Natural Horsemanship

Biography

Misty grew up with horses in rural Western Washington. She began riding at the age of 4 and competed in local county fairs in peewee and youth division games such as barrel racing, pole bending and flag race. Most of her time with horses was spent on daylong trail rides on the never-ending logging roads in Kitsap County. Misty eventually moved to the city and then out of state to attend college. During this time, she jumped on any opportunity to ride and take lessons as she worked her way through college.

Having graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor’s degree in English, Misty entered into a short lease of an Appaloosa gelding at Lakeview Farm. Shortly after, she rescued a very thin, unconfident 10-year-old Arabian gelding who was poorly trained and had an extremely hot temperament. Having recently been introduced to Parelli Natural Horsemanship, Misty decided to restart him using this philosophy. Unfortunately, shortly after, Tennessee was seriously injured in a random accident and couldn’t do much of anything for 6 months to a year. However, Misty wanted to continue in her horsemanship so she began playing with and riding other people’s horses. This was the beginning of her career as a trainer.

After his recovery, Tennessee came a long, long way. At a clinic this summer, someone even offered to buy him because they wanted a safe, calm horse for their young niece to ride. Misty and Tennessee got their Level 2 in Parelli Natural Horsemanship in 2005 and are only a few tasks away from their Level 3! They have attended a total of 16 weeks training at the Parelli Centers and in 2006, they were invited to participate on the Parelli Savvy Team.

In 2005 Misty decided to get a second horse. She wanted to get experience with a very different type of horsenality and so she purchased “Tito” (Smokey Stormy Sunset), a 2-1/2 year-old Quarter Horse Gelding and started him. He is a very confident, mellow horse. She began using him for beginner and kids lessons when he was three.

Misty is now taking Western Pleasure lessons on Tito. She and Tennessee have been taking beginning reining lessons and attended clinics with Vaughn Knudsen, a world-class NRHA competitor and trainer who studied with the Dorrance brothers and Ray Hunt. In April 2007, Misty and Tennessee also attended a 3-day dressage clinic with Karen Rohlf. They continue to pursue their Level 3 in Parelli Natural Horsemanship and hope to go beyond that with more training at the Parelli Centers.

Philosophy

At every level of horsemanship and with every level of horse, whether it be starting a young horse, or working on performance maneuvers, Misty’s philosophy is centered in Parelli Natural Horsemanship. Love, language, leadership and lightness are the 4 cornerstones of the foundation she builds with each and every horse and she puts the horse’s mental, emotional and physical states before anything else. She takes her time with every horse in order to show him the love that can exist between horse and human; to build a language for communication that goes both ways; to become a trusted and respected leader for each horse every time she’s with him; and to help the horse become as light as possible in anything he does.

Putting a solid foundation on a horse naturally, that is through communication, understanding and psychology NOT force, fear and mechanical devices (draw reins, side reins, surcingles, tie-down, chambons, etc…) is extremely important to her. Making sure that a horse has a solid foundation based on the 4 L’s before moving on to performance is one of her main principles. Her goal is to spread the word about a better way to be with horses and to be the best she can be for every horse she touches.