About the Owner
Mary Shortell has spent all her life working with horses and learning horse behavior. She received her degree in Equine Studies and Stable Management from prestigious Cazenovia College. While there she studied under some of the finest trainers in the country.
From her experience and formal training she has learned how to "read" a horse and use that knowledge to instill new behaviors and manners in a gentle humane way. She does not "break" a horse, she is the "alpha mare" at the barn and she teaches the horses the rules of her herd.
There is no magic program or book that can teach someone to understand a horses signals and predict how a horse will react to a stimulus. It takes formal training and many years of working first hand with many horses. But once you do, you can use the horses' instincts to train it, without using fear as a motivator. Under this kind of training environment, the result is a happy horse that understands what you want and is willing to perform when you ask. This is what Mary has mastered and can provide for you and your horse.
But above all, Mary has a love of horses just like you. All the horses at the ranch are her babies and treated like one of the family.