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Meet Our Staff

Makayla Parr

Owner & Executive Director
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Makayla Parr is the Founder and Program Director of Master’s Touch Recreational Riding. She specializes in providing therapeutic activities for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities, while teaching horseback riding skills. She was raised in the small town of Social Circle, Georgia, where she developed her love of animals and the outdoors.

 

In her decades of experience as an equestrian, Makayla has competed in multiple disciplines including hunt seat, working cow horse, reining, cutting, mounted drill team and vaulting. She began her teaching career as a teenager when she started her own riding lesson business. Throughout high school, she served as a captain of the Walton County 4-H Mounted Drill Team, leading her team to win multiple state and regional titles. She went on to become an NCAA athlete on the equestrian team at the University of South Carolina where she received the Most Outstanding Rider Award and Community Service Award.

 

At a young age, Makayla developed a passion for riding horses and for working with disabled children. While doing research for a school assignment, she learned of Hippotherapy (physical, occupational, speech or language therapy that utilizes equine movement) and realized her two passions could be combined. After earning a bachelor’s degree in public health in May of 2017, she returned home to Georgia to achieve her lifelong dream of opening a therapeutic riding facility. With the generous help of family, close friends and numerous volunteers, her dreams have become her reality.  

Emma Weifenbach

Instructor & Barn Manager
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Emma has developed a love for horses ever since she moved to Georgia. She loves to trail ride, and practice competitive barrel racing. Emma started as a volunteer here in August of 2022, and she is so excited to be a part of our MT staff! She works behind the scenes as part of our ministry team, and also teaches beginner Western riding and small spurs, and is working towards teaching recreational riding as well.

 

She is joining our adult drill team this semester and is very excited to learn more about the benefits of equine therapy with our sweet horses. Her goal here at Master's Touch is to create long-lasting bonds with our animals and clients, and to make a difference in people's lives through the use of all different kinds of animals!

Bekah Harris

Instructor & Office Administrator
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Since Bekah was a kid, she's loved riding horses, but she truly developed a passion for them when she arrived at Master's Touch summer of 2018. She started out taking lessons and soon began volunteering with therapeutic sessions and coming out to the barn every opportunity she had. In 2020, Bekah became an office intern and continued working in communications and social media, and soon became a lesson instructor. She continues to have a passion for teaching kids how to ride and about the therapeutic benefits that come from spending time with animals.

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Some of her favorite memories at Master's include group trail rides, helping Makayla with therapeutic lessons and field trips, celebrating drill performances with her teammates, coach, and her drill horse, Willow, and early morning trips to feed the horses with Savannah and Sarah during sunrise. Bekah is forever grateful for the second family she has gained since arriving at Master's Touch.

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Bekah graduated high school in May of 2022 and is pursing an associate's degree and a career in equine training and therapy. She hopes to help others to witness the amazing gift of creation that God has given us.

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Faith Henning

Instructor
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Faith Henning is an instructor at Master’s Touch. She has been unashamedly obsessed with horses since early childhood, when she and her sister started riding lessons at a local farm. As a child and teen, she competed in hunt seat, hunter over fences, and dressage as well as western pleasure at local shows. Starting at age 16, she spent every summer for a decade helping run Double E Horse Camps all over North Georgia with her best friend.

 

After college, she found her “heart horse” in a Tennessee Walking Horse named Copper, who now lives at Master’s Touch. She began training, teaching riding lessons, and coaching at shows for local barns in 2010. After getting married in 2013 she left the professional horse world to work for the State of Georgia, but has continued to occasionally teach lessons and, of course, to continue trail riding with Copper. She’s instructing at Master’s Touch part time while maintaining her full-time job and her side business as an artist.
 

She is so grateful for the instructors who poured knowledge and encouragement into her as a horse-crazy girl, and wants to do the same for the next generation of equestrians. Her passion is turning horse-crazy kids into equestrians who can ride competently and compassionately and who are knowledgeable in all aspects of horse care. 

Angela Clegg

Creative Director

Angela is the Creative Director at Master’s Touch, combining the arts of storytelling with animal and plant sciences, Art, Drama, Music, History, and time simply spent outdoors to guide kids and their families to a deeper relationship with the God of Creation. Teaching the principles of Kingdom, Mastery and Shepherding, Master’s Touch seeks to lead others in a deeper knowledge of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

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Angela has been in ministry to children and youth since 1990. In addition to serving as a youth & children’s ministry director, she spent fifteen years leading traveling ministries for puppetry, music performance and composition, dance, and clowning. As a homeschool mom, she continued her ministry work by serving as the Creative Director of Master’s Academy of Fine Arts in Athens for 13 years, before “retiring” to cultivate the gifts and books store in the local Social Circle Ace Hardware, owned by her husband, Joel. 

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In 2017, she began assisting her daughter, Makayla, in building Master’s Touch Recreational Riding, and in 2021, Angela began developing the complimentary Christian education and entertainment programs that are offered now and continue to be developed.

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