A Description of TTEAM® Trainings with Horses!!
TTEAM Workshops, Demos, Trainings:
Hands-On Workshops - one-day or two-days - involve teaching 6-20 participants, with half as many horses.
- Participants have a hands-on opportunity they are instructed as they do the TTouch or ground exercises.
- Auditors listen and watch, but do not work with the horses; they do have hands-on experience with the TTouch.
One-Day Demonstration - Using 3-4 horses, the practitioner demonstrates TTEAM techniques. The purpose is to give an overview of what TTEAM offers.
Two-Day Demonstrations - Linda, Robyn and TTEAM Instructors demonstrate the TTouch, ground exercises and some riding.
Week-Long Trainings - 5-8 days with 15-20 people for intensive hands-on experience in all phases of TTEAM.
One Horse - One Human at a Time
When we attend a TTEAM Clinic we arrive with excitement and wonder. The common bond that all of us share and the one that attracts us to Linda’s work, is that we each believe, in our own way, that there must be a better way to be with horses, other animals, the people in our lives and with the world in general.
One Horse - One Human at a Time
When we attend a TTEAM Clinic we arrive with excitement and wonder. The common bond that all of us share and the one that attracts us to Linda’s work, is that we each believe, in our own way, that there must be a better way to be with horses, other animals, the people in our lives and with the world in general.
The knowledge learned from TTEAM work is accumulative. In the beginning, it seems simple and easy. As we continue year after year to learn more of Linda’s shared skills, from clinics, workshops, CD’s, and her books, we begin to see a complete metamorphosis in our approach to riding, training and in many ways, to our interactions with other people as well. At a time of such great need for balance in the world and in our personal lives, by becoming TTEAM trained, we become part of the change.
Linda’s life philosophy is woven like a rich quilt and openly shared at her clinics. During the daily lunch break she shares ideas about thought provoking books and theories that open all of the participants to see that we all have unlimited potential. For most of us, there is a recognition that horses can be our teachers.
At Linda’s five-day clinics, many of us notice a personality pattern expressing itself as we work with our horses—our horses mirror this pattern back to us, many times it appears to be the root of the problem that we seem to be having with our horses, and yet it is a problem that we have in other aspects of our lives, too. The horses keep giving us an opportunity to not only get it right, but to get it better. At a recent workshop, there was a horse that was very pushy with its person. As the days went on, the person revealed how primary people in her life did not treat her with respect either. As she learned techniques to express her boundaries to her horse, she also had an awareness of different ways of being with humans in her daily life.
The work that Linda teaches at her clinics is far beyond horse training. Linda shares with her students the richness of her life journey with humans and with animals that she has finely tuned over the past fifty years. A woman always ahead of her time, she gently and humbly shares her knowledge with everyone present. The attendees at her horse clinics are of varied backgrounds from trainers, competitors, therapists, medical professionals, NARHA instructors, backyard horse owners and anyone with a desire to share with a horse in a more compassionate way. Whatever a person’s knowledge base is, Linda has a way of speaking and sharing examples directly so that they are easily understood and absorbed.
The variety of touches, leading positions, special riding equipment and connected riding techniques offer everyone something new and thought provoking to encourage and stretch skills, from professional trainer to horse lover. A questionnaire was sent to participants from a recent clinic. Christal Bannister, a massage therapist, answered, “I learned to touch a horse (and people) in a new way. I learned how to be soft and effective with the touches. I learned also how to be direct, observe and to give clear signals.”
TTEAM work offers us possibilities of dealing with our horses in an entirely different way. The depth of Linda’s work supports humans in continuing to unravel the myth of domination and ignorance in our relationship with our equine partners. When attending a five-day workshop, it is truly joyful to see horses and humans develop new ways of interacting together. In western civilization where horse ownership, racing, showing and winning have guided most peoples training background, it is so refreshing and important that we now have a choice.
Because of work like Linda’s TTEAM, we have an opportunity to see, to learn, to try and to succeed in improving the lives of our horses and at the same time improving our lives as we see that compassion, listening, honoring and thought out techniques are available to everyone. An attendee at a recent clinic, Kathleen Aspenns wrote, “I really like seeing Linda work with challenging horses---to see what to do when they don’t like the first ten things you try---keep trying something different. Linda’s work in heartfelt—I absolutely love her respect for and her communication with the horses. It inspires me to be a more compassionate person.”
Linda supports each one of her students and helps them to embark on their own journey filled with all of the skills that she can possibly share. TTEAM work is not only about changing the way we deal with horses, it is about changing the way we see, hear, listen and deal with our lives . . . changing the way we are with each other, one horse, one person at a time.
By Wendy Collins
Wendy is the Program Director for a Equine Assisted Therapy Program. She has participated in 8 five-day clinics with TTEAM over the last 12 years. She is an ordained minister in Hailey, Idaho.
Robyn's Explanation of TTEAM Trainings:
by Robyn Hood, TTEAM and TTouch Instructor, Linda's sister and Editor of TTEAM Connections Newsletter
What is the difference between a two-day training and a five- or seven-day training? What are the long trainings like? What do you do and who are the clinics for?
The two-day trainings (or workshops) that Linda Tellington-Jones, I, or a TTEAM Instructor conduct can be an introduction to or a continuing education in the TTEAM methods. We usually take four or five horses with a variety of problems, lameness, and/or common resistances. The first day we demonstrate the TTouch techniques and give the clinic participants a chance to experience what the TTouch is like.
The second day we show the TTEAM ground exercises and then ride one or two of the horses to show the exercises which can be done from the horse's back. We also demonstrate some of the equipment specific to TTEAM.
Even though some people don't bring their horse or participate in a "hands on" situation, they too learn many things that they can take home and use on their own horses. Auditors can really see TTEAM in a nutshell, sometimes witnessing amazing changes in behavior.
We have many people who attend three or four weekend trainings and are surprised how much they learn each time. The brain can only absorb so much at one time, and we usually learn the most about things that apply to our immediate situation with our horses.
When Marnie Reeder was giving a "hands on" weekend in Tasmania, a man participating in the course made the comment, "I usually consider a clinic worthwhile if I learn one new thing. In this clinic, I couldn't count the number of things I've learned."
The week-long (5/8 day clinic) training is intended to "chunk" down the various parts of the TTEAM methods and give people a chance for a "hands-on" experience. The week usually begins with a weekend introduction which is especially useful for those who have never attended a TTEAM clinic.
"Who can attend these clinics?" is a question I had never given much thought to before the recent training I gave in Palm Springs. Trisha and Ramone, who came for the week, were quite new to the horse world and were slightly apprehensive about whether they would fit in because of their lack of horse experience.
As usual we had a wonderful group of people with a range of horse experience and breed interest - inexperienced horse people who knew little about TTEAM to several professionals who have used it for several years. I feel that I can learn something from everyone with whom I work. The questions asked by those new to the horse world are often questions others would like to ask, but feel they "should" know the answers. Remember, without the questions there would be no answers.
Linda has often talked about the importance of a teacher admitting when she doesn't know an answer rather than trying to make up something. Not only is it more honest and safer, but also it is encouraging to others to find that even "experts" don't know everything.
It is our intent at the week long trainings to provide a learning environment that is as non-threatening and non-habitual to the human participants as well as to the horses. Unlike many horse activities, these trainings are not competitive and the atmosphere is one of sharing information and ideas. The teaching methods are intended to support and be positive. The sharing we do after each working session is invaluable because people experience things from various points of view and sometimes the insights or "ah ha's" of another really hit home.
