About Me

I began riding at the age of 5 and when I left school I took a job as a working pupil, training towards my BHSAI. Since then I have worked at various yards, from riding schools, to BHS examination centres, to trekking centres in the Lake District.
For the past 12 years I have worked at a 40 horse livery yard in Epping Forest.

I have always had a good relationship with the horses, and have never been a believer in the use of violence and shouting as good training tools.
Unfortunately, over the years, I have met far too many owners who have what I call the ‘hit it’ attitude. I consider both of these words to be unacceptable when working with horses but for a long time I was unable to step in and offer owners an alternative..

A few years ago, after a particularly frustrating incident at work where I saw a horse being beaten on the backside with a bucket, I came home in tears, and determined to find a way to help owners and horses to overcome problems without having to resort to violence.

I had already heard of Monty Roberts, and had seen Kelly Marks on the BBC's ‘Barking Mad’ programme. I went onto the internet that night, and stumbled across the Intelligent Horsemanship web-site.

By the following day I had booked my first course – Horse Psychology - and from there I went on to complete the Monty Roberts Preliminary Certificate of Horsemanship and became one of the Intelligent Horsemanship's Recommended Associates.

ABOUT THE CERTIFICATE

Stage one of the M.R.P.C.H consists of the following courses:

All of the courses can be taken separately, allowing each student to study at his or her own pace.

Stage two of the M.R.P.C.H is a five day examination week where students will give a presentation of a psychology project they have completed, sit written exams and show practical skills in the use of I.H methods.
Entry to the stage two exam week is decided on student capability, and prior to being accepted, students must submit the outline of their proposed psychology project, and a video showing Join-Up as well as work with a reluctant loader.

After passing the M.R.P.C.H, some students wish to go on to become an Intelligent Horsemanship Recommended Associate. This entails gaining more experience working with a variety of horses, completing the two Intermediate courses (Leading and Loading the Less Easy Horse, and Handling The Untouched Horse) and then submitting some case studies to Kelly’s office for approval.

There is no automatic right for anyone to become an RA.  This highly regarded status will only be awarded to those who can demonstrate high levels of skill with horses, as well as safety, care, politeness and respect for both the horse and owner.

For more information on any of the courses, the I.H Association, Kelly and the RAs, please do visit the Intelligent Horsemanship web-site - either by clicking on the logo or by clicking the link on my 'Links' page.