"I will put my all into this, and give it my best, so that these horses, with their friendly nature, will judge me kindly, and so that harmony reigns, carried by the total unity of two living beings."

~Nuno Oliveira

From her earliest childhood, horses have been Charlotte's greatest teachers and heart's passion. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970's, she can recall riding ponies through the same fruit orchards that would eventually give way to the high tech offices that epitomize Silicon Valley today. Coming of age in the world of "traditional" horsemanship, she plunged into the professional world of Arabian show horse training at the age of eighteen and spent her young adulthood walking and grooming Thoroughbred race horses at Bay Area race tracks. Charlotte soon discovered that the "traditional" way was at odds with her heart-based connection with horses and resigned from the professional horse world, devastated by the end of a life-long dream and and for a time, defeated.

For twenty years, college, a teaching career and family responsibilities became her priority. In her late-30's, Charlotte worked in sales management for local "boutique" artisans and eventually left the corporate world to begin her successful online jewelry shop on a shoestring budget. Taking a "leap of faith" and starting a successful business from the ground up gave Charlotte a deep personal understanding of life and career transition...the passion as well as the fear inherent in changing one's life path. This awareness has given her a unique ability to compassionately connect with and encourage women through life's challenges and transitions.

Horses continued to be Charlotte's source of inspiration while she began daily study, meditation and spiritual practice that embraces Native American, Western and Eastern spirituality. Descending from a long line of Curanderas (wise women, herbalists & healers) on her maternal side, Charlotte has continued to develop her natural intuitive and energetic healing gifts throughout her adult life. Finding a new equine sub-culture in 2007 that championed the horse as teacher and healer, Charlotte found her niche. Indeed, it was the perfect partnering of her own decade-long spiritual study and the horses who inspired it.

Charlotte studied and practiced Natural Horsemanship, holistic horse care and energetic awareness for the past several years under a number of local experts. In addition, she has studied extensively under the direction of Equine Facilitated Learning and Coaching (EFLC) pioneer Kathy Pike (www.coachingwithhorses.com). EquiSpiritus was born out of her desire to make the world better for horses by challenging us to look deeper, beyond traditional horsemanship, at the ways horse and human may touch and nurture each others' souls in a more natural and symbiotic union.  

"EquiSpiritus" represents two concepts..."Equi", is of course a referral to "Equine" and "Spiritus" is from the Latin, meaning "breath". Merging the two together, you have "the breath of the horse." 

As of January, 2011, Charlotte's home base is Windhorse Ranch (www.windhorseranch.net) specializing in heart-based horsemanship and balanced, natural horse care. She is a registered volunteer trainer with the Bureau of Land Management's Mustang and Burro adoption program, using her unique method to gentle and halter train wild mustangs. She is the author of several printed articles and an upcoming book, "The Breath of the Horse: Reflections on Nature, Presence and Partnership." Charlotte offers her assistance to horse and human clients alike, both in the United States and Canada. She lives in Northern California's Wine Country region with her husband, teenage son and assorted furry friends, including her wise mares, Penny, Geneva, Indiana and Tehya.