All of our instructors undergo a rigorous training and lengthy apprenticeship overseen by PATH Intl’, the organization that certifies, accredits, and is primarily responsible for educating centers and members.There are three levels of certification available to prospective instructors: Registered, Advanced, and Master. High Horses instructors are paid professionals who are certified in CPR and First Aid.
Aileen Reney
With High Horses since June 2016
Position: PATH Intl’ registered instructor
Professional Background: Aileen grew up with horses and started taking riding lessons when she was five. She participated in 4-H throughout high school with her Norwegian Fjord pony. She went to college at UNH where she earned a BS in Equine Science and minored in Psychology. While at UNH, she received her PATH Intl’ registered level instructor certification. After graduating, she moved to Idaho to work as an instructor/equine manager at a therapeutic riding facility in Sun Valley. Aileen is now back on the NH/VT area and is eager to start teaching again. When not teaching at High Horses, Aileen works for Easters Seals as a Youth Support Specialist.
Hobbies and Interests: When Aileen is not hanging out with horses, she enjoys playing volleyball, hiking in the White Mountains, rowing on Lake Sunapee, and going for long runs with her dog, Gus.
Betsy Medinger
With High Horses since 2010
Position at High Horses: PATH Intl’ Registered Level Instructor
Professional Background: Betsy moved to Vermont a year ago and joined High Horses soon after. She comes from Connecticut with a background in Special Education, and the Hunter/Jumper show world. Betsy started her career working in residential facilities, while continuing to ride and work at the local show stable. Blending the two vocations led her to a career as instructor and program director for Pegasus Therapeutic Riding for 26 years.
Hobbies & Interests: Betsy is an avid rider, and lover of outdoor activities. She also enjoys life on a horse farm in W. Windsor with her husband, dogs, cat, chickens and two kids when they can visit.
Caroline Dupere
With High Horses since June 2016
Position at High Horses: American Hippotherapy Association Level II
Professional Background: Caroline graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2013 with a Master’s of Science degree in Occupational Therapy and a minor in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Studies. She is a registered occupational therapist and is licensed in the states of New Hampshire & Vermont. Caroline has experience working across the age span and has specialized in working with children ages birth to three, providing transdisciplinary therapy service to infants and toddlers in their home. She also works with pediatric population focused on testing and therapeutic intervention within the clinic setting. Caroline joins High Horses as a treating OT and supervisor for the use of equine movement as a treatment strategy.
Caroline Heinbuch
With High Horses since 2020
Position at High Horses: Facility Manager
Professional Background: Caroline grew up riding horses in upstate New York, where she concurrently studied with Hunter-Jumper, Dressage, and Eventing trainers in pursuit of a balanced education. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Sustainable Development, she gained valuable management experience in the financial industry prior to bringing her talents to A/AA-level Hunter-Jumper show barns, where she learned the ropes in the roles of Assistant Trainer, Instructor, and Barn Manager. She later progressed to managing the facility / operations of a commercial equestrian show park in West Palm Beach, FL. She continues to ride and compete her own young hunter, Dexter, who also resides at High Horses.
Ellen Zaika
With High Horses since 2009
Position at High Horses: Site & Volunteer Manager
Professional Background: Ellen grew up in Amherst, New York. She moved to New England to attend Boston University where she earned a degree in Communications. She has always loved horses but really didn’t have time to indulge that passion until retiring from Verizon Communications in 2008. Ellen began with High Horses as a volunteer soon-after retirement and became the Site Coordinator in 2009. She truly loves the program. Ellen feels so fortunate to be the staff member always on-site. She loves witnessing and sharing in the happiness, and physical and emotional benefits that the program provides to riders, families, caregivers,and also our volunteers!
Hobbies & Interests: Ellen enjoys being outdoors and always loves spending time with her Jack Russell Terrier & Golden Retriever and her trail horse Slim.
Julie Ann Otis
With High Horses since 2020.
POSITION AT HIGH HORSES: Development Manager
Krystal Ingerson
With High Horses Since 2020
Position at High Horses: Barn Assistant
Professional Background:
For the past 3 years Krystal has been an Equine Assisted Communications Class Facilitator, Ranch hand, volunteer coordinator and for a short time a basic horseback riding instructor for Horse and Family Institute and Anchored Ranch, Jacksonville, North Carolina. Before that I mentored troubled kids through Upper Valley Pediatrics and worked as a Dairy Farmhand at Rocky Hill Farm. As a mentor I was introduced to High Horses and started volunteering in between mentoring and farm chores. Krystal is the daughter of a country Preacher. She loves Jesus and helping her folks at church. has been involved in church youth ministries most of her life.
Hobbies & Interest: Hiking and kayaking, gardening, taking pictures, hanging out with her friends and family, especially her nieces and nephews are a few of her favorite pastimes… and as crazy as it sounds though she likes riding, Krystal loves round penning and lunging far more than riding… learning how horses communicate and learn, learning how that understanding teaches her how to communicate better with horses and even people and then imparting that knowledge in an understandable manner to other people (especially kids), watching them smile with those ah-ha moments is one of her passions. For that reason, my next goal is to improve my riding and train to become a Therapeutic Riding Instructor.
Lincoln Alden
With High Horses Since 2017
Position at High Horses: PTA practicing Hippotherapy
Professional Background: Lincoln is excited and privileged to be part of the High Horses extended family. He is Level One certified in hippotherapy, working with a variety of ages, patients and complex conditions. With personalized and considerate care, Lincoln strives to assist each individual, in reaching his or her optimal function and peak performance goals. For each patient and family, our instruction team and supervising physical therapist develop a comprehensive treatment plan. Currently, practicing at Schmidt Physical therapy in Lebanon, he previously treated patients at Green Mountain PT and Ottauquecchee PT. Lincoln graduated from Boston University in 1979, with a degree in Rehabilitation Counseling and continued his studies at New England School of Acupuncture. In 2012, he graduated from the River Valley Community College, Physical Therapist Assistant Program.
Hobbies and Interests:Living, working, raising a family in South Strafford, Vermont, for over 32 years, he enjoys riding, running, skiing, hiking, swimming, gardening, gourmet cooking and yoga.
Nicole Jorgensen
With High Horses Since 2015
Position at High Horses: Executive Director
Professional Background: Nicole grew up in New York State where she received a BS in Business Administration and Marketing from SUNY Brockport. Then the next step in life took her to Utah where she completed a Master’s Degree in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism from the University of Utah. She moved to the Upper Valley just recently after her husband started a job at the VA Hospital. Nicole has had an extensive career in the non-profit world including the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah, the American Cancer Society, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. She has held positions in all areas of a non-profit business and is excited to be a part of the High Horses team!
In spite of having limited experiences with horses, she has been connected to them intermittently throughout her life and feels comfortable and happy to be around them.
Hobbies & Interests: Nicole loves to hike, camp, read, and spend time with her husband and their two dogs, Hermie and Mars.
Peter Thornton (Pete) 
With High Horses Since 2019
Position at High Horses: Maintenance and Grounds
Background: Pete is 16 years old, a junior at the Randolph Technical Career Center, where he studies Diversified Agricultural Technology. Pete has an American Quarter horse Named Patriot and has ridden since he was three or four years old. He is an avid outdoorsman and can chat about just about anything that has to do with getting out and about in our ecosystem.
Sara Lamie
With High Horses Since 2019
Position at High Horses: Doctor of Physical Therapy
is a Doctor of Physical Therapy with over 12 years of experience in outpatient, sports, and geriatric settings. She brings this solid background in rehabilitation to her work here in the High Horses Hippotherapy Program. Sara’s treatment philosophy incorporates her solid background in psychology and movement science to promote wellness within the individual in body and mind. She truly appreciates the transformative nature of hippotherapy and the depth of enrichment it brings to her clients’ lives.
Shari Gliedman-Baker
With High Horses Since 2018
Position at High Horses: COTA practicing Hippotherapy
Professional Background: Shari is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant licensed in Vermont since 2012. She is a certified level 1 Hippotherapy practitioner by the American Hippotherapy Association and is looking forward to gaining her level 2 certification this spring. In addition, Shari is a PATH Registered Level instructor, a registered yoga teacher and Reiki level 2 practitioner. She has been volunteering in Therapeutic Riding programs since 2002. Shari grew up as a horse-crazy kid in a suburb of New York City taking any opportunity she could to be around horses and ride. It wasn’t until 2000 when she moved to Putney, Vermont to raise her children that she was able to have her own horses and make them an everyday part of her and her family’s life. When one of her sons was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and Sensory Processing Disorder at a young age, the resulting journey led her to Occupational Therapy and eventually to Therapeutic Riding and Hippotherapy. Shari has experience treating across the life span including sub-acute clinical experience in Adult and Geriatric rehabilitation, training in Manual Therapy and a special interest in Sensory Processing.
Hobbies and Interests: Shari enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband, 2 rescue horses and 3 dogs (plus her 4 adult children whenever possible). She is a dedicated yoga practitioner as well as a self-confessed Workshop/Continuing Ed junkie taking courses on all kinds of holistic health care for humans as well as for horses. Shari enjoys volunteering in her community for Putney Community Cares as well as Meals on Wheels.
Sienna Whitney
With High Horses since 2015
Position at High Horses: PATH Intl’ Registered Level Instructor & Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning.
Professional Background: 
Sienna grew up in San Diego, California where she began volunteering at a therapeutic riding program, B.E.T.H (Bonita Equestrian Therapy for the Handicapped) in the late 80’s. The BETH program was founded and run by JoAnn Rangus who was a passionate, loving and empowering woman and brought out the best in people she came into contact with. Sienna greatly respected and admired her as well as Jo’s lead instructor, Amy Sheets. Over her eight years of volunteering Sienna learned a great deal about working with horses, people with disabilities, and many life lessons that she carries with her today. She rode and worked at Blackland Farm which was a hunter/jumper stable in Bonita, California.
In the late 90’s Sienna moved to Vermont where she worked for four years for Rozo McLaughlin at Hitching Post Farm, which is a stable that hosts and competes in three-phase eventing. Sienna had the opportunity to work with the at-risk population at an alternative school run by the Clara Martin Center where she worked in the Elementary and Adventure Learning Program. She also had the privilege to work with children at the Barnard Academy. After a dozen years working within the schools, Sienna was drawn back to Therapeutic Riding. She received her Registered Level Certification through High Hopes Instructor Training Course in Old Lyme Connecticut.
Teaching Philosophy: Winston Churchill said “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” The horse is the greatest teacher, the instructor is only the facilitator and the volunteers are an extension of her. Together with the many other facilitators in our team, each of us has the opportunity to reach our full potential as we partner with our intuitive equine teachers. Sienna is proud to be a part of the process.
Susan (Sue) Miller
With High Horses since 1998
Position at High Horses: Program Director and PATH Intl’ Advanced Level Instructor & Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning.
Professional Background: Sue started with saddleseat lessons on Morgans and has ridden and studied huntseat, sidesaddle and dressage and has an interest in natural horsemanship. She has a small farm in Bradford where she and her family have raised a few Morgan horses with the Misure prefix. Sue has served in different capacities over the years at High Horses and helps on different committees for PATH Intl’, such as PATH International Accreditation Subcommittee, New England Special Activities Resources (NESAR) as a Board Member, Site Representative, PATH Site Visitor, Mentor and is the former region one communication chair & PATH Intl’ Vermont State Chairperson. Sue continues to assist in revamping the Site Visitor Training Course to become an online course. Sue is also involved with Vermont equine activities and is the former Vice President of the Vermont Horse Shows Association, and remains a board member and past President of the Vermont Horse Council. Sue graduated from the Community College of Vermont with an Associate’s degree in childhood education and Johnson State College with a BA in professional studies and is a level 2 Reiki practitioner.
Teaching Philosophy: Sue’s teaching philosophy is one that she creates and builds upon as she acquires new experiences. Susan enjoys teaching lessons that are fun and interesting for the rider and watching riders reach their personal riding goals. Sue aspires to bring an open mind, a positive attitude, and high expectations to High Horses each day.