About Heartwood Horses

Located in the beautiful desert climate of Kamloops, British Columbia, Heartwood Horses is owned [Zephyr & Fancy] and operated by Anna Heiberg and Celena Delaney. We have set up shop because of our incurable passion for horses and our burning desire to create a job that we love.

After spending years working in the horse industry, in 2007 we both finally gave in to the appeal of a "real job" - one with air conditioning and regular hours in the financial sector. It didn’t take us long to realize, however, that these horses had gotten into our bones, and that as great as a "real job" seemed, there would always be something missing - something big. So bring on the sweltering hot summers, freezing cold winters, bugs and insane hours - we are living our dream!

We are dedicated to really enjoying our horses and keeping life fun and interesting, both for ourselves and for them. While developing our own horsemanship skills, we shape sound prospects into adaptable, safe and enjoyable horses for people of all ages, disciplines and riding abilities. We invite you to come out and see the difference in our horses!

Why Heartwood?

Trees develop a hard, dense spine-like wood that gives the tree a solid foundation around which to grow; this core is referred to as 'heartwood'. The heartwood not only gives trees strength and longevity, but also the flexibility to be moulded by the elements. [Zephyr in the trees] We chose the name ‘Heartwood’ because it represents our philosophy - that if horses are given a strong foundation, they will develop into adaptable, confident and respectful partners, enabling them to become extraordinary performance and pleasure horses.

We are as likely to be found with our horses exploring in the forests, swimming and jumping creeks as we are to be deeply focused in the arena. As a result, our horses are exposed to (and survive!) many different situations and have at least as much fun as we do. Using an integration of classical and progressive training methods, we keep our horses interested, playful and light while instilling the primary skills necessary for any horse to excel.