So, when Willy’s health started to break down with hoof, skin, and immune problems, my Mom and I did what everyone else did. We continued to feed commercial grains, we used shoes, wedges, and pads; a lot of sprays and creams, and anything else we were told to do including vaccines. But we soon learned that not only was this approach not working but it was actually making him worse. It was at this point that we knew there must be a better way. We changed his diet, started using herbs and supplements, we took off his shoes and turned him into a natural horse. It wasn’t long after this that we started to see positive changes in his health and well-being.

Willy passed at the age of 23 and I still think about him all the time. I deeply regret not listening sooner when his body started to communicate to us. But like many horse owners even today, we just didn’t know any better at the time.

Fast forward twenty-five years and here I am helping hundreds of horses with the same conditions.

Fortunately, I grew up in a household that embraced both alternative and conventional health care. My mom was a holistic nutritionist and homeopath that owned her own practice, and my dad was a pharmacist and drugstore owner. I spent many years working for both businesses, so I became very well versed in both approaches to health care very early on in my life. After spending several years working in the natural health industry, I had become fascinated with the chemistry of life. I knew how much value natural medicine had to offer both humans and animals, but I wanted to know how to bridge it with science. This led me to the University of Alberta where I pursued my Bachelor of Science degree in organic chemistry. Before my graduation, I secured a position as a professional chemist in the research & development department of a large biotech company, where I would spend the next 5 years. It is during this period that I truly started to make the connection between science and natural medicine. By acquiring a better understanding of molecules and their behavior in a lab setting I started to realize that the same scientific principles that I relied on in the lab were the same ones that explained the effectiveness of natural medicine.

In 2011, I returned to my roots and I joined my mom, Marijke van de Water, at Riva’s Remedies as an educator and natural horse health consultant. I started to reconnect with the world of horses again, and I began using my combined knowledge of science and natural medicine to help them in a much bigger way. During my time at Riva’s Remedies I learned everything I could from my Mom’s twenty-five years of experience as an equine health practitioner. And the more practice I got, the more the horses taught me, and the more confident I became with my own approach. It was from this place that I started to get incredible results and I began to see first-hand how big of an impact I was having on the horses. It is truly amazing how well horses respond to the simplest natural remedies. Their resilience and innate power to heal continues to amaze me every day.

Since I joined Riva’s Remedies, I have had the pleasure and privilege of helping hundreds of horse and pet owners use nutrition, herbs, and homeopathic remedies to help their animals overcome a wide variety of health challenges. It is the most rewarding job I could have asked for and I haven’t looked back.

• Twenty years of experience applying the holistic model of health care for people and animals using autonomic response testing
• Eight years experience as a natural equine health consultant
• International educator and course facilitator for horse and dog holistic health practices.
• Previous experience as a chemistry lab instructor (University of Alberta)
• Bachelor of Science degree with a specialization in organic chemistry, University of Alberta
• Master of Business Administration, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Alberta