I have studied and watched many trainers to find the techniques that fit my desires in handling my horse and while I respect many, Ivonne brings a variety of  concepts and training methods into one that works so well.

Her openness to different ideas is enlightening and inspiring.  She explains the "how and why" so the rider can understand the method of communication.  She takes whatever time is needed  to understand a concept.  We don't rush through steps.

Her advice, patience and sense of humor is so appreciated and makes me want to try harder and know more… it has opened up my mind to the results one can achieve when fairness, kindness, patience  and clarity are how you get there with a horse.

Ivonne has brought  me to a place with my horse, I know I would never be without her and continues to teach me how to be a horsewoman who understands how to bring the best out of my horse and myself where we both win….what else is there?

I really feel I've come a long way with my horse Rascal, since working with Ivonne. Before then, Rascal had developed some bad habits on the trail: refusing, spinning around, being very high headed and bracing, basically ignoring the bit and charging through it.

Working with Ivonne, I've learned how simple exercises can prevent issues altogether. I've also since switched from a bit to riding with a Dr Cook's bitless bridle and have not ridden with a bit since. Rascal seems to enjoy the freedom of going bitless. He responds very well to it anywhere we go on the trail. 

I recommend Ivonne's training to anyone with a gaited or nongaited horse who's having issues and wants to get them solved in a humane and gentle way.      

Ivonne,
 
I cannot thank you enough for helping me form a relaxed and fun partnership with my horse Duke.  I feel so much more confident with any situation that may come up while riding out on the trail with him.   
                  Thank you! 
                           ~ Medley

If you are lucky enough to have Ivonne take you on as a client, you & your horse will benefit!
Ivonne is personable & professional. She gets you working with your horse as a partner.

Each lesson is a building block to the bigger overall strategy so both you & your horse are communicating & having a great time building confidence, getting rid of bad habits, & reinforcing the good. 

Lessons are fun & creative. I honestly would have given up by now if it weren't for Ivonne. She has inspired me. I truly enjoy her company & try to bring my best each time. 
_________________________________________________________________________________

After owning my horse for 18 years, doing almost every discipline of horse riding. I found myself at a cross road.  
I was frustrated with the holes I had in my horses learning  program. Lucky for me I got the help of Ivonne.
She was concerned with my horse understanding all new the new information that he had not had before in his life.
She had to concentrate on teaching me the concept and my then teaching it to my horse.  With patients and a calm learning environment she pushes through any frustrating situations and will take the time she needs to get the communication across to you and your horse. 
We only have a short time with our beloved animals and I appreciate her love for the horse.

Have you ever wanted to learn a new language?  Have you ever dreamed of communicating without words?  Natural horsemanship trainer, Ivonne Gutierrez, can offer you just that.  While learning how to interact with your horse in every imaginable situation, you learn life lessons and a language that you can use every day.  Ivonne guides you on the language of ‘horse’ from the moment you approach the horse, put on the halter, lead and through the final horse sigh as your equine friend is returned to his place be it pasture or stall. 

You learn the words for stay out of my space.  For example, light bumps to the horse’s head as he leans that gorgeous head and looks at you with big eyes, tell your horse that No, I don’t care how gorgeous and wonderful you are.  This is my space and you need to respect it.   The horse will try a few head lunges at you saying, Are you sure?   And you bump back, Yes, my space and mine only.  Now, I’m not suggesting you bump that person in line who is pushy and invading your space.  But your new found confidence and self respect will give off an aura of Don’t Mess!  You have just communicated with the wordless speech of the horse.   

Leading your horse to the arena for a session requires more horse language for Keep in your place.  Ivonne will show you how to communicate to your horse that you are in control.  Like any language, this one requires vigilance and practice to thoroughly master.  Unlike other languages, horse absolutely insists that you use it all the time.  If you slack off, lose your focus, you can be sure the mis-fired communication will have consequences in horse behavior.

These small examples are only the beginning.  While learning to ride in a thoroughly common sense and natural manner, you discover how horses communicate with each other.  How you can use those behaviors to talk to your horse.  Don’t fool yourself, this isn’t easy or quick.  You will be rebuilding yourself as a rider.  But in the process, in the midst of possible frustration and discouragement, you will discover you enjoy your horse more.  You find yourself feeling even closer to this equine who allows you to be in its world.  The better you and the horse communicate the more you will enjoy each other.  Both of you will be happier. 

You will enjoy safer riding because Ivonne will teach you how to handle the problems that you can encounter on the trail or around the barn.  More importantly, you will enjoy interacting with your horse more than you ever have before because you won’t use the language of frustration and anger.  You will speak in ‘horse.’   

What started out as a simple refusal to load into my trailer, turned out to be a major problem.  

I did not handle Nike’s refusals correctly and trailer loading escalated into an extremely dangerous task.  By the time I met Ivonne, Nike had knocked me over, jumped over me and took off running on several occasions. 
Needless to say, I was as terrified at the trailer as Nike; we were caught up in a horrible cycle.  With Ivonne’s help, both Nike and I have overcome our terror at the trailer. 

My heart no longer pounds when we approach the trailer and Nike is able to load quietly and remain in the trailer until asked to unload.

Thanks to Ivonne, Nike and I can now broaden our riding horizons!

Traveling 4+ hours to attend Ivonne's clinic in Iowa, was worth every mile
and more! Her personable manner, combined with a keen eye for detail, and a great ability to share her knowledge with students, shines from the first hour.

Groundwork is made manageable for each student, regardless of
different individual levels. Ivonne helps each participant engage in simple
steps to progress rapidly throughout their training. We flowed into saddlework with ease and added challenge bit by bit, stretching our skills and enhancing our relationship with our horses. My confidence has grown immensely after working with Ivonne for only two days. I can honestly say, that her straight forward approach, lighthearted humor, and her passion for step by step teaching, can help anyone who wants to build their skills and confidence, and better understand their horse.

If you are even considering working with Ivonne, I urge you to "DO IT!!"  Everything I expected and much more, I found from working with this wonderful instructor!  Thanks Ivonne!!!

I can't recommend Ivonne highly enough to anyone looking for that "extra something" that you feel has been missing in your training program!  

Watching her work with our "herd" of horses (all at different ages and skill levels) was a thing of beauty!  She has such clarity of expression, and has that perfect level of assertiveness without aggressiveness that  horses seem to respond so well to. 

Her patience and perseverence, in combination with her ability to teach both the horse and the human clearly and effectively, are a true gift.  Whatever you perceive your goals and issues to be, Ivonne will listen to them,  and tailor her time with you to address you and your horse's specific needs.

Whether you are a rank beginner looking for a "starting point", an intermediate in need of a critique and pointers, or an old pro looking for " fine tuning", Ivonne can help you get the most out of your relationship with your horse.  

Just one day with her has given me the confidence I was seeking to raise the bar and challenge myself and my horse.   

The weekend of May 3rd & 4th 2008 we had the pleasure of having Ivonne Gutierrez come to Vermont to do a clinic.  It was a huge success and everyone wants her to come back in September.  There were all levels of abilities and each participant had a different problem to work on.
 
Our horses hated to get on the trailer and it would take us at least an hr. to get them loaded.  They, now get right on without any problem.   The older horse had a problem with pulling back  and rearing when getting saddled due to previous owners who over cinched him.  He is doing great.  Also, I just have to move my fingers on the reins and my horse goes where I want him to go and is so much softer.
 
We look forward to her coming back in September

We started with Ivonne initially to work with my daughter’s horse and calm both their nerves—they had a wreck a while back and if Peilani acted fidgety under saddle, my daughter got nervous—which of course made him more fidgety—a bad cycle in a horse that could go from zero to fraidy cat in 1.2 seconds!
 
After just a few sessions with Ivonne I realized both our horses had become calmer, more attentive and more responsive to cues…….or, was it that we were giving clearer cues, recognizing and rewarding correct responses better?....hmmm…...I think it was a good bit of both!
 
Ivonne taught me to apply concepts that I knew, but wasn’t applying effectively. She did a fabulous job of keeping me on track and focused—in the past I tended to give up too soon when asking for a specific action from my somewhat cheeky horse. I assumed I was doing something wrong when I didn’t get the correct response--Ivonne taught me to recognize when I was being played! What’s more is Ivonne makes learning a blast!—And by training (people and horses) in a logical manner instead of slapping on a “quick fix”, she teaches lasting skills that translate to a calmer, safer, more reliable horse—which is what every rider wants!
 
By using communication instead of force or pain, we hit the trails confident that the horses can handle whatever might be waiting around the corner. The “fraidy cat” horse now confidently leads the way into a concrete tunnel under the bridge near our trail! And recently when some jerk spread a tarp across the trail, my boy wasn’t fazed by the huge flapping monster blocking the trail—he stood calmly and watched curiously while I gathered it up—and of course he helped out by stomping it several times for me!
 
I can’t say thank you enough to Ivonne—our loss in Texas is your gain in California!                             

This is to tell you that I enjoyed your Clinic in Vermont,(5/3-4/08) very much. It is the first time I have ever been to a "HORSE CLINIC" so I can honestly say that it was the best one I have ever been to.
I thought to myself as I watched you talk to others and to me as well that you were actually telling people that what they were doing was wrong without actually telling us that "you are wrong."  You have a presentation that really by-passes that necessity.  Even I, as hardheaded as I am, fell under your spell and actually enjoyed doing IT, what ever IT was, the right way. 
I guess it was because the right way got results. 
Please know that I wish you all the success you truly deserve and will welcome the opportunity
to have you tell me "you are Wrong" any time you are in my area again. Please put me on your mailing list for any future plans you may have in this area,(N.Y. or VT.). 

"When I went to Ivonne Gutierrez for training, I could count on one hand the number of times I had ridden a horse.

For years I was content to sit on the horse's back and just let the horse dictate the ride. That's not riding but is merely being a passenger. My husband is a fairly good rider and I wanted to learn to ride so we could ride together.

However, as the only riding I had ever done was with a group of dude ranch horses, I was terrified of actually being in control of a horse.

I didn't know what to do. I am fifty years old and all I could think about was going too fast and falling off the horse. I was terrified. Ivonne was very patient with me and through her training I was able to gain confidence and control over my horse.

Not only can I now actually ride my horse without having to follow other horses, but I want to go faster than I ever thought I would want to go. That is confidence. We went on our first trail ride the other day and I had so much fun. I had no fear and I had total control of my horse.
I never thought I would or could ride like I do now. I would highly recommend Ivonne to anyone who is tired of just being a passenger and wants to learn to ride their horse with confidence. Ivonne knows her job and does it well."

 just can't believe how much this experience has changed me and how, in turn, my horses have changed. One of he most important things I learned is the importance of MY focus. I learned that MY focus comes before the horse's performance and that the horse's "attitude" is the last thing I will get. I learned that trying to work with the horse's attitude is futile, since I can't see it or touch it.

I brought a rather "reactive" little mare to the clinic who tends to be very "stiff." Ivonne gave me the tools and exercises to help my mare and I am confident that she and I are going to get along a lot better going forward.

Although I have been studying the John Lyons method for over a dozen years, Ivonne's explanations really made sense to me and I now understand things so much better.
Since many of the participants at the clinic were already asking when Ivonne would be back, our next clinic is already in the planning stages! 

I have just finished a 3 day riding clinic with Ivonne, in which I brought my 4 yr old Percheron mare.

She wasn't as broke as I thought she was. We entered the arena with her about 10 ft in front of me, at a gallop and me flying horizontally along behind!

So...the riding clinic became "unbroke horse" clinic for me!

Ivonne's fabulous exercises, explanations and patience helped us make breakthroughs in 3 days I would never have thought possible.

I truly cannot believe the change -- I now have a softer, happier mare, who is no longer buddy sour, and who finally sees me as the leader she has been seeking for 4 years.

I went from almost crying with despair, to crying with happiness at the change in her and I both.
This seems almost magic to me, as we simply worked a few simple exercises for the majority of the clinic.

The concepts learned in the application of these few exercises will stay with me through the rest of my horse handling days,-- as they are key to every training situation                                                                        

Good luck with your career. The world is a better place thanks to people like you who care enough about animals to be willing to share your wonderful knowledge with the rest of us.
Best Wishes