How do you Say ... DEH-FraY-Tis
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Change is a GOOD thing!
Let's be real; can we? You wouldn't be considering training if you didn't want to change some aspect of your relationship with your horse. Wanting a change doesn't have to mean that there is anything wrong with what you have now. Whether you are just starting your equestrian journey, or looking to master that last high performance maneuver, there is always more to learn, and there is always room for improvement. At De Frates Horsemanship we never settle for the best and we not only embrace change, we celebrate it. Our own journey has taught us to LEAD change to make our dreams come true and we can help you do the same. We use the Lyons Conditioned Response Method, tired and true corporate management and training techniques, our own trusty IAAM decision making process, and a lot of hard work to make change happen, which builds confident partnerships and sets you on the path to your dreams. We won't stop until you are happy AND successful. At De Frates Horsemanship, we specialize in change...it's who we are and it's what we do. Let us show you how. |
"Change is the only contstant in life.”
- The ancient Greek Philosopher, Hercalitus
Dana De Frates - Owner Operator
Dana has been crazy about horses since the day she was born, riding since before she could walk, and has been training horses and teaching people in a variety of equestrian disciplines for over twenty years. She spent her childhood years on the back of a foundation Morgan mare named Isis competing in Hunter/Jumper, Gymkhana, and other club shows. The bond the two shared has to this day, made the Morgan Horse Dana’s favorite breed. Dana has studied multiple horsemanship and training styles throughout the years, including many natural horsemanship methods like Parelli and Clinton Anderson, classical training methods, positive reinforcement training, and bridle horse or vaquero training. She ultimately became a Brandi Lyons Certified Trainer and Clinician and is now combining the best from each into a balanced training style that helps horses and humans build powerful relationships.
Dana attended Saint Mary's College of California and volunteered her free time during college to an Equine Facilitated Therapy Center where she assessed the incoming horses' existing training and filled in any gaps to ensure they were prepared for their new careers. Dana received her BA in Education from Saint Mary’s and went to Google, where she spent many years in the internal education department designing and delivering team development, leadership, coaching, and onboarding training. Dana is a gifted and natural teacher, who makes learning even the most difficult skills entertaining and rewarding.
Isis passed when Dana was a Senior in high school, so, after college, when the time came to get a new horse, Dana searched far and wide for just the right Morgan. She finally found Angel, a chestnut flaxen yearling. Already proficient at retraining horses, Angel was to be the first horse that she would start from the ground up and Dana sought out every opportunity she could for her and Angel to build a strong partnership. The strength of their partnership was obvious and Angel quickly became a champion halter horse and was pulling Dana around town in a cart as soon as Dana could afford to lease the equipment. Despite these early accomplishments, some boarders at the facility where Angel was kept bullied Dana, relentlessly, and always let her know just how inexperienced they thought she was. After a year of this constant bullying, Dana's confidence was destroyed and the bullies won; despite already walking Angel around in saddle, Dana was convinced that she needed professional help to start Angel. Dana found that help in the form of a colt-starting clinic hosted by a well known local professional. It was the perfect solution, Dana would still be the one to do the work, but she would get the professional support she had been convinced she needed. Unfortunately, while this professional was a wonderful human in public, they were not so in private, and the trainer beat Angel while Dana was in the saddle to the point that Angel had bloody welts that took months to heal. Naturally, Angel bolted at this attack and Dana fell off. This accident severely injured both horse and rider, left Angel traumatized, and almost cost Dana her hand.
Unable to get back in the saddle for the better part of a year, Dana used positive reinforcement methods to work through Angel’s trauma, teaching her to do a bunch of tricks and tackle obstacles, until they were both ready to continue their work under saddle. Still at the same boarding facility and still struggling with confidence issues in the face of the same bullies, Dana found comfort in the process of classical dressage training, which she and Angel studied for over a decade until a non-horse related foot injury left Dana unable to walk for months. That was when Jason stepped in to care for Angel and fell in love with horses.
Watching Jason excel in the saddle under her guidance restored Dana’s conviction in her abilities, and she went in search of a new mentor to help her realize her lifelong dream of doing what she truly loved for a living. That search led her to Brandi Lyons. Dana left her first clinic with Brandi so full of confidence that she bought a project horse for Jason. She spent a few weeks training the horse and was extremely proud of the progress they had made in such a short amount of time, but just one month after they brought the new horse home, tragedy struck again. There was an accident on the trail and while Jason was trying to assist, his new horse got put in a very bad spot and accidentally kicked Jason in the face while trying to escape. Jason was hospitalized for a few weeks and when he left he had half a face full of metal. The accident also left Dana with something she had never experienced around a horse before. Fear. Paralyzing, soul shaking fear. Dana used Brandi’s methods relentlessly for months to try and overcome her fear and salvage the relationship with the horse, but ultimately decided the traumatic memories were just too powerful, for everyone. They found the horse a great new home, and found Jason a new horse, Boo.
This new horse of Jason's was great, until he wasn't, and when he wasn't, Dana's confidence was shaken to the core and the fear came back stronger than it had ever been before. Her fear was so powerful that Dana wanted to get out of horses entirely. One night, while on the verge of selling Angel, Dana realized that this must have been how Angel felt after her traumatic accident and if Angel could find a way back to loving and trusting people, that maybe it was possible for Dana to do the same. With Jason’s support, they decided that if Dana could overcome this fear, if she could find her way back experiencing joy around horses again, that the couple would make it their mission to help others facing similar issues. Dana started utilizing the positive reinforcement methods she had employed to restore Angel's trust so many years ago paired with Brandi’s program and within weeks, Dana was confidently riding Boo and retraining his bad habits.
Committed to making their new found mission a reality, Jason plotted with Brandi to enroll Dana in Brandi’s certified trainer program. Dana spent months living and studying with Brandi at her home in Arizona and when she returned, the couple sold their house in the suburbs, moved to Gilroy and started De Frates Horsemanship where she is blessed to be living her mission every day.
In addition to training horses, teaching horsemanship, giving lessons, running clinics and breeding Morgans, Dana is also proud to combine her equine expertise with her educational background and corporate training experience. Dana is certified by Greg Kersten, the founder of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, and owner of the O.K. Corral Series to offer Equine Assisted Learning Programs focused on Team Building and Leadership Development.
Dana attended Saint Mary's College of California and volunteered her free time during college to an Equine Facilitated Therapy Center where she assessed the incoming horses' existing training and filled in any gaps to ensure they were prepared for their new careers. Dana received her BA in Education from Saint Mary’s and went to Google, where she spent many years in the internal education department designing and delivering team development, leadership, coaching, and onboarding training. Dana is a gifted and natural teacher, who makes learning even the most difficult skills entertaining and rewarding.
Isis passed when Dana was a Senior in high school, so, after college, when the time came to get a new horse, Dana searched far and wide for just the right Morgan. She finally found Angel, a chestnut flaxen yearling. Already proficient at retraining horses, Angel was to be the first horse that she would start from the ground up and Dana sought out every opportunity she could for her and Angel to build a strong partnership. The strength of their partnership was obvious and Angel quickly became a champion halter horse and was pulling Dana around town in a cart as soon as Dana could afford to lease the equipment. Despite these early accomplishments, some boarders at the facility where Angel was kept bullied Dana, relentlessly, and always let her know just how inexperienced they thought she was. After a year of this constant bullying, Dana's confidence was destroyed and the bullies won; despite already walking Angel around in saddle, Dana was convinced that she needed professional help to start Angel. Dana found that help in the form of a colt-starting clinic hosted by a well known local professional. It was the perfect solution, Dana would still be the one to do the work, but she would get the professional support she had been convinced she needed. Unfortunately, while this professional was a wonderful human in public, they were not so in private, and the trainer beat Angel while Dana was in the saddle to the point that Angel had bloody welts that took months to heal. Naturally, Angel bolted at this attack and Dana fell off. This accident severely injured both horse and rider, left Angel traumatized, and almost cost Dana her hand.
Unable to get back in the saddle for the better part of a year, Dana used positive reinforcement methods to work through Angel’s trauma, teaching her to do a bunch of tricks and tackle obstacles, until they were both ready to continue their work under saddle. Still at the same boarding facility and still struggling with confidence issues in the face of the same bullies, Dana found comfort in the process of classical dressage training, which she and Angel studied for over a decade until a non-horse related foot injury left Dana unable to walk for months. That was when Jason stepped in to care for Angel and fell in love with horses.
Watching Jason excel in the saddle under her guidance restored Dana’s conviction in her abilities, and she went in search of a new mentor to help her realize her lifelong dream of doing what she truly loved for a living. That search led her to Brandi Lyons. Dana left her first clinic with Brandi so full of confidence that she bought a project horse for Jason. She spent a few weeks training the horse and was extremely proud of the progress they had made in such a short amount of time, but just one month after they brought the new horse home, tragedy struck again. There was an accident on the trail and while Jason was trying to assist, his new horse got put in a very bad spot and accidentally kicked Jason in the face while trying to escape. Jason was hospitalized for a few weeks and when he left he had half a face full of metal. The accident also left Dana with something she had never experienced around a horse before. Fear. Paralyzing, soul shaking fear. Dana used Brandi’s methods relentlessly for months to try and overcome her fear and salvage the relationship with the horse, but ultimately decided the traumatic memories were just too powerful, for everyone. They found the horse a great new home, and found Jason a new horse, Boo.
This new horse of Jason's was great, until he wasn't, and when he wasn't, Dana's confidence was shaken to the core and the fear came back stronger than it had ever been before. Her fear was so powerful that Dana wanted to get out of horses entirely. One night, while on the verge of selling Angel, Dana realized that this must have been how Angel felt after her traumatic accident and if Angel could find a way back to loving and trusting people, that maybe it was possible for Dana to do the same. With Jason’s support, they decided that if Dana could overcome this fear, if she could find her way back experiencing joy around horses again, that the couple would make it their mission to help others facing similar issues. Dana started utilizing the positive reinforcement methods she had employed to restore Angel's trust so many years ago paired with Brandi’s program and within weeks, Dana was confidently riding Boo and retraining his bad habits.
Committed to making their new found mission a reality, Jason plotted with Brandi to enroll Dana in Brandi’s certified trainer program. Dana spent months living and studying with Brandi at her home in Arizona and when she returned, the couple sold their house in the suburbs, moved to Gilroy and started De Frates Horsemanship where she is blessed to be living her mission every day.
In addition to training horses, teaching horsemanship, giving lessons, running clinics and breeding Morgans, Dana is also proud to combine her equine expertise with her educational background and corporate training experience. Dana is certified by Greg Kersten, the founder of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, and owner of the O.K. Corral Series to offer Equine Assisted Learning Programs focused on Team Building and Leadership Development.
Jason DE Frates - Director of Field Operations
Jason has been a IBEW Union Electrician since graduating high school; his relentless work ethic and natural skill allowed him to quickly rise into management where he has managed multi-million dollar projects for several companies including Genentech, Google, box.com, and The San Francisco International Airport. He now sits in an office, managing a department that specializes in creating the digital plans that the field teams need to build and create masterpieces.
Jason spent his youth constantly searching for his next adrenaline rush and found them through rock climbing, mountain biking, kickboxing, and stunting motorcycles. Unfortunately, these pursuits left Jason with multiple injuries including several damaged disks in his neck and lower back. When Jason discovered horses he found a new outlet for excitement that also brought him the fulfillment all his other endeavors always seemed to be missing.
Jason came to horses much later in life, the few experiences that he had previously left him thinking that horses were nothing more than 1000 lbs brainless creatures that were afraid of their own shadows. That all changed when Jason met Dana, and more importantly, met Angel. Angel opened Jason's eyes to just how amazing horses truly were, and how building a relationship with a horse could change your life. It was all over for him; he was hooked. Jason saw just how much joy, fulfillment, and of course, challenges, working with horses could bring to your life and after training with Dana and Angel for a few years, it was time for him to get a horse of his own.
Jason and his first horse suffered a major accident only a month into their relationship that hospitalized Jason and left him with half a face full of metal, but despite that trauma, Jason’s love for horses has only continued to grow over the years and as has his horse collection. Jason and his old trusty steed, Boo, enjoy hitting the trails with Dana, while Duke has become his go to obstacle horse. Last but certainly not least, Jason continues to feed that adrenaline addition with Izzy by competing in cutting.
Jason spent his youth constantly searching for his next adrenaline rush and found them through rock climbing, mountain biking, kickboxing, and stunting motorcycles. Unfortunately, these pursuits left Jason with multiple injuries including several damaged disks in his neck and lower back. When Jason discovered horses he found a new outlet for excitement that also brought him the fulfillment all his other endeavors always seemed to be missing.
Jason came to horses much later in life, the few experiences that he had previously left him thinking that horses were nothing more than 1000 lbs brainless creatures that were afraid of their own shadows. That all changed when Jason met Dana, and more importantly, met Angel. Angel opened Jason's eyes to just how amazing horses truly were, and how building a relationship with a horse could change your life. It was all over for him; he was hooked. Jason saw just how much joy, fulfillment, and of course, challenges, working with horses could bring to your life and after training with Dana and Angel for a few years, it was time for him to get a horse of his own.
Jason and his first horse suffered a major accident only a month into their relationship that hospitalized Jason and left him with half a face full of metal, but despite that trauma, Jason’s love for horses has only continued to grow over the years and as has his horse collection. Jason and his old trusty steed, Boo, enjoy hitting the trails with Dana, while Duke has become his go to obstacle horse. Last but certainly not least, Jason continues to feed that adrenaline addition with Izzy by competing in cutting.
Our Horses
We would be lost without our equine partners. Meet the horses that taught us most of everything we know.
We call this the Alphabet Soup Gang, and more importantly, our family.
We call this the Alphabet Soup Gang, and more importantly, our family.
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Angel |
Boo |
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The finest 2002 model ever made, Angel has been Dana's best friend since she was just a yearling. She is a 14.3h, chestnut flaxen Morgan mare. Angel loves to show off her tricks, will concur any obstacle you point her towards, and is our most trusted babysitter. She is Dana's main riding horse.
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Boo was born in 2003 and is Jason's bud. Jason got Boo in 2015 after recovering from his accident and Boo works hard to make sure Jason stays confident. Boo is a 14.3h Paint gelding who loves to cuddle, give kisses, and pony rides. He is the sweetest boy of all time.
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Cortana |
DUke |
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Cortana was born in 2013 and is a Foundation Morgan with a rare gene that gives her pinto markings and earned her dual registration with the APHA. Cortana came to us as a weanling and we are so proud of the beautiful, talented horse she has become. In addition to being a phenomenal riding horse she is also a proud momma, having given birth to Eight in 2021.
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Duke is Jason's future cutting horse. Cowboys Metallic 45 is Duke's registered name and his lines make cutting trainers drool! Duke has already proven to be an amazing addition to the family; he is super sweet and wicked smart. Born around Thanksgiving 2017, Duke has a long way to go and we look forward to sharing his progress with you!
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Eight |
Izzy |
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Eight was the first foal at Flying P Ranch, born in 2021. The proud momma is our very own Cortana. He is a foundation bred Morgan and got the best of both his parents. You can learn more about Eight, and even watch his birth on his very own page.
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Izzy was born in 2010 and is a finished cutting horse having LTE's of $35K+ before coming to us in Nov of 2019. Driven Miss Jessica, Izzy, has a stellar pedigree that makes her a potential future broodmare. An own daughter of Hydrive Cat (LTE of $416,709 & Offspring earnings of $4,656,491) out of the West Coast Cutting Horse of the Year, Jessica Wood (LTE of $47L), Izzy is no slouch herself and was the 2014 Western States Derby Open CHAMPION. Izzy will teach Jason the sport of cutting.
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SprocketA long time ago, Jason made a promise to Dana: if they ever had property, they could get a Mini, and even though Dana traded her 'rights' to a mini in order to keep a future baby from Cortana, Jason still made good on his word. What a guy! Sprocket came to use from a local rescue in Gilroy. He is roughly the same age as Cortana, and is everything Dana always dreamed a mini would be, sweet, smart and hilarious!
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ThunderThunder is 17.3 hands and nearly 1 TON of pure Clydesdale perfection. Born in ~2010, Thunder is becoming an amazing partner; a go anywhere, do anything type of guy with a super friendly, generous attitude. All Thunder wants in life is to to love all the people and make them all happy. We are sure that he will capture your heart the moment you meet him, just as he has captured ours.
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Varvatos Vex
Varvatos Vex is Dana's dream horse. He is a Friesian born in 2022. Dana met Varvatos when he was just 2.5 months old and his breeder instantly knew Dana had to have him, so much so, he offered to let Dana take him and his gorgeous mother right away, so Dana could play with Varvatos, start training him, and could wean him her way when the time was right. Varvatos Vex's movement is to die for and his gaits already display what seems like unnatural height and extension. Varvatos is still a baby, and Friesian's take longer to mature physically than some of our other breeds, so he will just be Eight's buddy for now.
Our Ranch hands
No ranch would be complete without assistants. Meet the rest of De Frates family, both past and present.
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