Joanna Lowes is a Certified Monty Roberts Instructor and professional horse trainer whose career has been shaped by one simple belief: when we learn to speak the horse’s language, communication becomes possible where force and frustration fail.

Jo spent five years working alongside Monty Roberts as his Personal Assistant and Tour Rider, assisting with and riding several hundred horses around the world. It was an extraordinary education, taking her from demonstrations and clinics to working with horses across an enormous range of countries, cultures, breeds and disciplines.

Her experiences have included training mustangs in the United States, starting Thoroughbreds for Her Majesty, and being the first rider on young horses at the prestigious Spanish Riding School in Vienna, as well as Equitana in Germany. Her work has taken her from Brazil to South Africa and Norway to Australia, giving her the opportunity to develop an approach to horses that isn’t confined by breed, geography or discipline.

Her work has also extended well beyond the traditional training arena. Jo qualified as a Horse Sense and Healing Coach, supporting military veterans affected by post-traumatic stress, and as a Lead-Up Instructor, using Monty’s principles and Join-Up in projects around the world to help disadvantaged young people build confidence, communication and life skills through horses.

Today, from her base in West Wales, Jo works with horses and their people to create genuine understanding. Whether she is starting a young horse, rebuilding confidence, solving a behavioural problem or demonstrating what is possible at liberty, her focus remains the same: understand the horse first, then find a way to communicate that makes sense to them.

Her approach has been shaped by decades of experience, but she remains relentlessly curious. Every horse has something to teach us, and no two horses require quite the same conversation.

From the round pen to the ridden horse, Jo is passionate about helping people move beyond simply operating a horse and instead learn to communicate with one.

At the Horsemanship Showcase, Jo will bring that wealth of international experience, her Monty Roberts heritage and her own practical approach to the stage — exploring what becomes possible when we stop asking the horse to learn our language, and learn theirs instead.