Saddle Fitter and Owner of Icelandic Horses

As one of only a handful of saddle fitters serving the U.S. Icelandic horse community, Eileen Gunipero of North Carolina first came to know Michele Trapp as a colleague. But when Eileen fell in love with a horse she described as a “diamond in the rough,” she had the opportunity to put Michele’s talents to the test on a horse of her own.

The two were introduced by a mutual friend, Anne Elwell, who had always spoken highly of Michele. And after finally having the chance to watch Michele work, Eileen could see the mutual benefit of blending Equi-Pro’s expertise with her saddle fitting skill. They now work together regularly, with Michele making initial adjustments before Eileen fits the saddle.

“I think a lot of saddlers do fit saddles to horses that are not properly aligned, and that’s just not right,” Eileen explained. “It doesn’t make sense to adjust the saddle to fit a physical problem, because it only prolongs the issue.”

After a time, Eileen asked Michele to check in on a young mare of hers periodically to provide preventive care. “I’ve had the luxury of having this mare trained slowly and correctly; Michele just keeps her ‘tuned up.’ ” Even though this mare didn’t come to Michele with problems, Eileen had seen the dramatic progress Michele was able to make on horses with severe issues. So when Eileen was given a beautiful 10-year-old Icelandic horse with some obvious movement problems, she knew Michele could help.

“If you don’t look closely, you would think the horse has bad conformation. He really doesn’t; the horse is just the product of some really bad riding and has developed some bizarre problems,” Eileen explained. For example, the horse had crestiness in the neck that was not caused by insulin resistance, but rather by the overdevelopment of a ligament. He also showed atrophy in the croup due to a limited range of motion.

“The bottom line is, I fell in love with this guy; he really is a diamond in the rough. Michele has worked on him two or three times now, and the differences already are absolutely amazing. He’s going to look like a $30,000 horse when we’re done.”