Helen
I was born on a farm in the Highlands of Scotland, into a family whose history has long been interwoven with horses. Growing up, I was drawn to horses for freedom and friendship. They were part of the world of nature that surrounded me; they were my salvation too.
A lot of my educational years were spent away from home, so holidays were a blissful time where horses filled my days.
At 21, I took the leap and formally committed to being in the horse industry, beginning with Instructor training in the British Horse Society, which developed over 15+ years into horse-training, eventing, coaching, stable ownership and facility management in Great Britain and in North America.
In my late 30’s ‘Natural Horsemanship’ came into my life giving me tools for a new depth of teaching and training and eventually guided me to a deeper understanding of myself, leading to a realization that I had a fascination for psychology and human/horse behaviour.
In 2005 a big ‘left turn’ in my life took me in a completely new direction, carrying me forward to attending three years of intensive training with Linda Kohanov, at the Epona Center near Tucson AZ - to become an Advanced EponaQuest Instructor. These groundbreaking methods, drawing on centuries of equine wisdom as a means of understanding others and ourselves, turned my world inside out and upside down for a while.
Over the last decade the horses have become my teachers, guides and mentors in crafting an intuitive, heart-based style of training and coaching. Through experimenting, gathered knowledge, living with the horses and embodying these techniques, I now feel like my insides match my outsides!! I am standing, feet firmly planted on terra firma again, probably for the first time since those early childhood days.
“The Clarity of the Child with the Wisdom of the Crone”!!
Now that my foundation feels solid, my personal focus in this continuum is “self carriage” - called “collection” in the horse world. My horses continue to ‘mine’ me for more transparency and clarity in order to share their teachings both in my facilitator/mentorship role, and in refining and embodying these advanced heart-based horsemanship tools and skills in the horse world.
My transformation with the horses is continuous and it sets me on fire with a passion to share and support others on their journey.
As part of my own journey, I have become a Registered CranioSacral Therapist (RCST®) and offer treatments for both horses and people.
CranioSacral Bodywork for Horses is described elsewhere on this website.
