Meet Method Ambassador Katie Votaw
Katie was in the saddle by the time she was 5 and began taking jumping lessons when she was 6. The spunky cowgirl went on to compete in barrel racing and was on her high school rodeo team. After school, she competed in amateur rodeo, running barrels and poles and doing breakaway roping.
She got involved with Downunder Horsemanship when she bought Zena, a 3-year-old mare. “She was sold to me as a broke horse, but she wasn’t trained at all,” Katie says. “When I got her home, I couldn’t tie her without her setting back. I couldn’t saddle her without her exploding, and I couldn’t get on her without her bucking. You could tell everything had been forced upon her and she was scared.”
Katie was disappointed that Zena’s seller hadn’t been honest about the mare’s experience, but she knew that Zena had the potential to be a good partner. Instead of giving up on the mare, she decided to go back to basics and train her herself. She remembered hearing about Clinton and his training method and decided to see if he had any resources to help her. “I came across the Colt Starting Kit and took Zena through it, following it step by step,” Katie says.
As she implemented the Method, Katie watched Zena’s transformation from a scared, uneducated horse blossom into a confident, respectful partner. “I loved the results and how easy Clinton made training a horse. He’s broken it all out and taken all of the guesswork out of the training process,” she says.
As Katie studied the Method more, she became determined to attend the Clinician Academy and establish a career training horses and helping people learn how to build successful partnerships with their horses. “There are so many horses out there that share a similar story to my mare. They’re uneducated and passed off as trained horses. If the right person doesn’t get ahold of them, they can easily end up in a kill pen,” Katie says.
Her goal is to set as many horses as she can up for successful partnerships with people. “I want to help people with their horses and to send better quality horses out into the world,” Katie says. “My ultimate goal is to help as many horses as I can to not end up in the wrong hands or with people who are disappointed in them.”
Katie is based in Cleveland, Texas, 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 Katie on her website and contact her directly at 832-785-7433 or [email protected].
