Anne Bailey grew up in a suburb north of Chicago, showing Hunter/Jumpers competitively throughout the country. She loved horses from a very young age, and her Dad still refers to her first pony ride at the fair as “…the most expensive dime I ever spent…!” She had the opportunity to ride some amazing horses, the clinic with some of the best including George Morris and Chris Kappler, and her summer spent as a working student under Rush and Carl Weeden of Brookwood Farm was both the best and the most exhausting summer she’d ever had.
While Anne attended Colgate University in central New York, she studied “abroad” in Santa Fe New Mexico and Stockholm Sweden, and graduated with exactly no idea what to do with herself. After a brief stint as a secretary, she met a pediatric Occupational Therapist while she was the acting director of a therapeutic riding facility up in Sheridan Wyoming, and decided to pursue her Masters in O.T. at Colorado State University. For 10 years, she was inspired by the people she worked with and loved the challenges to her problem-solving and activity-analysis skills. However, as she watched healthcare become less about helping people and more about the bottom line, she knew she needed a change.
She was on a family vacation up at a northern Wyoming ranch when she realized she HAD to get back with horses – and found Jim’s work. A divinely-inspired Google search for “Olympic Equine Massage” led to Jim’s work. Anne knew after watching videos of Jim’s work, and reading testimonials from his clients, that learning more about this Method was what she had to do! The journey to become a Certified Practitioner was challenging, with time and tears and trials, taking her to Kansas, Arizona, Wisconsin, Illinois, and finally culminating in Iowa – but it was and continues to be totally worth it!
Now that she is Certified, Anne loves how The Masterson Method® helps horses release both physical and emotional tension – but that’s just the beginning! She is continually amazed by how the relationship between horse and rider improves with each bodywork session. Teaching owners and riders about their horse’s subtle communication, and seeing them learn to relate to their horses on an entirely deeper and more profound level is one of Anne’s favorite parts of being on the wellness team.