About Me

My life is devoted to horses.

I grew up on Winters Run Farm in Harford County, Maryland. My mother, Sylvia Hechter, and I trained and rehabbed “problem horses.” As part of the training, we started 50 – 70 yearlings and two-year-olds each year. We also fox chased and showed hunter/jumpers some of whom went on to participate at the Olympic level.

My mother attended the legendary Porlock Vale Riding School in the UK. She was the first civilian and first woman to attend the cavalry school in Saumur, France. She was a true equine savant, the greatest gift she gave me is the ability to generously listen to horses.

I grew up learning to ride a wide variety of horses that we were training and rehabbing. I had the wonderful opportunity to regularly attend Olympic qualifying shows to watch the world’s best riders work with their horses, on the ground and over the jumps. I had a front-row seat to watch how horses respond to the moves and techniques of their riders.

After my mother’s death, I took a several year detour through marriage and other occupations, before returning to my first and greatest love – working with horses. I was able to acquire several horses, including Chumley, whom I call my PhD horse. Chumley was a fabulous horse, but in order to communicate effectively with him, I needed to learn techniques beyond what are conventionally taught.

Chumley, my PhD horse

The day of my Reiki 1 class, Chumley had a pasture accident, which left him with a severely bowed tendon. He showed me how to look beyond the traditional ways of assisting horses heal. Since Chumley, I have been blessed with a number of amazing horses who teach me daily. After six weeks, my vet confirmed with another ultrasound that he was completely sound! I am now a Reiki Master. I used my Reiki skills to assist Chumley through his recovery.

This experience led me to further my knowledge by studying aspects of Tellington Touch®, Masterson Method®, Essential Oil use, Bach Flower Essences, Vibrational Healing with Tuning Forks and Tibetan Singing Bowls, the importance and benefits of grounding the body after de-magnetizing and and most recently Equine Hanna Somatics®. It has been very gratifying to learn parts of these excellent techniques such as Healing Hands, Tellington Touch, the Masterson Method, and Somatic Education and to incorporate elements into my own approach while helping horses.

I’m now privileged to take care of my equine herd in Royal Oak, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Several of them are off the track Thoroughbreds, whom I have re-trained as fabulous riding horses. They give me the opportunity to continually learn and refine techniques for identifying and addressing the physical “baggage” horses acquire throughout their lives.

Trish at the age of 3 on her Shetland pony, Mousie.