My friend Lynn Clifford, who lives here in New Mexico, is a trainer who focuses on the rider and in her words provides “Education, Coaching, and Healing for Body, Mind, and Spirit”. Her mission: To build a solid foundation between horse and handler through attention to safety, detail and depth of connection with one’s self and others while supporting the development and potential of this partnership.
From her website:
“Lynn is a third generation equestrian professional specializing in holistic growth and education for adults and horses. The unique and comprehensive format Lynn offers is the translation of a lifetime of professional and personal equestrian experience, combined with over twenty years in the experiential education, personal growth and healing fields.
“Lynn integrates a cumulative mind-body-spirit approach with knowledge of Natural Horsemanship and an emphasis on Classical Dressage (Portuguese and French influence) as a foundational training methodology that benefits all breeds. She provides a uniquely personalized approach for each horse and student, working with the psychology as well as the physiology of the individual on deep levels.
“In addition to riding at the Prix St. George levels and training at the Intermediate levels, Lynn has shown successfully, exhibited at Equitana and Equine Affair Main Events, among others, as well as presented educational seminars for these audiences. She brings a passion for deep and lasting education combined with the desire for people and horses to reach their full potential.”
Lynn currently offers her services by phone, as well as in person in the Central New Mexico and mid-peninsula (Woodside) California areas.
And she’s a talented poet:
I go to the stable with my Fear,
To the worn boards of standing,
And I sit in the generous darkness
And in the sweet stillness
Within a breath’s reach of this horse’s warmth.
And I marvel at how her flesh quickens and pulses
with aliveness
In the soft touch of the far light
In the soft touch of the shadows
And I am awed by the quivering edge of a nostril,
Watching her heavy, thick, honey breath enter and exit
The dark three quarter moons of her muzzle
As she sings the language of Being.
It’s nights like these
When I enter the stillness of the stable
Filled with the soft heat of horses after nightfall
When all is right in the land.
It’s nights like this
Alone for miles
When I become awed by my arrogance
And reach out to touch the Moment
Where she is and I am and that is all there is.
—Lynn Clifford
You can get more information at her website by clicking HERE. Highly recommended!