Hi, I'M DON JESSOP, WELCOME!

I love helping people experience the full joy of being around horses. As an author, clinician, educator, coach, and leader in the horse industry, I can help you get through any problem and experience any dream. I will support you from basic horsemanship to the most advanced maneuvers and techniques across the whole spectrum of horse training and riding.

Join me on the journey

Don Jessop, also known to many as the Breakthrough Guy.

Don Jessop, a Montana native, is the author of the book Leadership and Horses, and a Master Horseman and teacher who travels the country helping people with their horses while improving upon and teaching horsemanship skills. His natural, motivational attitude has inspired many people to achieve more in their studies and feel more confident. His teaching and horsemanship are drama free and he shares information with purpose and humor. His gentle, yet effective manner allows clients and clinic participants to listen, think and apply what they learn. With more than two decades in the horse industry, training, teaching and traveling around the world, Don has helped thousands of people live and achieve their desire to ride and compete. Don is co-owner of Mastery Horsemanship, the author of Leadership and Horses. He also works in the field of self-improvement as a speaker, author, and coach. He is the creator of the SendMeLife life coaching systems and Mastery Horsemanship.

As an animal behavior authority, Don has been teaching and training leadership skills in two unique industries. First, in the horse industry. After decades of studying behavior science with the best in the field, including over ten years in person, with Pat and Linda Parelli, and private classes with the late Ray Hunt, a horse Master, Cesar Millan (The Dog Whisperer), Lynn Eisenhart (World Class Dolphin Trainer) Anthony Robbins (Peak Performance Coach) T-Harv Ekar (Secrets of the Millionaire Mind) and more, Don has worked to master the skills necessary to help address negative behavior, or what he calls “the emotional brain”.

Don Jessop’s two decades of honing horse development skills make him a very relatable clinician. His skills a colt starter, horse development specialist, and teacher will move and inspire you. Audit one session with Don to forever change your perspective on how to get your horse into a learning frame of mind, build respect and tune up your equine partner for competition. He understands how to get human and horse to communicate fairly with his friendly manner and style. Don trains in the style of Ray Hunt and the Dorrance brothers, with a deep understanding of why our horses react and respond the way they do. 

“Often, in the beginning, horses don’t do what we want because they simply don’t understand what you want. They can push into your leg or hands, which makes it impossible to learn anything. Or they pull away in a reactive manner. Fixing a non-responsive horse is easy with one simple concept: pressure motivates and releases teaches!

Pressure motivates the horses to move and when the release is given at the right time, a horse will learn exactly what you want him to. This is but one piece of the training puzzle I want to share. There are also important pieces to training with people, who, like me, are inextricably linked to the equine partnership we value so highly. We can become completely entranced but we also want to get along with the horse, make progress, and have them enjoy being with us. In other words, I want to change the world for the better for horses.

Recently I saw a rider trotting past my home. She looked tense and uncomfortable. She transferred that to her horse who was also, tense. She pulled, she kicked and bounced like she didn’t belong in the saddle. Scenes like this make me think, why do we make it uncomfortable for the horse to the point where he quits, and then we get busy trying to figure out what’s wrong with him, without looking at ourselves? Horses need to enjoy the partnership too. And riders are meant to have fun.

Every day in my work, I see riders and trainers who never see the reason to or grasp the understanding of adapting basic leadership principles with horses. This girl rider who was having so much trouble, had no idea how to develop a physical nor emotional connection to her horse. It’s why I strive to help people become smoother, calmer, carefully more assertive, and more like a riding partner, with integrity and clarity vs. a dictatorship. My journey to become a master trainer and teacher was because I wanted to change the life of every horse that was brought to me for help. If I can influence how we treat our equine partners in a positive way, then I know I’m making a difference.

Many times throughout my career I also began to see how people needed and wanted help. How horses can change the life of an individual still impresses me. These ideas, motivate me. They inspire me.”

Don’s skills have been called upon by Olympic riders, peak performance coaches, and everyday people from all over the world. What he teaches are the skills necessary to train the people and their animals to reach their own goals and break through fears and limitations.

Don and his wife Rachel have traveled through every state in the United States and also England, New Zealand, and Australia teaching leadership courses and horsemanship mastery classes.

“I owe it all to the people who walked before me and the people who walk with me now. It seems even when I think I’ve got it all together I’m reminded how we can’t do anything alone.” Don Jessop