A life-long horse lover and EBHRC founder.
Chris Forté is a Northern California-based horse teacher and clinician who creates harmonious bonds between horses and riders using a unique approach based upon up-to-date behavioral and animal welfare sciences, and the principles of positive reinforcement. Chris teaches her students to ride bit-free, using their weight aids. But, first, she teaches her students how to understand, communicate with, and bond with their horses.
Chris has been passionate about horses all her life. In fact, “horses” was her first word. Her entry into professional equine-training occurred more than fifty years ago when she was hired to “break” and train a small band of captured mustangs for a dude ranch in the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Montana. Chris met the challenge and within three weeks children were riding the horses.
“I simply sat with the horses until they came to me and discovered my hands were good for scratching their withers and it was fun to be ridden!”
Horse owners involved in many different disciplines, including racing, dressage, trail, and jumping, have sought out Chris for advice and to rehabilitate problem horses.
Mission and Vision
Befriended not broken.
Chris Forte’s mission is teach equestrians and their horses to talk to each other, to listen to each other, and to enjoy each other’s company while interacting side-by-side, or when the human partner sits astride his or her equine companion. Once this relationship is established, bits, spurs, and unpleasantness no longer enters the picture!