Sophie Stallmann on her Horsemanship Journey including Trick & Liberty Training Horses, Equine Science, and Campdrafting.

🎙🐴Horsemanship Breakthroughs Podcast Episode 16

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An Interview with Sophie Stallmann aka @sophsta_buggsy

"Riding, liberty, everything is a 50/50 partnership, you need to be putting in as much effort as your horse, and if you want your horse to change, then you need to change"

Sophie was born and raised on her family’s horse and cattle property. She loves getting her hands dirty and working on the property whether it be fencing, processing calves, or mustering, she says this is where she truly feels at peace. 

Sophie has always been in love with animals of all shapes and sizes, but horses have taken a special part of her heart. 

She loves training and creating special bonds with her animals and learning from the process. Sophie really loves working with her horses right from the beginning, where they are present at or just after birth, through their weaning, starting under saddle, playing with liberty and trick training, and eventually competing in campdrafts and challenges.

Sophie also loves to teach what she’s learnt, and so she began her riding and training school where she teaches and helps others build their riding, equine skills, and relationship with their own horses. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Equine Science at the University of Queensland. Sophie is a full-time uni student, part-time photographer, and balances study, competitive equine goals, liberty and trick training, and teaching horse riding and liberty lessons.

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𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬:⁠⁠

👉🏼Sophie’s start with horses growing up on a horse & cattle property- including riding freshly started horses from the age of 5!!

👉🏼Balancing her adventure-packed life on the farm, training horses, teaching others, part-time photography, studying full time, starting young horses under saddle, and competing in campdrafting.

👉🏼Her love of studying animal behaviour & learning theory and how that has influenced the training of her own horses.

👉🏼The personalities of her different horses including Buggsy, Rabbit, & her baby horse Zink.

👉🏼Sophie’s balanced approach & philosophy to horse training 

👉🏼Defining positive and negative reinforcement and how & why Sophie uses both

👉🏼Bridleless riding with a neckrope

👉🏼Why Sophie and her horses love competing!

👉🏼ALL about campdrafting, the sport, and training a horse for competitive campdrafting.

👉🏼What makes a happy horse

👉🏼What started her interest in trick training and how she navigated the various trick training videos on the internet

👉🏼Why blaming the horse for mistakes can be detrimental to your horsemanship.

👉🏼The importance of patience

👉🏼Misconceptions around negative reinforcement

👉🏼The bits vs bitless debate! 

👉🏼Who inspires her and what she’s currently studying

👉🏼PLUS your requested questions answered including the process of training a horse for campdrafting and Sophie’s advice around teaching horses to rear.

👉🏼AND so much more!

Sophie is a beautiful down-to-earth human being, with wisdom and knowledge beyond her years. She is humble, intelligent, and passionate and I’m very excited to bring you this episode full of horsey goodness!

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Find out more & connect with Sophie on instagram @sophsta_buggsy

The following individuals/businesses were mentioned in this podcast:

@mustang_maddy

@ben_actionhorses

@alyssa_pellei_

@nativehorses

@matildebrandt

@matt_harnacke

❤️ Sophie’s parents were mentioned as a huge influence on Sophie  as a horsewoman so I thought I would give them a big shoutout also.

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Have questions or suggestions for future episodes? ⁠⁠

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Connect with me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amalia_horses/⁠⁠

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