The beginning
Have you ever had a moment when you asked yourself 'why hasn't my coach told me this', or 'why didn't I learn this at pony club' - I sure have. Many times. As a rider in regional Australia with limited access to consistent coaching, my horse riding journey has been collecting little pieces of the puzzle and trying to make sense of the bigger picture - often wondering if the pieces I found belonged to entirely different puzzles. Let's just say it was a whole lot of trial and error!
Luckily for me (and my horses), my love of learning eventually led me to the answers I didn't know I was looking for - and the communication with my horses has never been the same - in the best possible way.
From rider to coach
At the time when my husband was starting horses, I noticed a recurring pattern among owners.
After watching him ride their freshly started horse, they would climb on themselves, then take their green horse home to continue training.
Months later, my husband would get a call to "fix" a problem - or the horse would return for more training. But in reality, there was nothing to fix.
My husband could get on the horse and achieve what the rider couldn’t.
That left only one conclusion: it wasn’t the horse.
This sparked my journey to becoming an equestrian coach - first gaining my accreditation with Equestrian Australia, and later with Pony Club Queensland.
The Beginning of Heard Horses
Fast forward a few years…
As a mother, horse owner and rider, I was juggling an office job alongside being a part-time equestrian coach. I was feeling the pressure of my time constraints.
Every hour spent coaching meant less time with my family and my own horses.
Yet, I still really wanted to work out a way to help riders communicate better with their horses.
Combining my background in communications and a love of writing, I created a blog to empower riders through knowledge.
Heard Horses was born.
Why Heard Horses?
This blog isn't a 'how to' manual.It’s the why behind what your coach has been telling you.
When you understand the why, you can communicate with clarity and give your horse the time it needs to understand - because you know you are on the right path and no longer feel the need to keep trying something different.
Where knowledge ends, frustration begins - so with knowledge, frustration ends.
My hope is for riders everywhere to have access to easy to understand information on handling and riding horses. Not another method. Principles that can be applied to any method or system of training.
I see far too many people fumbling their way through - like I did.
Horse welfare is up to all of us and it begins at the grass roots. It begins with knowledge.
Learn the why. Your horse deserves it.