Joe Elliott's Whole Horse System

Joe Elliott - Horse Trainer Santa Cruz, Ca.

Joe’s driving passion and main intent is to help the horse–whether that’s with shoeing for soundness and balance, easing pain and discomfort through Touch ‘N Release™ Body Work, or educating others in what he has learned -- as Joe says,

“It’s all about the Horse”

Joe Elliott is a fifth-generation horse trainer, descended from the Comanche Indians, noted horsemen of the Native Americans. Although Joe Elliott spent some of his childhood on horseback, it wasn’t until he was a young man ready to exit the Army that he began to recognize the passion for the horse that lay inside him. After his discharge from the Army, he trained and showed horses in Southern California, studying and integrating the natural horsemanship styles of Tom and Bill Dorrance, John Lyons, and Pete Spates, among others.

In the late 1980's, he gave up his training business, and began shoeing horses full-time. Joe is a Certified Journeyman Farrier with the national American Farriers Association (AFA.), a title held by relatively few in the farrier industry. While living in Southern California, he and a handful of farrier friends began the San Diego County Farriers Association, [SDCFA] now one of the largest associations in the AFA. He served on the board for many years in numerous capacities, including President and Vice-President. He has studied under some of the great names in the industry in the interest of honing and developing his skills, and continues to attend numerous clinics and seminars. He competed for several years in shoeing competitions, winning several championships before moving into the Open Division. And although he loved the challenge of competing, he realized his heart-felt interest lay in another direction: helping the whole horse.

More than 20 years ago, Joe became interested in equine bodywork; and began to realize the importance of seeing the horses that he was shoeing as more than just feet to be worked on--in short, he began developing an eye for seeing "The Whole Horse".

One of his regular shoeing clients introduced Joe to several key people who were skilled in bodywork and played a crucial part in igniting his interest in working on the whole horse. After studying many different methodologies, Joe developed his own unique style of bodywork called Touch ‘N Release™ and began incorporating it into his daily farrier work.

In addition to using Touch ‘N Release™ on a regular basis with his equine clients, he and his wife Cindy also offer clinics where they teach others to learn these simple techniques that bring comfort and relaxation to their horses.

During this same period of time, Joe was also studying the effect of a horse’s diet on their body, and, specifically, the feet. He also spent five years acquiring his black belt in the martial art form of Ton-Soo-Do, which emphasizes the importance of balancing the body’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual components. Joe and his work partner at the time, Elfta Hilzman, began to develop and use “EquineDo” in their everyday work, resulting in happier horses, fewer injuries (to both horse and farrier), and increased business.

All these different experiences, training and skills, combined with Joe’s innate desire to help horses, eventually became “The Whole Horse System” ™.

Keeping balance in his life is one of Joes’s core beliefs. On the flip side of work is another set of priorities: God, family and friends. He is an active part of his local church and regularly donates time and energy to Gaits of Hope Therapeutic Riding Program.

Joe shares about his family:

Joe was working as the breeding manager at a working Quarter Horse ranch and vocational college in Southern California in the early 80’s when he saw “the woman of his dreams” walk in the door to the ranch dining room. Cindy Dunn had decided she needed a career change and had moved herself and her daughter Jenna from Central California to the ranch in order for Cindy to go through the two and a half year course on horse/animal science and ranch management the school offered. She certainly hadn’t moved south to remarry, but Joe had other plans in mind.

By the following spring, they had married and moved off the ranch to begin their own business, Rainbow Ranch: training horses, teaching riding lessons and horse camps, running trail rides and putting on horse shows. In addition to teaching riding lessons and horse camps for over 15 years, Cindy also helped to found and perform with “The Rainbow Riders Drill Team” and “The Rainbow Rockets Jr. Drill Team”; she was the secretary for the San Diego Cutting Horse Association for 10 years; and served on the board of numerous horse clubs, including the San Diego County Farriers Association.

When a rotator cuff injury forced her to discontinue teaching, she went back to school and became a massage therapist, something she’d been doing without thinking of all her life. “Whenever our family got together, people would line up to have me work on them. When I’d work on someone, I’d just think of what would feel good to be done to me and then do it to them.” After working in massage therapy for a few years, Cindy began helping Joe develop the business of

The Whole Horse System™ and eventually moved from doing massage work on people to Touch ‘N Release™ Body Work on horses.

The love of horses runs in the family. Daughter Jenna was an important part of the family business—at a young age she was a regular guide for the trail rides at Rainbow Ranch and became a challenging competitor in Jr. Rodeo and High School Rodeo, as well as showing in Western and English pleasure.

Granddaughter Alyssa loves riding English and jumping, also rides Western, and recently started driving her pony, Midnight Moon, in a cart.

While grandson Riley usually prefers riding his dirt bike to riding horses, he likes going on trail rides with Grandma and loves hanging out with Grandpa around the shoeing forge and hammering on the anvil. Just this year he’s begun learning how to clean and sharpen Grandpa’s tools to help get them ready for the next day’s work.

Both grandkids are learning to use Touch ‘N Release™ on their horses: The Whole Horse System for the whole horse family.