Amy Abramvich
Equine Professional | Riding Instructor
Equine Professional | Riding Instructor
Amy Abramovich serves as a Riding Instructor and Equine Professional at Bit of Hope Ranch, supporting sessions alongside therapists and helping create a safe and encouraging environment for both clients and horses.
Amy brings more than 20 years of riding experience, having started lessons at just five years old. Her background spans multiple disciplines including western riding, natural horsemanship (Parelli), hunter riding, and dressage. As a youth competitor, she successfully showed All American Quarter Horses across the United States before transitioning to training and showing dressage horses, where she earned her Bronze Medal.
In 2020, Amy was recruited to Saint Andrews University on scholarship where she rode on the Intercollegiate Dressage Association team while earning her Bachelor’s degree in Communication, graduating in 2022. During her college years, she also volunteered with therapeutic riding programs including Misty Meadows and Ride Like a Knight.
In her sessions, Amy prioritizes the safety and well-being of both horse and rider. She carefully observes body language from both clients and horses, allowing her to adapt the session when needed to ensure a supportive experience. She loves witnessing the “light bulb moments” when riders and horses begin to truly connect and everything starts to click.
Amy believes horses offer clients a powerful sense of relaxation, support, and healing, and she enjoys sharing her love of horses and the positive impact they can have on people of all ages. One thing she always reminds clients: never hesitate to ask for help.
Elana Vanderbilt
Equine Professional | Assistant Riding Instructor
Equine Professional | Assistant Riding Instructor
Elana Vanderbilt serves as an Equine Professional at Bit of Hope Ranch, supporting mental health therapy sessions by helping ensure the safety and well-being of the horses while assisting therapists in incorporating equine interactions into the therapeutic process. She also supports the ranch as an Assistant Riding Instructor for group riding lessons.
As an Equine Professional, Elana’s role is to support the horse within each session while collaborating closely with the therapist and client. She helps facilitate activities such as grooming, connection exercises, and observing horse body language while ensuring that both the horse and everyone involved remain safe and supported throughout the experience.
Elana has spent many years involved at Bit of Hope Ranch through a variety of programs including summer camps, birthday parties, animal care, and other ranch activities. Her training includes HALT (Herdsmanship and Leadership Training) through Herdsmanship University at Bit of Hope Ranch, where she learned specialized techniques for integrating horses and donkeys into mental health therapy sessions.
During sessions, Elana focuses on maintaining safety while allowing clients the freedom to explore and interact naturally with the horse. By carefully observing both horse and client, she helps create an environment where meaningful moments of connection and personal growth can occur.
Elana especially enjoys working with children and supporting them as they navigate difficult experiences and personal growth. She feels grateful to be part of the Bit of Hope Ranch team and to witness the healing that happens through the connection between people and horses.
Gianna Polito
Equine Professional | Operations Assistant | CTRI in Training
Operations Assistant| Equine Professional |PATH Certified Instructor in Training
Gianna Polito serves as an Equine Professional at Bit of Hope Ranch, where she supports adaptive riding lessons and helps create a safe and encouraging environment for both riders and horses. She is currently a PATH Certified Instructor in Training and enjoys helping riders build confidence while developing their horsemanship skills.
Gianna has been riding horses since she was seven years old with a background in English riding and hunter-jumper. She also spent more than ten years volunteering with a therapeutic riding program, where she developed a deep appreciation for how horses can support people in both physical and emotional growth.
Before joining Bit of Hope Ranch, Gianna worked as a third-grade teacher and holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and Special Education from Appalachian State University, along with a K–12 Mathematics certification from UNC Charlotte. Her background in education helps her create engaging and supportive learning experiences for riders of all abilities.
At the ranch, Gianna enjoys being involved in many aspects of daily life—from helping with horse care and supporting adaptive riding lessons to assisting with the day-of operations for field trips, hosting birthday parties, and helping plan special events. She also manages the ranch’s social media, capturing photos and videos that share the everyday moments that make the ranch such a special place. Gianna especially enjoys creating engaging lesson activities for riders and representing the ranch at community outreach events, where she loves connecting with other organizations and sharing the mission of Bit of Hope Ranch.
Kristina Murphy
Equine Professional | Riding Instructor
Equine Professional | Riding Instructor
Kristina Murphy serves as an Equine Professional and Riding Instructor at Bit of Hope Ranch, supporting both riding programs and mental health sessions. In counseling sessions, she helps ensure the safety and well-being of both the horses and participants while providing insight into horse behavior, care, and physiology. She also collaborates with therapists to brainstorm activities and thoughtfully match horses with clients based on their needs and goals.
Kristina grew up riding competitively on the hunter/jumper circuit and has extensive experience teaching beginner lessons and working with riders in summer camp programs. Throughout her career, she has also been involved with several equine-assisted mental health and hippotherapy programs in a variety of roles.
In addition to her instructional experience, Kristina has worked as a barn manager and veterinary technician and currently manages her own farm with a diverse range of livestock. Her broad background in horse care and animal management brings valuable knowledge and perspective to her work with the ranch’s horses and clients.
During sessions, Kristina closely observes the body language and behavior of both horses and people, helping make subtle adjustments when needed to maintain a safe and supportive environment. She also works to ensure that each activity and horse-client pairing sets everyone up for a successful and meaningful experience.
Kristina has seen how horses provide powerful, nonverbal feedback that can help clients gain deeper insight into their own thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. By responding honestly to human energy and actions, horses often help clients recognize patterns and perspectives they may not have otherwise noticed.
Emily Phillips
Equine Professional | Riding Instructor | Volunteer Coordinator | Assistant Barn Manager
Equine Professional | Riding Instructor | Volunteer Coordinator | Assistant Barn Manager
Emily Phillips serves as an Equine Professional at Bit of Hope Ranch while also supporting the ranch as a Volunteer Coordinator, Instructor, and Barn Assistant Manager. In mental health sessions, Emily collaborates with counselors to create a safe and supportive environment where clients can experience healing and growth through interactions with the horses.
Emily brings a strong background in education, having previously worked as a secondary math teacher, swim instructor, and swim lesson coordinator. Her experience in teaching helps her understand different learning styles and allows her to support counselors as they connect horse-based activities to each client’s therapeutic goals.
Before joining Bit of Hope Ranch, Emily volunteered and worked at an equine therapy center in Cheyenne, Wyoming from 2014–2022, where she gained experience in hippotherapy, private lessons, and horse care. She is now HALT Certified as both an instructor and Equine Professional and continues expanding her knowledge through hands-on experience and collaboration with the ranch’s equine team.
During sessions, Emily closely observes the horse’s behavior and interactions with clients, providing feedback that helps counselors better understand the dynamics unfolding between horse and human. She also enjoys educating riders, clients, and volunteers so they can feel more confident and safe around horses.
Emily especially enjoys watching the unique ways horses respond to clients during therapy sessions. Whether a normally energetic horse becomes calm or a shy client finds courage through connection, she believes these moments highlight the powerful and authentic relationships that can form between horses and people.
Emily approaches sessions with creativity, curiosity, and a sense of fun. She loves helping clients see that horses can be playful partners and believes laughter, connection, and learning are all part of the healing process.
Katy Bretz
Equine Professional | PATH Certified Equine Specialist in Mental Health & Learning
Equine Professional | PATH Certified Equine Specialist in Mental Health & Learning
Katy Bretz serves as an Equine Professional at Bit of Hope Ranch, supporting mental health sessions by ensuring the horse is prepared, regulated, and ready to safely engage in the therapeutic process. As part of the ranch’s collaborative model—equine, therapist, client, and equine professional—Katy brings her horse expertise to help facilitate meaningful interactions between clients and horses.
Katy’s journey with horses began at an early age through riding lessons and eventually owning her own horse. Those experiences helped shape her understanding of courage, friendship, respect, and the deep connection that can exist between humans and horses. After retiring from a career teaching art in 2018, she found a natural way to blend her educational background with her lifelong love of horses by volunteering at Bit of Hope Ranch.
Following extensive training and experience, Katy pursued specialized credentials through PATH International, becoming an Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning. This certification required significant horsemanship experience, teaching hours, and participation in an intensive workshop led by PATH experts in the field.
During sessions, Katy focuses on the interactions between horse and client, paying close attention to safety, body language, and subtle shifts in energy. Horses are highly sensitive to human emotion, and Katy often observes how a horse’s willingness—or hesitation—to engage with a client can open powerful conversations about energy, boundaries, and relationships.
Katy’s background as an educator and artist gives her a thoughtful, open-minded perspective when working with people. She values creativity, patience, and the understanding that every person—and every horse—brings a unique way of experiencing the world.
Toni Keating
Equine Professional | PATH Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor | Adaptive Riding Instructor
Equine Professional | PATH Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor | Adaptive Riding Instructor
Toni Keating serves as an Adaptive Riding Instructor at Bit of Hope Ranch and also supports daily horse care as part of the feeding team. With decades of experience in the equine industry and therapeutic recreation, she brings a deep understanding of how horses can support both physical and emotional growth in riders.
Toni holds a Bachelor of Science in Health, Leisure, and Sport Studies with an emphasis in Therapeutic Recreation and has maintained her PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) certification for 27 years. Her riding career spans more than 38 years and includes training and selling horses, fox hunting, showing hunters, and competing with young eventing horses.
In sessions, Toni prioritizes teamwork and safety, recognizing that adaptive riding is a collaborative effort between the horse, rider, horse leader, and side walkers. She is passionate about creating a positive and nurturing environment where riders and volunteers feel supported and excited to return week after week.
Toni has seen firsthand how working with horses helps individuals build independence, develop confidence, and learn to communicate without words. She believes the horse–human connection allows clients to care for something bigger than themselves while discovering their own strength and voice.
When she’s not at the ranch, Toni will tell you there’s only one thing she loves almost as much as horses: chocolate.
Mackenzie Murr
Equine Professional | Life Coach
Equine Professional | Life Coach
MacKenzie Murr serves as an Equine Professional and Life Coach at Bit of Hope Ranch, supporting mental health sessions by collaborating with counselors to plan meaningful activities and thoughtfully select the horses that will best support each client’s goals.
MacKenzie holds a Master of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, which gives her a unique perspective within sessions. Her background in counseling allows her to understand both the therapeutic process and the powerful role horses can play in helping clients explore emotions, build confidence, and experience personal growth.
With more than 15 years of experience working with horses, MacKenzie has been involved in many areas of the equine world, including leading trail rides, competing in eventing and dressage with her own horses, and working at therapeutic riding facilities. She completed an internship at the Helen Woodward Therapeutic Riding Center in California before continuing her work in equine-assisted programs and eventually joining Bit of Hope Ranch.
MacKenzie has been part of the Bit of Hope Ranch community for nine years, first serving as a counseling intern and later working as both a counselor and equine professional. Her familiarity with the ranch’s herd allows her to carefully match horses with clients and observe subtle shifts in horse body language to help ensure sessions remain safe, supportive, and meaningful.
MacKenzie believes horses have a remarkable way of bringing exactly what a client needs into a session—whether that is calm reassurance, playful energy, or even a bit of challenge. Their honest responses often create powerful opportunities for reflection and growth.
Because of her combined experience in both counseling and horsemanship, MacKenzie brings a unique perspective into each session, helping counselors and clients fully utilize the powerful connection between horses and humans.