Testimonials

Matney is absolutely awesome! I've known her for many years and originally worked with her mom Terri! What I love about Matney is that she is constantly learning and passing along what she learns to her students. She not only explains how to do an exercise but why to do an exercise, which I love. I am currently taking lessons from Matney with my 4-year-old horse River. She is making it a joy to learn and work with him and he is well on his way to becoming a rock star trail horse! Matney is an amazing combination of kindness, patience and knowledge and I highly recommend her!

Danielle Young

Our staff at Ekone Ranch has had the pleasure of working with Matney for both horse and staff training. She brought a wealth of knowledge and heart to our 30-year-old horse camp program with 24 horses and a dozen staff, making big deposits in the “confidence buckets” of humans and horses! Matney’s insights built on our years of experience in a way that was graceful, respectful, and effective. Her infusion of empathy and understanding has impacted every part of our camp program, from the way that we work with our horses, to development of our training and coaching staff, to the ways that we teach children how to ride. On the never-ending journey of learning that is horsemanship, Matney is a most wonderful resource and fellow traveler.

Shonie Schlotzhauer

Matney is a special talent. I initially consulted with her when my mule became difficult to bridle and have her feet handled. Matney met us where we were, provided caring guidance with empathy for both me and my mule. Once we had successfully worked through those specific challenges, Matney worked with us on groundwork and liberty skills to bring us to a higher level of communication and trust. Matney is now working with me and my yearling colt. She guides me on progressions, how much to ask, what yields to teach him, how to build his confidence in me as his handler. I feel supported, enabled and seen by Matney, she is wise, kind, patient and very good at coaching and training. Thank you Matney for all that you do for me and my herd!

Victoria Lawson

I started working with Matney over 2 1/2 years ago.  I started by taking one of her weekend workshops with horses.  I was so impressed with her knowledge and skills around horses that I went on to take horse lessons with her.  I was a beginner rider with Matney when I started taking lessons from her over 2 years ago.  She has not only taught me how to confidently ride a horse but has provided me with amazing insights to horse behavior and groundwork skills! Her clear communication, patience and guidance with every lesson has taught me so much about myself and the unique world of horses. I feel blessed to have found Matney and  have the privilege to  take horse lessons from her. Matney is a true "horse whisperer" in every sense of the word with these beautiful creatures called horses and I look forward every week to my horse lesson and for many years to come!

Becky Rausch 

I can’t say enough about how working with Matney has helped me grow as a horsewoman over the years.  As an instructor she’s reliably calm and supportive, giving direct and specific feedback and modeling how to be a human a horse can trust.  Matney helps me be confident and clear with my horse and she’s generous with information, resources and connections.  I appreciate that she has a vision for my skill development but also is flexible!   Matney has consulted with me when I was ready to by my own horse again after many years of leasing, and helped me navigate the complicated experience of finding the right horse for me. Attending one of Matney’s Horse Connection workshops was such a gift- to have an expanse of time to get to know myself in the presence of horses, to learn about how our nervous systems affect each other.  Soooo good!

Tracy McDaniel

Matney has been working with my Icelandic Mares and myself for about 4 years now. She has helped me turn my emotional basket case mare Stulka into a fun and willing partner. Stulka used to freak out if one of her pasture mates was more than a few feet from her. Matney has reinforced skills I have learned at clinics over the past few years and has used her intuitiveness to help us.

She has really helped my mare Lilja recover from a injury from a fall. With a lot of patience, kindness, ingenuity and firmness when necessary, Matney has taken Lilja from a horse who would pin her ears when a rider's weight settled in the saddle (Because even though her injury was healed, her memory was of pain from a rider's weight.) to a mare who is having fun and loves being challanged with new experiences under saddle.

Along this journey, Matney has helped me become a better rider and helped me be a more intuitive partner with my mares. I would highly recommend Matney as a trainer for any horse and an instructor for any rider. She has a unique ability to sense just what that horse and/or rider need to further them along.

Barbara Hinshaw