Interview with Jo Sheval
Question:
Jo, do you remember your first word.
Answer:
Yes, it was “Horse” – I also remember when my great grandmother died, I was 3, this was my first introduction to the concept of dying. I asked my parents “where do you go then when you die”, as the thought of completely disappearing didn’t make sense to me. They answered, “when you die you go to heaven”. I asked “what’s in heaven” my parents replied “everything you could possible dream of”. I asked again “horses?” they said “Yes”. My reply was “Well, I want to go there now!”
Question:
When did you get your first horse
Answer:
The Christmas of 1977, I was 10 years old and my parents bought me an old roan stock horse mare. Her name was Mabs. My grandparents owned a farm near Forbes in NSW and I use to spend about 3 months a year there. My parents where not into horses (it skipped a generation) so they gave me a bridle and brush and that was it, they were terrified I might fall off as I was unsupervised most of the time and didn’t want me to be dragged. Some misfortunes are actually blessings in disguise. I didn’t mind, I just wanted a horse, I rode Mabs for the next 4 years, bareback and developed a solid independent seat. Something I am now very grateful for.
Question:
Do you come from a Horsey family
Answer:
Not directly, my parents were not into horses at all, they moved away from the country to Sydney where I grew up. However, my mum’s father was a horse trainer and my aunty was also horse crazy breeding and training racehorses all of her life. So it’s definitely in the blood.
Question:
Do you have a soul mate horse?
Answer:
Yes, Nutty, he is my Welsh B chestnut stallion and I feel like we have spent life times together.
He is an amazing animal and we have a very strong bond.
Question:
Who is your favourite riding horse?
Answer:
Bonnie. She is my stock horse x brumby mare, years ago I declared I would never, ever ride her or want anything to do with her as she was very difficult, aloof and explosive. We know that now to be a “Yellow” horse. However, she is now the most solid, respectful and reliable horses we own, I ride her bareback and bridleless.
Question:
What are your other horsey interests?
Answer:
Well, I love breeding and observing horses. I started breeding in 1999 and became addicted. I love imprinting, training and establishing relationships with all of my horses. It is really full filling to breed a horse or pony, imprint, train and then ride them. It’s like a dream really!
I also love photographing horses, I can sit in our fields for hours, observing and taking photos of our horses, it’s taught me so much about herd behaviour, dynamics, patterns and personalities. I feel so grateful for these opportunities.
Question:
What are your other interests?
Answer:
I have so many, I love my work, I’m an online marketing strategist and website developer. I’ve had an extensive history in marketing and advertising and again feel blessed that I have been able to work in a career that allows me to expand as a person and to constantly use the endless creative energy that I have.
I also love to read and study, I have a massive collection of books and educational CD’s and DVD’s in the areas of self-development, spiritual psychology, horse training, healing, nutrition, natural health, business and marketing. I make a point of reading or listening to something every day. Learning is something that is very high on my values. I also attend many workshops and have had the opportunity to be mentored by some truly gifted and amazing people.
I also love studying healing modalities and have completed modules 1 and 2 in Body Talk and also have been very involved with Photonic Therapy.
Question:
Who have been your mentors?
Answer:
I have quite a number of mentors who have helped me on my journey, either personally or through their books and courses. I spent 2 years with Brett McFall, he owns and runs World Internet Summit in 18 countries and is a fully fledge entreprenuer who has the biggest heart and warmest personality. It has been a joy to be part of his Leadership Program.
I also really respect James Schramko, he is another very authentic business person that is a true leader in his field in Australia and Internationally.
I’ve had the opportunity as well to learn from Dale Beaumont a very successful Australian author and I’ve done courses with America’s number one female entreprenuer, Loral Langemeier.
On the horsey side of things, I love Klaus Ferdinand Hemphling, he brings a spiritual philosophy to horsemanship which connects with me at a deep level as does Linda Kohanov, author of “The Tao of Equus”. I also have regular lessons with natural horsemanship instructor, Kailie Nott who has probably had the biggest influence on my riding. I have never come across anybody else in the equestrian industry that is able to see and understand the complexities of horses, training and riding to the level that she does, she amazes me continually.
On a spiritual development level I have enjoyed the courses I did with international animal communicator, Loesje Jacob, I completed Body Talk modules 1 and 2 with Loesje and still enjoy today how much my own connectedness to source grows in her presence.
Question:
What have been your favourite books?
Answer:
There a couple of books that really stood out for me, “A New Earth” by Eckart Tolle, I have a lot of his material and totally embrace his spiritual teachings. Linda Kohanov’s “The Tao of Equus” and “Riding Between the Worlds” plus Imke Splike’s “Empowered Horses”.
Another book that really impacted me when I was in my early twenties was “The Course of Miracles” this really opened my mind to new possibilities.
Of course there are many other authors that I cherish such as Dr John Demartini, Bob Proctor, Artemis Limpert and Carolyn Myss to name just a few.
I also love Carl Jung as I am a prolific dreamer and have a huge amount of symbolism in my dreams, so Carl Jung’s teachings and books have been apart my life for many, many years. There’s a couple more I’d like to mention, Bruce Lipton, Author of wisdom of the cell and Greg Braden, 7 mirrors of relationships. Phew! I better stop there as I could list dozens of others.
Question:
You developed the Horse and Owner Personality Decoder, how did that come about
Answer:
As I mentioned earlier, I spent a lot of time hanging out with the herd and I also spent every evening for years on end discussing problem horses and their owners over dinner. I started seeing patterns develop and in 2004 started to develop a matrix of problem situations and events that take place with people and horses and a solution strategy for each situation. At the same time I was listening to another mentor of mine, Jerry Clark who had released an educational DVD on the “Colours of Marketing” it was based on peoples personality types of which he had four colours. He listed all the different types of behaviours and traits which of course I connected with immediately and used colours and a system I thought to be relevant to profile horses and their owners based on my previous research.
I had also been a fan of Carl Jung for many years and started to research personality profiling systems. At this time another horse profiling chart became available in the industry which really dampened my spirits. I sat on my project for a year working on it here and there and finally one day made the decision to continue with my communication tools, after all Henry Ford wasn’t the only one to invent a car!
Once I had dedicated myself to the project again, I spent a couple of more years working on the profiling decoders which include humans as I believe the human has the greatest impact on the horse to finally launch the “Horse and Owner Personality Decoder”. I’m very proud of this achievement but could not of accomplished this without the help of Kailie. It is our gift to the equestrian community to bring about happiness and harmony with horses!
Please contact:
Jo Sheval for more details
0478 7111 80
45 Connors Lane, Seville VIC 3139, Australia