Hi! I’m Kathryn, and I communicate with animals!

(I still can’t believe I get to say that)

If you’re here, it’s probably safe to say that you love animals.

You’ve had or wanted to have animals of your own ever since you were a child. You probably had many encounters with nature as a kid - I befriended snails in my garden! You’ve always tried to do your best for your animals, training in the most fair and ethical way (and you try not to beat yourself up about what past you did when over time knowledge moves on). You’ve loved them so much your heart could bust when they look at you, and inevitably you will have experienced heartbreak when you lost them, and you’re kinda bracing for when the inevitable happens with your current buddies. Let me tell you about the horse who broke my heart open: Henry.

A horse standing at a gate in a field with snow. — Henry would stand for hours at the gate just being connected with me.

Henry was my first heartbreak, my soulmate of a horse who I lost when both he and I were way too young (he was 6 and I was 16). He was bought for me without my knowledge by my otherwise sensible parents. It was a recipe for disaster and I don’t know what magic was afoot that made it happen, but he was perfect. A kind horse who was sensitive in mind, body and soul; too sensitive for bossy riders but the very safest horse you could put a nervous rider who needed extra support on. I’ll never forget the careful look of concentration on his face as he looked after a teenager whose dad had just died in a horrific accident. He took me to pony club rallies and to shows but much more than that, he showed me the depth of connection that is possible between a human and a horse.

Henry and I were in tune with each other. If we were out on a hack and a pheasant flew up noisily out of nowhere, I got the same electric jolt of shock that he did. When one of us was chilled and enjoying the sunshine, we both relaxed. When one of us was antsy and stressed, the other could counterbalance it and bring them back down to calm. I tried Monty Roberts’ Join Up with him, but he didn’t need convincing to spend time with me. He chose to of his own accord, and we had many happy hours just chilling out in each others company. He was a soulmate.

Kathryn working dismouted with a grey horse in an arena . The horse is on a 12ft line that she is holding, and both are moving at relaxed speed. — I developed a lifelong fascination and started my journey to discover; how can we connect with meaningful depth to our horses and other animals?

Kathryn walking towards the camera with a grey horse following her. — Me studying Natural Horsemanship in Spain. The connection I had developed with Bertie lingered, so he stuck with me even after I’d taken his headcollar off.

I began to study Natural Horsemanship, which was just becoming popular at the time. I studied Parelli, Kelly Marks, Monty Roberts, Andrew McLean., Jenny Rolfe, Mary Wanless and under many less well known names.. I became disillusioned with some of them. In my highlights reel I rode horses through the olive groves in Spain with no bridle on; and I developed such a close connection with the horses that I worked with, to the point that I felt sore in the same parts of my body that they did, and if I had tight muscles, they would stretch out theirs!

I travelled and I worked with body language and this elusive thing called “energy” with stallions and little pot bellied cobs, and I attended courses, talks and clinics with natural, classical and traditional experts in their niches.

I started to notice that I could see colours around the people and animals that I worked with. Not just colours,, but also emotions and bodily sensations that weren’t mine. I would get snippets of thoughts about how a certain horse or dog must be feeling. Intrigued, I took introductory animal communication training, and found that I had a natural aptitude for getting accurate information about animals who I had never met before.

For years, I would quietly practice with friends’ horses and dogs. I was a regular on Horse & Hound Forum, and listened to bolshy nameless forum users loudly proclaiming that “all animal communicators are fake” and out to steal people’s money. I wasn’t charging a single penny, and I was still getting strangers whose animals I’d never met tell me that my readings were spookily accurate. Was I just kidding myself and them? How would I know?

I got confirmation, time and time again.

The horse who was worrying about the dog she thought had been forgotten about. The one who liked the taste of burnt sausages. The snake who liked to watch TV. The cat who showed me the view she had out of her travel bag. The specific head nudge that one horse did when she wanted to work with somebody. The dog who showed me the specific weird thing her owner did with her lead when it was time for a walk. The horse who told me they had met an Emu for goodness sake! Information that I couldn’t have guessed in a million years, all verified by their owners.

I wanted professional certification, just to be sure.

What better way to spend lockdowns?! A final course for professionals. Four case studies, each with a different animal professional. The pass criteria was simple, but harsh: provide information about the animal to the professional that they could recognise with 95% accuracy, or fail. I passed.