Tamasine BCCS.CanBhvPrac worked with horses for over twenty years and taught and studied horsemanship for around half that time.  

For a number of years she was also a teacher and trainer of horsemanship at her own centre, around South Africa and other countries.  Often those coming to the centre would meet the resident Ridgebacks and ask if she also trained dogs – to which the answer would be “no, only horses”.  However, over time, it became clear that although horses are considered prey animals and dogs predators, they actually both need the same thing when it comes to the humans in their lives – guidance and consistency, given with calmness, confidence and compassion.  

She discovered that what she taught in horsemanship lessons: that it’s about who we need to be more than a method of training – also applied to dogs.  This led to her taking up studies in dog behaviour and starting on a training programme for dogs.  

After working with a friend and colleague to create a self-development course called Inner Game (after W. Timothy Gallwey’s books) initially using horses as the teachers, it seemed that it might work just as well with dogs.  It did. And that was how Leadchanges was born.

Tamasine continues her studies, also attending workshops and gaining inspiration from others.