Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Fort Collins. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Nick George helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Fort Collins, Colorado.
Is your business serving the residents of Fort Collins? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpFortCollins.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
Your horse called: it prefers kindness over boot camp
Tired of “push harder” training that leaves you and your horse tense, confused, or sidelined? Meet a different path. We sit down with Megan Sorentino of Classical Horsemanship in Fort Collins to unpack a humane, time-tested system that trades force for feel, clarity, and real partnership—no pricey unicorn required. Megan shares how classical methods, rooted in historic European schools and refined through mentorship with Craig Stevens, help everyday riders build balance, softness, and soundness that last.
We dive into the big myths: that only expensive horses reach high levels, that bigger animals need bigger pressure, and that quick wins are worth the fallout. Megan explains why modern, military-influenced training often prioritizes speed over longevity, and how classical work—think precise timing, thoughtful biomechanics, and patient progression—keeps horses willing and sound. You’ll hear practical insights on shifting from bracing to balance, setting up exercises that invite lightness, and recognizing when a kinder cue yields a better answer. For adult beginners, there’s an encouraging roadmap that starts with safety and clarity, then scales toward more refined work without fear or shame.
Megan’s personal story gives the method heart. From overcoming dyslexia to growing from a backyard round pen into a 35-acre training facility, her journey models the very principles she teaches: start where you are, focus on small correct steps, and let consistency compound. We also explore how her team is expanding access with YouTube tutorials, social content, online courses, and a new podcast pairing an expert’s lens with a beginner’s questions—perfect for riders who want substance, not slogans.
If you’re frustrated by lameness issues, overwhelmed by conflicting advice, or convinced it’s “too late” to ride, this conversation offers a hopeful alternative. Come for the myth-busting; stay for the concrete tools that make riding lighter, safer, and more joyful. If this resonates, follow Classical Horsemanship on your favorite platform, share the episode with a horse-loving friend, and leave a review so more riders can find a kinder path forward.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today I have the great pleasure of introducing Megan Sorentino with Classic Horsemanship. If you're in need of some training, not just for the horse, but for the rider too, she might be what you're looking for. Megan, how's it going? I'm doing well. How are you? Excellent. Tell us all about classic horsemanship.
SPEAKER_00:It's uh actually classical horsemanship.
SPEAKER_02:Or classical horsemanship, sorry.
SPEAKER_00:No worries. So the reason that we have that name is because a lot of riding is based off of a modern training system. So the roots of the type of training that we do actually date back to antiquity, and it's a very old way of working with the horses, and so that's why we call it classical horsemanship. Um, we are a riding school that's just a little bit northwest of downtown Fort Collins, and we offer riding lessons, we offer training for horses, and we do offer boarding. We are unique in that we don't do open boarding, so all of the horses that are boarded on the property are students' horses. And the reason that we do that is because we have a very special and particular way of working with the horses. We focus more on each horse's unique ability and using gentleness and kindness to train the horses. And so because we have that approach, we try to have a very good community of people that are also like-minded in the way that they work with their horses.
SPEAKER_02:Megan, how did you get into this business of classical horse training, people training?
SPEAKER_00:Uh, I was lucky enough to have a mentor. His name was Craig Stevens, and I met him in May of 2012, and he taught himself uh French and translated a lot of old French riding books, which is where the roots of this type of riding that we teach came from. So he learned French, translated books, he learned it from a few different masters all over the world, and then he himself trained horses and taught riding all over the world. So I had the pleasure of living with him for about a year and a half at his riding school in Washington, and then him and his wife at the time split up, and so then he spent the last four years of his life living with me in Fort Collins and training me. So he was the one who taught me this different style of riding. And the first time I met him, he was the first person who told me that I could be friends with my horse again, which was something I'd always wanted because from the time I was a little girl, I loved horses. And every instructor I had before him was always like, don't let them do that, don't let them get away with that, hit them harder. And I would just do what my instructors told me to do, but I never felt like it was right in my heart. So when I met my mentor Craig, it was so nice to be able to feel like I could not only be friends with my horses again, but also get my average and expensive horses to be able to do high-level work.
SPEAKER_02:You kind of answered the next question I was going to ask you, maybe. What are some myths or misconceptions in your particular niche of training? And uh that may have been one of them. Anything else that you'd like to cover, or would you like to elaborate more on the myths or misconceptions about what training looks like?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, there's so many of them. I mean, one of them for sure, like I just mentioned, is that a lot of people think that they have to get a more and more expensive horse to be able to do high-level work, and that they don't realize that the modern training system is broken, that there's an older way of working horses, that the modern training system is based off military riding. Well, in the military, the horse is expendable, there's always another horse. And so the biggest misconception is that anybody, whether any rider and any horse, if you put in enough time, can get to a high level. Another really important misconception that I also kind of touched on is that horses are big, and so people think that they have to be aggressive to handle them. And a lot of people, sadly, the default setting for handling horses is fear and aggression, and it's essentially bullying the horse. And it's not that you can't get the horse to work that way, but it's like, who are you gonna work harder for? Somebody who bullies you or somebody who listens to your thoughts and your feelings and your opinions, and so that's gonna be the better leader, and that's what we have to be for our horses.
SPEAKER_02:Wow. So um we know that marketing is the heart of every business. Who is your target clientele and how are you reaching out to them now in the digital world?
SPEAKER_00:Well, we actually just started creating some online content and online course. So we are in the process, it's on sale now, but we're in the process of creating our first online course because I'm trying to reach out to other people that aren't just local to be able to help them with their horses. We've been creating a lot of content on YouTube. Um, there's a lot of free videos on there about our philosophy and about how we teach. So a lot of social media and a lot of just website, and then of course, word of mouth.
SPEAKER_02:Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I actually had a podcast with my mentor before he passed away. And so you can go and watch those on YouTube. And then my social media manager, who's also one of my students, me and her just started a podcast and recorded our first episode a few weeks ago. And that's super fun because I've been doing this for almost 14 years. I have a lot of experience, I work a lot of horses, and she's coming at it from a beginner perspective. So it's really fun to hear us chat back and forth, coming from the two different points of view.
SPEAKER_02:How can we find those?
SPEAKER_00:They will be posted on YouTube. Our YouTube channel is uh called Classical Horsemanship, just like our business name.
SPEAKER_02:Nice. What do you do for fun when you're not having fun?
SPEAKER_00:I am really blessed that my job is very fun. Uh, and even though I love what I do on my weekends, I'm so thankful that I have a husband who is not a horsey husband. And so on our weekends, we like to do outdoorsy things, other things like skiing and camping and playing golf.
SPEAKER_02:Is there a hardship? And stop me if you don't want to talk about any of that, but is there a hardship in your life that you overcame that made you stronger? Something you'd like to share with people about, you know, just connecting with people about how you maybe you didn't have the perfect life and everybody has struggles and how you overcame yours and how it led to this. Anything like that?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, definitely. Um, I was actually dyslexic, I am still dyslexic. I had a really hard time learning how to read. And I think that was one of the things that actually made it so that I was able to learn how to do this different type of writing and build my business. That I always thought I was not very smart when I was little because I had a hard time learning how to read, and now I read multiple books at once. I know that if I put my hard work and energy into anything, that it'll pay off, and that you can't just wait for things to be perfect, that you just gotta start. I started my business out of my parents' backyard and a little round pen, and now we have 35 acres with employees and an indoor. So that challenge of learning how to read when I was younger is definitely what helped me overcome and get to where I am today.
SPEAKER_02:What is the most important thing, Megan, that you want people to take away from this podcast interview with you and classical horsemanship?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I want them to know that if they're frustrated with the modern training system or they have lameness issues with their horses, that there is another answer out there, that it's not just you have to get rid of your horse or you have to uh buy a more expensive horse, and that one of our favorite target market clients is beginner riders. So it's never too uh beginner adults, so it's never too late to learn how to ride. That's actually one of my favorite demographics to work with because I know there's so many adults that, as a little boy or a little girl, always wanted to learn how to ride, and now they feel like it's too late. So I think people who are frustrated with the modern training system and those people who think it's too late to learn how to ride, that there's an opportunity to do those things.
SPEAKER_02:Well, Megan, it's been a pleasure having you on our show, and we definitely oh, one more thing. How do people find out more about you? Both what is your website and what are the other social media ways that people can find you? And a phone number if you give those out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so our website is classc-la-shorsemanship.com, and then you can find us on all social media platforms. We have uh Instagram, which is at Classical Horsemanship, Facebook, which is at Classical Horsemanship, uh, TikTok, that's at Classical Horsemanship, and then YouTube at Classical Horsemanship. And we do quite a bit of posting and trying to teach people through videos and such online. Is there a phone number? Yeah, it's 970-215-3330, and it's always best to text for a faster response.
SPEAKER_02:Well, that's all very easy to remember. Again, Megan, it's been a pleasure having you on our show, and we definitely wish you and classical horsemanship the very best moving forward.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfortcollins.com. That's gnpfortcollins.com or call nine seven zero.