The Outstanding Clinicians at the 2015 Equine Affaire
Michael Barisone
Michael Barisone has been making his mark in the world of international dressage competition for
nearly two decades. During his illustrious career he has won more than 100 CDI Grand Prix events on
nine different horses, been a member of or alternate rider for three United States Olympic Teams, and
won CDI Grand Prix competitions on three continents. In addition to excelling as a competitor, Mr.
Barisone has been a member of the United States Equestrian Federation’s High Performance in Dressage
Committee and the USEF’s Selection Committee for the Olympic Games, and he currently serves as a
member of the USEF’s Board of Directors. At Michael Barisone Dressage Stables in Long Valley, NJ, and
Loxahatchee, FL, Mr. Barisone uses a systematic approach to developing dressage horses from threeyear-olds to Grand Prix competitors. He has authored numerous articles on dressage topics for Practical
Horseman, The Chronicle of the Horse, and Dressage Today.
Sharon Camarillo
When Sharon Camarillo started rodeoing, barrel racing was the only event open to female riders. By the
time she hung up her competition spurs, she had qualified four times for the National Finals Rodeo. That
recognition helped her launch a multifaceted new career as a designer, clinician, author, motivational
speaker, and industry advocate. Her acclaimed workshops titled “Performance Horsemanship for Better
Barrel Racing” have helped students in the United States and other countries develop themselves and
their equine partners, regardless of discipline, to their potentials. Ms. Camarillo’s ability to evaluate,
inspire, and motivate others has made her instructional books and DVDs among the best sellers in the
equine industry. Based in Lockeford, CA, Sharon Camarillo has received the Western and English
Manufacturers Association “Top Hand” award for her signature collection of saddles, tack, and clothing.
She is a member of the American Quarter Horse Association’s Professional Horsemen Committee, and
she is one of very few women who’ve been inducted into both the National Cowgirl and the National
Cowboy Halls of Fame.
Chris Cassenti
Chris Cassenti is the manager and lead trainer of Chrislar Farm in Rowley, MA. Although she may be best
known for her top-quality Morgan horses and equitation riders, Ms. Cassenti and her staff cater to all
breeds and riding disciplines. Horses, riders, and drivers trained by Ms. Cassenti have accumulated
numerous world, national, regional, and local championships as well as titles ranging from AHSA Horse
of the Year to People’s Choice and Judges Choice awards. Ms. Cassenti is a well-respected judge holding
cards with the New England Horse Council and the United States Equestrian Federation. She has served
as the Chairperson of the UPHA-14 Horse Show, as a member of the Equine Advisory Committee of the
Massachusetts Farm Bureau, and as President and a member of the Board of Directors of the New
England Morgan Horse Association. In 2006 Chris Cassenti was voted the American Morgan Horse
Association Woman of the Year, and in 2007 she was inducted into the New England Morgan Horse “Hall
of Fame.”
Phillip Dutton
Phillip Dutton grew up in New South Wales, Australia, where horses were a large part of life on his
family’s sheep and wheat farm and he actively competed in Pony Club rallies and horse trails. He
continued to pursue his passion for riding while studying at Newington College and later at Agricultural
College. In 1991, Mr. Dutton moved to the United States to train in a more internationally competitive
environment. He represented Australia in three Olympics and four World Championships before
becoming an American citizen in 2006. Phillip Dutton’s career highlights include team gold medals at
both the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and two team gold medal and individual
silver at the 2007 Pan Am Games. He was a member of the United States team in Beijing in 2008 and
also a member of the fourth-placing three-day team at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Phillip Dutton
is very active on the U.S. eventing circuit, and, since 1998, he has accumulated 12 USEA Leading Rider of
the Year titles. In 2005 he was also listed as the number one FEI World Event Rider. Mr. Dutton
currently trains out of True Prospect Farm in West Grove, PA, and Red Oak Farm in Aiken, SC. He serves
the eventing community as a founding member of the Professional Riders Organization and a member
of the High Performance Committee for Eventing and the USEA Active Athletes Committee.
Julie Goodnight
Julie Goodnight is a full-time equine professional with more than a quarter of a century of horse training
experience. Her varied equestrian background ranges from dressage and jumping to racing, reining, cow
horse, colt-starting, and wilderness riding. Ms. Goodnight teaches “Classic Skills for a Natural Ride” that
help riders feel more confident in the saddle and understand the “why’s” of horsemanship. She travels
coast-to coast to work with riders of all disciplines at horse expos, conferences, and clinics and film her
award-winning RFD-TV show, Horse Master. Ms. Goodnight’s no-nonsense horsemanship training
techniques are also frequently shared through her articles in Horse & Rider, The Trail Rider, and other
publications. She is the International Spokesperson for the Certified Horsemanship Association and in
2008 she was named Equine Affaire’s Exceptional Equestrian Educator. Julie Goodnight resides with her
husband on their ranch near Salida, CO, where they enjoy versatility ranch horse competitions and riding
cow horses in their free time.
Lendon Gray
Lendon Gray’s name is synonymous both with “dressage” and with “teaching.” Ms. Gray began her
dressage career in the 1970s and quickly advanced in the dressage community aboard a 14.2 “pony”
named Seldom Seen that was national champion competing at all levels from 3rd through Grand Prix. By
1978 Ms. Gray was riding warmbloods on which she competed at Aachen and the World Championships.
In 1980 and 1988 she rode as a member of the United States Olympic teams, and in 1991 she
represented the United States at the World Cup in Paris. She has served and continues to serve on
numerous boards and committees of the United States Equestrian Team, the United States Pony Club,
the United States Equestrian Federation, and, of course the United States Dressage Federation. She is an
ARIA Master Instructor, the founder of the Youth Dressage Festival, and the CEO of the Dressage
Foundation. Ms. Gray is the author of Lessons with Lendon, and she shares her expertise through articles
in Practical Horseman and The Chronicle of the Horse. Lendon Gray was the recipient of the Equine
Affaire Exceptional Equestrian Educator award in 2002 as well as the United States Pony Club Legend
award in 2004.
Susan Harris
Susan Harris is recognized internationally as a Centered Riding® and Anatomy in Motion™ clinician,
riding teacher, author, and artist. During her extensive career she has taught all seats and styles of riding
including hunters, jumpers, dressage, equitation, eventing, western pleasure, and saddle seat. Ms.
Harris has directed a nationally-accredited riding instructor course for 10 years and has been active in
establishing certification standards for American riding instructors since the 1970s. Susan Harris is the
author of several notable books including Grooming to Win; the USPC Manuals of Horsemanship; the
USPC Guide to Longeing, Bandaging, and Conformation; Horsemanship in Pictures; and Horse Gaits,
Balance and Movement. Her video productions include Anatomy in Motion I: the Visible Horse and
Anatomy in Motion II: The Visible Rider. Ms. Harris’ knowledge of horse anatomy, movement and
biomechanics, and wide experience in various breeds and disciplines enable her to help all kinds of
riders and horses improve their balance, comfort, movement, and performance.
Anita Howe
Anita Howe is dedicated to educating and promoting release-based training to achieve authentic
movements with all gaited horses. By combining the biomechanics of gait with a love of natural
horsemanship, she has developed consistent solutions for gaited horses that reliably correct and
improve balance, gait, and athleticism. She has experience working with all naturally gaited breeds
including Tennessee Walking Horses, Missouri Fox Trotters, Rocky Mountain Horses, Paso Finos, and
Plantation Horses. Ms. Howe is the author of Freedom to Gait and is the producer of an instructional
DVD titled The Running Walk and Intermediate Gaits. She has also had produced articles for Horse
Illustrated, Friends of Sound Horses, and Rocky Mountain Horse Newsletter. From her home in Eclectic,
AL, Ms. Howe produces horses that are softer, more consistent, happier, and more correct in their
movement and teaches riders to better understand these biomechanics as the natural tools to help their
horses release their inherent gait potential.
Chris Irwin
Chris Irwin is an internationally-renowned equestrian coach who is known for training methods that are
creative and multi-dimensional and for his ability to bring out the best in both horses and people. He has
coached throughout North America for more than 20 years, and his students have gone on to receive 18
U.S. National Championships in both riding and driving events. Mr. Irwin uses “horseplay,” a nonresistance method of handling and training horses, as the foundation of his theory on horse training. He
is the author of several books including Horses Don’t Lie and Dancing With Your Horse and the producer
of an instructional DVD series. Chris Irwin has lectured and presented at prestigious horse shows and
equine expos throughout North America, Canada, and Europe. He plays a leading education role in the
Wild Mustang Adoption Program at Marker’s Mark Secretariat Center in Lexington, KY, and offers a
highly-successful Train The Trainers Certification program across North America, Holland, and Ireland.
His pioneering work in horsemanship and Equine Assisted Personal Development is endorsed by the
Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.
Dan James
Dan James is yet another outstanding horseman who has emerged from the horse trainer breeding
grounds of Australia. Mr. James was raised on a cattle ranch near Queensland where he developed a
passion for horses at a very early age and was breaking and training horses by the time he was a
teenager. Dan James traveled to Japan and then the United States to gain knowledge and experience
training horses. He worked under the tutelage of renowned cutting horse trainer, Punk Carter, before
returning to Australia and taking a position managing up to 200 horses on a vast cattle operation. Mr.
James’ aptitude for trick riding and entertaining first emerged at this ranch where he periodically
performed for guests. In 2008 he left the outback to find his audience—and began training and
performing at El Caballo Spanish Horse Centre. It was there that he met his performance partner, Dan
Steers, with whom he has developed and promoted “Double Dan Horsemanship.” Dan James’
competitive accomplishments include being the 2012 Road to the Horse World Champion, the 2014
Freestyle Reining Champion at the Kentucky Reining Cup, a Mustang Million Finalist, and winning the
“Way of the Horse” at Equitana Asia Pacific. He and Dan Steers also participated in the World Equestrian
Games in 2010. Mr. James’ philosophy is to push the limits of horsemanship and entertainment while
providing knowledge and understanding of our equine “mates.”
Kerry Kuhn
Kerry Kuhn developed his Practical Horsemanship methods through years of starting and training horses
of all disciplines. Mr. Kuhn shares his simple yet effective approach to horsemanship through his weekly
television show, “Ridin’ Horses with Kerry Kuhn.” He has won numerous colt starting competitions across
the country and attributes his success to what the horses have taught him. For the last 15 years he has
traveled from his ranch in Kansas to private facilities and horse expos throughout the United States and
Canada to share his training philosophies. He serves as a national ambassador for Purina Mills’ Equine
Influential Team and was the official clinician on Best of America by Horseback for many years. Mr. Kuhn
is the author of an ongoing video series and several training DVDs, and his training tips have been
featured in several equine industry publications.
Paul Maye
Paul Maye is an Englishman, coachman, and trainer who, with his wife Cheryl, owns and operates Maye
Show Ponies, a family-run business built on a passion for ponies. While Cheryl Maye focuses on
producing quality ponies for the breeding and hunter performance rings, Paul Maye pursues his passion
for carriage driving competing in combined driving events and in the pleasure driving arena. With
hitches ranging in size from singles to four-in-hands, Mr. Maye has won several top awards at some of
the most prestigious driving shows in the country including two National Single Pony Championship
titles. Paul Maye has competed abroad including qualifying for and competing in the Pony World
Championships in France in 2014. Recently he and Harmony Sport Horses imported a four-in-hand team
which he will campaign for the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Montreal. The Maye family resides at
their farm, Boston Run, in Fairfield, VA.
Ken McNabb
Ken McNabb is the all-American image of what a cowboy should be, a modern day Roy Rogers. With his
wife and young sons he continues the traditional ranching family lifestyle of his youth and trains horses
on the McNabb ranch in the mountains of Wyoming. As a boy, Ken McNabb knew that he wanted to
help improve the lives of others—and at the first horsemanship clinic he attended, he knew immediately
that being a clinician was his life’s calling. For more than 20 years Ken McNabb has helped thousands of
riders regain their childhood confidence with his easy to follow step-by-step methods and gentle
communication style. He shares his vast experience and knowledge of horses through clinics conducted
across the country and his weekly show on RFD-TV titled Discovering the Horseman Within—now in its
10th year. In addition to his ongoing teaching activities, Ken McNabb won the 2007 Colt Starting
Challenge at the Mane Event Expo in Vancouver, WA; competed at the Road to the Horse competition in
Murfreesboro, TN; and won the 2008 Trainers Challenge Colt Starting Competition in Chilliwack, BC,
Canada. He is also a partner in the annual Diamond-McNabb Ranch Horse sale in Douglas, WY.
Doug Milholland
Doug Millholland is an NRHA Hall of Fame inductee, NRHA Open Futurity Champion, NRHA Open Derby
Champion, and many-time AQHA World Champion in reining and working cowhorse who has been
involved in the performance horse industry for more than 40 years. From the early days of the NRHA,
Mr. Millholland has been sincerely dedicated to furthering the sport of reining, mentoring both non pros
and professional horsemen, and training horses to achieve at the highest levels in the discipline. In
addition to being a leading trainer, Doug Millholland is an NRHA judge, AQHA Specialty Reining Judge,
FEI Judge, and has served on the NRHA’s Executive Committee. For two decades Mr. Millholland has
traveled the world giving reining clinics and working to expand the sport of reining on the international
front. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta he was part of the star-studded lineup of reiners that represented
the United States. He frequently shares his expertise through articles in respected industry publications
including NRHA Reiner, Quarter Horse Journal, Horse & Rider, Performance Horse, Quarter Horse News,
and Western Horseman. Reining is a passion shared by the entire family at Milholland Ranch in Purcell,
OK.
T.R. Potts
T.R. Potts can’t remember a time when he wasn’t immersed in the horse world. He is a fifth-generation
horseman who has been training Quarter Horses, Paints, and Appaloosas since he was a child on his
family’s farm. Mr. Potts holds a Bachelor of Science in animal science from Iowa State University, but,
more important, he has a lifetime of experience training horses and coaching riders for competition in
showmanship, hunter under saddle, equitation, western pleasure, trail, horsemanship, reining, and
western riding. Horses and riders he has trained have earned numerous titles in these divisions at the
AQHA World Show, All American Quarter Horse Congress, and the AQHA Youth Show. Mr. Potts
currently trains and coaches at Potts Performance Horses in Fountain Inn, SC, where his program
focuses not on immediate gratification, but on developing trust and confidence and a sound foundation
to ensure long-term results. He further supports the Quarter Horse community as a member of the
Board of the South Carolina Quarter Horse Association.
Caroline Rider
Caroline Rider of Ocala, FL, is a clinician who has incorporated the principles of natural horsemanship
with the philosophies of Taoism to create her unique approach which she calls the Tao of Horsemanship.
Ms. Rider’s Tao of Horsemanship approach combines classical dressage, natural-horsemanship
principles, and techniques with a Taoist way of living and interacting. She begins by teaching three core
awareness skills: where you need to be for your horse, when you are needed, and why you are needed
to either be or do in that moment. Ms. Rider is best known for teaching horse owners how to become
better partners and leaders for their horses through the power of thought and natural movement.
Between her passionate presentations on horse-human relationships to her inspiring liberty and
freestyle demonstrations, Ms. Rider is becoming one of the equine industry’s most popular clinicians
and performers.
Warwick Schiller
Though he grew up showing Quarter Horses in Australia, Warwick Schiller moved to the United States 25
years ago to pursue his professional horse training career. He initially focused on training reined cow
horse and all-around horses before turning his focus to the sport of reining. Mr. Schiller holds multiple
champion titles in reining in the U.S. and Australia, was a member of the Australian reining team at the
World Equestrian Games in 2010, and is currently an NRHA judge. During the past decade Warwick
Schiller has been developing Warwick Schiller Performance Horsemanship located at Gilroy Gaits in
Hollister, CA. He conducts clinics here in the United States as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and
throughout Europe. For the past few years Mr. Schiller has been producing an online video library, and
his popular and award-winning YouTube channel features more than 200 training videos applicable to all
disciplines.
Bernie Traurig
Bernie Traurig has amassed 53 years’ worth of training and riding techniques and experiences working
with thousands of horses and is recognized not only for his riding talents and accomplishments, but for
his teaching and coaching gifts as well. As a competitor, Mr. Traurig represented the United States
Equestrian Team both at home and abroad on many occasions and excelled in show jumping, dressage,
and eventing. As a junior rider Bernie Traurig won both the AHSA Medal and ASPCA Maclay Finals, and
during his adult career he won more than 60 show jumping Grand Prixs and competed in eight World
Cup Finals. On dressage mounts he won 15 Grand Prixs and Grand Prix Special Classes and was shortlisted for the 1986 World Championship trials and the 1988 Olympic Games. For his vast
accomplishments in the show hunter arena, Mr. Traurig was inducted into the USEF’s National Show
Hunter Hall of Fame in 2009. He received further recognition as the recipient of the United States
Hunter Jumper Association’s Distinguished Presidents Service Award in 2012. Bernie Traurig is now an
avid coach who currently promotes the American hunter/jumper forward riding system and offers
equestrian coaching sessions for all jumping disciplines through EquestrianCoach.com, an online
coaching program which he developed to provide affordable and accessible education. He also shares
his expertise through articles in Practical Horseman, The Chronicle of the Horse, Riding, and other
magazines.