I'm Lizzie MacKenzie, I'm a film-maker from Scotland. I make films with the ambition to inspire people to live with curiosity and in wonder at the world and the creatures (including humans!) that inhabit it. Before my career in film-making, I worked full-time with horses.

However, I was regularly confronted with the truth that we humans often know far less about how horses truly think and feel than we think we do. It was partly this realisation that brought me to film-making, and that's why I am so excited to be working alongside Ilka to help bring such important knowledge and experience out into the world. For more information, visit: www.ofthewild.me

Irena Gubina (EAGALA certified) is a Riding Instructor with her authentic path of learning and teaching, Ethology academy (SA) graduate and student of Evolutive Naturopathy. 

After gaining vast experiences in show jumping, trotter training, turf, trail riding and dressage (Lipica Stud Farm), she decided to carve for her own path of training and raising horses by breeding her own lipizzaner horses. For 10 years living on a farm, she started her young lipizzaners by self-taught bitless dressage, based on the classical principles of incorporating body awareness, subtle communication, understanding of functional biomechanics of horse and rider, mirroring the states and expanding or dividing attention.

Her way of teaching riding or training horses is unique and visionary. Five years ago, she joined a team of EAP/EAL providers at the Youth Health resort Rakitna, where she works as Head of Equine Training and Co-therapist. She teaches her riding art individually or in group seminars in the private setting of a Lipizzaner Lodge facility in Slovenia. Her goal is to develop an academy focused on subtle horse training as a path to change one's own perspective and body-mind state, and include there her current knowledge of the Evolutive Naturopathy.  

Randy Mandrell is co-founder and Director of Equine Services with Refuge Services of Lubbock, Texas. He is the first horse professional to offer Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy services on an outpatient basis in partnership with professional counselors in the state of Texas and has incorporated EAGALA model work into his business for 22 years now. Randy has over 40 years of experience with horses, including 25 years as a professional horse trainer and farrier.

Randy was recognized by EAGALA as “Outstanding Horse Professional” in 2001 for his superior work with clients and collaboration with other therapists in his community.

He is Advanced certified by EAGALA and has been training for EAGALA for over 17 years. He previously served as director of equine services for a residential treatment center for girls with Eating Disorders using EAGALA model as one of the primary therapeutic intervention tools. Randy is very committed to helping others maximize the use of their horses in therapy settings. 

Cathy O’Donnell is trained in classical dressage which heavily emphasizes the responsibilities of the rider and the communication "with" rather than "to" the horse.

She spent years under and with top professionals of the time, eventually working with Gerd Zuther at November Hill Farm. "Forward Riding!” and “No pulling!" were words she lived by. Cathy left the safety of this world in the 90s and, living with her own horses and her family, she took note that the general public view of the horse was quite different than the professional view she was accustomed to. Even the vocabulary did not match. At the same time, she saw stark parallels and differences to raising/training children and training/raising horses.

These two realizations pushed her out of trying to continue a career with horses as a riding teacher and led to an interest in "horses in therapy".

Andrea applies principles of Somatic Movement Education, BioDynamic Craniosacral Therapy, and dancing Argentine Tango to help people become confident, self-aware, dynamic, adaptable partners for their horses regardless of horse or human’s stage of life, level of experience, or capacity to perform.

Developed over my life-time of living with and caring for horses from birth through end of life, this way of being with horses prioritizes their sentience, their intelligence, and affords them a sense of choice.

By teaching people to be adaptable and sensitive to nuance, it becomes possible to literally share the experience of moving WITH your horses in the truest sense of harmony, so that your partnerships are mutually beneficial and sustainable throughout your lives together.

As his mother was an ambitious dressage rider, horses have always been part of Boris' life. As a kid, he spent hours and hours in the barn with her. He noticed that the horses were responding differently to him but back then this was even a little embarassing to him.

Growing older, he initially studied biology and machine engineering, until he eventually chose a medical profession in osteopathy for people.

Although horses accompanied him all his life, it was fate that eventually got him in close contact with them – many of this clients in his Cologne practice turned our to be horse owners, so he eventually started working on some of their horses, too. 

He later transferred and specialized in "Bowen Therapy" for horses, being one of the first human practitioners adapting the techniques to horses. Today, in addition to his daily work with horses, he offers training courses and further education in equine osteopathy.