Hello, my name is Iris Males, helping horses and other animals as well as later on in life people, has been my forever passion. This is how I ended up being an equine facilitated relationship coach - and I absolutely love it!
My background is multifaceted with many years in customer service. I also know a lot about management consultancy work due to my Dad's company. Just before we started a family, I fullfilled a burning desire to start my journey as a Master Saddler & Harness Maker. This enabled me to work from home and be there for my two boys as well as learning something new - a real passion of mine!
I immensly enjoyed this labour of love and my passion took me all the way to the top, winning the National Competition in Saddlers Hall in London with my beautifully restored Sidesaddle.
A few years on, one of my boys wanted to learn the piano accordion. So I started to teach him my lifelong skill and found it so enjoyable that I started teaching other poeople. 12 years on I am still doing it! My mother, also a teacher of this instrument started me at 6 years old and by the time I was 13 I played in orchestras at international laymens level, all the way through to my late teens.
I am very grateful for all of the opportunities I have been presented with and feel strongly about helping others to learn more about themselves, life and the relationships we are presented with along the way.
In my fourties I had to face a completely new and unexpected challenge. My health was dipping in and out and I eventually found out I suffered from a sensitivity called EHS (Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity). This is a sensitivity to modern technology caused by Electromagnetic fields as well as Radio Frequencies and so on. This was the reason we relocated from Hampshire to Bryn Y Garreg here in Mid Wales. It took me 2 years to find the right place, but finally we were lucky enough to find escape from modern day living pollution. This beautiful small farm is my refuge and also my tiny bit of heaven and I would like to share with all of you! To share the things we have gives rise to no end of joy and rejoicing, much more so than keeping it all to oneself.
Once again fortune favoured me and I am so greatful for that! This was the birth of 'The Wireless-Free Farm'.
I do not believe in the notion that animals or people for that matter are ‘bad’ and rather look at it that they are a product of their environment. A mixture of having been misunderstood, mistreated or have experienced a case history of a long line of miscommunication – this happens a lot with animals.
Acknowledging a horse’s spirit and soul is at the root of my approach when meeting an animal which feels very confused and acts out due to previous negative experiences. The answer to their plight is creating an environment where they can thrive amongst their own kind, without being judged by people.
This allows them to reconnect with their inner workings, some of them for the first time. During and after that readjustment period, my work starts with them on the ground.
These original ‘Write Off’s’ which I affectionally call my ‘Renegades’ all turn into the most amazing, loving, kind, affectionate, giving, understanding and patient teachers of their own.
I spent thousands of hours in the saddle during my early riding career getting involved in hacking, showjumping, long distance & cross country. After suffering a serious injury during a horse riding accident, I was temporarily forced to stop riding for a few years at the age of 25. My passion undiminished, I helped re-train ‘Oakley’ my little ‘Lotus Elan’ to pull a carriage. He loved it! And so did I!
After initially training with a scurry master, I decided to slow down a little and found great joy and excitement in the FEI style carriage driving world.
As it turned out the relationships I managed to build with my equine partners were even more tested and rewarding in the driving world. There all you have is your voice, your reins, and your bond with your horse out there in front of you.
After Oakley retired many years later, I found Kunalia who I literally rescued away from his apparently successful showring career. He had been produced to win the Nationals two years in a row when I bought him. Little did I know that the judges who produced him had drugged him up to the hilt with painkillers and sedatives for the entire 2 years in the ring!!!
I was incensed and very much saddened on Kunalia’s behalf (at that time going under a different name). The appalling acts committed in the name of 'winning' at top level left me empty and disillusioned. As a result I stopped making top showring harness (I was working at the time as a Master Saddler and Harness Maker). I no longer felt I could be part of a setting where clearly winning was more important than the welfare of horses. My aims and actions were always and still are tied in with the best intentions to improve the performance and comfort of the horse, not to indirectly support horses' misery and suffering.
As usual I picked up the pieces of other peoples wrong doing and started Kunalia's long journey back to health and in his case sanity. I started with helping him through the painful mental and physical episodes of going 'cold turkey' in my fields and being scared of the dappled light shining through the trees, complete bodily 'freezes', experiencing pure panic attacks and more. A new experience for both of us!
It took 4 years before we had managed to work through all his hangups and ready to go to shows again. Really enjoying his job as a carriage driving pony once again. My boys were young but keen to come along, so we diversified a bit and started entering Le Trec events. The kids loved the speed, the rattle, and the rosettes; I loved what our bond allowed us to do together. It was never about winning and all about how well we could do together. Yet we got placed every time we were out.
The relationship I had with Kunalia was second to none. We enjoyed each other’s company to the fullest, whether it was free style in the field, just hanging out, or competition driving. Anything we did together we loved. I am very sad to say he passed away at the end of 2023 aged 26. Leaving behind a big gaping hole which is going to be hard to fill.
Almost 10 years ago by now, after 30 years of helping my ever changing beautiful herd of ‘Renegades’ to find their feet and belief in people again; they pushed me to go help and inspire others. My kind and understanding herd members are prime teachers with my role mainly being the facilitator and interpreter at large.
Welcome to my journey! Let's meet up and join paths if only for a little while.
