Melissa is from Port St Lucie, Florida and comes with 20 years of horse experience. Like all of you, she is happiest in the barn and with horses. She is brave, tough, resourceful, tenacious, kind, and laughs constantly. Truly a horseman, she has impressed all she has met with her skills and ability to work with any horse.
She had a brief career as a sheriff in St Lucie County. While she hated writing speeding tickets, she had no problem taking on the the bad guys cuffing them and throwing them in jail. I'd bet her horsemanship experience was at the root of her ability not to be intimidated.
Melissa is an avid Three Day Event rider.
Melissa has proved to those owners whose horses she has worked on that the size of the person DOES NOT MATTER. Until I met Melissa, I truly believed that an equine dentist needed to be big and strong. However, in her training as a police officer, she was required to learn that technique and attitude is all you have when working with big drug crazed bad guys. She has proven to me on every occasion that her technique makes her one of the most competent equine dentist ever to join this profession.
From a physics stand point you can easily understand this: whether you are 130 pounds or 230 pounds, the horse still weighs a half ton more. A horse can pick up and shake any world wrestler if it wants to. Strength does not work but technique and skill does.
Melissa combines her horsemanship skills, her law enforcement training, her uncanny ability and brilliance to learn things, and her joy of horses to continually astound everyone who sees her work. Every horse that she works on outwardly shows gratefulness. Owners have actually cried with joy and relief as their horse lowers their head and Melissa cradles it when done.
Please offer her a warm welcome when you meet her.