I’m passionate about helping you and your horse grow and be well.
Meet Ruby
My parents say I was born talking about horses. They had no idea where this came from as there were no horses or equestrians in my life. When I was three a neighbor put me on her pony. That was the beginning of my life-long obsession and work learning everything I could about horses.
I went on to learn and show dressage. When I moved and circumstances cut me off from dressage training, I picked up western horsemanship and reining. After that I tried some cutting. And then began training project horses. I also became a certified equine nutritionist, personal trainer, and sports nutrition coach.
This diversity in my horse and human wellness education helped me to develop my horse philosophy around Whole Horsemanship. I am dedicated to learning as much as I can from all different disciplines, perspectives, and equestrian ideologies. I have distilled my knowledge into a program that focuses on horse and rider wellness both as individuals and as a team.
My Philosophy
My training, riding, and nutrition consulting is informed by my strong beliefs about horses and our responsibility to them. I believe that it is our job as riders, trainers, owners, and handlers to do the best we can by our horses. We make the choice to keep them, ride them, love them, and they give us so much in return. I believe that it is our job to:
Know that it’s never the horse’s fault
Horses do things for two reasons. Either because they believe it is what we want from them, or because they are acting in self preservation. By that logic, many things that we perceive as “naughty” are actually things that we or another human along the way accidentally taught the horse, or that the horse believes will save her from some real or perceived danger (or pain, threat, etc).
Never stop learning: take what works and leave the rest
There are as many ways to train a horse as there are trainers in this world. Every method has merits, but not all of them work for all people. It is important to know your own truth as a rider. Learn constantly from any sources you can, but don’t let yourself be swayed constantly. Take in information indiscriminately, but only apply the information that resonates with you. Put the rest in your back pocket because you never know when you might find it helpful.
Look at the whole picture
When a horse bucks we often jump to thinking that it is because they are being sassy. But the number one reason for bucking is pain. Second is fear. Sass accounts for very few bucks in the grand scheme. Make sure to see and care for your whole horse–physically, mentally, emotionally.
Remember that your horse is a horse
It is easy to anthropomorphize our horses. We think that they have been plotting our failed ride all day, or that we can leave them tied for an hour to make them “think” about their behavior. But horses don’t think the same way we do. Firstly, they don’t even have a prefrontal cortex, so they can’t empathize, plan, or interpret punishment the way we do. Secondly, we are somewhat independent predators and they are herd-bound prey. They see body language, movement, and sounds entirely differently than we do. We make the choice to train and ride our horses, so let’s do it in a way that makes sense to their brains.
Focus on the horse you have right now
Horses can be incredibly sensitive to their environment. The weather, their food, sounds, or even our emotions can influence our horses dramatically. That is why one day they are seemingly perfect and the next they can be a distracted basket case. It is our job to see and support the horse we have in each moment, because it may not be the same horse we had yesterday or hope to have tomorrow.
Learn with me
Wellness for Equines
Nutrition services and horse wellness workshops can provide your horse what they need to perform their best.
Equestrian Wellness
Workshops for equestrians can help you grow and improve your skills both in the saddle and on the ground.
Build your Relationship
Riding lessons and workshops can continue to help you strengthen your bond with your horse.