Guest Instructors
Ken Bain, Canine Trigger Point Therapy
Ken Bain is a Texas Licensed Massage Therapist and Massage Therapy Instructor, specializing in non-invasive trigger point therapy using massage techniques. Ken is a graduate of the Texas School of Massage, the Institute of Trigger Point Therapy, Pet Massage in Toledo, OH, Massage Awareness in Wellington, FL, and is credentialed in Colorado as a graduate from the Rocky Mountain School of Animal Acupressure and Massage. He is a member of the Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals.
Ken has been training and competing with canine athletes since 1993 and realized the importance of massage in keeping these athletes in peak condition. In 2006, Ken started developing trigger point therapy for canines through several years of working on the canine athletes (agility, flyball, and Frisbee competitors). Since 2010, he has been teaching canine trigger point therapy techniques, changing the way canine massage therapists work with their clients.
Besides teaching, Ken has a full-time hands-on practice including working regional, national, and international competitions. Since 2016, Ken has traveled to Europe with 9 of the USA World Agility Teams as the teams’ therapist. He has also been selected as a speaker in multiple national and international educational conferences. Ken has been providing bodywork for the canine athlete since 2003.
Gillian Edwards
A Colorado-based animal communicator, Karuna / Reiki Master/Teacher and a canine massage / conditioning practitioner, International best selling author, and guest instructor at the Rocky Mountain School of Animal Acupressure and Massage, Gillian provides long term big-picture holistic healing solutions for pets to activate their natural ability to balance and heal their physical, emotional and mental well-being. With the belief that holistic therapy is centered on love, empathy and respect, Gillian uses her knowledge and skills to help improve an animal’s health and happiness, which can strengthen and deepen their connections to their human companions.
Growing up in England and living on three continents provided Gillian with an understanding of how traditional, alternative and holistic therapies can work together to help heal the mind, body and spirit. Thus after a long, successful, 25 year executive career in corporate America, she began her dream career in 2014 practicing Reiki on human clients before realizing that animals needed her gifts more so. She graduated in 2017 from Rocky Mountain School of Animal Acupressure and Massage and started her own animal practice Four Paws Holistic Therapy. She is now fully focused on helping pets achieve a longer quality of life by spreading the knowledge of collaborative pet health benefits through educational seminars and pop-up clinics.
Gillian is a professed animal lover, volunteer, and adoption advocate, rescuing numerous pets throughout her lifetime. This includes Zena, a 10-year young Rotti/Lab/Aussie mix.
Elena Bajona, Applied Equine Behavior
Elena is an equine applied behaviorist & therapist, specializing in equine welfare, cognitive-behavioral therapies, and massage for horses. Her work in the rehab and physiotherapy field addresses both physical and psychological issues. She is a talented trainer with strong international experience in the horse industry.
With extensive experiences abroad (USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UK, and Germany) in 2002, she founded Animantia, a private Academy of equine behavior studies based in Italy with a branch in Idaho. As a teacher and Applied Equine Behaviorist, she dedicated 18 years to teaching equine behavior through specialized courses for individuals and professionals. At the same time, she founded the first ethological equine facility in Italy where she worked with thousands of horses: training, natural foal taming, and problem-solving through behavioral therapies. She attended the Academy of Equine Dentistry in Idaho as a free-lance professional supporting the education of equine dentistry students. She organized specialized courses for equine applied behavior in relation to horse management during dental work.
Since 2004 she organized Wild Horse safaris, in natural pristine settings, open to researchers/students and wild horse enthusiasts. In 2010 she discovered some wild horses in Italy. She spent years within the herds teaching natural behavior to her students. The focus was on the importance of observation and study of wild horses in their natural environment. This was a unique way to understand their behavior and emotional/social lives.
A fervent believer of the preservation of all creatures in the wild she cooperates with Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary to share her knowledge and experience in order to improve the welfare and quality of life of all rescued Wild American Mustangs.
In 2020 she joined the Rocky Mountain School of Animal Acupressure and Massage as a guest instructor to continue spreading her knowledge to help people and horses. www.animantia.it
Frances Cleveland, Aromatherapy and Essential Oils
Frances Fitzgerald Cleveland has worked with horses for more than 25 years in a range of disciplines. Her aspirations started with horses and grew to include people and other animals. In 1996, Frances founded her company, FrogWorks. She has always aimed to heighten the well-being of people and animals naturally, through the individualized use of essential oils.
Frances has extensive experience in the realms of health and behavior as it relates to both animals and humans. She obtained certification from the Institute of Dynamic Aromatherapy and the International School of Animal Aromatics. Frances studied in England with Caroline Ingraham, the pioneer of Animal Aromatics. Frances is an apprentice of Rosemary Gladstar, world-renowned author, herbalist, and teacher, and has completed the intensive Apprenticeship Program and the Science and Art of Herbalism Program in the didactic, therapeutic, laboratory, and fieldwork in herbalism.
Frances recently trained zookeepers in the use of essential oils on animals. Her groundbreaking Animal Aromatherapy work at The Denver Zoo with the Orangutans, Gorillas, and Black Crested Macaques was covered in the Denver Post and L.A.Times. Frances’s work has also been written about by the Rocky Mountain News, Associated Press, The German Press, and a featured guest on Animal Radio. This work showed excellent results, which confirm the effectiveness of essential oils. These magnificent animals clearly demonstrated which oils they wanted, when they wanted them and how they wanted them applied. They have truly been teachers about how these oils can help them.
Frances and her husband, John, live in Colorado and operate a horse facility, Outback Farm, where Frances teaches and practices Aromatherapy, trains horses, gives riding lessons, and manufactures her internationally sold products; Frog Works.
Lori Bridges, Animal Frequency Balancing Equine Program
Though she considers herself to be a lifelong student committed to learning, investigating, questioning and always aspiring to new ways of being, Lori currently maintains the following credentials: Certified Biofield Tuning Practitioner; Shamanic Mesa Carrier, initiated in the ancient teachings of the Andes; Ordained Minister; Certified Visionary Equine Craniosacral Therapist; Certified in Equine Jin Shin; Herbalism; and Stone Medicine. Additionally, she has studied Biomechanics, Equine Nutrition, the Equine Nervous System, Endocrine System, and Lymphatic System, and Animal Communication. She has had the honor of working with and learning from teachers in disciplines such as Dressage, Connected Riding, Straightness Training, Connection Training, Liberty, TTeam and Masterson Method. She has also studied anatomy, movement (equine, canine and human), homeopathy and essential oils.
In 2019, Lori became a Certified Biofield Tuning Practitioner for humans and her life and healing practice shifted gears. While she found great joy in working with humans, the horses and dogs took the stage. She developed a program called Animal Frequency Balancing™. This program teaches others how to use Sound, Frequency and Vibration to facilitate healing and well-being in horses and dogs. Most recently, Lori completed and published a 4-year long project called Spirit Horse Medicine® that she co-wrote with her horse Alibi.