HERD Institute

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, GENDER AND WOMEN'S STUDIES & AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Kelsey Dayle John (Navajo) is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona with a joint appointment in American Indian Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies. She studies equine/human relationships with a focus on how these relationships impact Indigenous education and research. She is particularly interested in the social, cultural, and historical narratives of equine/human relations in tribal communities. She is currently a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and is working on a book project about equine/human relationships in Indigenous methodologies. Previously, Kelsey taught in the Diné Studies department at Navajo Technical University on the Navajo Nation. She completed her Ph.D. in Education at Syracuse University. For her dissertation research, she worked in partnership with the Navajo Nation to document horse knowledges and stories for the development of Navajo education, research, and a community horse conference. She has published in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Humananimalia, Edge Effects, and several edited volumes including: Decolonizing Animals, Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education, and Indigenous Religious Traditions in Five Minutes.  Kelsey is certified in Equine Facilitated Learning through The HERD Institute. She is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and in her spare time, she runs with her dogs and trains horses.   

KATE FORD, LICSW, PATH INTL. CTRI & ESMHL

Kate Ford has been working in clinical social work and equine assisted services for over 25 years and has provided these services at two PATH, Intl. affiliated programs in the Northeast.  Raised in Center City, Philadelphia, as the child of social worker, Kate was taught to be aware of their own white privilege and internalized biases and racism. She works to educate herself and raise awareness around diversity, equity, and inclusion at the barn and in her community,  striving to be an ally to people of the global majority and LGBTQ+ communities and is grateful to have an opportunity to advocate for DEI in our field of equine assisted therapies and activities.  

Kate is a graduate of Oberlin College and earned a clinical Master’s in Social Work from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. She is a Massachusetts Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, Massachusetts Licensed Horseback Riding Instructor, Certified ESMHL and CTRI through PATH International, and EAGALA Certified. Kate is currently in the process of studying towards her Foundational Level Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy Certification through The HERD Institute® and has also just completed a Level 1 Certification in Internal Family Systems. 

Michael Kaufmann has been actively involved in Human/animal Interaction Programs, Animal Welfare and in Humane Education for 25 years. In 2005 he joined Green Chimneys Children’s Services as Farm and Wildlife Director and in 2012 was named Director of the Sam and Myra Ross Institute at Green Chimneys, a program dedicated to education and research on the human connection to animals and the natural world. At Green Chimneys, he directs all aspects of the nature based therapeutic/educational programs and supervises the Institute dedicated to education and research on the human connection to animals and the natural world. Kaufmann started his career as a humane educator at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in New York City and continued at the American Humane Association (AHA), a national child and animal protection organization that promotes the highest standards of competence among child welfare and animal care and control professionals. At AHA he served as a national spokesperson with a special focus on humane education program development, the correlation between animal cruelty, domestic violence and child abuse and equine welfare issues. Subsequently he represented the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA) as Director of Education and Communication and editor of the national magazine STRIDES. Today his focus is on Green Care, the concept of working with animals, plants and nature to enhance human environments and lives. Michael Kaufmann has been quoted on human animal interaction and animal welfare issues by such diverse sources as ABC’s 20/20, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, National Public Radio, Reaching Today's Youth, the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association and other media sources.