Walter Zettl

-15 degrees F outside; 20 degrees in the indoor!

Sometimes there are not enough words, or the right kind of words, to thank someone for all they have invested in your life, both through the books they've written and the personal input they have given.  Walter is that person for me.  The VERY abbreviated version is as follows.  In 2005, four years after my accident, Kathy and Robin Marshall invited me to their home and farm for 10 days to see Nova Scotia and to begin relearning to ride the FEI movements on FEI horses at her farm and at the Atlantic Dressage Development Center.  It just so happened that Walter, a childhood idol of mine whom I felt I would never get to meet or ride for because of my accident that left me using a wheelchair and a walker, was there teaching a clinic at the end of the 10 days I was there.  Walter heard I was there through the staff and agreed to tack me on as the 9th ride of his clinic one day.  That was an awesome week, ending in an experience of a lifetime.  A couple of weeks later I received a phone call from a number I did not recognize.  It was Walter!  In the 12 years since, he and Heide have been kind enough to call every once in a while and to allow me to keep up with them.  In addition, I've been honored to take lessons with him sometimes up to six times a year, and/or audit his lessons, often with sponsorship from my good friend, Lori Northrup.  He has helped me through some major decisions, including making the difficult decision to euthanize my previous mount, Radical Roddin.  He's taught me that horse business can and should be done with ethics and honesty, that principles and character matter in a person, and that kindness to the horse is the most important of all things -  all sometimes difficult to find in the horse world.  I have been so very privileged and honored to learn from one of my childhood heros, Walter Zettl.  As I say at the end of each of my lessons with him, "Thank you, Walter!"