.027
Rupert Isaacson: Even better
if we can show other people

01:57:48.027 --> 01:57:49.607
how to share in that happiness.

01:57:51.097 --> 01:57:56.517
Sofia Valenca: And I think that's a little
bit of what I have dreamed about my life.

01:57:57.337 --> 01:57:58.527
And I'm following my dream.

01:58:00.657 --> 01:58:02.557
Rupert Isaacson: It's a sort
of inner child thing, isn't it?

01:58:02.977 --> 01:58:08.717
The following, never losing sight of
that little girl or that little boy that

01:58:08.717 --> 01:58:12.177
was inside you, dreaming that dream.

01:58:13.547 --> 01:58:17.657
Where I think you were lucky,
where I was lucky too, was

01:58:17.657 --> 01:58:19.617
that your parents, my parents.

01:58:20.732 --> 01:58:24.742
Again, this word respect had an
innate respect for the power of

01:58:24.742 --> 01:58:27.252
dream and the necessity of dream.

01:58:28.222 --> 01:58:31.842
And as you said, the necessity of
passion, what makes you get up out

01:58:31.842 --> 01:58:34.682
of bed in the morning, even though
my parents were not horsey at all.

01:58:35.532 --> 01:58:41.602
But they did respect the time and
effort and passion that I put into it.

01:58:42.272 --> 01:58:44.122
And although it mystified them, they.

01:58:44.452 --> 01:58:48.662
They encouraged the show
that you guys put on.

01:58:49.382 --> 01:58:54.952
The current one, Cavaluna, the last time
I saw it what I realized was that, yeah,

01:58:54.952 --> 01:58:58.612
of course the audiences and there's,
you know, hundreds of thousands of

01:58:58.632 --> 01:58:59.852
people that come and see this show.

01:58:59.862 --> 01:59:01.222
It's, it's an amazing show.

01:59:01.482 --> 01:59:03.082
It is like Cirque du Soleil with horses.

01:59:04.292 --> 01:59:07.032
What initially makes them want
to come is that they're going

01:59:07.202 --> 01:59:08.482
to see amazing horsemanship.

01:59:08.492 --> 01:59:09.572
They're going to see amazing stuff.

01:59:09.602 --> 01:59:13.492
They're going to have, there's going to
be a wow factor, but of course, every

01:59:13.502 --> 01:59:15.632
show that you guys put on has a story.

01:59:16.307 --> 01:59:21.887
As a narrative that goes through, that
carries each act, each number, you know,

01:59:22.147 --> 01:59:23.467
through so there's a logical progression.

01:59:23.637 --> 01:59:27.867
A story is told with a beginning, middle
and end with characters on some sort

01:59:27.867 --> 01:59:29.347
of fairy tale, on some sort of quest.

01:59:30.082 --> 01:59:32.032
Facing dilemmas, finding resolution.

01:59:32.192 --> 01:59:35.962
There happen to be horses involved,
but there's also dancers, there's

01:59:35.962 --> 01:59:39.752
also musicians, and it's a story
that would hold up just as well

01:59:39.752 --> 01:59:40.952
if there were no horses involved.

01:59:40.952 --> 01:59:45.402
It just happens to, that the acting
is done with actors with four

01:59:45.402 --> 01:59:47.192
legs as well as actors with two.

01:59:48.192 --> 01:59:51.412
You guys are really a
dream factory, aren't you?

01:59:51.762 --> 01:59:54.092
You, you, you, you hatch these dreams.

01:59:55.022 --> 01:59:58.602
You put these dreams on for the wider
world, but yet if people want to come

01:59:58.602 --> 02:00:03.187
and participate, In the nuts and bolts,
as you've been describing, Valencia

02:00:03.317 --> 02:00:07.537
Method, how you put these horses together
to tell the stories of these dreams.

02:00:07.557 --> 02:00:08.887
Well, they can come and do that too.

02:00:09.717 --> 02:00:12.687
They can come and engage at
every level in the dream.

02:00:15.827 --> 02:00:18.297
Sofia Valenca: Yes,
maybe that's what we do.

02:00:20.407 --> 02:00:23.747
Rupert Isaacson: And that's, that's,
that's magical because I think

02:00:23.757 --> 02:00:25.817
what, what is the power of story?

02:00:25.857 --> 02:00:27.867
It takes one outside of time and space.

02:00:28.037 --> 02:00:31.157
It, it takes one into another
dimension, another reality.

02:00:33.467 --> 02:00:36.187
That's outside of it.

02:00:36.357 --> 02:00:37.457
It's like a trance state.

02:00:37.527 --> 02:00:39.697
It's, you know, it's
like a shamanic state.

02:00:40.427 --> 02:00:42.657
We are after all the storytelling, right?

02:00:43.547 --> 02:00:48.137
Sofia Valenca: You know, when, when
you live in a dream, the dream loses

02:00:48.157 --> 02:00:50.117
the power of being in the dream.

02:00:50.567 --> 02:00:53.547
So for us, it's, it's what we do.

02:00:53.547 --> 02:00:54.207
It's just.

02:00:55.187 --> 02:01:01.487
normal, but with, with the people
that come and visit us and and we are

02:01:01.487 --> 02:01:06.257
lucky enough because we have amazing
people that come and, and visit us.

02:01:06.307 --> 02:01:10.787
So to learn with us and they
all have this, this open

02:01:10.797 --> 02:01:13.057
mind and really open heart.

02:01:13.507 --> 02:01:20.077
And yeah, somehow every week, because
you know, people come for a week and

02:01:20.077 --> 02:01:21.767
then they go and then other people come.

02:01:21.767 --> 02:01:26.587
So like every week, we
somehow they remind us.

02:01:27.802 --> 02:01:31.682
how cool we are doing what we do.

02:01:32.172 --> 02:01:36.242
So I think, yes, I think
we, that's what we do.

02:01:36.292 --> 02:01:39.132
We, we make dreams come true.

02:01:39.592 --> 02:01:42.992
I think it's really, especially
our horses, we are just the

02:01:42.992 --> 02:01:44.772
interpreter of the horses.

02:01:44.772 --> 02:01:48.972
You know, our school masters are
the ones that really make dreams

02:01:48.972 --> 02:01:49.522
Rupert Isaacson: come true.

02:01:49.742 --> 02:01:55.312
One of the things which, you know, there's
a, there's a, there's an increasing

02:01:55.312 --> 02:01:59.282
conversation now in the animal world.

02:02:00.947 --> 02:02:05.037
this business of consent, you know,
do I have the right to ride a horse?

02:02:05.037 --> 02:02:07.257
Do we have the right to own dogs?

02:02:07.257 --> 02:02:09.347
Do we have the right to
et cetera, et cetera?

02:02:09.397 --> 02:02:12.637
It seems that in this in this day
and age, we're increasingly having a

02:02:12.637 --> 02:02:17.787
conversation now, hearing a conversation
where stuff that was not said 20 years

02:02:17.787 --> 02:02:19.817
ago, should we even be riding horses?

02:02:20.257 --> 02:02:21.767
Does the horse have consent in this?

02:02:21.887 --> 02:02:23.417
Should we even own animals at all?

02:02:23.547 --> 02:02:24.527
Should we own a dog?

02:02:24.757 --> 02:02:28.267
You know, for people of my generation,
this is a bit of a new thing.

02:02:29.077 --> 02:02:31.167
You're talking about dreams
and setting people free.

02:02:31.737 --> 02:02:33.867
I believe that this happens
for the horse as well.

02:02:33.867 --> 02:02:36.737
So for example, your work has
helped me work with special needs.

02:02:37.352 --> 02:02:41.282
Children and people with the horse
moving underneath them in a way that

02:02:41.312 --> 02:02:46.442
transmits well being and helps with
communication But because in my world

02:02:47.482 --> 02:02:51.702
a lot of the horses that come to the
centers that we help to create For the

02:02:51.702 --> 02:02:53.762
work with autism and other special needs.

02:02:53.812 --> 02:02:56.472
These are horses that are donated
These are often horses that are

02:02:56.472 --> 02:03:00.732
not bought and of course they're
donated for a reason because they're

02:03:00.772 --> 02:03:03.737
usually a bit broken because People
don't give away their best horses.

02:03:03.737 --> 02:03:08.287
They, you know, give away horses that
they've messed up and One of the things

02:03:08.287 --> 02:03:12.157
which I have discovered But I think
you're well aware of but I don't think

02:03:12.157 --> 02:03:16.937
it comes up so much in the conversations
That people come to you with is the

02:03:16.937 --> 02:03:23.527
rehabilitation of horses I would say that
your method the Valencia method I use it

02:03:24.117 --> 02:03:30.747
Daily to help bring horses to well being
and a lot of those horses that come to

02:03:30.747 --> 02:03:35.857
me come broken they come broken in the
body they come broken in the mind and By

02:03:35.887 --> 02:03:40.957
working through the patterns that you guys
have shown me I've seen I've lost count

02:03:40.987 --> 02:03:47.882
now of the number of horses that have come
to this well being which one would always

02:03:47.892 --> 02:03:54.042
hope for, but it's, it's such a radical
transformation in the horse, mentally

02:03:54.042 --> 02:03:56.002
and emotionally, as well as physically.

02:03:56.892 --> 02:04:01.402
Has this become a greater and greater
part of the conversation around your work?

02:04:02.847 --> 02:04:08.507
Sofia Valenca: The, the well being of
the horse, well, what people and today,

02:04:08.547 --> 02:04:14.017
just today, it's funny that we, we, we
are bringing this, this topic to, to

02:04:14.017 --> 02:04:18.277
the conversation, because today I was
talking with one of our clients, she

02:04:18.277 --> 02:04:20.227
comes, she comes from the United States.

02:04:20.777 --> 02:04:26.567
And and she was just amazed how
all the horses are so happy.

02:04:27.547 --> 02:04:30.677
It's like, you know, there's not
a single horse that it will not.

02:04:31.472 --> 02:04:38.262
The horses are happy and and that
bring that says a lot on the way they

02:04:38.262 --> 02:04:40.232
are, you know, a horse will not lie.

02:04:40.807 --> 02:04:44.467
If the horse is not feeling
well, you will not lie.

02:04:44.477 --> 02:04:47.017
You will not be like
performing, Oh, it's a client.

02:04:47.017 --> 02:04:48.897
I need to make her happy.

02:04:48.937 --> 02:04:50.577
Let's just pretend I'm happy.

02:04:50.977 --> 02:04:51.827
You don't have this.

02:04:51.917 --> 02:04:54.397
The horse is happy
because it's feeling good.

02:04:55.117 --> 02:05:01.607
And we have, I think also because the
same way you have you know, sometimes

02:05:01.607 --> 02:05:07.232
we find horses that are It's like
giving them a chance of another life.

02:05:07.662 --> 02:05:13.192
And a lot of horses that we, we use as
co masters are horses that had a life

02:05:13.312 --> 02:05:16.422
before and not always that life was good.

02:05:16.442 --> 02:05:20.732
So a lot of horses have arrived
to us, you know, you know,

02:05:20.732 --> 02:05:22.642
what is a horse with no soul?

02:05:23.572 --> 02:05:27.472
It's like this, you look
into his eye and it's empty.

02:05:27.917 --> 02:05:34.887
It's an empty eye and, you know, after
a month or two, you start to feel

02:05:34.887 --> 02:05:37.307
that that horse finally has a soul.

02:05:37.697 --> 02:05:42.847
It was just deep inside of him and,
and I think the horses, they feel

02:05:42.847 --> 02:05:45.637
really, it's like they feel appreciated.

02:05:45.917 --> 02:05:49.707
They, they feel the gratitude
of having that a second life.

02:05:50.227 --> 02:05:54.947
There's, I think, a horse
that had a previous life.

02:05:55.507 --> 02:05:57.387
That was not the best life.

02:05:57.857 --> 02:06:04.067
Once he experiments the good life,
that horse is, it's like, it's

02:06:04.067 --> 02:06:06.017
a, how you say, it's appreciated.

02:06:06.127 --> 02:06:07.447
It's a, no, it's grateful.

02:06:07.597 --> 02:06:08.267
It's grateful.

02:06:08.307 --> 02:06:08.797
Grateful.

02:06:08.937 --> 02:06:09.307
Well, that,

02:06:09.407 --> 02:06:12.227
Rupert Isaacson: that, that,
that's the, that's the final

02:06:14.237 --> 02:06:15.317
part of the secret, isn't it?

02:06:16.927 --> 02:06:22.807
It's the secret to happiness, gratitude,
whether you have two legs or four.

02:06:25.227 --> 02:06:29.837
Sofia Valenca: And, and and it's
in a very simple way you, you know,

02:06:29.837 --> 02:06:33.437
this, because when you work with
animals, they, they are, they don't

02:06:33.487 --> 02:06:42.107
lie and being able to transform a
horse in something makes him happy.

02:06:43.377 --> 02:06:44.117
I think it's.

02:06:44.717 --> 02:06:45.567
It's really nice.

02:06:45.807 --> 02:06:52.437
And, and you don't do this expecting
them to do something in exchange.

02:06:52.877 --> 02:06:55.427
You do this because it
makes you feel good, right?

02:06:55.527 --> 02:07:01.207
It's like, it's like, Like charity,
when you help someone, you help

02:07:01.267 --> 02:07:03.517
because it, it makes you feel good.

02:07:04.297 --> 02:07:09.197
And, and it's also part
of what, what we do.

02:07:09.647 --> 02:07:15.167
And yeah, it's, it's a good life to say.

02:07:15.697 --> 02:07:19.917
But remember when you said a
lot of people say, should we be

02:07:20.107 --> 02:07:22.047
riding a horse or should we do?

02:07:22.822 --> 02:07:28.812
Having a dog, I could, I cannot imagine
my life without an animal and I have 12

02:07:28.812 --> 02:07:34.712
dogs as yes, you know, I have a lot of
animals that I need to be surrounded and,

02:07:34.932 --> 02:07:43.942
and remember when I said when we start
to work a horse, we start to study him in

02:07:43.952 --> 02:07:52.142
what he will be good at a horse is much
happier if you have a purpose in life.

02:07:53.002 --> 02:08:03.322
And then a horse that lives a lifetime in
a paddock with no goals in life, a horse

02:08:03.352 --> 02:08:06.822
that lives in a paddock, just eating.

02:08:07.212 --> 02:08:12.052
It's a more unhappy horse
than a horse that attention.

02:08:12.052 --> 02:08:13.832
We need to provide him a good life.

02:08:14.452 --> 02:08:19.272
It's not not just forcing a horse
to do what he's not meant to do.

02:08:19.632 --> 02:08:21.712
But if that horse.

02:08:22.417 --> 02:08:26.737
That you are trying to train, that
you are respecting, that you are

02:08:26.737 --> 02:08:29.647
trying to reach in what he's good at.

02:08:31.057 --> 02:08:34.417
If his life is good at doing
trail rides, he will be the most

02:08:34.427 --> 02:08:36.037
happier horse doing trail rides.

02:08:36.427 --> 02:08:42.867
If he's good in the ring doing dressage,
he will be the best horse doing dressage.

02:08:43.717 --> 02:08:45.377
If he's good doing...

02:08:46.607 --> 02:08:47.097
I don't know.

02:08:47.127 --> 02:08:50.837
Working accreditation, he will
be happy because he has a job.

02:08:50.847 --> 02:08:54.697
He has, he has, he's not depressed.

02:08:55.947 --> 02:08:59.957
I have seen a lot of horses that,
you know, they're just there and

02:09:00.137 --> 02:09:03.657
they feel like they're not as happy.

02:09:05.247 --> 02:09:06.537
It's the same with people.

02:09:07.107 --> 02:09:11.237
You know, if we don't have a
purpose, we become more depressive.

02:09:12.257 --> 02:09:15.317
We need to have a purpose in life.

02:09:16.447 --> 02:09:16.717
Rupert Isaacson: It's true.

02:09:16.717 --> 02:09:18.777
At the end of the day, we're all mammals.

02:09:18.777 --> 02:09:20.147
We all, we all have this.

02:09:20.322 --> 02:09:22.082
And I, I, we need this.

02:09:22.412 --> 02:09:24.722
I suppose people might say, well,
in the wild, the horse doesn't

02:09:24.727 --> 02:09:26.672
have, but, but he does because

02:09:27.032 --> 02:09:28.062
Sofia Valenca: he does,
because it's survival.

02:09:28.172 --> 02:09:28.942
This, the, this.

02:09:28.942 --> 02:09:29.422
Exactly.

02:09:29.452 --> 02:09:29.982
He's very active.

02:09:30.132 --> 02:09:33.322
Yeah, but they need to be in the wild.

02:09:33.532 --> 02:09:33.592
Yeah.

02:09:33.622 --> 02:09:37.912
Not in a paddock where you go and
put the foot to him where, you

02:09:37.917 --> 02:09:39.622
know, just the flies annoying them.

02:09:39.922 --> 02:09:41.392
That's a very boring life.

02:09:41.712 --> 02:09:41.832
Yeah.

02:09:41.832 --> 02:09:42.792
It's really boring.

02:09:43.062 --> 02:09:47.492
They, they need, they need
to be, to be challenged.

02:09:48.102 --> 02:09:50.102
The same with dogs, you know.

02:09:51.122 --> 02:09:58.302
And of course, each breed has its own
skills, but they need, they need to

02:09:58.302 --> 02:10:04.832
feel that they have a purpose in life,
even if it's just to make you happy.

02:10:05.112 --> 02:10:06.132
That's the purpose.

02:10:06.272 --> 02:10:06.592
To make

02:10:06.592 --> 02:10:06.942
Rupert Isaacson: us happy.

02:10:07.082 --> 02:10:12.172
The exchange of happiness, what is it they
say, the greatest wisdom you'll ever learn

02:10:12.612 --> 02:10:15.472
is how to love and be loved in return.

02:10:17.317 --> 02:10:21.197
And I remember the first time
I, I remember hearing that the

02:10:21.197 --> 02:10:23.807
first time as a sort of young
man thinking, Oh, what are you?

02:10:23.827 --> 02:10:24.347
What do they mean?

02:10:24.397 --> 02:10:24.897
What do they mean?

02:10:24.937 --> 02:10:30.967
And then as I grew older and older
thinking, not as easy as it sounds.

02:10:31.857 --> 02:10:32.177
Yeah.

02:10:34.502 --> 02:10:38.532
Sofia Valenca: But we, we, it's not
as easy as it sounds because also we

02:10:38.532 --> 02:10:40.552
like to make things more complicated.

02:10:42.192 --> 02:10:47.662
In the end of the day, we just need
to think that sometimes we make things

02:10:47.682 --> 02:10:49.902
more complicated than what they are.

02:10:50.542 --> 02:10:51.122
Rupert Isaacson: That is true.

02:10:51.132 --> 02:10:52.022
Especially we monkeys.

02:10:53.192 --> 02:10:53.792
Sofia Valenca: Yes.

02:10:53.972 --> 02:10:54.442
Yes.

02:10:54.742 --> 02:10:55.902
The monkeys are the worst.

02:10:57.332 --> 02:10:59.462
Rupert Isaacson: Maybe we need a
horse and a dog to cool us out.

02:10:59.792 --> 02:11:04.442
I, I, I, I'm a great believer that when
I see the horses transmitting well being.

02:11:07.017 --> 02:11:08.727
I guess you could say it's biological.

02:11:08.727 --> 02:11:10.397
It's the mammalian caregiving system.

02:11:11.457 --> 02:11:14.547
Dogs giving us love, horses
giving us love, we returning it.

02:11:14.897 --> 02:11:19.277
But nonetheless that's, that's,
that's the organism, right?

02:11:19.277 --> 02:11:20.877
That, that's, that's who we all are.

02:11:21.867 --> 02:11:22.667
We're not reptiles.

02:11:23.027 --> 02:11:25.607
We, we exchange on an emotional level.

02:11:26.597 --> 02:11:30.497
And if this is missing from
our lives, human or animal, as

02:11:30.797 --> 02:11:32.362
you say we become depressed.

02:11:32.362 --> 02:11:37.342
And I think your point about purposes
is very, very true purpose and service.

02:11:37.642 --> 02:11:42.912
Not servitude, not being a servant,
but service, which, which is the

02:11:42.912 --> 02:11:46.402
choice, the choosing because I've
watched you working with your horses.

02:11:46.402 --> 02:11:49.912
I've a horse that they're
not forced to do anything.

02:11:50.692 --> 02:11:56.272
They, they do it and, and, and
the, the overall impression.

02:11:57.217 --> 02:12:00.637
One comes away with on a heart
level, not just an intellectual

02:12:00.637 --> 02:12:02.197
level, but on a heart level is joy.

02:12:03.157 --> 02:12:06.487
I don't think I, to the listeners.

02:12:07.517 --> 02:12:11.087
If you're not horsey, it doesn't matter.

02:12:11.767 --> 02:12:14.347
Go to the living museum.

02:12:14.877 --> 02:12:19.937
That is the Valencia's riding
stables in, in, uh, Lisbon.

02:12:21.537 --> 02:12:26.157
You don't need to be an artist or
an art historian to appreciate a

02:12:26.157 --> 02:12:27.417
trip around the National Gallery.

02:12:28.377 --> 02:12:31.677
And you don't need to be an architect
to appreciate a beautiful building.

02:12:32.327 --> 02:12:37.787
And the history behind it, and
you don't need to be a chef to

02:12:37.907 --> 02:12:40.187
know good food when you eat it.

02:12:40.737 --> 02:12:43.027
You don't need to be a vintner
to appreciate good wine.

02:12:44.417 --> 02:12:48.407
Beauty in art, when you
see it, always stands out.

02:12:48.427 --> 02:12:53.907
And this living equestrian art,
which still exists and has come

02:12:53.907 --> 02:12:57.097
down to us through the centuries and
the millennia, and is still being

02:12:57.097 --> 02:12:59.097
practiced and presented in this way.

02:12:59.517 --> 02:13:01.137
It's worth seeing just for itself.

02:13:02.047 --> 02:13:08.527
When you go into the Valencia's
riding arena, it's It's Baroque, the

02:13:08.527 --> 02:13:12.477
pictures on the wall, the art, the
feel, but also there's a tribune.

02:13:12.477 --> 02:13:18.217
There's a place where you can sit
just to watch just in the same way.

02:13:18.217 --> 02:13:20.957
If you go to the Spanish riding school
in Vienna, you can just sit in the

02:13:20.957 --> 02:13:24.667
balcony and watch as they work with the
horses and practice their art, practice

02:13:24.667 --> 02:13:26.387
their living art in front of you.

02:13:27.257 --> 02:13:32.777
Do yourself a favor when you go down
to Lisbon next time, include that

02:13:33.517 --> 02:13:37.137
as part of your cultural experience.

02:13:38.442 --> 02:13:42.822
And I think you're going to find that
you come away with a feeling of joy

02:13:43.772 --> 02:13:47.412
and participation in that tribe, not
just the cultural interest of the

02:13:47.412 --> 02:13:49.892
whole thing that will surprise you.

02:13:50.542 --> 02:13:54.172
So if people want to do this Sophia,
how do they get in contact with you?

02:13:54.172 --> 02:14:00.122
How do they, how can they find their
way to this temple of the horse that is

02:14:01.382 --> 02:14:01.722
Sofia Valenca: your place?

02:14:01.722 --> 02:14:06.262
You can visit our website,
ValenciaQuestionAcademy.

02:14:06.302 --> 02:14:06.482
com.

02:14:09.032 --> 02:14:14.812
You will find all the contacts there
and what we do and it will be a nice

02:14:14.992 --> 02:14:18.762
introduction for What you do what we do

02:14:19.482 --> 02:14:21.392
Rupert Isaacson: Valencia Equestrian

02:14:22.412 --> 02:14:22.822
Sofia Valenca: Academy

02:14:23.832 --> 02:14:27.352
Rupert Isaacson: dot com and
please spell Valencia for us

02:14:28.742 --> 02:14:31.302
Sofia Valenca: V A L E N C A

02:14:31.622 --> 02:14:31.972
Rupert Isaacson: Right.

02:14:32.232 --> 02:14:37.397
So for for those with An ear that a
lot of people add an eye to it and say,

02:14:37.397 --> 02:14:39.227
oh, Valencia, like the town in Spain.

02:14:39.287 --> 02:14:40.517
No, Valen Valen

02:14:41.867 --> 02:14:42.647
Sofia Valenca: Valen equestrian

02:14:43.287 --> 02:14:43.917
Rupert Isaacson: academy.

02:14:44.127 --> 02:14:46.617
Valencia equestrian academy.com.

02:14:47.027 --> 02:14:49.277
And they can find an
email link to you there.

02:14:50.247 --> 02:14:50.847
Exactly.

02:14:53.457 --> 02:14:57.937
Sofia Valenca: Well, the email, yes, the
email you want me to say the email it

02:14:57.937 --> 02:14:58.507
Rupert Isaacson: would be helpful.

02:14:58.627 --> 02:14:59.557
I think that's, yeah,

02:15:01.857 --> 02:15:03.687
, 
Sofia Valenca: the, the email is info.

02:15:04.287 --> 02:15:07.227
At Valencia equestrian academy.com,

02:15:08.167 --> 02:15:11.617
Rupert Isaacson:
info@valenciaequestrianacademy.com.

02:15:11.767 --> 02:15:13.897
And people can also
come and learn with you.

02:15:13.902 --> 02:15:15.397
They can come and do courses with you.

02:15:15.807 --> 02:15:16.467
They can come and Yes.

02:15:16.587 --> 02:15:17.367
Learn this horsemanship.

02:15:18.397 --> 02:15:18.997
Sofia Valenca: Exactly.

02:15:19.147 --> 02:15:23.977
So we do have some programs that
include the lessons and some others

02:15:23.977 --> 02:15:27.417
that includes also some sighting
which is, you know, since you're in

02:15:27.417 --> 02:15:29.917
Portugal this is a beautiful country.

02:15:29.922 --> 02:15:32.387
So you can have the
both of the best worlds.

02:15:33.367 --> 02:15:36.937
Like a little bit sightseeing
or adolescence as well.

02:15:36.947 --> 02:15:37.787
And can people,

02:15:37.787 --> 02:15:40.147
Rupert Isaacson: if they can't
get to, they're so busy in their

02:15:40.147 --> 02:15:45.387
riding arenas at home, if they
want Valences to come to them?

02:15:46.237 --> 02:15:47.087
Is that possible?

02:15:47.137 --> 02:15:48.627
Do you guys travel and teach as

02:15:48.627 --> 02:15:48.887
Sofia Valenca: well?

02:15:49.827 --> 02:15:50.287
We do.

02:15:50.307 --> 02:15:52.387
We do also clinics worldwide.

02:15:52.717 --> 02:16:00.127
We, we do nowadays we go to United
States, Australia, New Zealand within

02:16:00.127 --> 02:16:06.867
in Europe, we go to Italy, France,
Belgium, German, Spain England.

02:16:08.477 --> 02:16:16.497
And yeah, that's, those that You
will find us and and if one of those

02:16:16.497 --> 02:16:21.967
countries is not in the list, we can
always add a new country if you want

02:16:22.127 --> 02:16:25.337
one of us to go and travel to, to you.

02:16:25.617 --> 02:16:30.157
So the clinics, it's usually it works
like two days or three days clinics

02:16:30.557 --> 02:16:37.597
and where we will set a place and
people travel with their horses there

02:16:37.887 --> 02:16:40.237
and then we just do a clinic there.

02:16:41.057 --> 02:16:43.427
Rupert Isaacson: So if somebody
wants to learn the steps of this

02:16:43.427 --> 02:16:49.277
dance that you were discussing with
their own horse, It is possible.

02:16:49.287 --> 02:16:55.227
They can bring you to them, and you
guys, your team, will help them.

02:16:55.237 --> 02:16:56.657
Sofia Valenca: Yes, we can.

02:16:57.527 --> 02:16:57.857
Yes.

02:16:58.847 --> 02:16:59.557
Rupert Isaacson: Fantastic.

02:17:01.017 --> 02:17:09.157
Well, all I can say is having participated
in that dream myself and having

02:17:09.157 --> 02:17:10.732
found what a beautiful dream it is.

02:17:11.392 --> 02:17:17.572
and how it's set me and the horses I
work with and the people that I work with

02:17:17.572 --> 02:17:19.702
my horses with, how it set us all free.

02:17:20.762 --> 02:17:27.332
Truly, I would strongly encourage
listeners to participate in this dream.

02:17:28.202 --> 02:17:29.122
It's a very good dream.

02:17:31.072 --> 02:17:33.382
Sophia, thank you so much for coming on.

02:17:33.392 --> 02:17:33.682
Thank

02:17:33.692 --> 02:17:34.022
Sofia Valenca: you.

02:17:34.372 --> 02:17:34.752
Thank you.

02:17:34.752 --> 02:17:35.742
It's my pleasure.

02:17:35.832 --> 02:17:37.542
And you are always welcome.

02:17:38.617 --> 02:17:42.197
For those who want to visit us, it
will be our pleasure to receive you

02:17:42.667 --> 02:17:45.667
in Portugal in Villa Franca de Gira.

02:17:45.727 --> 02:17:48.847
It's just 20 minutes north of Lisbon.

02:17:49.317 --> 02:17:53.917
So very, very easy, very close
to, to the airport as well.

02:17:54.547 --> 02:18:02.337
And and if you feel Afraid of
traveling to another country that

02:18:02.337 --> 02:18:07.057
you don't know we provide everything
We'll pick you up at the airport.

02:18:07.127 --> 02:18:12.167
We'll bring you to our facility we will
take care of you and you will not feel

02:18:12.167 --> 02:18:15.557
lonely and You will be part of the family.

02:18:17.927 --> 02:18:20.357
Rupert Isaacson: Okay, and listeners.

02:18:20.437 --> 02:18:22.137
It's true Because it happened

02:18:22.147 --> 02:18:22.407
Sofia Valenca: to me.

02:18:22.837 --> 02:18:24.287
It did.

02:18:25.507 --> 02:18:25.767
Thank

02:18:25.767 --> 02:18:26.357
Rupert Isaacson: you so much.

02:18:26.497 --> 02:18:28.027
Oh, thank you, Sophia.

02:18:28.607 --> 02:18:30.807
Now, some listeners will have questions.

02:18:31.727 --> 02:18:35.727
Can we have you back on to
answer those questions as they

02:18:35.727 --> 02:18:37.057
come in for a second round?

02:18:39.167 --> 02:18:39.637
Sure.

02:18:39.807 --> 02:18:40.477
Sofia Valenca: My pleasure.

02:18:40.797 --> 02:18:41.227
That would be

02:18:41.227 --> 02:18:41.907
Rupert Isaacson: fantastic.

02:18:41.927 --> 02:18:42.487
Sofia Valenca: I can't wait.

02:18:42.597 --> 02:18:45.417
That will be, that will be amazing.

02:18:45.847 --> 02:18:47.227
Rupert Isaacson: So if you've
got questions that you want to

02:18:47.277 --> 02:18:48.787
ask her, what is a shoulder in?

02:18:48.927 --> 02:18:49.877
What is this dance?

02:18:50.277 --> 02:18:50.927
How does it work?

02:18:50.937 --> 02:18:55.717
For example, write them down,
send them to us and we will

02:18:55.767 --> 02:18:57.107
have her back to answer them.

02:18:57.287 --> 02:18:57.587
Okay.

02:18:59.187 --> 02:18:59.717
Sofia Valenca: My pleasure.

02:19:00.167 --> 02:19:01.337
I'll be waiting for it.

02:19:02.437 --> 02:19:02.977
Thank you.

02:19:02.987 --> 02:19:03.227
Bye.

02:19:03.817 --> 02:19:04.107
Rupert Isaacson: Bye.

02:19:04.587 --> 02:19:04.747
Bye.

02:19:04.747 --> 02:19:05.047
Bye.

02:19:06.047 --> 02:19:06.267
Sofia Valenca: Bye.

02:19:06.971 --> 02:19:08.081
Rupert Isaacson: Thank you for joining us.

02:19:08.111 --> 02:19:09.941
We hope you enjoyed today's podcast.

02:19:10.179 --> 02:19:15.219
Join our website, new trails
learning.com, to  check out our online

02:19:15.219 --> 02:19:20.409
courses and live workshops in Horse Boy
Method, movement Method, and Athena.

02:19:21.117 --> 02:19:25.765
These evidence-based programs have
helped children, veterans, and people

02:19:25.765 --> 02:19:27.775
dealing with trauma around the world.

02:19:28.102 --> 02:19:31.852
We also offer a horse training
program and self-care program

02:19:31.852 --> 02:19:35.092
for riders on long ride home.com.

02:19:35.391 --> 02:19:39.441
These include easy to do online
courses and tutorials that

02:19:39.441 --> 02:19:41.361
bring you and your horse joy.

02:19:41.897 --> 02:19:46.457
For an overview of all shows and
programs, go to rupert isaacson.com.

02:19:46.787 --> 02:19:47.717
See you on the next show.

02:19:48.130 --> 02:19:50.820
And please remember to
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