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 Don't let the photo fool you -- Edie's beginning with horses over 40 years ago was much less impressive!  She honed her first horsemanship skills on an untrained pony, so she often spent more time on the ground than on his back.  Through sheer determination and a true "addiction" to horses, she became an accomplished rider and owned her first horse by age 12.  "Kiddo" was a wonderful Anglo-Arabian gelding who took her through the next 30+ years, including the formation of a mounted police unit with the University of Wisconsin Police Department, which Edie then led as an instructor in conjunction with other Wisconsin mounted police for over 17 years.  She personally trained all three of her police mounts for the mental challenges of the street.  Kiddo remained with Edie until he died at the age of 32.  Her second mount, "McAllister," was donated to 3 Gaits Therapeutic Riding in Stoughton, Wisconsin upon his retirement from law enforcement.  Her current partner, "HotShot," was trained from the moment of his birth in 1999 for a career as a police horse.  After 23 years of dedicated law enforcement service, Edie and HotShot left the police department for greener pastures.

Edie is an avid student of natural horsemanship methods, having studied under many of the same "natural" clinicians as Karen.  She has studied John Lyons' methods, and was honored when he rode HotShot in a clinic demonstrating lateral movement at the 2003 Midwest Horse Fair.  She has attended numerous clinics over the years by Pat and Linda Parelli, Buck Brannaman, Clinton Anderson, Tommie and Karen Turvey, JJ Tate, and many other nationally-recognized horsemanship experts.  Edie is a current Level 3 Parelli Natural Horse-Man-Ship student.  A charter Parelli Savvy Club member, she was thrilled to spend two weeks with HotShot at the Parelli ranch in Pagosa Springs, Colorado in the summer of 2006 at the "Fluidity II - Finesse" clinic.  She has participated in mounted police training schools in several states, including California, Florida, Minnesota, and New Orleans, Louisiana.  She has also trained other mounted police independently and in conjunction with instructors from throughout Wisconsin.  Edie considers horses to be her friends and the barometers of her life success, and she continuously strives to improve her communication an relationships with them.  Having lived, eaten (yes, including coffee and donuts!), and almost SLEPT in the saddle for hours on police duty over the years, from patrol days to Badger Football games to riot control on State Street during the annual Halloween bash, she has accomplished things with her equine "partners" that few riders are ever privileged to experience.  In addition, Edie has years of experience in teaching safety and crime prevention techniques, non-violent crisis intervention, and defensive tactics to both children and adults.

Edie grew up trail-riding bareback and Western and went on to study all aspects of English riding, including jumping and dressage.  Her fascination with natural methods has taken over all other aspects of her training and riding, especially after realizing the incredible results it brought forth in her mounted police work.  She lives close to Karen with her family (including her horses) on her own farm.  HotShot is currently a lesson horse in our program and a wonderful teacher in his own right, having had more obstacle and sensory experience in his eight years of living than most horses have in a lifetime.  Come on out and meet him -- his "interview and interrogation skills" are unparalleled and he will tell you more about yourself than you can imagine!