Kristin and her BLM Mustang Twilight
Horse sense is a development of intuition when someone is willing to listen.
" I was always willing to listen to what my horse was trying to convey. This means that the horse has a say on how they feel about what is taking place between us in any given moment. I never thought riding was about controlling an animal, but with an animal. Riding for me was always about figuring out how to communicate so the horse understood what I was asking. When my horse eagerly or willing complied with my asking, that's when I’d have a GREAT riding day."
Since then Kristin has always looked for better ways to communicate with animals. She is driven to understand what facilitates that communication.
She taught horseback riding and Managed Stallions while attending U.C. Davis and is currently lucky enough to pass on her knowledge to her equally horse crazy teenage daughter Katelyn. Kristin has been in the horse industry throughout all the changes of theory and styles. She endeavers to stay informed with current industry theories. Her style of working with the animals has the decided focus of understanding the animal and working with the basic concept of ‘walk a mile in the other’s shoe.’
“In order to work with an animal you have to apply yourself and not make the animal do all the work. You have to really want to communicate in a way they understand; otherwise the relationship is very one-sided, frustrating, and not very fun.”
Today Kristin helps people with the many problems they encounter with their equine pals. She helps people realize that horses are more than willing to work with people if the people communicate clearly. Her work isn’t easy. The first step is the hardest. People have to be willing to start on a clean slate and open mind. They have to be willing to live a different way with their ponies and horses. Sometimes, they have to be willing to undo many layers of bad experiences in order to lay the building blocks for a new trust with their animal. “The hardest part for any human is to openly admit they are at the heart of their relationship issue. But I promise everyone this: When you do, you open the door to a world seen through new eyes.”
Kristin’s job is to help the person understand what it means to be equine and help people and their companions find that joyful feeling of being together.