JP Dyal is not your typical horseman; he was born and raised in the Florida Keys and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Growing up, he spent more time on the ocean than on land. He ran fishing charters and worked at a tackle shop. He began running cross country at age of 9. After high school, he ran track and cross country for Auburn University where JP earned several degrees.
JP moved to Texas in 2000, where he climbed the corporate latter and became a successful senior executive in the mortgage and finance industry. After the market collapse in 2007, he left the corporate world. JP lost everything, his wife, his house and his job. Having lost everything JP was fighting depression. This is when his life would change forever. A good friend took him out horseback riding and the therapeutic nature of the horse began to heal. He soon after adopted a wild mustang named Ego that he credits for saving his life. Ego became his reason why. Not knowing much of anything about training JP learned how to train Ego mostly by intuition and vulnerability. Training Ego taught JP much about horses, but ultimately showed him even more about himself, and the new life path he wanted to pursue. He packed his truck and his dog Gus and started a new chapter in life, that would become his passion.
As JP’s love for training horses grew, he went on to work and train for some of the top trainers in the country, learning many different styles of horse training and horsemanship. As JP’s experience and knowledge grew, his intuition told him there was much more than just training the horse. In order to build better relationships between horse and human, it is as much if not more about the person than the horse. JP teaches people it first starts with working on themselves. In no matter the capacity you are working with the horse, it starts with working on your inner landscape. It’s only then the horse can see and feel you, and it is only then person can see and feel the horse. JP took his knowledge of working with horses and coupled it with his Leadership Development background and created Heart of the Horse to open the heart between horse and human through Horsemanship with personal development.
JP recently retired from being the Ranch Manager and instructor for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department Wild Horse Program at R3C (Rio Consumes Correctional Center). Under his instruction he taught personal development through Horsemanship with horses to a crew of offenders changing the lives of many men, most of whom had never ridden or touched a horse before. JP is still devoted to his group of offenders and you can often find graduates from the program out riding with him.
JP teamed up with Lisa Calder and the two of them now develop horses and teach Heart of the Horse through workshops both in person and virtual out of their beautiful location in Rancho Murieta, CA. JP and Lisa also travel the country to share the Heart of the Horse Program through clinics and workshops to “open the heart between the horse and human through Horsemanship with personal development
