Stacey Kollman
HORSE AND RIDER BIOMECHANICS COACH,,Horse Rehabber and Clinician

Stacey Kollman is a horse and rider biomechanics coach and horse rehabilitator whose life’s work centers on helping horses live healthy and happy lives. She accomplishes this through innovative education programs, challenging horse owners to discover new levels of awareness, connection and responsibility.

A lifelong horsewoman, she has teamed with equine partners in settings from ranch work to the show ring and has ridden and competed in disciplines from western pleasure to dressage and gymkhana to jumping. She is a Connected Riding practitioner, with more than 15 years of study, practice and adaptation of mounted and ground exercises that develop connection from the inside, by feeling, to the outside, by doing.

Certified in equine sports massage therapy, Stacey also has studied acupressure, therapeutic aromatherapy, medicinal herbs, homeopathic and vibrational remedies and various forms of energy healing. She is certified in acutherapy and is a Usui reiki master.

Stacey believes that horses and the instructors who teach people to work with them are among the world’s unsung therapists, so she also holds credentials in Equine Experiential Learning and develops programs that encompass personal growth, leadership development and team building. Her specialties include exploring the body/mind connection to deepen understanding and relationships, teaching the subtle energy of non-verbal communication, and guiding clients in discovering and working with their own power.

Working with riders of all ages and in all disciplines, Stacey teaches a series of ground and mounted exercises that help humans and horses interact in a way that maximizes the balance and movement of each to create a good partnership in motion.

The groundwork starts with leading exercises that get horse and handler in touch with their bodies and progresses to helping horses work on a longe line or free longe in a correct posture to minimize physical stress. Mounted work begins with rebalancing exercises that help each rider find the most stable position in the saddle, then puts that position in motion in a way that invites and allows the horse to work in balance and self-carriage. This work is suitable for all levels of riders and all disciplines.

Stacey's overriding philosophy of training horses and riders is based on the premise that every horse and every person should feel better physically and mentally after a practice or training session.

cOLLABORATORS

Helping horses and riders achieve balance, ease and partnership takes time, commitment and creativity. It is a process best initiated in the spirit of exploration and discovery, with open mind and light heart. And it is a wholistic process, that requires many skills, many talents and many perspectives. Desert Horse is fortunate to have formed collaborative relationships with a number of talented and dedicated specialists.

JENNY Kendall, CERTIFIED YOGA TEACHER
DH Yoga

Desert Horse's primary teaching and learning partner for the past four years has been Jenny Kendall, an innovative yoga teacher and yoga therapist who also happens to share a special connection with horses.

Jenny has practiced yoga for 15 years and has been teaching hatha yoga for about 8 years. She is certified by the Providence Institute in Tucson. She teaches specialized Ashva Yoga: Yoga for Equestrians classes and workshops at Yoga House at Civano and Grand Adventures Ranch in Sonoita.

She was called to complete her yoga certification by Desert Horse's senior equine staff member, Ichobod, who persistently invaded her dreams. She shares the gift of yoga with people and their animal companions that their lives may be happier, more peaceful and more balanced. Her teaching and research interests encompass all kinds of animal-assisted yoga for healing and she adapting skills from her long career as a statistician to create models for evaluating the therapeutic effects of yoga. 

A horsewoman since childhood, Jenny trained and showed horses for many years and partnered with her Arabian mare, Jasmine, in competitive trail. Her current equine assistant, Gary, is a rehabilitated lesson horse who has discovered better balance and freer movement since becoming a "yoga horse."

Jenny has a master's degree in animal science from Purdue University and studied equine exercise physiology at the doctoral level at Kansas State University. She's also an experienced clicker trainer, working with dogs and horses, and has been an instructor for people training their own service dogs.

Check out DH Yoga or email Jenny for more information.