Baker, Florida horseman, Miranda Stalnaker, was born horse crazy, but because her father was a fighter pilot with the U.S. Air Force and her family moved frequently, she was unable to have a horse as a young girl. However, she took riding lessons, and when she was 14 and her father retired and the family settled down, he made good on his promise to get the family a horse.
Since her family is do-it-yourselfers, Miranda says they committed the sin of all sins. “We got a 2-year-old Paint horse that had just been halter broke,” she says. “My dad figured that if he could learn to fly a jet, he could start a colt, and he did.”
One afternoon, her father had Miranda get in the saddle and told her to ask the gelding to trot. “He got nervous and started crow-hopping and I fell off him. I was laying in the dirt thinking, ‘This isn’t as much fun as I thought it was going to be,'” Miranda remembers.
Realizing they didn’t have the experience or knowledge to handle the horse, Miranda’s father decided they needed help and began researching trainers and programs and found Clinton and the Method. The family saw great results using the Method on the horse and soon decided to move to the country and buy three more horses. Before long, Miranda was competing in western pleasure, dressage, hunter and competitive trail competitions.
She earned a business management degree from the University of West Florida and decided to pursue the Academy as a way to add to her knowledge of the Method and share her passion with other horsemen.
As a Method Ambassador, Miranda is training horses and teaching lessons. “I know what it’s like to be afraid of a horse and dread going to the barn, so I want to help others learn the Method to be confident horsemen and get results with their horses,” Miranda shares. “One of the best things about the Method is that it isn’t just for western riders, it works well for English disciplines too.”
Contact Miranda at 850-502-1387 or [email protected].
