Whether it’s training a wild mustang from California or teaching new skills to a thoroughbred fresh off a Maryland racetrack, Alyssa Dietrich has turned her childhood love of horses into a very grownup career. At 27, she has also worked as a full-time EMT, but training horses and teaching others to show and ride is her true calling. Thanks to the John & Josh Lyons certification program, she’s able to do that.

“The certification program taught technique, but also how to set up a business,” Alyssa said. “Learning to deal with people and a business is 100 times more complicated than training the horses! I was looking for a good solid program that also offered me a good foundation for a business. There are plenty of training programs but none of the others I found touched on the business aspect.”

Alyssa rents a facility in New Freedom, Pa., near the Maryland border. “I ride and compete mainly hunter/jumpers which was very different from my classmates who all rode western, but I admired the sensitivity and responsiveness of Josh’s reining horses; I wanted that for my own horses and the horses I train,” she said.

She’s used the techniques learned at the Josh Lyons clinic to “gentle” wild Mustangs from California. The U.S. government pays to capture and move the mustangs to trainers like Alyssa who train them for the use of reins and saddles. She actually took a mustang to the Josh Lyons clinic, a mustang that was ‘fresh off the range.’

Alyssa also works with horses that used to race but are moving into their next phase. Many move to owners interested in a show horse, mainly in the English or Hunter Jumper realm. To do that takes some work. “These horses are used to crowd noise and they are trained to go, go, go! They need to be retrained to relax, to learn they don’t have to be running, running, running. They need to learn that it’s ok to stop, to walk – oh, and don’t bite me!”

Alyssa said she grew up in Maryland where English and Hunter Jumpers dominate and she continues to train in those areas. She stresses the foundations of all disciplines are the same – even western and ranch riding. They just branch off into different technical areas.
“I’ve loved horses since before I could walk,” she said. “With the Lyons program, I was looking for a gentler approach and a more natural horsemanship than I grew up with.”

Alyssa hopes to continue her work with horses, her training and show work along with hosting clinics.  You can find more information on Facebook about Face Up Training & Colt Starting.