After growing up in Germany, Anna returned to the UK and eventually joined the police force. She loved her time on the force - loved that it was unpredictable, that it stretched her limits and that she had to make split-second decisions. She began to go to the toughest cases where she saw unfathomable poverty and suffering and it began to take a mental and emotional toll on her in ways she didn’t at first understand.

While Anna’s mental and emotional bodies were being challenged, so was her physical body. While driving to the barn, another driver struck her car head on. The combination of the physical, mental and emotional trauma earned her a ticket straight into the police convalescent home. When she arrived to check in, she fought the mental and emotional diagnoses and insisted she was there only for her physical issues. That is, until she discovered she was missing out on therapies she’d never experienced before – massage, aromatherapy, essential oils and meditation. This was her first exposure to some of the healing modalities she continues to incorporate into her horsemanship practice today.

Anna’s second horse, a palomino named Carrie, came into her life when she was 21. Carrie was highly athletic and intelligent. She loved to trail blaze in the woods and compete at the highest levels and Anna did as well. Carrie had a very strong voice, requiring partnership not control, and Anna did not know where to turn.  She was advised to use spurs, whip her and use harder bits to get her to comply. Anna only succumbed once and determined she would never do it again. She knew there must be another way. She needed answers and wasn’t getting them.

In 1997, the same year “Natural Horsemanship” was captivating the horse world, Anna was granted a one-year sabbatical from the police force for her body and mind to fully heal. She’d seen Monty Roberts conduct a demonstration in the UK and decided to see if “the man who listens to horses” might have some training answers for her horse, Carrie, and maybe by extension methods she could bring back to the police force and the victims they served. In other words, she sought equine coaching, although such a thing did not exist in those days and Anna was ahead of her time. 

Anna listened to the call of the horse and took a blind leap of faith to cross continents and uproot her whole life in pursuit of true horsemanship.  She arrived in California to start an internship at Flag Is Up Farms, leaving her family and her support system behind. Anna’s diligence and experience made an impact quickly and her responsibilities grew. She rode race horses, prepped the yearlings and supported Monty’s horse, Shy Boy. It was here that she was introduced to gentling wild mustangs, launching a lifelong passion that continues today.

Anna met her mentor, Crawford Hall, while at Flag Is Up Farms. Crawford could choose a racehorse and know exactly how they’d move. He could assess a mustang and immediately know if it was the right horse for the job. He served as farm manager, dean of students and Monty’s right-hand man. And he lived in a wheelchair.  It was from him that Anna learned “Join Up” and how to read a horse’s body language and respond. Eventually Anna became his legs in the round pen, executing the Join Up methodology while he called the shots – together teaching thousands of students from around the world.

After her internship was over, Anna decided to stay. She was asked to be part of a six-person research and development team to ultimately launch a new school at Flag Is Up Farms that still exists today. She ran this world-class equine center alongside Crawford Hall, creating programs that ultimately launched leaders in the horse industry. And as head instructor she taught students and trainers worldwide how to relate, how to communicate and how to connect with their horses.

One of Anna’s proudest achievements was championing the idea of bringing rescue horses into the school. The horses got to experience connection and have a second chance at life. The students got an opportunity to work with a horse who had never done Join Up. It was a win for both.  That brilliant idea would eventually become Anna’s model that continues today - the wild horses, the Premarin horses, the mustangs and the therapeutic riding horses get the change of life they need through her programs, and so do the students.

Natural Horsemanship is predicated on the belief that the language of the horse is body language and that it is the only language they have. Anna was trained to this and taught this through the programs she developed at Flag Is Up Farms. But over the course of the eight years she spent there, she realized there was more to it than that. She started to have visions. She would sense things. And over time she began to blend that with the science of the behavior of the horse and her own experiences with the students. She’d study why a horse and student weren’t Joining Up despite applying the structure flawlessly. And what she discovered was the horse could see through the body language. He was seeing the authenticity. He was feeling the energy. He was sensing how the student felt about themselves or what their intention was. In short, the horse was reading the body, mind and spirit connection. As she began to discover these things and piece them together, Anna realized she was no longer representing Monty Roberts and his original work.  How could she be the head instructor if her style and approach were altering?

When Anna was offered a position to be head trainer and to run the volunteer program at Return to Freedom she took it. Return to Freedom (RTF) is a 320 acre ranch in Lompoc, CA providing sanctuary to almost 400 wild horses and burros who primarily come to them as the result of Federal Bureau of Land Management roundups. RTF’s philosophy is to only gentle a wild horse if they volunteer and to take your time doing it. Anna was free to go beyond a 30-minute Join Up and instead work with the horses in their time. She was free to expand her understanding of the horse’s language, beyond body language, into the energy connections and telepathic pictures she had experienced at Flag Is Up Farms. She spent two years at Return to Freedom, gentling and training the horses who volunteered, using her now deep understanding of their language to create the opportunity for them to surrender, while keeping their freedom inside – Reach Out to Horses was born.  

When Anna left Return to Freedom she left with a passion. A passion to share her knowledge and give a voice to horses regardless of the circumstances of their human guardians – people who lacked resources; people who had their own farm, non-profit or equine coaching facility and could not leave; people who depended on their horses for survival but were never taught their nature. Whatever their circumstances, Anna and Reach Out to Horses went on the road and came to them. Anna travelled the world for years - China, Morocco, Costa Rica, Canada, Europe, Africa and the United States – teaching the language of the horse to those who were ready to listen. She put herself into every kind of facility and situation, adjusting to different environments and people. She often had limited time to evaluate, discern and make changes for the greatest impact on the horse’s life, essentially becoming the first-responder of the horse world.  Her life and her training had come full circle. 

Today, Anna has worked with over 10,000 horses, domestic and wild. She still travels where she is needed, especially in support of the wild mustang, her greatest teachers and passion.  She continues to offer training at certified training locations as well as her beautiful Whispering Feather Farm in Mill Spring, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and partner, Vin Mancarella, and their son, Joseph. Not only do she and her certified trainers continue to teach the next generation of Natural Horsemanship she pioneered, her practice has expanded to include animal communication master classes, equine coaching and Reiki energy healing, all natural extensions of the language of Equus. Whispering Feather Farm is also home to The Way of the Equine Warrior Anna’s non-profit organization dedicated to bringing healing to horses and first responders and the victims they serve – the very reason Anna left the UK and the police force over 25 years ago and began this incredible journey to find answers and ultimately enrich the lives of horses and humans worldwide.