Equine Assisted Psychotherapy~ In the beginning~

Patches and I ontop of  8 Mile Mesa - Pagosa Springs Colorado April 2005

It was in 2005  when I found out there is an international program where people were using horses as feedback, professionally, to help other people grow and learn about themselves!  I love it!  All these years, as my horses were plainly telling me, very clearly, about who I was being, I was learning a craft, a new business! 
Now, for me, it wasn't always easy to know just what they wanted me to know, but it was easy for me to see what my friends horses wanted them to know, so I started asking Jeanne, what she saw my horse telling me!  It was great!  or not, but it was what was going on right then and there.  Honestly it wasn't until years later that I actually appreciated this feedback and started to be able to see what my own horses were telling me. 
Maybe I was helping a  horse with some worry load in a trailer or stop running over it's owner, I could have someone elses horse on the end of my rope and get the feedback easily, but my own horses were much harder for me.  I'm sure its because it was personal for me with my own horses.  Other horses didn't know me and I didn't know them. I was there to help and they seemed to know it.  They were easy, and the results I found were consistent, they taught me to be able to use my own mirrors at home. 

I have been a student of Parelli Natural Horsemanship since 1996.  I was in my first clinic with Pat Parelli himself, and I learned so much about horses in that weekend, that when Pat said, just follow my program through the foundation program, then go out and do what ever you want with horses, you will have a solid foundation built on principals to see you through all the rest of your horse days.  So I did.  And in 2005, I got to fulfill on the dream of going to Horsemans' Heaven the International Study Center of Parelli Natural Horsemanship in Pagosa Springs Colorado for the entire year!  Patches of course is the horse that took me to Parelli University and got me here today.  She is quite the girl.  Full of opinions, beautiful in every way.  2005 was the fulfillment of my Parelli Journey.  Pat said, now, after your level 3 you have a license to learn.  So, once again I listened and I went on to study with Aimee Brimhall McCord.

Aimee listened to the horses like no one I had ever imagined.  Aimee brought my awareness around horses to a new level, to the level of being, without thinking about it, just feeling.  And shortly after I found Aimee, I found play.  Play with horses!  Fun, artistry, dancing, connection all with a childlike wonder.  This is where things started to get really good!  The answer always became yes!  All I needed to do was figure out the question, that was the fun part!  Horses became a game of interaction for me, a source of lightness, light on my line, light on the earth and light in my life, and I found MOST horses have a wonderful sense of humor!  They offer all matter of antics.  This is when my herd evolved into a friendly, fun close knit herd, this is also when Valentine came into my life. ....