I'm Josh Flannagan. I'm 20 years old.
And I work at Trinity Valley Farms. At the moment we've got around 21 horses that I have
to look after, feed and take care of. Before I started here I was pretty much just a bum
and not doing anything. Then I got this urge that I wanted to get a job. Having Aspergers and struggling socially has helped
strengthen my bond with horses... because they're not going to judge me like humans do. It's that we're equal; they may be an animal but there's no expectation there. They don't expect me to be a certain kind of person, and they
just take me for who I am, unlike some people. When I'm in the paddock with horses there are moments that I'm just there and equal, and on the same level as the horses. It feels amazing and so peaceful, when you're perfectly calm the
horses are calm and they begin to trust you. (Pete) We got a call from his case manager who asked if we had any work, I said no. They asked if he could come and do work experience. Again, I said no. And so in a last ditch effort the case manager asked if they could come out and just meet us to put a face to the name. And I thought it would be rude to say no to that, so I said sure. And he came out and the case manager did all of the speaking for him... and tried to encourage him to say a few words, and he was just really shy and looked at the ground and didn't want to communicate at all. And he just mumbled a couple of answers here and there. And from that I ended up allowing him to come out one day a week
for a bit of work experience on Fridays. (Josh) My CCS case manager told me, "You've got to show them that they can't do without you," so that's exactly what I did. I just worked my butt off and did everything and even
some stuff that I wasn't asked to do. (Pete) He just weaseled his way in really, and
eventually he was working most of the week. I thought it was time I started paying him instead of him just doing
work experience, so yeah he's now got a job here. He's doing really well, and I think he'll be firing me soon
and running the place himself. (Pete) Is there any heat in that leg Josh?
(Josh) A tiny bit of heat. (Pete) He connects with the horses better than I do. If you just
leave him out in the paddock with a horse... ...you'll look over there 15-20 minutes later, and the two of them are just having a conversation together and it's really cool to watch. He's just so focused on the relationship with the horse, and
so he achieves so much through that. (Josh) This is Gypsy. I'm training her for an eight year old boy.
So she's got to be quite safe. When she got close I turned my back to her,
so she wasn't intimidated by me. Just walking with her, being calm, and staying calm. And then
she was looking to come to me but still wasn't sure. So I just carried on and did it again, and she decided to walk up to me. So it showed that she wasn't afraid of me, or is ready to learn. When I'm working with horses I do my best to stay perfectly calm,
so that they stay perfectly calm... ...and that's when I try to build their trust. But you still have to be aware that if she was to get a fright... ...she could easily decide to come this way and jump up on top of me. When a horse is being broken in, and it obviously struggles with certain things, so with how I was growing up and all my struggles... ...I feel I'm just like them. At the beginning they're struggling,
and I've just got to support them through that. So, in a way I know exactly how they're feeling even
though they're horses and I'm a human. I'm not sure why, but I feel that if I don't look directly into the
horses' eyes then they won't feel intimidated. But if I'm looking at them I feel like they'll be like it's a challenge,
or you're trying to stand them off. All through school I walked around with my head down and never acknowledged anyone, or when I was talking to them... ...I'd just still look at the ground and talk to the ground more than them. I think it goes back to the Aspergers and just thinking that everyone was thinking I was an alien, or there was something wrong with me when they looked at me. So, if I didn't look at them then I wouldn't see them looking at me, so I wouldn't think that, which didn't work because I still thought that. Horses are fight or flight, some run, some turn around and fight you. She was trying to run from everything... ...so it's just teaching her that she doesn't need to run from everything, and she doesn't need to totally freak out. It's all desensitizing. It helps that I was like that because I can understand what they are like. (Pete) Hey Josh, how did Gypsy do today?
(Josh) Pretty good, she did everything really nicely. (Pete) What areas do you think you need to work on tomorrow?
Where to from here? (Josh) Do more with the stock whip, and then put the
saddle on and see how she goes. (Pete) Okay then, excellent. (Pete) He's just got that rapport with horses. I suspect that
part of that is from his own disability. Horses relate really well to that and that authenticity. (Josh) I know the things that I do struggle with, but to make me a better person I push myself to give it a go every time. I just try not to let it affect me. I just made that choice to live normally,
but what is normal anyway? I thought it would stop me doing things that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. But then it got to the point where I was like... ...no I don't want to be that person that stops this letting me do
what I want to do and enjoy my life. So it's from that point that I started hiding it and doing things to try and overcome it, even if was out of my comfort zone. I go to my mum's every weekend. On Friday night she comes and
picks me up and brings me down for the weekend. She has had her moments of struggling at times. Bringing us
kids up as a solo mum from when I was two years old. I think she's done pretty well. She has full love for us kids and did not want to give up no matter what people thought. The psychiatrist said to me, "Have you got any other children that have got similar signs?" And I said, "Yes the other three." So he said, "Bring them in," so I took them in and they
were all diagnosed with it as well. Josh was diagnosed with the most; he was diagnosed with Aspergers, Social Anxiety Disorder, Adjustment Disorder, Separation Anxiety Disorder, ADHD, and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. So he's battled with those the whole way through his schooling,
and even now still battles with them. He'll come across as being confident, being successful, but it takes Josh a lot of energy out of a day to actually be able to do what he needs to do over and above his Aspergers. That Aspergers is still there, and he just deals with it each day.
And I'm so proud of him, so proud of him. (Josh) She definitely put in the work and didn't listen to what a lot of people were saying, because she was determined... ...to let us kids live a normal life, and not let that label of
Autism or Aspergers affect us. I was bullied at school quite a lot. I use to think that they somehow they picked up that I was different to them with my Aspergers... ...and they thought there's something wrong with him, let's bully him.
I never really knew why they did it. And I decided I'm not putting up with this, so
I ended up causing a lot of havoc. At Primary, I just hated my teachers. One teacher, because I was struggling a bit and got a bit hyperactive... ...she threatened to get me injected to calm me down, which I didn't like that so I picked up the sickbay bed and throw it into the wall. And another time a teacher was having a go at me, so I picked up the netball hoop out of the ground and throw it down the court. I think if they actually took their time, instead of looking at me and
being like oh it's going to be difficult... ...we'll just ignore him and not take the time. I did well when I had one on one teaching, but most of the time they never had enough teacher aides to do that. So I use to not do the work. They never had the systems for people
like me. It felt like they never actually cared. They were just like, oh there are all these kids in this classroom; one's not going to matter, I don't really need to care about that one. I just feel that they should care about every student
as equally as another, which they don't. These kids with Aspergers are quite often high IQ, but they
still need support in the classroom environment. But because they're classified as high IQ, they're not
there for the funding, they're outside it... ...because you've got to be functioning at only 3% to get the funding to get a teacher aide, to get the support you need in school. The minute you start achieving, they rip it from underneath you.
How are the kids ever going to reach their potential... ...and achieve without the support? So there needs to be change in the education system to cater for these Aspergers kids. They need their own funding criteria, because you can't
compare Josh to somebody with Down Syndrome. But the funding boxes them all together. And it's just not working. (Josh) People don't understand unless they've actually lived with it
like we do. They need to live with it and know how it feels... ...before they can actually say no you don't have it,
or you're just playing. If they've lived with it then they'd understand how difficult it is to deal with, hide, like I tried doing. But you can do it and I'm an example of it. When I look at my childhood I was very similar to the kids,
I hated big crowds, I hated new people... ...I hated change and liked everything just the way it was, I didn't succeed at school. And we definitely know their dad had it. So I think it's a combination of hereditary from me, from their dad. Their dad was ADHD, and I'm ADHD, so when you've got both parents with it the kids can't help but have it. But I still love them, I love them with all their warts. (Josh) I have one sister and two brothers. My eldest brother,
he's possibly got worse Aspergers than me. He was pretty much stuck in his room all the time gaming. My sister she's just got Autism, but as mum use to say, an attention span of a goldfish, which is three seconds. There were heated moments at times, we were always fighting. What was Uncle Josh like when he was little? A little shit (laughs). Yes I was a little brat at times, but not any more.
I've turned out to be a good boy. (Zanitta) We couldn't understand each other really. I couldn't understand how he was feeling, or he couldn't understand how I was feeling, so we let it out with anger. (Josh) It would have been hard to have people constantly saying,
oh they're not going to be able to do this, they won't do that... ...but her love for us kids is obviously stronger than
what people were saying. I've only been riding for two years and four months. I love it.
The thrill of going fast; you feel so free. You can just go and feel so relaxed. You just feel free. Breaking in horses is a difficult process. It's never easy. I lot of the time if I walk into a paddock, if a horse is stressed, automatically I become stressed. So it's like I'm feeling what they're feeling.
But it's like I link with that horse. You definitely have to read body language, but
it's something more than body language... ...it's half spiritual that you understand them on a higher level than just them being a horse and you can read their body language. Thinking if I was the horse it would be quite scary, if someone were riding the horse and the wind blew a tarp or something and they wouldn't see it... ...and jump sideways and take off. So they'll be able to deal with it,
so they won't get their rider or them injured. (Pete) Josh when will you know when it's safe to get on the horse? When I've got control of the front feet, back feet, and the head. Because if I don't have that on the ground then I'm not going to have it on her. And that's the back feet right there, asking her to move her back feet away from me, so that I don't get kicked if I do come off. (Pete) Just give it a moment, just stop and rest.
You're just chasing a little too much. (Josh) Love and trust with a human is exactly the same to a horse.
It's exactly the same. Just because they're animals doesn't mean that they shouldn't have trust or shouldn't be able to love someone or something. (Pete) Sit up. Hold on. Hold on. (Pete) Grab the saddle with one hand. (Pete) Grab the saddle with one hand so you keep your balance. (Pete) I'd still hold the reins on both sides. (Josh) Every horse is different. You get some horses that handle it
quite well, and then you get horses that go berserk. It's just the constant not knowing what's going to happen next,
and you have to be on your on guard at all times. Plus, when they get it right and you've helped them get it right,
it's an awesome feeling. He hasn't actually fallen off in the two years that he's been here. He's had a couple of quick dismounts where he's landed on his feet, where most of us would have probably woken up in hospital. And so, he's got a really good seat, and just good reactions... ...and response in the right way, instinctively, when things
aren't going how they're meant to be. (Josh) A lot of people think that I'm crazy doing this.
But I still get terrified, utterly terrified. (Pete) When he first arrived, he couldn't make eye contact.
He really avoided speaking to anyone actually. But in the first six months of just being with us, we really encouraged him to greet all the clients as they arrive and make them feel welcome, ...and that was really tough for him to begin with. But over time he's become more and more confident in communicating properly. (Josh) When I first went to Pete's there was no way I was able to teach until he started getting me to interact with new people. Once I got to know Pete, I knew he would be the one to throw me in the deep end and get me doing that stuff to make me grow as a person. (Josh) People come here, they see me, they know I teach.
They sometimes get told where I've come from... ...and I'm just happy they don't look at me as an outsider,
but they treat me equal. I do still struggle socially at times, sometimes I just don't want to be around humans, but it's part of life and you have to be. (Pete) Looking at him, you'd think he's coping completely fine,
but on the inside he's probably still really stressed... ...but he's not letting that hold him back. And he's still willing to
step out into that uncomfortable area and give things a go. So that's how we've been able to help him so much is
because he's so willing to help himself. When he first came to us, he hadn't ridden so we taught him
how to ride. And he took to that like duck to water. And that was fantastic for his confidence. He came along to a Western Clinic, and we had another instructor come in from out of town... ...and they couldn't believe that he'd only been riding for 2-3 months when he had that Clinic. They thought he'd been riding... ...for a couple of years and they just raved about him and he was
just on 'Cloud 9' and that did him the world of good. It's been since he's gone to work with Pete, that that boy has blossomed, and now can look people in the eye... ...hold his head up high, and be proud of his achievements,
because Pete gave him a go. (Josh) I'd definitely want to go out competing, show jumping,
and hopefully be competing around the world eventually. I recently just bought a horse; she's a bit of a handful.
When I first got her, she had trust issues as well. You could say that she's got Aspergers too,
but I don't know if horses can get it. She reminded me of myself, having issues in the past and struggling
to deal with them and to having the help that she needs. I felt I would be the one to give her the help.
I just fell in love with her. And got on her there and then, and yeah that was the day
she tried killing me. But I still loved her... ...I just found there was something there and I've just worked on it,
and now we've got a really strong bond. I'm going to take the bridle off, and attempt to ride her with
just what you see, nothing apart from this. I called her Luna because she reminds me of the moon at night,
and you can see the craters... ...and because she has her moments of craziness I add "tic"
on the end of Luna so she turns into a Luna-tic. She had been beaten in that past, so I was never going to make it that she was scared of me, and I would find a different way to do it. This is to build our trust and our bond together. You need to respect this, I wouldn't recommend it if you don't trust your horse. People call me a horse whisperer, but it is not really about talking to
the horse, it's more about listening to the horse. Thinking back to the difference between when I first got her and now, I'm just so happy I could help her. It's my hobby that I'm doing, not my job. And that's what I love about being here is seeing all the horses
and I'm like yeah this is where I want to be. I actually thought that when I left school, I was mostly likely
going to end up in jail and do something really bad. But, it turns out I didn't. >From being made to feel like I was a failure when I left school,
to being a farm manager now and breaking in horses... ...it's a massive achievement.
Great docu, slow and positive (kiwis eh :D
YT comments are interesting also (dude is handsome af).
And check the channel, so much good stuff.
Asperger's is no longer a valid medical condition. He is simply on the Autism Spectrum Disorder chart, now.