As with most of my colleagues, it was love at first sight when it came to horses. I’ve owned, showed, trail rode. But life with horses was expensive and time consuming, so is a family and all that goes with raising them. I took a long break from riding for many years then saw a sign asking for volunteers for a handicapped program…. First day I was hooked again, but life experiences made me a much more aware adult.
Back to riding, this time dressage and I loved the mental challenge of it and that it is designed to improve the fitness of the horse. Then, with our family grown and flown, we move to coastal NC. I started riding and leasing horses, and niggled by things that I saw and felt that didn’t seem quite right, but not quite wrong either. Researching things I could perhaps try that “did no harm” were on top of the list and the Masterson Method® checked all the boxes. Layperson can do, and “do no harm” intrigued me.
Off I went on the journey of videos, seminars and case studies. Injuries of my own have opened my eyes to what compensation does to our bodies and gives me a deeper insight into what a horse’s compensations do to their bodies. My eye and empathy for our equine partners is forever changed. I want to help them “be their best selves” and to pass on to every owner just how soft and quiet you can be and speak volumes to these partners of ours. To do this with them and to really “listen to what they have to say”.
For me, it’s about helping to enlighten their humans to be the best partner they can be while allowing the horses’ voices to be heard, and helping the horse to release accumulated tension to increase range of motion and improve performance.