Elke Mastwijk openly shares a difficult personal healing journey. Offering a tender, heartfelt account of overcoming loneliness and depression with the help of people and animals. Listeners describe it as a deeply moving story that resonates with many, even those without a particular connection to horses. Elke's podcasts are well regarded for their honesty, vulnerability and inspirational story telling. While deeply personal the themes of her story are universal, allowing listeners to connect with their experiences of loss, loneliness and the struggle to find and maintain balance.
What were the life lessons my Friesian gelding Jelle taught me? What was the biggest gift that came out of our journey through life together?
Find out in this bonus episode how Jelle and I are doing seven years down the line and how my life with Gijs unfolds today.
This is the last episode of the first season.
Check out the Instagram account goldenfriesian for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
Editing, music and performing artist: Gijs Graafmans
Lyrics "touch the world": Elke Mastwijk
Song release: May 25 - 2025 on all mayor platforms
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
Elke Mastwijk: www.intouchwithelke.com
Horse trainers featured in this podcast:
Elsa Sinclair: www.tamingwild.com
Anne Boin: www.ahappyhorse.nl
Sharon and Laura Wilsie: www.horsespeakacademy.com
27 Apr 2025
E 10 | Happily ever after?
What happened to Elke her Friesian horse Jelle and her boyfriend Gijs after the happy ending of the last episode? Find out in this episode what happened next.
Follow the Instagram account goldenfriesian for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
Editing and music: Gijs Graafmans
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
Elke Mastwijk: www.intouchwithelke.com
19 Apr 2025
E9 | Dating again
This podcast series is about life, work love and horses. Let's talk about love today.
I dated in every decade of my life. My teens, twenties, thirties, forties and fifties. Rebecca and I discuss how dating evolved through these decades and how I struggled with it.
After a celibate lifestyle that lasted for more than four years, I decided to try dating again during the pandemic. To my surprise the years spent with my Friesian horse Jelle, completely changed my attitude to the men I dated and unexpectedly I met the love of my life.. The needle in the hay stack called Tinder.
Follow the Instagram account goldenfriesian for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
Editing and music: Gijs Graafmans
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
Elke Mastwijk: www.intouchwithelke.com
10 Apr 2025
E8 | The pandemic crisis v.s. opportunity
Many people felt trapped by the limitations that were imposed on their daily lives and routines when the COVID pandemic hit the Netherlands early 2020. Strangely enough this was the moment I managed to get unstuck. During the first lockdown I made a series of decisions that opened up new opportunities for me and my horse and in the years that followed our lives changed in many positive ways.
Follow the Instagram account goldenfriesian for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
Editing and music: Gijs Graafmans
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
Elke Mastwijk: www.intouchwithelke.com
Elsa Sinclair: www.tamingwild.com
Sharon and Laura Wilsie HorseSpeak: www.sharonwilsie.com
23 Mar 2025
E7 | Going around in circles
After the excitement and the adventures of the first two years of owning my own horse wore off, my Friesian gelding Jelle and I settled into a routine where we got quite stuck and I felt we were going around in circles.
How we dealt with that and the lessons that were learned is what this episode is about.
Welcome to #stuck if you are ready for an unpolished true story of a woman who struggles with the ups- and downs of life and the consequences of her choices.
Follow the Instagram account "goldenfriesian" for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
Editing and music: Gijs Graafmans
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
Elke Mastwijk: www.intouchwithelke.com
Anne Boin: www.ahappyhorse.nl
Yacinta Feringa: www.allin1forhorses.nl
Susan Harden: www.liveandbreathehorses.com
#stuck #selfdevelopment #horsestory #friesangelding #jelle&elke #personal journal
16 Mar 2025
E6 | The horse I coudn't see
My friesian gelding Jelle moves to a new home 1,5 hours away from Amsterdam, where he is in the care of my friend Anne who also trains him. When Jelle returned home to me four months later we started over at a new livery stable on beautiful castle grounds thirty minutes from Amsterdam. Find out how we settled into our new home in this episode.
Welcome to #stuck if you are ready for an unpolished true story of a woman who struggles with the ups- and downs of life and the consequences of her choices.
Follow the Instagram account "goldenfriesian" for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
Editing and music: Gijs Graafmans
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
Anne Boin: www.ahappyhorse.nl
Yacinta Feringa: www.allin1forhorses.nl
Elke Mastwijk: www.intouchwithelke.com
Susan Harden: www.liveandbreathehorses.com
10 Mar 2025
E5 | The abandoned farm
I moved my Friesian gelding Jelle into a new home, an abandoned farm on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Though we relished in the freedom to be able to do what we wanted, the events that unfolded there were unexpected and pretty soon we had to move again.
Welcome to #stuck if you are ready for an unpolished true story of a woman who struggles with the ups- and downs of life and the consequences of her choices.
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
Follow the Instagram account "goldenfriesian" for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
Editing and music: Gijs Graafmans
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
Anne Boin: www.ahappyhorse.nl
Elke Mastwijk: www.intouchwithelke.com
Susan Harden: www.liveandbreathehorses.com
2 Mar 2025
E4 | Buying a Friesian gelding called Jelle
I took a year to prepare myself before I bought my horse. I researched what kind of horse and breed might be right for me and what stable would suit me.
By the time I found a five year old Friesian gelding called Jelle I was ready to buy. Within six weeks I moved him to a small farm on the outskirts of Amsterdam.
My life would never be the same again.
Welcome to #stuck if you are ready for an unpolished true story of a woman who struggles with the ups- and downs of life and the consequences of her choices.
Follow the Instagram account "goldenfriesian" for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
#alexandertechnique #horsestory #naturalhorsemanship #firstimehorseowner #selfemployed #friesiangelding #jelle&elke #liveandbreathehorses
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
Editing and music: Gijs Graafmans
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
Anne Boin: www.ahappyhorse.nl
Elke Mastwijk: www.intouchwithelke.com
Susan Harden: www.liveandbreathehorses.com
24 Feb 2025
E3 | The wounded healer
In this episode I share how my life slowly changed for the better and I introduce some people who supported me along the way. Horses played a mayor role in helping me heal and as I started to create a better life for myself, I began to nurture the dream of owning my own horse.
Welcome to #stuck if you are ready for an unpolished true story of a woman who struggles with the ups- and downs of life and the consequences of her choices.
Follow the Instagram account "goldenfriesian" for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
#woundedhealer #alexandertechnique #horsestory #firstimehorseowner #depression #parentification #housinginamsterdam #selfemployed #friesiangelding #jelle&elke
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
Editing and music: Gijs Graafmans
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
Elke Mastwijk: www.intouchwithelke.com
Susan Harden: www.liveandbreathehorses.com
21 Feb 2025
E2 | How I got stuck for more than a decade
Between 2002 and 2014 I managed to get stuck in my life on many levels: professionally, financially as well as emotionally. In this episode I reflect on how this came about.
Welcome to #stuck if you are ready for an unpolished true story of a woman who struggles with the ups- and downs of life and the consequences of her choices.
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
#depression #parentification #housinginamsterdam #selfemployed #friesiangelding #jelle&elke
Follow the Instagram account "goldenfriesian" for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
www.intouchwithelke.com
Editing and music: Gijs Graafmans
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
12 Feb 2025
E1 | Why #stuck?
If you are ready to listen to a true story of a woman who struggled with the ups and downs of life and the consequences of her choices, then #stuck (https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/stuck?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZU16fyD8dWOGoQ_1LKPOq047uphpwwyFocYff9ltavqkOXJZ4ZZOQAfuixsx8giuQgRoWCzBomyuMFlRhbVDlhVmyP9VDmgIhRLDr5291yEnWeTv_vfOdiXi4bnWv1gVi0e76mMH_PGQQZA0tbkcyNLiA3Aqc9iN7J4Pvlj0wz5SQ&__tn__=*NK-R) is your podcast. At times painful to listen to but hopefully you will find it is also story that will inspire you to keep going even when you have somehow lost the plot in life, love, work or with your horse and feel you are going around in circles.
For more than 10 years I practically disappeared from social media. I had nothing to share in a life that was going nowhere. I returned to social media when I felt better and quickly became bombarded by influencers with polished posts trying to sell me everything from health and lifestyle advice to vitamin pills. I scrolled through endless positive posts with pictures of horses behaving perfectly and doing only amazing things. Caribbean holidays, before and after weight loss pictures and promise of solutions to all my problems and financial gain.
At one point I realised I saw only a few authentic, true and unpolished stories that were not connected to a sales pitch. So I decided to share my own story and call it exactly what it was: #stuck (https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/stuck?__eep__=6&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZU16fyD8dWOGoQ_1LKPOq047uphpwwyFocYff9ltavqkOXJZ4ZZOQAfuixsx8giuQgRoWCzBomyuMFlRhbVDlhVmyP9VDmgIhRLDr5291yEnWeTv_vfOdiXi4bnWv1gVi0e76mMH_PGQQZA0tbkcyNLiA3Aqc9iN7J4Pvlj0wz5SQ&__tn__=*NK-R).
Failure and success are part of the rhythm of life, they depend on many circumstances. Some of which are not our own doing. In this podcast I open up to my friend Rebecca about a complicated time in my life when I felt stuck for more than a decade and the people and horses that helped me heal.
Elke Mastwijk in conversation with Rebecca Gwynn-Jones
#stuck #selfdevelopment #horsestory #friesangelding #jelle&elke
Follow the Instagram account #goldenfriesian for photos and videos that go with this podcast.
www.intouchwithelke.com
Editing and music: Gijs Graafmans
Photography: www.maybelpictures.com
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
68,068
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Spotify
5.0 / 5
12 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 33 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
24
Social presence
0
YouTube
76
Engagement
32
Contact #stuck
Guest appearances
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