Transformative Horsemanship

07/16/2026

I did it! The website is back up and running. Moving forward this is the best place to find me and communicate.

Here's a little snippet from the website re-boot:

In a world that gives us the frameworks of riding, working, or therapy for ways to connect with horses, this program steps off the beaten path and asks for so much more. We have endless opportunities to learn about how to do things with horses that humans want.

But, there’s a gap to fill in equine education - who is teaching us from the horse’s perspective? What would it be like if they truly had a voice?

These are horse lessons that remember why are here: the horses. So…

For those yearning for inspiring equine experiences,
For the ones who never stopped asking “why,”
For the deep thinkers and the big feelers,
for those ready for something different,

This program is for you.

www.transformativehorsemanship.com
[email protected]

Connect with horses and learn more horsemanship skills with Transformative Horsemanship in Asheville, North Carolina. Explore our horse riding lessons, and workshops while you connect with horses as companions, teachers and guides of personal growth.

07/10/2026

I'm quietly bringing back a Transformative Horsemanship reboot. and not going to tune the algorithm for a response.

soon... our website will be up and that will be the best point of contact.

Why?

Firstly, I hate social media. Businesses functioned, people had friends, and we had access to information before it. Now we are addicted to screens and have truly inane arguments on the internet that lack humanity and seem like an opportunity for us to take out our feelings on strangers with our technology as a shield.

(Taking a moment here to say... I have some friends and colleagues who have created beautiful online communities for social media. There are people who can cultivate these spaces so well, and I love that. I am not one of them)

Secondly, my heart is simply guiding me away from social media based business and marketing. Word of mouth and the steady trickle of people who genuinely resonate with my work has always been the bulk of my clientele.

Finally, let me speak directly to this reboot. Somehow in the process of moving Cedar and then being confronted with the attempt to re-home her.... a opportunity to bring back TH was offered and slowly became a promising option. And a necessary one.

As I was trying to re-home Cedar and simultaneously hoping to achieve a more stable income in order to keep her, it became apparent to me that even in online communities where the horse was supposedly put first, several members of the community, some of whom were professionals, were likely unintentionally still perpetuating the idea that the value of horses lay in their ride-ability. That Cedar's best option was to be euthanized if we could not find her a suitable home.

While that was an incredibly inappropriate conversation to engage in with me on a public forum, it was something I was privately considering. Because, unfortunately, the VAST majority of horse professionals are not educating people beyond riding. They are educating people on the importance of riding and if a horse isn't rideable educating them on the importance of euthanizing them.

Which, unfortuntately, in the system we participate in, is often the best choice for an unrideable horse. One that I would still consider if I could not find a suitable home for Cedar, were that need to arise again in the future.

Frankly... f**k that. I want to be part of a world where we employ multiple, overlapping solutions to that issue. One of which is educating people on the value of horses beyond riding.

The equestrian education world has met the need for teaching riding. Above and beyond and a million times over. And I'm not saying that education shouldn't exist.

I am saying that we DO NOT have enough people teaching horsemanship that gives people the opportunities to learn about how to relate to horses outside of riding.

So, for the world I want Cedar to live in, for my own heart and integrity, Transformative Horsemanship is back to offer what it can.

I will be topping out at six lesson hours per week, including private, duet, and group lessons. Once that is full, then it's the waitlist for ya.

If you are interested email [email protected].

01/16/2026

Some precious moments as of late.

Nemeses becoming playmates or, at least, finding peace.

[The context not pictured is that Saber used to aggressively defend his resources from both Ash (the appy) and Ban (the chestnut he is eating with). Both moments shown here display immense shifts in herd dynamics. To be able to share, without defending, is a huge sign of growing sense of safety and emotional maturity. To play is perhaps even a step beyond.]

Resting and reclaiming sunlight in the soft late mornings of winter. Together.

[the context not pictured here are all the moments of Cedar rushing to return to her herd, with fear and even desperation. For us, right now, its less about "leaving the herd" as a signal of healed separation anxiety, but about being-together-feeling-connected (ie i am your herd too) no matter where we are.]

The lessons to be garnered sing: heres the tender, early offerings of those hard winterin' times. Not like sprouts in the springtime. Its like the growth that settles in you, pulling from who you already are, but struggled to know for a little while there.

Thanks for the cedar pic and the Bam + Saber eating together pic :)

12/27/2025

love these two so much!
It occurs to me over and over again that what I seek to cultivate in my work with clients and horses is peace.

Don't take it as toxic positivity or glossing over feelings.

I'm talking about the real deep peace. The kind that comes from knowing each other. From engaging as fully as possible. The peace that comes from the depth of being together.

It makes me think of how there can be dissonance in music, but it can still be a harmony.
Cedar has been nursing an abscess this week. Historically, when I have worked in more traditional horsemanship, pain is something that you treat and rest. I don't remember giving horses more attention than grooming and basic care when they were in pain. If they couldn't be ridden, what could you possibly do with them?

My horsemanship now encompasses so much more than that. Sure, there are times when rest and basic care are all that is needed. But, I would say that is actually only in pretty severe cases.

But there is so much more available for the "broken" horse, whether it is a permanent or temporary "broken"-ness.

It wasn't about training today as much as exploring the relationship. Seeking comfort among pain. Listening to pain as a guide for the shape of our time together. We even played, gently, in small movements.

Olive and Fizz, Cedar's best friends in the herd, came and co-regulated with her and us. Cedar rested in deep co-regulation with just Leslie, her son, and I.

We did energy work. Cedar showed us where she needed care and where she needed space.

In the moment pictured here, she showed Leslie, with great affection, how she could rub tension from her jaw, ears, and around her eyes. Coming to what I would call a form of embrace in the end.
Pain is a big part of Cedar and I's story(s). Emotional, physical, and mental. Inter- and intra-personal.

She has asked those around her to honor her pain. And in that, has created these special, intimate opportunities to spend time in her most tender places, both on her body and in our connections.
I hope, so deeply, that the our story(s) can be an emblem of possibility for relational movement beyond riding. ❤️

12/16/2025

Long time no post :) hello. Ready to be back on the surface again.
and I had a lesson with Cedar yesterday.

Something that clarified for me: "Cedar is very insistent on where we need to be. Everytime." Her disabilities and capacity guides us, it does not limit us.

There has been a big fire that was still sending smoke up at the neighbors house.

Cedar insisted that our lesson be about rest and regulation. Our lesson was a mixture of directly tending to her nervous system and also gently guiding some herd dynamics so that she could really settle into her rest.

We had a moment of wonderfully literate communication, from all 3 of us. Leslie and I posed a question to Cedar. Slowly, she acknowledged it. Considered it. Tried it. And then, definitively and gently, she opted out of the question. But NOT out of the connection, beckoning us to meet her elsewhere.

As we worked, the heavy lidded rest she dropped into seemed to bring in more horses. First, Saber. Then Olive and Dakota. Until the entire herd was in a state of rest, either standing or lying down.

This herd is very new. Several of the members having been introduced in the past two months. As far as I know, this rest was a newer phenomenon for this herd.

This work continues to mystify and enliven me. What a special magic runs through these currents.

How precious it is to be able to listen well enough to know where we need to be, together 💖