Missy, a sweet-natured pony with horrible ground manners, led Audrey to the Method and eventually to her career as a Method Ambassador. Audrey’s grandparents bought the pony for Audrey and her sister when the girls were young. Audrey had been in the saddle since she could walk and started taking western riding lessons when she was 8, but she, nor her family, had any experience correcting problem behavior or training a horse.
“Missy was as sweet as could be, but her manners were lackluster at best and we weren’t sure what to do with her,” Audrey says. Included in the little mare’s arsenal of orneriness was taking off and bolting and refusing to get on a trailer. The family reached out to local trainers and began researching training methods.
“My mom came across Downunder Horsemanship, and when we looked into it, it was easy for us to understand and very effective. At that point, we had tried many trainers and we had not found anything we were comfortable with and got results using,” Audrey explains.
Once she and her sister applied the Method to their pony, Missy did a 180 and became the perfect partner. “A lot of trainers like to make horsemanship and achieving goals with your horse seem mystical and almost unattainable. I love that the Method is so clear cut, with specific steps to follow,” Audrey says. “It’s the easiest training program to follow and the most effective and it always works.”
Spurred on by her success with the Method, Audrey grew up with a passion for training horses, taking every opportunity she could to work with any horse she could get her hands on. She competed in gymkhanas and eventually ventured into reining and barrel racing as well as rodeo queen competitions. Enrolling in the Academy was a natural next step in her horsemanship journey. “I wanted to refine my knowledge and take my skill set to the next level. I knew there was no better opportunity to do that than in the Academy,” she says.
As a Method Ambassador, Audrey enjoys training horses and sharing the Method with horse owners. “It’s so important to know how to interact with your horse,” she shares. “You can buy a well-trained horse but if you don’t know how to communicate with him, you’re not going to have a great partnership. I love helping people develop a true partnership with their horses.”
Audrey is based in Talbott, Tennessee, where she trains horses for the public and teaches private lessons and clinics that focus on the Fundamentals level of the Method. Learn all about Audrey on her website and contact her directly at 831-801-9754 or [email protected].
