Who
Why
Epona is the name that I have adopted in 2006 when I arrived in Spain, coherently with the new life that I had chosen.
Born in France in 1969, I have been passionate about horses since I was a little girl. I learned to ride in numerous riding schools until the age of 28, practicing first jumping then dressage. Then I looked for a master that taught me the techniques of the Equestrian Art from the 18th century by De La Guérinière.
Having graduated as an engineer, I worked as a management consultant for large international companies until the age of 31, when I decided to dedicate my life to the horses. In parallel, I trained as a psychotherapist with the European School of Transpersonal Somatotherapy for 3 years. And I discovered shamanism which I integrated into my philosophy of life. I also learned Equitherapy at the University of Paris.
Then I developed my own method for educating and training horses, which I called « Alternative Equitation », removing the maximum of tools that are used for controlling by pain (like spurs, whips or bits), as well as the saddle in order to achieve sensations and connection with the horse. I compensated for the reduction of material aids by working on the relationship with the horse, looking for complicity and harmony at all levels.
In 2005, I also developed my own psychotherapy method, that I called « Equestrian Artherapy », as a personal development tool including horses as true partners, as well as other shamanic and psycho-corporal therapy tools.
I started my activity in the North of Spain in 2006 and I relocated to the South of Portugal in 2010, where nature offers to horses (as well as to myself and my dogs !) idyllic living conditions. The land in which my stallions can enjoy a “horse life”, consists of 70 hectares of undulating land dotted by cork trees and surrounding a lake. They live in semi-freedom together with other stallions (presently 18 in total) in groups of 2 to 8, from 2 to 24 years old.
My relationship with them has evolved a lot during those last years, and consequently my activity … Since 2016, I orientate my work towards events for awaking consciousness in different countries, regarding the horse’s characteristics and needs, as well as the attitude one should adopt for establishing a healthy relationship and a peaceful communication with them, based on mutual trust, respect and love.
I occasionally propose more technical courses out of my centre, around various themes like handling, lunging, riding bareback and bitless, working young horses, resolving problems, etc … But with my horses, I basically propose courses of connection with the horse and with oneself.
After having integrated the teachings from the traditional equitation during 25 years, I started my own quest, guided by my intuition and my empathy, but overall by the horses themselves. My values and my philosophy of life led me step by step to modify my positioning and my relationship with them. I consider them more and more as self-beings, that have not been created by Mother Earth in order to satisfy our needs or our egocentric desires, but that have their own personality and aspirations which we must respect. To my mind, to own any animal is a strong responsibility : the one of guaranteeing their welfare, which includes their physical health as much as their emotional and psychological equilibrium.
All horse owners and horse riders « love » their horse and wish to look after them the best way possible. But traditions and prejudice on one hand, economical constraints on the other hand, highly precondition the choices we make regarding their living conditions, their handling and the activities we share with them. And the more conscientious we become about their characteristics and learning processes, the more aware we are that almost everything we do with them affects them …
Hence I endeavour to inform and train all people that interact with horses, about their needs at all levels and about the possible alternatives for improving their well-being. The implementation of the changes induced depend on the priorities, the means and the ethics of each one.