Forest Horse has been in existence since a dear friend and I adoped two wild mustangs in 1998.  We wanted to create an online and mobile store to help people successfully care for and gentle wild horses and burros.  It was a successful retail business for many years and we made many friends especially when "manning" the booth at wild horse, dressage, trail riding type events. 

My interest through the journey of having my herd of horses and donkeys is now in empowering people to really connect with their animals in a respectful and reciprocal way and am ready to share that with the public here on the "ranch". 

Mentors are important, and I think they can help to explain what matters to me.. One of my first mentors was Linda Tellington-Jones. I lived near the TTEAM office in Pojoaque, NM and helped to clean monkey enclosures (macaques rescued from lab conditions and given a second chance) in exchange for doing some five day clinics with horses and companion animals  I was lucky to have encountered the methods of TTEAM upon getting back into horses in my thirties!

I am presently a Practioner in Training with Peggy Cummings' Connected Riding/Groundwork method. Working with Peggy (and Jillian Kreinbring, Diane Sept, and Deb Davies) over the last several years completely changed my relationship with my feisty little mustang Lalo. I learned to work with him without pushing and pulling and to develop the feel to allow his body and mine to release out of old bracing patterns. I love teaching this work to people as it is a simple way to really make  a difference for your horse and your bond.

I have completed Equine Biodynamic Craniosacral Level One with Shea Stewart and love working with the animals in this way. 

I have done several on line courses with Carolyn Resnick and find The Waterhole Rituals to be a beautiful way for myself and others to transform their relationship with the horses. It is liberty work and I have seen horse human relationships go from difficult to partnership fairly easily. I especially love Carolyn's emphasis on Sharing Territory which creates a magnetic connection with your horse or donkey.

I am currently studying Ribbleton Attunement online with Paulette Evans and learning much about having a true conversation with my equines. 

I have spent time with the amazing healer and communicator, Margrit Coates and learned how to easily use Hands on Healing with the animals and how to show others how to do that.

And finally my horses and donkeys are my great teachers--always drawing out creativity, courage, flexibility and calmness.

I have an MA in Creative Expressive Therapy from Southwestern College and another MA in Poetry Writing from Vermont College. I love writing and creating especially in groups and love process oriented creative expression.

Many people ask me about donkeys --also known as burros. I am always happy to outline their amazing qualities as they are often overlooked as a "stubborn"  "lesser" animal. Donkeys love attention and will stand for hours for scratching, loving and hanging out. They are less likely than a horse to spook or move quickly and they have an affinity for children. They are gentle and very smart. Once you get to know a donkey, you will fall in love with their solid, humorous, and loving personalities. My four burros were formerly wild, captured by the BLM, and put up for adoption. I adopted two of them in CA and two in San Antonio, TX at BLM adoption events.