About Melissa Pelletier

Welcome to Melissa Pelletier's home on the web!

Melissa Pelletier was born into a family where horses were a focus of her life from early childhood. As a young adult she participated in different rodeo events. Moving to the city and starting a family, her horse hobby was placed on the back burner for a few years.

Melissa had been out of horses for a few years when Cody entered her life in 2001. Her plan was to return to barrel racing. Cody immediately challenged her into a new place in her horsemanship. He was out of control, even on the ground. In all her years of working with horses, Melissa had never experienced anything quite like this. She wondered what she had gotten herself into.

Everything that she knew about horse training was ineffective in working with Cody. This caused Melissa to look for new approaches to handling situations that would help Cody, other people and their horses.

In 2001, Melissa rode with Harry Whitney for the first time. This began a path that impacted her interactions with her own horse, and also what she had to offer others.

She began to learn how to look at the inside of the horse, NOT just the external behavior or mechanics of the horse. At this website, you will see captioned examples of how Melissa works with young horses, troubled horses, and in other situations as well.

There is quite a difference between the type of horsemanship that Melissa practiced in her younger years and the type she promotes and teaches others today.

"When I think of a horse moving in a mechanical way, there is no heart involved. The feet may move, but this is merely forcing the horse to do something it isn't willing to do. We can make horses do a lot of things when they are not willing. But what I am after is the willingness of the horse-having the whole horse work with you. Not just getting its feet to move. When a horse is willing, there is a whole different demeanor and softness from the horse." "Softness" is something that Melissa looks for in a horse and the people that she works with. She teaches horse and owner how to offer "softness" to one another. "Softness comes from a state of mind--that place where the horse has turned himself over to you willingly."

Intent is very important as well. "Intent is the way you present yourself to the horse. It is important to offer clear intent. Many people don't know what they want when they work with their horses. This can actually cause confusion for the horse. By becoming clearer with intent, the human can communicate more effectively in a way the horse can perceive. Horses see things as very black and white. I try to help people learn how to offer this to their horses. I challenge people to bring up their energy without using their emotions. This is all part of intent and providing clarity to the horse."