I have had animals my entire life — and it has always been horses first. Over the years that shifted to dogs. Today I am blessed with both — horses and Australian Shepherds — right here on our ranch in Coon Rapids, Iowa.
My journey with Australian Shepherds began while managing a horse barn where my boss kept four to six Aussies at any given time. I watched them every single day — their loyalty, their devotion, the way they attached themselves completely to the people they loved. They are velcro dogs in the truest sense. I fell in love with the breed and never looked back.
Through years of working in grain, agronomy, and the feed industry — talking with feed salesmen, running feed mill sites, learning the business from the inside — I began to see the truth that most people never see. What we are told about nutrition and what is actually in our products are two very different things. I could not unsee it once I saw it. And I could not keep feeding my animals the way I had been.
I traveled to Mexico seeking answers for my own health concerns and discovered a world of healing I had never been exposed to — frequencies, detoxing, bringing the body into homeostasis, and the profound connection between what we put into our bodies and how we feel. What I learned about human healing, I began applying to our animals. Because what is pumped into them is often worse than what goes into us.
I have been through real trauma in my life. The kind that breaks people. And in my darkest days, it was my dogs who pulled me through. They did not judge. They did not leave. They just stayed — present, loving, steady. These animals are part of my healing. And through TAGA Ranch I have been able to share that healing with hundreds of families across this country who needed it too.
I was adopted into the Native American Indigenous Church — an honor that deepened my understanding of earth medicine, sacred stewardship, and the ancient wisdom that connects us to the living world around us. That wisdom now lives in everything I do at TAGA Ranch. And as a Licensed Commissioned Holistic Therapist, I have the formal credentials to practice and share what I know with the people and animals I serve.
I left a career to be here. On this ranch. With our horses and our dogs. With my family beside me. Doing the work I was called to do. Health testing, purebred Aussies, holistic care — this is all we do. And we do it with everything we have.
