Dan McCarthy

Dan McCarthy is an accomplished musician and equine trainer. He has lived in upstate New York for over 20 years, coaching equestrians and training horses at multiple equine rescue facilities. Seemingly worlds apart, music and horsemanship both call for heightened embodied thinking, a form of physical genius. McCarthy began his musical training at age 7, studying with teachers Ronnie Lee; Billy Bauer; and Charlie Parker, who attuned McCarthy to the backbeat and swing which later helped Dan connect to the horses’ rhythm. He also studied later with Aaron Richards, Nicholas Zenovich, and Ray Gogorty. Dan spent over 25 years teaching and playing professionally as a jazz and classical guitarist, ran a full-service music store, and his career included gigs as the house band at the Montauk Yacht Club and playing at CBGB in NYC. In Oneonta he ran The Guitar Clinic and played in bands and clubs throughout the region.