Our Faculty
Joseph Freeman, founder
Joseph Freeman
Joseph is a creative, gifted practitioner who applied his work with humans to horses and in doing so, came up with a sequence of sessions that can provide a profound return to balance and flexibility for horses. Joseph is a certified Hellerwork Structural Integration™ practitioner who worked in a clinical setting with people for many years. As a favor to friends, he worked on their animals. Over time, the remarkable results he got convinced him that his true calling is horses.
After working in human Structural Integration, he created the Equine Natural Movement Series in 1995, began mentoring students in 1999 and training practitioners at his school in southwest Washington in 2001. He has taught and spoken about the Equine Natural Movement Series at professional schools and conferences across the country and been published in equine magazines and healthcare journals.
Joseph has skilled hands, a calm and patient manner and a deep love of animals. His work is well thought out and thorough. Most importantly, horses enjoy working with him.
Click here to learn more about the professional training.
Allan Mutschler
Allan is a graduate of the Guild for Structural Integration and has been studying and practicing alternative therapies since the early 1980s. Allan apprenticed for seven years in manual medicine and then realized he most loved working with horses and put all his attention to that. He is also knowledgeable in Touch for Health, reflexology, iridology, herbology, applied kinesiology, deep connective tissue release and massage.
Working independently, Allan created an Equine Structural Integration series of his own that was remarkably similar to the Equine Natural Movement Series so we asked him to be on faculty and share his knowledge with our students. Joseph said meeting and working with Allan was like finding a long lost brother.
Subtlety and patience are qualities Allan embodies. He’s incredibly skilled yet always modest. His tremendous love for horses is obvious. Everything he does with them comes from his heart.
Mary Ann Simonds
Mary Ann is a behavioral ecologist and holistic health educator who has been charming horses for over 35 years. She has degrees in wildlife biology, range management and interdisciplinary consciousness studies that emphasize human-animal interactions and healing. She spent many years studying how wild horses live in balance with other horses and their environment.
Her research on wild horses demonstrated that horse social structure is based on friendship and respect rather than competition and dominance. Horses don’t need humans to survive, rather they choose to be our friends and workmates. Many equine physical and emotional problems could be eliminated if people better understand the horse’s needs which is the foundation for keeping horses healthy. Mary Ann is an exciting intelligent instructor with tremendous grasp of the horse’s psyche. She is committed to helping people develop mutual understanding, respect and enjoyment so their journey with horses is thoroughly rewarding for all.
Watch this video of Mary Ann speaking … How horses are similar and different from people
Jacqueline Freeman
Jacqueline is the Training Director for the school so her fingers are in each part of the program. She is a former faculty trainer for Hellerwork Structural Integration and many years ago owned a holistic health center on Martha’s Vineyard, MA. She works on curriculum development, critiques student papers, teaches the business course, guides the independent study portion of each class, and orchestrates the continuing development of each student all the way to graduation and into their practices.
With great insight she sees the strengths of each student and works to bring out the best in them so they feel the joy of fulfilling their highest potential with this work. She is effervescently optimistic, thoroughly practical and deeply committed to honesty, ethics and passion.
OUR ADJUNCT FACULTY
These four graduates of our Teacher Training now mentor students in their areas. If you live near them and would like to take Level One locally, you are invited to contact them directly. We believe in their abilities and are really happy they have moved up to faculty. Eventually our goal is to train them in teaching the entire training so we have more satellite schools around the land. They can teach the Level One class in a 2 or 3-day weekend format or the consecutive week-long format. Students schedule their training directly with these teachers on dates they mutually agree on. After the Level 1 with these teachers, students can take Level 2 and 3 at the main school.
Sara Cooper
Sara has achieved quite a few impressive credentials in her life. She’s an acupuncturist and experienced holistic practitioner which you’d think would be enough for an average person, but Sara’s also an award-winning screenplay writer with many televised shows to her credit. Sara’s love of horses drew her to this work and now she’s one of our first adjunct faculty members. Sara practices in southern California and travels extensively so if you’re in Europe, for example, Sara may be able to work your training into her calendar.
Maggie Mittuch
Maggie is smart, enthusiastic, and has many years in the educational field. She’s an avid competitor with years of experience working with horses. Maggie graduated from our faculty training and had her first student training with her so fast we hardly had the ink dry on her graduation certificate. Maggie’s love of horses shines through in her work and is an inspiration to her students. Maggie practices in Port Orchard, WA, and is often in the eventing winner’s circle with her horses.
Maggie says, “My work continues to evolve. I’m having good results and I love the work. The combination of working to develop them under saddle, and working to support them through bodywork has led to the most amazing physical, emotional and spiritual experience for me and for them and it spills over in to the rest of my life. I am in awe most every day. The horses induce you to be in the moment with them. It’s a lot like prayer. My young filly, Onyx (fractured skull as a weanling) is now magnificent under saddle. We are having a blast. Monkey never ceases to amaze me with the breadth and depth of his heart and self belief. He reminds me often that he really is a wild horse who is pretending to be tame so that he can live with me.”
April Johnston
April Johnston worked for years as CEO of a nonprofit. She has tremendous understanding of environmental issues. April studied equine work originally so she could work with local horses, but once she began doing the work, it grabbed her heart and soul. As a student she was remarkably thorough and committed right from the very beginning. When April joined our adjunct faculty, she resigned her position as CEO so she could focus all her efforts on helping horses and their riders, and now she’s training our students as well. April practices in Bozeman, Montana and Wellington, Florida with trainings in each state. April is now capable of teaching the Level Two course as well as the Level One course.
April is a life long horse lover. Her first horse, Tomax, is an Arabian ex-stallion who came into her life in 1991 and still runs the show on April’s farm. In 2006 Andalusian-Arab mare, Tess, joined the family. April enjoys classical dressage and wild gallops in the incredible mountains of southwestern Montana.
Theresa Gagnon
Theresa is the former director of Bancroft School of Massage Animal Therapy Program in Massachusetts. Theresa has taught equine massage for many years, always with a particular interest in fascial anatomy. She participated in the World Fascial Congress in 2008 and has applied fascial bodywork principles to her own work with stunning results. She has natural empathic abilities which give her insights into horses’ conditions and states of being. She’s got a well organized mind and a deep commitment to making horses’s lives better. Theresa practices in Oakham, MA.