Robin Davis has been enamored with the horse since birth. At ten she fulfilled her dream of horse ownership. With a horse and no money for a saddle, Robin rode, usually at a gallop, all over Colorado’s countryside. She was never concerned with her horse’s care as the horse was always sound and healthy in its natural state: no shoes, no vaccinations, and no de-worming program.
Robin grew up to purchase her own horse property and become a serious student of horsemanship. She honed her skills competing in dressage while riding trails with local horse clubs. However, the fulfillment of these endeavors didn’t match the childhood joy she had felt galloping bareback across the countryside on a free and willing mount. Robin turned to natural horsemanship training methods in an attempt to recapture that freedom.
Her study of dressage combined with a variety of natural horsemanship techniques equipped Robin to recognize and enhance a horse’s spirit, willingness, and athleticism. Despite her growing toolbox of training techniques, some horses in Robin’s training seemed willing students, but physically unable to advance. Robin added equine massage, chiropractic care, acupuncture, craniosacral therapy, and equine dentistry to her regimen. Often, with minimal adjustments from one or a combination of practitioners, the stuck horse was able to moved forward in their training.
Herbs and essential oils were already a part of Robin’s own health care when she began using them successfully on horses. When her horses clean, natural diet and her own health was threatened by a proposal to mine uranium near her property on 2006, Robin and her husband Jay formed Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction. Research into the hazardous of uranium mining taught Robin the negative impact heavy metals associated with this mining had on an animal’s welfare. This knowledge propelled Robin to look for even more ways to support health in mind, body, and spirit for herself and her horses.
Today, Robin uses a combination of training techniques and bodywork on the horse to improve performance. Her methods include homeopathy, herbs, essential oils, flower essences, and whole foods nutrition. In addition to their physical health, Robin recognized the horse’s spirit must be maintained for the best possible performance. So horses could run freely as nature intended, Robin created Mustang Hollow, a holistic horse-keeping environment on 80 acres near Nunn, Colorado.
With the knowledge humans and animals are each individuals, Robin found training or healing techniques that worked on one horse would not always work on another. Trainers and practitioners whom Robin sought for advice were often stuck in believing theirs was the only way to accomplish her goals. It was difficult to find support in piecing together different techniques as she attempted to create a custom approach for each horse and rider. Because of Robin’s search for a blending of horse training techniques and equine health care methods, she created the first Holistic Horse Affair at Mustang Hollow in 2009. At the Holistic Horse Affair, many different practitioners came together to create an open dialogue, learn from each other, and provide a means for horse owners to create a toolbox of horse care to fit their own needs. The power generated through the first event has grown into the creation of a Holistic Horse Care Cooperative as well as moving the 2010 Holistic Horse Affair to a bigger venue at The Ranch in Loveland, Colorado.
