About

Crossroads began long before it became Crossroads Connection. Back then, it was Crossroads Horsemanship — a place where I gave riding lessons and trained horses, carrying a dream in my heart that one day I would run a true equine therapy program.

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That dream first took shape when I volunteered at Nature’s Edge Therapy Center in Rice Lake while in college. I can still remember saying, “I want the horse to be the therapist. I just want to be the helper.” Even then, the vision was clear in my heart, even if the “how” wasn’t.

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For years, I thought the only way forward was through therapy. I chased it, tried to align with barns that promised it, and held onto the idea that I needed to go down the “therapy” path. But here’s the truth I’ve come to see: what I’m doing now is not therapy — and it’s exactly what I always wanted and needed. Horses don’t diagnose or treat. They simply meet people where they are, reflect back what’s real, and create the space for growth. My role is to facilitate those experiences. That’s the magic. That’s the path.

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In the years that followed, I worked at barns where the promise of therapy work was dangled but never fully materialized. So I stayed in the horsemanship lane — giving lessons, training horses, and learning hard lessons of my own through the ups and downs of the horse world. Eventually, after some painful experiences with barns and a pregnancy with no facility of my own, I stepped back in 2019.

Still, the call never left me. I always knew I was meant to do something with horses — and with the name Crossroads. I just didn’t know how yet.

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By 2023, the pull was too strong to ignore. I started experimenting with what it might look like to bring Crossroads back. At first, I tried lessons again, but it didn’t feel right. I promised myself I wouldn’t go down that road again until I had my own place. Instead, I leaned into simply sharing the real work I was already doing with my own herd — the care, the healing, the daily growth.

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Then came Gloria. She reached out for help with Gemma, a mare struggling with confidence, bolting behavior, and metabolic issues like borderline Cushing’s and insulin resistance. She was confined to a small paddock, living on supplements, and lacking the movement her body and mind desperately needed.

 

That’s when I built my first track system, inspired by Jaime Jackson’s Paddock Paradise model. The concept is simple but powerful: horses are designed to move. By creating a track that mimics natural herd behavior — with multiple stations for hay, water, minerals, and shelter — we encourage constant low-level movement. The results are transformative: healthier weight, stronger hooves, improved digestion, better social interaction, and calmer minds.

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I watched Gemma thrive. The bolting slowed. Her body changed. Her spark returned. At the same time, my own horses began transforming — muscling up, moving freer, and shining from the inside out. The land itself responded too, healing as the horses rotated and grazed with purpose. It was clear: as we helped the horses heal, they were also helping to heal me — body, mind, and spirit.

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At first, I thought maybe the path forward was through groundwork clinics or confidence lessons. But then, almost as if divinely timed, Equine Connection knocked on my door. I applied for their Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) scholarship with a “why not, what if” attitude. Two days later, I broke my back. One week after that, I received news that I had been awarded the full $2,000 scholarship.

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That injury forced me to sit still long enough to fully absorb the course — a blessing in disguise. As I healed, I poured into my studies, working with my horses in a whole new way. Every step came with confirmation — little breadcrumbs from God and the universe: the round pen falling into place, the ponies arriving at just the right time, the certification aligning perfectly.

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Looking back, it feels like every moment — from my first barrel races as a kid, to giving riding lessons at 10, to training horses at 8, to working alongside countless trainers and mentors — was preparation for this. The barns I passed through, the horses I met, even the challenges and disappointments — all of it shaped me into the horsewoman and facilitator I am today.

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Now, with Crossroads Connection, the dream has come full circle. The horses are not “therapists.” They are teachers, guides, and mirrors. And that’s even better than what I once imagined. I get to walk alongside them, holding space for people to experience the same breakthroughs and growth that I’ve witnessed countless times.

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I’ve always loved helping people and seeing the light come on — those little breakthroughs when someone realizes they’re stronger than they thought, or when a horse reflects back exactly what a person needed to see. It’s not foo-foo or mystical — it’s real, tangible growth. But it is also magical in its own way: the kind of magic only God and horses can create together.

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Crossroads Connection is built on that magic. It’s built on faith. And it’s built on the simple belief that when we show up, honest and willing, the horses will meet us right where we are — and guide us toward where we’re meant to go.