KRISTEN

 

 

ABOUT KRISTEN 

 

    Kristen and her horses are located in a small farming community west of Ft. Worth, Tx where she co lives on an eight acre farmette called Fortnight Ranch owned by her parents, Cheryl and Tommy Weekes.  Over the years Kristen and her parents have developed Fortnight Ranch into the perfect Eventer’s paradise.
The farm is equipped with everything needed to start and train successful dressage, jumpers, eventers and trail horses including: 3 stall barn, lighted sand arena, show jumping fences and cross country jumps with a pond and bank complex. 

 

    Kristen worked at UTSouthwestern Medical Center for 15 years in bio medical research labs. Upon earning her degree in Kinesiology she spent 2005 working in the Movement Science Lab at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children before returning to UTSW in 2006. Kristen recently received the Valedictorian Award for Weatherford College’s 2013 Fall EMT-B Academy. She is currently employed with Granbury/Hood County Texas EMS.

 

 

 

MY PHILOSOPHY - BY KRISTEN WERTZ

 

 

    ♦  MANIPULATING THE HORSE’S BODY  ♦

 

    I have extensive knowledge in competition, sport and fitness which combined with horsemanship skills allows me to fully understand how to build and maintain equine athletes.

    Knowing how to ride is very different from understanding how to work a horse.  As a trainer you can have a general outline of the day’s session but that outline is just a starting point. To work a horse is to be a dynamic thinker and be ready to change the plan within a stride as needed.

    I rarely need to compromise with horses because I do not have a set plan. I never have expectations (beyond the horse showing cooperation and correctly maintaining contact) and I modify a workout as I go according to what I feel at any given moment.

 

♦  ALWAYS FIND SUCCESS  ♦

 

    I try to always set my horses up for success. Young horses need to be able to find an end to any given question whether it be a stretchy trot after a hard movement on the flat or a big pat after negotiating a tough gymnastic line. My exercises vary greatly depending on the horse’s confidence level and physical abilities and often I will change exercises completely depending on the horses reaction during a training session.