About Anna

Since starting her career in 1995 Anna has worked with 1000’s of horses. In 2006 Anna became a self employed horse trainer working full time for private clients, coaching owners, training horses, teaching clinics, as well backing well over 100 young horses.

Anna started riding at the age of four, obsessed with horses, she was lucky enough to have her own ponies and was a keen Pony Club participant.

Aged fourteen Anna started working for Tom Barnes who had competed in the Olympic Show Jumping Team and won the Horse of the Year Show Junior puissance competition. Tom left a great impression on Anna, he was kind and quiet yet all of the horses listened to him. Anna's interest in developing a way of working with horses that involved the horse as a willing participant had been sparked. When asking Tom questions he would always reply “The horse will teach you”. These words served Anna well, going on to spend her life through to this day observing horses and listening to their needs.

At the age of sixteen Anna began working for Jenny Loriston-Clarke at her International Dressage yard where she began her training as a BHS Riding Instructor. This led to work in International showjumping and eventing yards as a groom. By this time Anna was strongly aware that her interest lay in helping a horse to feel good about being in the human world.

Moving to Devon Anna took a change of path, working for Tom and Sarah Widdicombe, Monty Roberts' 'Intelligent Horsemanship' trainers who ran clinics in the UK for Mark Rashid. Anna worked with them in her early twenties, training and backing young horses. In 2003, her quest led to her to meet Dr Deb Bennet, an international author specialising in equine biomechanics. Aware that Anna was fascinated by a horse’s thoughts and feelings, Dr Bennet recommended flying out to Harry Whitney’s Ranch in Arizona. Harry had spent time with the legendary Tom Dorrance, both horsemen were known for having a deep understanding of a horse’s perspective. Since that first visit to Harry’s Ranch, every year over an eighteen year period she worked for extended periods as his student. This experience gave Anna invaluable knowledge and skills which were scarcely available in the UK. Harry also introduced Anna to working with mules. To this day Anna is still the only student of Harry’s working full time training horses in the UK. “I can’t thank Harry enough for his generosity of time over the years helping me to see how to approach helping troubled horses to feel better and how to back youngsters in a way that doesn’t cause them any mental worry or lack of balance in the first place”.

Anna went on to spend time visiting international roping and cutting competitor Jo Wolter at his Ranch, working under his instruction. Joe had learned much of what he knew from the legendary Ray Hunt.

Having spent many years taking horses in for training and then owning her own yard. Anna is focusing on travelling out to private yards within Devon to back young horses and give one to one tuition. Outside of Devon, clinic days can be arranged for groups of six participants. 

The link between a horse’s thoughts, feelings and their physical balance is something that continues to fascinate Anna today. "It’s not just about addressing behavioural problems, it’s about training in a way that doesn’t cause a horse mental or physical difficulties in the first place".