Lessons and programs are taught by Amy Waterbury. Amy grew up riding in a Combined Training and Eventing barn in Connecticut. During high school she attended the Ellis Clark Regional Vocational Agriscience program where she double majored in Horse Management and Veterinary Science. While earning her degree in Equine Studies from Post University she completed student teaching opportunities in Stock Seat Equitation and Hunter/Jumpers. Amy is Safe Sport certified, Community CPR/First Aid/AED certified as well as a Certified EAL Facilitator through Equine Connection: The Academy of Equine Assisted Learning. She has 30 years of experience teaching beginner through advanced intermediate English riders in Dressage, Combined Training, Hunter/Jumpers and Eventing. Her passion is helping horses and riders work through behavioral and fear based communication issues. Our mission at Lotus Farm Sanctuary and Education Center is to improve overall quality of life for people and animals. We do that through education, training and rescue where appropriate. The Lotus embodies the ideas of transformation, growth and transcendence of life’s challenges. Many of the animals that have come to us have had difficult chapters in their lives that they need support to heal and grow through in order to trust and feel safe again. Humans also travel a path that is frequently mined with challenges and unhealthy ways of being. We can learn to be empathetic with ourselves and other species as we grow through the muddy waters of our journey. This allows us all to blossom like the Lotus into our true, healthy self. Thoughts from the Rail
Working with horses is about relationship building. Control is an illusion. Riding is both an art and a sport. Working with horses requires patience, communication, commitment and finesse. No two horses are the same, quite like people. We must honor their individuality as we interact with them. They have days when they don’t feel like working just like us. It’s ok for our horses to have opinions and it is our responsibility as humans to show them how to voice those opinions without hurting us. Everything must be done with purpose and a light heart. We acknowledge that as riders we do not make our horses do anything. We ask. There is no one answer for everything. No matter how accomplished we are as horseman we need to remain open to learning. Quick fixes often don’t fix anything; they just tack more time onto the time it will take to actually address the problem later on.
