Testimonials

I was looking for a 'natural horsemanship' trainer in the North-East to help me with my very difficult mare, I had found a few in Yorkshire but being based in Newcastle I really didn't want to travel that far and couldn't afford the fees for them to come to me.  Then somebody mentioned Joanne and to be honest when I initially visited her website I couldn't see why they had recommended her for the problems I was having as I spotted straight away that she didn't advertise ' Natural Horsemanship' and was infact a BHSAI registered instructor and Centered Riding instructor.  After a bit of thought and another incident with my mare I decided to give her a call and to keep an open mind.  This was the first major turning point, after a long chat we arranged a visit.  All I can say is I have never looked back, we have done lots of work in-hand focussing on her correct movement and her mental state of mind and 9 months on I now have an emotionally calm and thinking horse, who I can ride safely, in balance and we are doing school movements that I never imagined possible.  Joanne tailors her training to the individual horse and individual person without giving it a label.  So anybody out there who is wanting to do Natural Horsemanship, try it but be prepared to get a much deeper education than twirling ropes and whirling sticks.

Amy Holmes

I have owned my coloured mare since 2005 having bought her from a riding school who said they had tried to school her for years and she just couldn't get it.  From the beginning she always got stressed during schooling and as a result just got stronger until my arms ached, she also found it impossible to canter on the right canter lead on the right rein.  I had been through various instructors to try and help me to school her but all of them had resorted to stronger bits, gadgets and force which just stressed her out even more.  I decided just to hack her.  I met Joanne in early 2009 when a couple of other people on the yard started having lessons with her, I decided to join in a group lesson and see what she could offer us.  Within the first 20 minutes of the lesson Joanne noticed my mare becoming stressed even though we were asking nothing of her and she asked me into the middle of the arena and asked if she could take a closer look at her, she stated that she felt it was unfair on my horse to carry on in the group lesson that evening as she felt she was suffering from back and neck pain related to how unbalanced she was and felt that her saddle was also too tightly fitting.  She gave me a few phone numbers of practitioners and we went from there.

From that night we have never looked back, I knew that here was somebody who could finally help me with my horse and immediately put my trust in her to help me sort out my saddle, we had a long chat about bio-mechanics and she explained that my little mare had a dropped back which also meant a weak back.  I ordered my  remedial saddling system from Joanne and whilst we waited for it's arrival we set to work with remedial lunging exercises to help her strengthen her back muscles.

When the saddle arrived we started our ridden lessons again and anyone who knows us thinks she is a new horse, for years I had problems catching her, now she comes in from the field happily first time.  She is so much more relaxed during schooling and has begun to offer the correct canter lead - all be it she is still very unbalanced in canter with this lead so we don't expect too much but as Joanne explained, her movement and bio-mechanics have been so badly compromised for so long it will take time.

We have also done a lot of in-hand work to help her mentally, I found that this really improved our relationship and taught her to think and figure things out when we introduced something new instead of just getting running and pulling on the bit.  The previous years of force and lack of understanding training had stressed my little mare out to the point that whenever you introduced something new she would just panic and get running and pulling.  I understand now that this was a human made problem and not a problem I had with my horse. 

It turns out my little mare is highly intelligent, willing and a very quick learner, it just happens that for the first 10 years of her ridden life - nobody was listening to her.

I have been so lucky in meeting with Joanne, the combination of horsemanship techniques she has taught me has given me the confidence to believe in myself as a rider and a horse owner.

Jill & Rosie