About Equine Training Center

Equine Training Center (ETC) was designed to help people that love their horses understand what is necessary to communicate effectively with their horses while at all times keeping the rider and horse's safety as priority one.

We've all seen trainiers (either in person, on videotapes or television) and sat back in amazement and wondered "How can they accomplish the things they do with their horses?" Well it's not magic. Those special individuals have a desire to communicate effectively with their horses and were willing to research different methods to find the most effective techniques to teach their horses to accomplish those tasks.

I'm Jan Stroup, the trainer at ETC. I'm a John Lyons Select Certified Trainer. Believe it or not, my life is not so much different than yours. I'm a parent with two daughters and I have a full time job and like most of you my life is run by schedules and commitments. My becoming a trainer occured due to the fact that the time I had to spend with my horses was very limited. Every time I would ride I became frustrated. It seemed that my horse and I were always battling each other for control. I enjoy my horses and I felt I only had a couple options available to me. I could take the necessary steps to acquire the skills to communicate better with my horse, or I could give them up. Well, giving up my horses was NOT AN OPTION.

I needed them in my life as much as they needed me. I researched the different trainers and I felt the philosophy and methods of John and Josh Lyons used to teach their horses best met my needs.

The Lyons Training Methods teach that understanding your horses need to comprehend what your' trying to communicate, the body parts and need to move to accomplish that task and a cue and reward system for a job well done. Another aspect was that safety for the horse and rider was a top priority and they don't use gimmicks or special devices to train their horses. Their methods of training horses are proven to work, without harm to the horse and the lessons could be broken down to fit my schedule. After completing a lesson or partial lesson, I felt that my horse and I had actually learned something useful. That gave me the confidence and desire to want to do more.

In the Fall of 2001 I applied and was accepted into the John Lyons Certification Program. I loaded my horses and headed for Colorado and spent 12 weeks learning all that John and Josh Lyons had to teach. Upon completion of their program, I was invited to join the elite group of trainers known as "Select Trainers."

After returning home, I contemplated how to best pass on what I had learned. My husband and I had many discussions on how best to accomplish this goal. We started by setting up parameters:

If I were searching for someone to help me with my horse, what would I look for?

1. Proven methods, taught in a safe environment in the shortest possible time.
2. The instructor would have the ability to communicate those methods effectively with positive results to each and every rider
3. Cost for this training would need to be affordable.

Keeping those parameters in mind and with a commitment to each and every rider, ETC is now open and available to the public. Our facility is located on 15 acres and consists of a 6 stall barn, two 60' round pens (one of these is lighted), and a lighted 125'x150' arena. All clinics are small to provide optimal learning and allow flexibility to address horses and riders individual needs.

ETC is a small facility that will always cater to the individual needs of each rider, regardless of a person's age and regardless of the breed of horse.