Raised in picturesque Northern Virginia, across the road from her grandmother’s boarding stable, Emily was in the saddle before she could walk and has ridden a variety of disciplines. She’s an avid trail rider, has ridden jumpers and taken eventing lessons and she’s competed on the AQHA and Arabian Association show circuits.
Emily discovered the Method at the age of 12 when Bronco, her half-Arabian, half-Quarter Horse, became ring sour. “He was extremely dangerous to the point that I couldn’t do anything with him. He was young and had so much potential, and I didn’t want to give up on him,” she says.
Emily’s grandmother gave her Clinton’s book Establishing Respect and Control for English and Western Riders, and Emily wasted no time teaching the lessons in the book to Bronco. “I fell in love with the Method. I was drawn to the way Clinton approached horsemanship and his ideology,” Emily says. “Bronco was unsafe, and the Method gave me a way to work with him and establish a partnership.”
Her success with Bronco spurred Emily to become a dedicated student of the Method, and before long, she was using the Method to train her family’s and friends’ horses. “I naturally question and challenge a lot of different things, but with the Method there are no holes. It’s easy to understand and follow, and there’s no guesswork to it. You know exactly what you’re going to get,” Emily says.
Emily attended college on a soccer scholarship, but her passion for training horses and helping people brought her to the Academy. “Horses were my first passion in life and I love helping others, so this opportunity allows me to combine two things I love doing – horsemanship and working with people,” Emily says. “I know how frustrating it can be to have a horse you can’t work with. The Method changed my life and my relationship with my personal horses. There’s no better reward than to help other horsemen build safe, willing partnerships with their horses.”