Our Staff & Board of Directors
Meet Our PeopleStaff Bios
Cyndi Meyer
Executive Director
Cyndi has lived in Montana for over 50 years. After 25 years of teaching in the special education and general education classrooms, she decided it was time to retire and start a new career. Being the director of Trotting Horse Therapeutic Riding combines her experience as a teacher with her lifelong enjoyment of horses. She is excited to share the gifts that horses offer with children and adults of all abilities. If you can’t find her at the barn… follow the rottweilers.
Our Board of Directors
Amanda Darrow
Board Member
Amanda Darrow has been with us from the beginning. She was somehow convinced to help us navigate the financial and legal aspects of running this non profit, and we could not do it without her! When she’s not keeping our organization in line, she enjoys spending time working with her horse Gypsy and teaching her daughter the ropes.
Nita Kattell
Board Member
Nita Kattell has also been part of Trotting Horse since the very start. She is a retired fifth-grade teacher and a proud new grandmother. She wears many hats at the stables, and on any given day can be found teaching, cleaning, fixing, riding… You name it. If she has free time, she can usually be found with her horses Morris and Amigo.
Kelly Valerius
Administrator
Kelly is a born and bred Minnesotan, who moved to Montana in 2020 after earning her MBA. She started volunteering with THTR almost immediately, and has quickly become a fixture at the stables! When she’s not at her full time job with Camp Mak-A-Dream, Kelly can often be found riding her horse Martha or backpacking in the mountains. She lives with her husband and two rascally labradors.