About me

I am a horse trainer living and working in Lander, WY. I want to help people find meaningful connection with horses and to support people in starting or working with their own horses.

My practice is rooted in deep personal experience and skill across multiple disciplines. I have been working with horses for over 40 years, getting my start as a five-year-old “flyer” on a local vaulting team and taking riding lessons at a small farm in rural New England. In my childhood and early adulthood, I trained an off-the-track Thoroughbred mare to be a successful event horse. On my college riding team, I won the hunt-seat equitation team event at Nationals in 2000. During college, I also spent a year focusing on classical dressage in Wellington, FL and worked at a guest ranch in Antonito in the summers, where I learned to move cattle, team rope, and manage guests on horseback in rugged mountain terrain. 

In 2005, I began working for the National Outdoor Leadership School and was introduced to horsepacking and natural horsemanship techniques. For almost two decades, I have been leading multi-week horsepacking expeditions in the Absorkas, the Red Desert, and the Wind River Range, working with young mustangs, and helping NOLS students learn leadership and horse skills that are transferable to their lives outside the field. In 2021, I adopted my first two mustangs, Otter and Cub, and began building my horse training business. See “About the RR Horses” below for more about my current herd.

Working with horses is an opportunity to practice mindfulness in relationship, to build self-awareness, and to cultivate patience and equanimity. Through partnership with a horse, we may find the best versions of ourselves. I am excited to help people develop technical horse skills and to help horses build relationships with people based on deep trust.

The work of horse training is the work of attunement – when we build trusting, positive, mutually respectful relationships with horses, we are better able to do this in all other aspects of our lives.

About the RR Horses

  • 2018 Green Mountain Mustang

    In 2021, in the middle of the COVID pandemic and a significant professional transition, I saw Otter listed in a BLM Internet Adoption. I’d known that I wanted to start my own mustangs for years, but hadn’t yet committed. When I saw Otter’s short in-hand video, I knew that she was the horse of my lifetime! Otter is the first horse I started under saddle. Since 2021, she has gone on numerous expeditions with me in the Wind River Range and the Absarokas, including a 10 day traverse of the Winds in 2024. Otter is outgoing, opinionated, personable, and curious. She is learning to jump and is on her way to becoming a brave little eventing horse!

  • 2018 Green Mountain Mustang

    In 2021, I knew I was going to bid on Otter and I knew that I needed a second horse. In her online photo, Cub looked alert, and her brown eye reminded me of a special horse I’d known in my earliest days of horsepacking. Like this predecessor, Cub is an incredible horse to ride in the mountains—careful, fast, and strong. She is a dominant mare who keeps the rest of the herd in camp and in line. Responsive and smart, Cub has taught me to be precise in the requests I make of her. Cub is my go-to for working with young horses; she has taught Sammy and Muffin to move through the desert and mountains with care and confidence.

  • 2020 Fifteenmile Mustang

    I attended an in-person auction at the WY Honor Farm in 2022 to “just look at the horses.” Sammy was one of four halter-started mustangs offered for sale, and he caught my eye immediately. He had a big, kind eye, a heart-shaped star and stripe, and a nonplussed demeanor. His handler told me that “he was the best horse in the sale,” and I now wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. Sammy was the easiest horse I’ve started under saddle. He packs happily through the mountains, rides solo away from the ranch, and adds a calm, steady presence to the herd. With a big, floating trot and an inclination to go forward, Sammy can really cover ground!

  • 2022 Roberts Mountain Mustang

    Muffin is the newest member of the Rainbow Ranch herd. I adopted him, untouched, from the Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary outside of Lander in the fall of 2024. The first untouched horse I’ve gentled, Muffin has taught me about patience, humility, letting go of expectations, and the value of dedication and persistence. Muffin is wary, sensitive, and sweet. It took me a long tine to earn his trust, but now that I have it, he learns something new almost every day! Muffin is working on groundwork fundamentals, ponying on trails and in an indoor arena, standing quietly for the farrier and vet, and self-loading in the trailer. I plan to start Muffin under saddle this summer and to pack him on overnight trips in the Absorakas and Winds.

Rainbow Ranch Horses

First Four Years

Application video for 2025 Meeker Mustang Makeover. To follow my progress, click here.

Contact me

If you are interested in what I do, please be in touch!

Working with horses can feel inaccessible for all sorts of reasons — finances, fear, lack of experience or opportunity. I am committed to working with people who want to spend time with horses, regardless of past experiences or financial realities. All services are offered on a sliding scale, and I can meet you wherever you’re at in your own development or progression.