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Calgary handler is helping build better four-legged athletes

by Colleen Biondi

It’s hardly a stretch to envision Calgary’s Kathy Butkovic working with horses. After all, the 29-year-old and her family (mother, father and older sister, Laurie) raised them at their childhood home just west of Edmonton, and she spent her adolescence riding them, showing them and competing in rodeo and barrel racing. Horses were nothing less than the centre of her universe during those developmental years.

But that centre shifted as Butkovic grew into adulthood. After graduating from Olds College with a diploma in agricultural business in 2001, she thought rural real estate might be her calling, and worked for a law firm that did land deals. After that, she worked as a booking coordinator for the No Ka Oi Ranch Foundation Ltd. (now Our Lady Queen of Peace Ranch Foundation) near Bragg Creek, which offers outdoor experiences for underprivileged children.

But before long, Butkovic realized there was something missing from her professional life: a horse. So began a fast-track plan. She attended the two-year B.C. College of Equine Therapy Program in Vernon, graduated in 2006 and started her own business in a niche market. That business, EquiSportsTherapy, offers holistic sports therapy for high-end competition horses.

“I use a blend of modalities,” explains Butkovic, whose mobile and seasonal service (it runs from mid-April to the end of October; since she spends the winters in Scottsdale, Arizona, Butkovic lays claim to being the world’s youngest snowbird) accommodates the needs of up to 50 clients across Western Canada. Trained in soft tissue release, chiropractic, acupressure, muscle balancing and applied kinesiology, she uses these non-invasive techniques to “build a better [four-legged] athlete.”

Butkovic learned early on the benefit of naturopathic approaches to health and wellness. The family horses benefited from acupuncture treatments, while Butkovic herself sought help from a naturopathic chiropractor to cure her own childhood allergies. Butkovic’s work is similar to that of a sports therapist who works with human athletes at the elite level. She works in conjunction with owners and trainers, with farriers and veterinarians to ensure best performances from the horses and give them the edge that they need to succeed, be it rodeo, chuckwagon racing, polo, racing or show jumping. “I am another part of the team,” she says.

There is a considerable investment involved in buying and maintaining a horse for competition, and as such an owner naturally wants to ensure that the animal is performing at its best and getting its share of the purse. “Horses are a big business,” Butkovic says, and she considers her services, which she prefers to provide on a regular schedule rather than when a problem arises, as an important part of it. Her contributions are enjoying some early success, too. In 2009, client horses won just under $500,000 in competitions.

Adel Hansen, the 2009 Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) Rookie of the Year, credits Butkovic with helping make her first Canadian finals. “She always ensures my horses are happy and healthy,” says Hansen. “This is a huge part of the team chemistry required to achieve greatness and success in the rodeo arena.”

But while she believes that her work is an integral part of a successful horse’s program, it is still regarded as unconventional by traditionalists in the business. “What I do is not normal,” she explains of her one-woman show. Despite teaching the Alternative Therapies module for the Olds College Race Track Groom Program and being recognized for two years as a licensed para-vet by Horse Racing Alberta, she still has to overcome an image as something of an outsider.

To that end, she concentrates on being as professional as possible in interactions with her four-legged clients and their two-legged owners. This professionalism begins with the assessment conducted on each horse. “Sometimes it may have taken a bad step or had a bad trailer ride,” she explains. Butkovic will watch the horse move, watch its feet, and using certain palpation points she will do a manual assessment of the body. “I look for restrictions or imbalances.”

Her consultation with the horse’s owner is equally important. She might point out that the horse is not moving evenly or that the left side is coming up higher than the right. “I talk to them like a pro,” says Butkovic. “I am knowledgeable and this gives me credibility.”

David Collins, the principal and founder of the B.C. College of Equine Therapy, shares that assessment. “She is an amazing girl,” he says. “She has excellent horse skills as well as an infectious sense of humour.” This combination of technical expertise and personal charm makes her an appealing practitioner to work with, one who can do the job and have fun at the same time. That sense of balance is particularly important these days, Collins explains, because clients tend to be so stressed and overwhelmed.

Butkovic stops short of calling herself a horse whisperer. But modesty aside, people in the business like Hansen notice something unique in her energy. Horses are happy to see her and enjoy her touch and the feeling of relief that it can bring. And when they’re balanced physically they are, like humans, more in balance emotionally, Butkovic says. “A happy athlete performs better than one who feels sore or miserable.”

Butkovic has big plans for the future, ones that include working internationally with thoroughbred race horses in Dubai. She is also partnering with an equine veterinarian to develop a consulting business offering pre-selection and purchase examinations for race horse owners who buy young stock.

Still, Butkovic’s road to success hasn’t been an entirely smooth or straightforward one. During the season, it is a 24-7 operation, and because EquiSportsTherapy is her own company, there are no benefit packages, paid vacations or sick days. Her personal life has suffered, and the travel – she has 300,000 kilometres on her Grand Cherokee – has proven to be tiring. But the resilient and resourceful Butkovic has learned to cope with the challenges of her new career: she has a “two suitcase” policy – with a second suitcase already packed and ready to go when she returns from a trip with the first one – and she takes her Portuguese Water Dog, Lucy, with her on every excursion for companionship and moral support.

Butkovic encourages other young entrepreneurs to follow their passions in whatever they do. “You spend so much time at work,” she reasons, “that you’d better love doing it.” She also believes in the positive influence that a mentor can offer, one who will listen to you, guide you and help you find your own unique way.

She also stresses the importance of personal development, be it the improvement of one’s work habits, knowledge base, or social skills. Butkovic is a voracious reader, and counts Quiet Strength by former Colts coach Tony Dungy (Butkovic is a huge Indianapolis Colts fan) and The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz as two favourites. Her most recent read is Kelly Cutrone’s If You Have To Cry Go Outside and Other Things Your Mother Didn’t Tell You, a book that she recommends to all women working in the world of business.

Butkovic promotes herself using the latest technological tools, be it her Facebook page or regular email updates, but she’s discovered that her best marketing tool is an old fashioned one: word of mouth. The secret, she says, is to appreciate the value of customer service and look for growth opportunities in both personal and business exchanges.

“Everyone I meet teaches me something,” says Butkovic. “I may not be living a big life, but I am living a good life.”

July 2010 Contents