Our Staff

Trish Gross
Executive Director
Trish grew up in a small town in Michigan with a dream of riding horses but as with many things, life intervened. After earning a BS in Engineering from Michigan State University and an MBA from the University of Chicago, Trish founded a company where under her leadership as President and CEO,the company grew aggressively over 12 years culminating in a successful exit in 2012. Since 2012, she has been paying it forward and is currently on the board of the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship at Chapman University, is an Entrepreneur in Residence at University of California Irvine and Chapman and a board member for a number of high potential start-ups.
While re-locating to Atlanta in 2015, Trish and her family discovered Chastain Park and fell in love with the area. She is passionate about the benefits of horsemanship for riders of all abilities and is equally passionate about helping companies reach their highest potential. It is her vision for CHP to become the model recognized throughout the US for bringing together riders of all abilities into a single community benefiting from the healing power of horses.

Lisa Anderson
Head Trainer and Program Director
Lisa Anderson has been training and showing horses and teaching riders since 1980. After graduating from Columbia University Lisa began her professional career as a hunter and jumper trainer at Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL where she was based until 1992. After catch riding a colleague’s event horses, Lisa began a second career as an event rider which led to her competing at the advanced level, riding for two years with Olympic coach Jack LeGoff at USET headquarters in S Hamilton, MA and being named 6th leading event rider in the United States in 1989. She remained active on the eventing circuit until 1996, winning divisions of Rolex*, Essex*, N GA* and placing at Radnor**, Rolex**, Atlanta** and Fair Hill***, competing over 30 different horses at the preliminary level and above and coaching hundreds of students in clinics across the country.
Lisa returned to the hunter and jumper disciplines in 1997 where she trained out of Grove Place Farm until 2011. During this time she returned to her roots training juniors and amateurs at A shows, finding her eventing experience and flatwork skills beneficial in improving the basics of her clients’ hunters and jumpers. During this time she trained multiple clients, in many cases seeing them from the short stirrup through upper level jumper divisions and national competitions.
From 2011 to 2016 Lisa coached the University of Georgia NCAA Equestrian Team, as the over fences specialist where she recruited and coached some of the most accomplished young equitation riders in the United States, including Medal and Maclay Finals winners. During this time UGA won the SEC Championship and became the NCEA National Champions.
Lisa is currently Head Trainer and Program Director at Chastain Horse Park in Atlanta, GA and teaches the American Forward Riding System. She holds USEF R licenses in Hunters, Equitation, Jumpers and Eventing and is an active judge across the United States.

Kelcy Rainer
Therapeutic Program Director & Advanced Therapuetic Riding Instructor with CTRI Certification
Originally from New Orleans, Kelcy grew up competitively showing nationally and internationally in the saddle seat discipline. She earned a spot on the United States World Cup Saddle Seat Equitation Team in 2002, served on three other Invitational World Cup Teams and competed in South Africa where she captured three gold medals and one silver medal.
It was in college, at the University of Georgia where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Art History, that Kelcy was first involved as a volunteer at a PATH Intl. Equine Assisted Activities and Therapies program Kelcy has been a PATH Intl. Certified Instructor since 2008 and earned her Advanced Certification in 2016. She served as the Volunteer and Development Coordinator at Jackson Hole Therapeutic Riding Association for several years before she moved to Atlanta in 2011. Kelcy joined the CHP team as an instructor in 2012 and became Therapeutic Program Director in 2014.
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Lorin Middelthon
Director of Development
Lorin grew up in Pennsylvania, outside of Valley Forge National Park, and began riding horses at age 10. When her family moved to Singapore in 1982, she continued her riding pursuits there until the age of 16 when other interests took over, but her love of horses never waned.
After graduating from Florida State University with a degree in Actuarial Science, her career turned toward finance, and she worked in Wealth Management over the next 23 years, earning her CFP® and CPWA® designations.
Her daughter began taking riding lessons at Chastain Horse Park in 2009 and the love affair with the amazing community of Chastain Horse Park began.

Emma Fiala
Volunteer Services Coordinator
Emma grew up in St. Louis, Missouri riding horses from the age of six through her high school years. She graduated early from high school and moved to Wellington, Florida where she worked as a working student and competed at a high level. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Marketing. During her time at University of Georgia, she competed on the NCAA Equestrian Team for the hunt seat discipline. UGA Equestrian won the NCEA National Championship Title during her time on the team. Immediately following graduation, Emma worked as a wrangler at a dude ranch in Estes Park, Colorado for the summer and fall season.
Emma will be joining the team as Volunteer Services Coordinator in January 2023. She plans to work towards her PATH Intl. Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor credentialing. Emma is passionate about what CHP does and is excited to help serve the community.

Megan Flanagan O'Brien
Therapuetic Program Coordinator
Meghan was born in San Mateo, California before moving to Atlanta, Georgia in 2008. At the age of four, she took her first riding lesson and was hooked. When her family made the move to Atlanta, they were introduced to Chastain Horse Park where she continued her Hunter Jumper riding career. During her junior year of high school, Meghan homeschooled and moved to Ocala, Florida to train and compete at a high level. Meghan took home rankings at USET Finals, Medal Finals, Washington
Finals and Maclay Finals.
In 2014, Meghan was recruited by the University of Georgia’s NCAA Equestrian Team. She was a member of the team for her four years competing as an Over Fences rider. During her time on the team, UGA Equestrian won four SEC Championship Titles. Graduating with a degree in Financial Planning, she remained at UGA to pursue her Master’s Degree in Financial Planning. During her Master’s Program, Meghan was the Graduate Assistant for the UGA Equestrian Team,
helping with competition coordination, team practices and athlete compliance. Throughout her time in school, Meghan continued to compete with her own horses in the Hunter Jumper circuit and to this day, continues to compete.
Following her graduation from Graduate School, Meghan worked for Goldman Sachs as a Financial Planner. During her time there, she focused on Tax Planning and Asset Allocation. After spending time away from the horse world, she realized that she wanted her passion of horses to become her
career. That is when she found a spot at Chastain Horse Park as Program Coordinator. She is currently working towards her PATH Intl. Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor credentialing so she can expand her knowledge and impact on CHP’s Therapeutic Program.

Lori Barefoot
Barn Manager
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Lori is one of six children from a very close knit family. She has been involved with horses since she was bitten by the bug at the age of 12. Riding mostly for pleasure, she did local showing as a child riding mainly hunters and jumpers but also showed in open shows in western and saddle seat. As a matter of fact, she actually showed at Chastain Park in the 1970’s! Since then, she has been an avid trail rider.
After graduating from St. Pius X High School in 1979, Lori went right to work as a Veterinary Technician for a small animal veterinarian and continued riding. After marrying, convinced her husband to join her in riding as well. She worked for 12 years as a Veterinary Technician with Equine Veterinarian Dr. Hugh Worsham who was a great teacher and mentor.

Alberto Galindo
Facilities Manager
Alberto, born in the city of Bogota, Colombia, met his passion for horses at a young age, dedicating all of his free time to training at different equestrian centers including the Bacata Club and the Equestrian Club of the National Police. Scoring impressive results in national competitions won him placing in the Equestrian Federation of Colombia.
With the goal of improving his horsemanship skills, Alberto enrolled in the Equestrian Center of the National Police where he earned a degree as an Equestrian Instructor.
In his professional career Alberto became a Certified Public Account at the University of Manizales, all the while continuing to pursue his passion for horses as a hobby.
Upon moving to the USA with his family, Alberto was able to newly embrace his passion for horses and now in a professional capacity as the Facilities Manager at Chastain Horse Park.

Margie Good
Administrative Coordinator
Having worked in the travel industry for most of her life and owning an agency in Georgia for 9 years certainly prepared Margie for her role as the administrative coordinator for both the school program and Horse Lovers Camp, among other duties. A pride in good customer service and a love of horses and children has also made the role of Pony Party coordinator one of her favorite jobs at CHP. Her love affair with Chastain Horse Park began in 2004 when she followed in her daughter’s footsteps and started volunteering with the Therapeutic Program. Since then she has also been lucky enough to ride in both the Therapeutic and School programs, own and board a horse at the barn, and assume many other roles when needed. In her spare time Margie enjoys collecting college degrees and is currently studying Modern Hebrew.

Christian Wilson
Business Manager
A native New Yorker from the New York City area, Christian got her Bachelor of Arts degree
from the State University of New York at Buffalo. After years of dealing with cold weather and
snow, she moved to sunny, Atlanta, Georgia. Christian has 12+ years of Accounting experience
in the public and non-profit sector and enjoys working at Chastain Horse Park because of its
mission and its commitment to serving others.

Lindsey Delgado-Harris
Volunteer Services Assistant
Lindsey grew up riding in Florida in the saddle seat discipline. She is graduating this May 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Georgia State University and heading to UGA Gwinnett in the Fall to pursue a Master of Social Work. She plans to seek licensure as a counselor, gain her PATH Intl. Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor and Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning credentials. Lindsey hopes to grow with Chastain Horse Park as they pilot the Equine Assisted Mental Health program. Outside of CHP, Lindsey and her wife have their hands full with two young daughters.
Therapeutic Riding and Horsemanship Instructors

Dustin Caldwell
PATH Intl. Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor
A native of Atlanta, Dustin got his start with horses at the age of six when he attended YMCA horse camp. From there, Dustin immersed himself in all things equine. He spent countless hours in the saddle as a youth showing at saddle clubs where he rode hunt seat, western pleasure, barrel racing, and pole bending. In high school, Dustin rode in the High School Rodeo Association as a bull rider winning a number of championships.
At age 15 Dustin found his niche when a racehorse trainer noticed his talents and offered a job exercising racehorses on his farm. Dustin fell in love with racing and devoted himself to pursuing a career as a thoroughbred jockey. Dustin’s dream became reality in 1990 in Fort Worth, Texas at Trinity Meadows Raceway, when on his first official ride, he brought his horse from off the pace to win by a head at the wire; the horse’s name: Incredible Story. Dustin won four out of his next eight starts and was quickly recruited to ride at prestigious Gulfstream Park in Miami, FL.
Dustin enjoyed a 13-year career as a journeyman thoroughbred jockey. Based out of Belmont Park, in New York, Dustin was a regular on the racing circuit traveling between New York, Gulfstream Park in Miami, Arlington International Racecourse in Chicago, as well as riding races in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
In 2003, Dustin’s jockey career unexpectedly ended due to an injury. He returned home to Atlanta where he attended Georgia State University and started a business investing in real estate. For the next few years Dustin’s hobby was “pin hooking” racehorses, which involves purchasing thoroughbred yearlings, breaking and training them to ride, then reselling at, “In Training” sales. Many of the thoroughbreds Dustin trained went on to have successful racing careers. During this time Dustin also specialized in recognizing and purchasing elite barrel racing prospect horses, improving their performance through his training, then reselling them to WPRA Pro Rodeo women in the western US. Dustin’s horses made appearances at the National Finals Rodeo and one horse was sold and exported to Brazil where it won a national championship. Dustin earned a national reputation as an expert source for producing elite barrel racing stock.
However, by 2007 Dustin had become disenchanted with the business of racing. Feeling there was lack of purpose, he decided to leave it behind and liquidated all his stock. For 12 years Dustin had no contact with horses while his family grew, and he built a real estate development business. It was not until his wife encouraged him to volunteer at Chastain Horse Park that horses once again came into his life. Through volunteering, Dustin recognized the incredible healing power of horses for people with disabilities. Having found the purpose he had been missing, Dustin sought his PATH International CTRI certification and recently became the second person to ever successfully complete PATH International’s rigorous new CTRI certification process. Dustin is a horseman extraordinaire and passionate about his second professional equine career here at Chastain Horse Park.
Dustin attended Dunwoody High School and Georgia State University. He lives in East Cobb with his wife, Stacy, and their three daughters. When he is not instructing riding lessons, Dustin enjoys real estate investing, boating, and competing in fitness competitions.

Sarah Lloyd
PATH Intl. Advanced Therapeutic Riding Instructor with PATH Intl. CTRI certification
Originally from Wellington, Florida. Sarah has been around equine assisted activities since she was 14 years old. She logged over 4000 volunteer hours at Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center, a PATH Intl. Premiere Accredited Center. This drove her to peruse her Path Intl. Registered Instructor at the age of 18 years.
Sarah attended college at Saint Andrews University (Laruinburg, NC) where she was part of the IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association) and IDA (Intercollegiate Dressage Association) teams competing all 4 years of college. She attained her PATH Intl. Advanced Instructor, her bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Horsemanship, and a minor in equine business in 2015.
For the last two and a half years, Sarah and her husband, an airborne medic and Sergeant in the Army, lived in Italy. Sarah had several interesting opportunities. She traveled Europe, worked with military children and established her own self esteem program to help them cope with their life challenges

Gabriella Hartz
PATH Intl. Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor
Gabriella is a PATH Intl. Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor (CTRI). Her first introduction to Chastain Horse Park was in 2017, when she completed her practicum hours for certification. She has always had a love of horses but did not start actively riding until she was 14 years old. She has been a dynamic volunteer at Chastain Horse Park’s Therapeutic Program for over three years and has been serving an important role of "lesson captain". Since 2018, Gabriella has coached the Douglas County Special Olympics Equestrian Team. She has a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and is a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate working toward full licensure by completing a designated amount of supervised clinical counseling hours. Eventually, Gabriella would like to combine her love of equines and professional background by conducting psychotherapy here at CHP. This is a practice of incorporating horses by skillfully integrating the qualities of the horse or equine environments within individualized plans of care benefiting patients and clients.

Jessi Hasler
PATH Intl. Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor
Originally from Miami, Jessi grew up outside of Athens Georgia and spent most weekends and holidays at Southern Cross Ranch where she would trail ride with her family and friends. Due to health challenges in high school, Jessi had to take a 5-year break from horses but the love of them never left. As her health
got better, she rekindled her love of riding. In May of 2021, Jessi graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor Degree in Human Development and Family Sciences with an Emphasis in Child Life. During her last year and a half of
college, Jessi spent the majority of her time at the ranch where she rode, helped out with new horses, and did barn chores. This is when she decided to pursue equine therapy with her love of children and the knowledge she gained from her degree. After graduation, Jessi moved to Atlanta, GA to complete an
internship at Chastain Horse Park, where she started and completed the process to become a Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor. When Jessi is not teaching, she spends her time riding her own horses and competes with friends in multiple disciplines such as roping, cutting, and jumping. Jessi is also pursuing her Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy in the hopes of helping families through Equine Assisted Psychotherapy.

Madeline Heaner
PATH Intl. Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor
Madeline has been around horses for as long as she can remember. Originally from Franklin, Tennessee, Madeline grew up on a horse farm that raised Tennessee Walking Horses. There she began riding at the age of 5. During her elementary school years, she took hunter/jumper lessons to help build a solid foundation for riding.
Madeline graduated from Samford University where she earned a bachelor's degree in Finance. She was also a member of the women's track team.
A couple of years after moving to Atlanta, Madeline had the opportunity to volunteer with Chastain Horse Park. Pairing service to others and horses was a perfect match for Madeline's passions. She has volunteered with CHP for 4 years and is very excited to have obtained her CTRI. She looks forward to serving in this role!
Madeline lives in Roswell with her husband, Gardner and dog, Hattie. She enjoys traveling and showing her horses.
Our Therapists

Brent Applegate, MPT
Physical Therapist & Owner of My Heroes Therapy
Brent Applegate began his career as a physical therapist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, working in multiple environments from acute care to CIRU (Comprehensive Inpatient Rehab Unit) to Day Rehab Programs to Outpatient services. Due to his horsey upbringing he was tasked in assisting a CHOA 'hippotherapy' pilot program where, thanks to the dramatic impact he saw with his patients, he fell in love. He began the My Heroes Therapy program out of Chastain Horse Park in 2005 and has never looked back. In 2011 he moved his family to Colorado to begin a second program out of Colorado State University but returns regularly to directly oversee the therapy programming and personally provide services at Chastain. He loves snowboarding, biking, hiking, forcing his kids off their phones under threat of abandonment, and is a terrible fisherman. More than anything he loves watching the impact his program and the Chastain therapeutic program have on the children and adults that they serve.

Michelle Winer, PT, MSPT, HPCS
Physical Therapist, AHA Level 2 & Hippotherapy Clinical Specialist
Michelle earned her Masters of Science in Physical Therapy from Boston University in 1999. She worked in public schools in Maryland and Massachusetts for many years providing therapy services to children with a wide variety of special needs. After leaving Massachusetts, Michelle spent a few years being a full-time mom to her 4 children and then returned to her first passion, helping children learn to use their motor skills to the best of their abilities. Michelle has taken many continuing education courses over the years, including treating Idiopathic Toe-Walking, use of Functional Electrical Stimulation (specifically for the pediatric population), and Linked: Breathing and Postural Control. Michelle has taken the American Hippotherapy Association (AHA) Level 1 and 2 courses and has tested to become certified as a Hippotherapy Clinical Specialist. Michelle had a poster presentation at the 2022 AHA conference about the use of Hippotherapy in a patient with Long Covid. Michelle grew up going on trail rides with her family and learned about hippotherapy when she was a college student. The ability to include hippotherapy into her patients’ treatment plans fulfills a lifelong career goal.

Felicia Allgood
Physical Therapist, AHA Level 1
My name is Felicia Allgood and I was born and raised in Kennesaw, GA. I’m a licensed PTA who works with MHT and CenterWell home health along with my owning a business as a certified personal trainer. I enjoy working out, traveling, hanging with family/friends, Horses and my new hobby learning Spanish. I grew up riding horse so it has been an amazing opportunity to work with CHP/MHT.

Michelle Dawson, MPT
Physical Therapist, AHA Level 1
Michelle earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science in 2015 and Doctor of Physical Therapy in 2018 from Missouri State University. While in PT school
she was introduced to equine assisted therapy and the benefits it can bring to the pediatric population. Michelle has worked in a variety of settings including private practice, outpatient clinics, home-based therapy, and rehab hospital. She has a particular passion for neurological disorders and incorporating animals into practice. She has completed her AHA Level I certification and is looking forward to continuing her education in hippotherapy to enhance the lives of her patients through this
unique modality at CHP.