Chris Cook

President and CEO

Chris has 17 years of experience running horse training programs; specializing In colt starting, wild  horse taming, problem horse solving and human development. Chris studied under master horseman Peter Fuller at Willow Brook Natural Horsemanship Center in Pennsylvania and Pat Parelli at the Parelli Campus in Colorado. Chris earned titles of Senior Instructor and Senior Horse Development Specialist at Willow Brook and a 2-Star Parelli Instructor title.

Chris then started The Horse Development Program LLC to provide students with young horses the training they needed to attend Parelli Levels Clinics. His journey lead  him to Silverhorne Sporthorse in California where he  was  Head  of  Horse  Development.  Chris’s training  and philosophy directly resulted in the company winning the Hanoverian Society Performance Test, earning spectacular scores and six elite mare status  finalists, as the first all naturally trained performance test. Chris then had the opportunity to work as Head of Strategic Development for HoofbeatZ Inc. and Al Shaqab in the Middle East. Chris managed 40 trainers, 90 grooms and the development of  over 300 horses in two countries thus helping to execute one of the first and largest government sponsored natural horsemanship contracts to help educate Arabic riding schools and equine assisted therapy programs. During his  time at HoofbeatZ, Chris helped the company and the projects he lead grow to a 500% increase in revenue and  400%  increase in  safety .

As President & CEO, Chris plays an integral part of the Wild Horsemanship Center’s (WHC) executive team, and continues to develop his dream of fostering an empowering horsemanship center where horses and humans can build a strong foundation at any level (recreational, professional, business and therapeutic) based on psychology and Empathetic Leadership. To date Chris  has  developed and lead projects resulting  in over  2.3M  in  government and  private  investments for organizations and businesses  WHC as worked with  internationally .    

Co Founder  &  CFO   

Kathryn is cofounder of Wild Horsemanship Center which evolved from a desire to expand peoples’ knowledge of the stronger, safer relationship that is possible to enjoy with a horse. For over 30 years, Kathryn has managed a training barn and boarding facility.

Kathryn’s life long career with horses began by working on horse farms in exchange for riding lessons in conventional training style. However, it was not until her exposure to natural horsemanship methods that Kathryn experienced the satisfaction of a soft connection with her horses. Kathryn has worked tirelessly to hone her training skills using natural horsemanship in combination with operant conditioning.

Kathryn is a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner skilled at positive reinforcement training. This exposure to clicker training led Kathryn to develop a treat that could be eaten quickly and be a highly desirable reward. As a result, Kathryn founded the horse treat company Nicker Nickels to produce and market her personal recipe for the ideal treat she uses in her training.

In addition to being a horsemanship/riding instructor, Kathryn an accomplished entrepreneur as well as certified as a therapeutic riding instructor and has served as a puppy raiser for therapy dogs. When she gets the opportunity, Kathryn enjoys creating with fiberarts.

Kathryn’s mission is to foster an understanding that combining natural horsemanship with operant conditioning creates a happy, trained horse. Kathryn’s ultimate goal is to help bring up a new generation of horse trainers who can benefit from using this effective training technique.

Board  Member  

Nancy is a partner in Nicker Nickels, a horse training treat business, where Nancy provided business development, creation of operational procedures and workflow planning which is utilized in production, marketing and order fulfillment. Nancy works to cultivate and maintain strong relationships with retail partners, customers and suppliers while managing monthly financial bookkeeping.

Nancy has assisted Wild Horsemanship Center with development of procedures to help implement communication of the board of directors and provide for relationship efficiency between the President and the board. Nancy as been key to helping Wild Horsemanship Center achieve and maintain transparency by building relationships with key stakeholders, researching, and compiling metrics demonstrating WHC’s national and international results.

Nancy has a history in special education, finance, entrepreneurship, and volunteerism and is passionate about the environment, and the animals that inhabit it