In this episode I speak with Anna Blake who is a dressage trainer, author and blogger. Her blog, Relaxed and Forward has a weekly entry since 2011, so if you like what you hear today, as I know you will, and you want to immerse yourself in what Anna teaches, her blog is a great place to start. She has also written 4 books and coaches people all over the world in dressage, one of the amazing things Anna brought to the horse world is the awareness of calming signals. These are signals that we may take as disrespect or disobedience from our horses, when actually, it’s our horses way of asking us to calm down please, and let’s work this out together.I imagine that if everyone in the horse world understood these signals and listened to their horse in this way, then oh my, what a beautiful world it would be for horses!If you'd like to buy Anna's books then you can go to book depository here.To read Anna's blog, organise a session with her or see where her next workshop is you can go to her blog website.She also has an author website here.To read the book Anna mentions Turid Rugaas' Calming Signals you will find it at book depository hereTo read the book Language Signs and Calming Signals of Horses : Recognition and ApplicationBy (author) Rachaël Draaisma, you can go to book depository here.To see photos of Anna you can go to the blog on my website here.This weeks show is brought to you by EQUITANA Australia. Equitana is happening from the 15th to 18th November this year in Melbourne.The McDowells Australian Brumby Challenge was developed by the Victorian Brumby Association.The Challenge follows the journey of 20 trainers as they transform untamed brumbies passively captured from Victoria’s high country, from wild to willing in 150 days. The Final is held across four days of EQUITANA, with trainers showcasing the transformation of their Brumby in front of the crowd and an expert panel of judges.There are two categories of the Challenge – Ridden and Youth. In the Ridden Challenge, brumbies aged four and older are saddle trained. In the Youth Challenge, yearling aged brumbies are trained and presented in hand only, not to be started under saddle or sat on.The finale of the McDowells Australian Brumby Challenge will be held at EQUITANA Melbourne 2018. Over the four days of the event, you can come along, meet the brumbies and their trainers and watch as the Brumbies are taken through their paces in several classes which are designed to showcase their trainer’s ability and the trainability and versatility of our Australian Brumbies.You can see this event with your days pass. To get your tickets go to equitana.com.au I hope to see you there. Make sure you say hi if you see me.