Method Ambassador Tammra Minteer started her first horse when she was 39. “I did it the old cowboy way, where you do a little groundwork and then jump on,” the Wyoming horsewoman says.
The filly she was working with bucked her off several times, but Tammra gamely dusted herself off and got back in the saddle until she could ride the filly out.
Several months later, Tammra was using the filly to move cattle, when she got startled and unseated Tammra, stepping on her in the process. Dazed from the filly’s unexpected explosion, Tammra shook herself off and got back in the saddle. When she dismounted at the end of the day, her legs were so swollen that her jeans were stretched to the seams. By the next morning, she couldn’t walk and went to the ER. “My broken sternum and ribs were nothing compared to the damage done to my legs,” she says. “On top of that, I was scared to death of my horse. When I had recovered, I would get on her every so often, but the fear of what she could do to me was very real.”
Several months after the accident, Tammra had returned to her position as a sheriff’s deputy and her supervisor loaned her his set of Clinton Anderson DVDs. “I watched them, and the information just clicked with me. It was so easy to understand,” she says.
Tammra soon invested in the Fundamentals Series and began faithfully studying the lessons and working with her filly. “I began to get this rapport with her. She started to do everything I wanted her to do, and when I eventually got back in the saddle, she was tuned in to me. What’s more, we trusted each other,” Tammra shares.
After training numerous horses with the Method and seeing the quiet, willing partners they developed into, Tammra became a firm believer in Clinton’s approach to horsemanship and decided to pursue the Academy. “I want to share the Method with other horse owners because I could have gotten myself killed by my lack of knowledge,” Tammra says. “I want to save others from going through my experience. There’s nothing more rewarding than helping people create safe, fun partnerships with their horses.”
Tammra is located in Kemper, Wyoming, where she trains horses for the public and teaches lessons and clinics. Contact Tammra at 307-723-2210 or [email protected]. Learn more about Tammra on her website.
