About Us

An empathetic and positive horse trainer. Josie loves helping green horses and riders along on their journey. She strongly believes that we can do right by the horse, while still achieving our own goals - And she is here to help you do it.

Josie York

Josie’s first experience with a horse was a pony ride at the age of 6 when her family was stationed in Sicily. From that moment she was hooked on horses and regularly begged her parents to allow her to take lessons. When her father retired from the Navy, the family moved to Pensacola Florida, and at the age of 8 years old, Josie was finally able to fulfill her desire to ride horses again. After taking western lessons for a few years, she expressed her desire to jump. This led her to her first training barn, where she pursed the disciplines of Eventing and Dressage.

While Josie was blessed to have the financial support of her parents to ride, she also worked at her stables in order to help pay off her lessons and have the opportunity to lease and catch ride horses. Her trainer Julie allowed her to shadow her, and begin teaching beginner lessons under supervision at a young age.

Her trainer gave her the opportunity of helping bring along the green horses that were bought to be future lesson horses, most were Grade, Arabians, Quarter horses, and Draft crosses, and Thoroughbreds off the track - all bought green and fairly cheap. While not all of these horses were athletic or naturally talented for the sport disciplines, Josie came to appreciate the skills she gained learning to train such a wide variety of horses, and also came to value the mind and heart of the horse, over their price-tag or physical abilities.

Unfortunately, there came a time in her later teens where her parents were struggling, and were no longer able to help support her in her riding career. While this was difficult, it was the catalyst that brought Josie to begin freelancing - teaching lessons and training green horses for their owners. As the years passed, Josie was able to expand her knowledge and began starting young horses under saddle. She also began sharing her knowledge again, teaching both children and adults of beginner and intermediate experience. She even branched out into a new discipline, training and showing for both Hunters and Jumpers. Even still, her dressage foundation never left her, and is still a huge priority in her training to this day.

With time and new experiences, Josie began to adopt a new mindset with the horses. She began studying Equine behavior and paying close attention to scientific studies pertaining to horse behavior, training, diet, medical care, etc. and along with using traditional methods, she has gained a more holistic and positive approach to her training and general experience with horses. She believes strongly in taking things slow, not pushing horses past their comfort threshold, being empathetic and kind with horses in all aspects, and ensuring that horses have a positive correlation with both their training and their handlers.

May of 2021, Josie made the leap of moving from Florida to Phoenix, Arizona to be closer to her parents. After taking about a year to settle into the huge life change, she is creating a new chapter in her life, and looks forward to the experiences she will gain training in this new community.

Training & Lesson Philosphies

  • OTTB re-training

  • Arabian and Saddlebred Sport Horse Training

  • Rescue Horse Training

  • Good Equine Citizen and Baby Training

  • Colt Starting

  • Mustang gentling

  • Hunter / Jumper

  • Dressage

  • Eventing

  • Positive Reinforcement

  • Lessons

  • Boarding

  • Empathy for both the horse and the rider is of the upmost importance in Josie’s program.

  • Comfort for the horse. No painful tack or training methods.

  • No shortcuts. Training aids that force a horse into painful and harmful physical positions are not to be used.

  • We follow the traditional Dressage pyramid. Proper training takes time, focus on the building blocks and all will come in time.

  • Horse before the work. We do not overwork or over jump horses. Cross training and variety in work keeps a horse happy and healthy.

  • Patience builds trust.

  • Emotional control. Every one will inevitably feel frustration or anger when things don’t go as planned. it’s important to recognize this so it can be redirected and not taken out on the horse.