2025 Pro Division Challenge Trainers
Breanna Frey
My name is Breanna, and I have been passionate about horses for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I spent countless hours riding and working with my own horse, as well as any others I had the opportunity to handle. Over time, I developed a love for helping others with their horses, which naturally led me to pursue a deeper understanding of horsemanship and training.
In 2017, I completed an apprenticeship with renowned trainer Ken McNabb, followed by earning my Journeyman certification in 2018 and achieving my Master’s certification in 2019. In 2020, I returned to assist with a Trail Rider University clinic and have since continued to teach and learn alongside Ken at his annual clinics in Yadkinville, NC.
I specialize in working with young and challenging horses, focusing on building their confidence and willingness by understanding their unique personalities. My approach emphasizes helping horses reach their full potential, and I find great joy in witnessing the moment they begin to truly understand what we are working on together.
My goal is to help horses and their owners develop strong, lasting partnerships, ensuring the right fit between horse and rider, and creating a deeper connection and understanding between them.
Elisabeth Ellis Munday
Betsey is the owner of Munday Morning Acres, LLC, a training and boarding equine facility located in Terry, Mississippi. Betsey has owned and ridden horses for most of her life. She competed in Hunter Jumpers for 10 years, including 2.5 years on the Mississippi State University Hunt Seat Team before graduating in 2019. While at MSU, she completed a summer internship with Colton Woods Horsemanship in Paris, Kentucky. After graduation, Betsey completed a 9-month apprenticeship with Michael Gascon. She competed in the Mississippi Horses Trainer’s Challenge in 2020 and won the Volunteer Division. Despite the difficulty of starting a training business during a pandemic, Betsey began training for the public, culminating in the opening of Munday Morning Acres in January 2022. In August of that year, she competed in the Heart of Phoenix Appalachian Trainer’s Face-off, her first professional trainer’s challenge, and finished 7th in a field of 15 professional trainers. In 2023, Betsey was named Pro Champion in the first Heart of the Horse Trainers Challenge, returning this year to defend that title.
Miranda Carlson
Hi my name is Miranda Carlson. I'm very passionate and dedicated to training horses.
Miranda was 9 years old when she rode her first horse – a Clydesdale named John. She rode the big gelding bareback, and from that moment on, she was in love with all things horses.
Within a few years, her family moved and she didn’t get to be involved with horses again until she was an adult. When she got married, she and her husband eventually purchased property with land and bought two mares – a 20-year-old and a 12-year-old ex-barrel racer. “We didn’t know much of anything about horses, let alone how to train them or correct problems, and we quickly discovered that we needed help,” Miranda says. A friend of hers sent her some trainers names and one of those trainers was Clinton Anderson.
She worked with her husband’s mare consistently, and before long, the mare became a willing, safe partner. Gradually, Miranda started working with more horses and she realized she enjoyed the training process. “I love seeing the transformation the horses go through. It’s so cool to see the light bulbs go off and watch their confidence grow,” Miranda says.
When she attended the Downunder Horsemanship Ranch’s open house in the fall of 2021, she watched the training demonstrations and was captivated by the skill and ability of the clinicians. “Watching Professional Clinician Kristin Hamacher in the colt starting demo was amazing. I wanted to be able to ride and train like her someday,” Miranda says. And she enrolled in the academy.
As an ambassador, Miranda’s passion for the Method and training horses is infectious. “There’s nothing I enjoy more than working with horses and helping people. The Method makes everything so simple,” she says. “I’m proud to be part of the best horsemanship team where I get to help others realize their dreams.”
Colby O'Connor
Colby O'Connor is an avid lover of horses and currently owns Circle C Equine out of Lagrange, Kentucky where she offers riding lessons, training, and sale horses.
Colby was fortunate enough to be raised in the equine industry along side her family. She grew up on the family farm that's main business happens to be training horses. From colt starts, problem solving, and finishing touches she has been able to be hands on with all types of horses from an early age.
Colby has competed in the Applachian Trainer Face Off since 2021, this is where she really started to become passionate about developing her skill sets and education to better the lives of horses that may have never of gotten a fair chance. She is looking forward to being a part of the Heart of the Horse Challenge and is thankful for the opportunity.
Melinda Martinez
Melinda has been riding horses since she could walk making it a life long passion. Upon going to her first nationals, she knew this was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Now starting a riding school in Tennessee with her husband and her daughter as inspiration to work harder, Melinda has the perfect opportunity to help develop the next generation of horses and riders. On her off time, she also does artwork for her business, Something Wild Art.
Kaylee Rice
Hey everyone!
My name is Kaylee Rice, and I’m super excited to be apart of this challenge for the second time!
My horse career started when I was around six years old with one of those, “one foot in the grave,” geldings. From there, I moved on to some step up horses and really learned to ride. I showed English and Western at a local level, but most of my time was spent rodeoing. As I got older, the want for more that more broke-horse feel kept growing. My family didn’t have the funds to buy me nice horses, so it was up to me to figure out how to get them there. I apprenticed under a few trainers for a couple of years until I came back and started my own training business. I decided I wanted to further my education more with my lifelong dream of attending Clinton Anderson’s academy. I graduated as a Method Ambassador and earned my colt starting certification. Now, I’m back home training horses for the public until the next opportunity to further my education comes along. I have worked with Mississippi Horses for 9 years now, taking on some of their toughest cases. This rescue does things the right way and understands what it takes for a horse to find a soft landing. With that being said, I’m so looking forward to being apart of this awesome group, and we will see y’all in January!
Lauren Henny
My name is Lauren Henny I have been professionally training horses for 20 years, I own L&C Horsemanship in Wilsonville, AL. I have worked with many breeds and disciplines throughout the years, I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing trainers throughout the country. I enjoy not only teaching and training for the public but also helping horses through rescue to find their forever homes. Some of my highlights so far: for 12 years I helped run and competed in the Alabama Obstacle Challenge, competed and placed top 15 in the American Horse Women's Challenge with some of the best women trainers in the country, competed in Mustang makeovers, and placed 1st in the trainer's division in the Safe Horse Project Challenge put by Mississippi Horses. I'm looking forward to helping another horse in need and another amazing partnership.
Shelby Ahrens
Shelby Ahrens has devoted his life towards bettering his horsemanship skills with the mindset that all horses are individuals. Shelby believes all the knowledge that humans gain are guidelines to teach each individual horse with their best interests in mind by learning and embracing each horses strengths, encouraging them and improving their weaknesses. Shelby has spent extended amounts of time learning from master horsemen such as Steve Rother (horsemanship) and Manuel Trigo (classic dressage) and many others in other disciplines. While investing the time gaining the knowledge he needed to become a better horseman he gained extensive knowledge about gaited breeds. He had also studied various other breeds, learning about their heritage, traditional training techniques, and individual qualities so he can bring out the best in each horse that comes into his barn. With all the knowledge he has gained over the years his mission continues to be to educate both horses and their owners to understand the needs of each other to build a stronger communicational bond between every team that come to him.
Shelby has successfully trained horses for several equine rescues, those from feed lots and auctions. Giving them a second chance and helping to find forever homes with grateful owners. He was a competitor in the Mustang Million in the open class, and has competed and placed in several off the track Race horse makeovers.
He is an active competitor in Working Equitation and formerly held a judges card. He has also competed and placed in multiple trail challenges and cowboy races. Shelby has consistently ridden his personal horses in public demos; displaying horsemanship, Garrocha, and liberty demonstrations, and has ridden on movie sets and in parades.
In short Shelby loves to display the bond a horse and human can share together, even in competition, while always putting the horse first no matter what
Oscar Martinez
Oscar got his start riding racehorses and hasn't looked back. His first opportunity to learn was on a retired racehorse who didn't know he was retired. Somehow, that didn't slow him down. He quickly worked his way to helping start the young horses, being quick on his feet and ready for anything. He enjoyed the process of exposing the babies to anything and everything. Since that start he's been able to work with and ride a variety of horses from quarter horses to gaited horses to more thoroughbreds. His favorite mount is an exciting one though.
He is a dedicated father and a great cook. In his off time he's figuring out what's for dinner next & trying new recipes. He is looking forward to this challenge as a way to prove his horsemanship skills and try to beat his wife, Melinda.
John Harvey
Hello, my name is John Harvey I am a blessed husband, father, and pop pop. I live in the small town of Corning AR. It seems i've always been around horses in one way or another. My dad always had horses when I was growing up and my brother-in-law has a cattle ranch that still uses horses to do the work. I would spend my summers in Colorado helping him. I've always enjoyed and loved riding every chance that I got. But I was just like most people who grew up around horses mostly riding just for fun and not understanding the dynamics of a horse or the how and why of getting anything out of it. And then after I got married, my wife's uncles always had horses and they would buy any and everything from sale barns, so I always rode and tried to train on theirs, me being just 19 there was a lot craziness going on, a lot of not knowing but being stubborn enough and trying anyways. Alot of being bucked off, flipped over on, ran off with, and everything in between during those years. So, after that I decided I wanted horses of my own. After getting horses of my own and trying to compete in quarter horse events, I wanted to get better and win, so I listened, watched, and tried all different types of things including watching vhs videos on training and trying to improve, but always just being very stubborn and kept trying. By this time, I was riding some outside horses and learning new things, but there was still a lot of long hard days until I got them to where I wanted them to be. As a trainer I believe there has to be some ego that has to come into play. Showing up at a competition with the horse I've trained and wanting it to outperform the others, so with that type of drive i've always wanted to learn and improve. If someone was to bring me a horse and wanted it to be trained a certain way, ego wouldn't let me say I couldn't do it. I would watch videos or whatever I had to do to get the job done. Trying to train for so many different styles such as, roping, barrels, reigning, poles, western pleaser, hunter jumper, trail classes, and cow working has really broadened my training skills. I told a younger gentleman once that you may not be the best at any one in particular, but if you can do them all pretty decent your training skills are more versatile. I'm always trying to learn and improve my abilities. Since I am now a little older, I have really implemented a lot of good groundwork into my training, always wanting to improve and get a better feel for the horse.