Podcast with Shea Stewart

Get to know Shea:

Horses have been a part of my life for the majority of my life. I founded Stewart Ranch in 1998 in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mnts, near Santa Cruz, CA. I focused on creating a holistic environment, and incorporating educational seminars and clinics. I found myself with a ranch that had huge potential, so I spent the first year renovating it and creating a home for me and a peaceful environment for horses.

Every 6-12 months or so, I would bring in a professional to teach a clinic on some aspect of horse well-being. And I also taught clinics, trained horses from starting young horses under saddle, to re-educating the most difficult horses, to having other horse trainers bring me their horses to help them get to a better spot. I had a strong client base with boarders who were in some kind of lesson or training program, and every year I spent 6 weeks with Harry Whitney to enhance my own skills. Usually bringing the most challenging horses I had in training, or a young horse to start under saddle.

Around 2007, I found myself with a full load of training horses with extreme and dangerous issues. It was around that time that I started exploring equine craniosacral therapy. I was familiar with craniosacral therapy because I had been receiving it since the late 80's so I knew how powerful it was. As I completed each workshop, I incorporated what I learned with the horses in training so I could practice my feel. I found that I had a knack for this work, and it resonated with me on a deep level. What kept me intrigued was the change I was seeing in this group of training horses that I had at the time. There was a settledness that the horses had, a lightness in their riding and just an ease to their expression.

I started getting interest from other clients and friends throughout CA once they heard about this work I was doing from my postings on facebook and seeing results of horses they knew that I had in a training program. So, about a year after my first craniosacral course, I branched out and began working on horses outside of my ranch. I still felt like I had barely scratched the surface of this therapy, but the feed back from clients was remarkable to me, and honestly that feed back is what kept me motivated to offer this service as well as lessons and training. In 2011, I decided to relocate to Texas. I immediately found a human craniosacral practitioner who taught classes in biodynamic craniosacral. I enrolled in every level completing up to the advanced levels. This training was life changing in my equine practice. I am able to practice with more precision, get deeper changes, and have a clear understanding of what is happening during a session with a horse that I was not understanding during that first year. I have steadily built a strong client base in TX all through word of mouth. With my background in horse behavior and my dedication to craniosacral therapy, I feel that I bring into each session a unique quality to help each horse individually, and teach their owners how to support them as well.

In 2012, I began saddle fitting as well. With my back ground in functional anatomy, and saddle fitting all types of saddles, this transition became very easy for me. I know how important saddle are for a horse's well-being after all of my years of training troubled horses and finding solutions for them. I now have a full-time business offering saddle fitting for all major english brands, and western saddles as well. I currently work in the N. TX area offering craniosacral session, and also saddle fitting and saddle sales.