Dear Horse Lovers:
After nearly 50 years as a professional, it is finally time for me to step back from an active role as clinician, event speaker, coach and trainer. It has been a long and marvelous ride; not always smooth, but marvelous all the same. I have had the rare privilege, during my career, to learn from some of the twentieth century’s most innovative thinkers, including: Sally Swift, Linda Tellington-Jones, Peggy Cummings, Monty Foreman and Gene Lewis. I have also worked with and observed world class riders who demonstrated to me the living definition of the word horseman: David Brandenburg, Bert DeNemethy, Jack LeGoff, Denny Emerson, Nuno Olivera, Herman Friedlaender, Charles deKunffy and Anders Lindgren.
As a national clinician, lecturer, the author of three books and the DVD, “The Art of Mounted Body Language,” I leave my active role in the horse world less than satisfied. Change comes exceedingly slowly and there is always a new wave of incoming horses and humans who have the potential to rise to greatness and fall short simply because the necessary information to guide them safely and happily through their early years in the industry is still largely unavailable in a non-biased, equine friendly way. But the job of improving on that must be left to others who have the toughness and enough love of the horse to “stay the distance” in the industry in this new century.
In 1991 the American Riding Instructors Association recognized my contribution to the industry by making me the recipient of their first ever Lifetime Achievement Award. It is the second most treasured award of my career, the first having always been my TEVIS buckle.
Not quite ready for a rocking chair, I will continue to offer the insights I have gained through a lifetime of work with horses through my consulting service. The service will allow you to have an “expert’s opinion” as close as your e-mail or telephone. This service gives the amateur horse owner, rider and lover the ability to get answers to important, time sensitive equine related questions promptly as well as get research referrals to additional possibly related, important information. I will also be offering video analysis of horse and rider performance based questions in “virtual lessons with Donna” and customized training, conditioning and competitive programs assistance. For more details, see my “calendar” or you may contact me directly.