Training & Horsemanship

As well as learning Steve's techniques, Chad has studied many different training methods from all around the world and has spent some time in Texas with Champion Reining Horse Trainer Craig Johnson, but no matter how many methods one can study, Chad finds that the horses are the best teachers.

Over the years Chad has worked with horses of various breeds and has developed his own style and techniques that suit a wide variety of clients in many different horse sports.

Chad may be recognised from past EQUITANA's where he has assisted his father in giving educational lessons and entertainment displays.Chad and his wife Lauren run a sucessful horse starting and training business at Dyers Crossing on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales where they raise their two beautiful boys Cooper and Riley.


Chad Brady is also a contestant in the EQUITANA 2010 The Way of the Horse.

For the past 12 years she has worked as a horsemanship instructor mostly in Tasmania, but also in South Africa where she even trained a zebra.

Cynthia is currently one of the teachers for the Polytechnic (formerly TAFE Tasmania) Equine Hoof Care Course.

Her website has become renown as a resource for Horse Care and Horsemanship infomation along with quality 'horse endorsed' products. 

Since developing the LightRider Bitless Bridle, her focus has been to promote bitless riding and the acceptance of bitless bridles in all types of competition and clubs.

www.naturalhorseworld.com

...innate curiosity, trust and freedom of motion.

Although she oftern heard the words "lightness and ease" from her instructors and classical text, and had the opportunity to ride high-level horses, she saw that many horses were shut down and lifeless, going about their work in a mechanical and stiff way.

Helping her first horse King regain his trust, playfullness and sef carriage became the foundation of a lifetime of dedication to helping horses and riders achieve freedom from bracing patterns, tension and shutdown movement that so often dampens the joy that attracts us to horses in the first place.  As she began traveling and teaching clinics, Peggy was beginning to chart her own path, teaching her students to ride with more awareness, lightness and softness in their bodies.  Her mentors Sally Swift, Linda Tellington-Jones and Major Andres Lingren and others, further help Cummings shift the riding paradigm from "cramming and jamming" to a new model of horsemanship - one that honors horses out of knowledge and balance rather than fear or force.

Today in clinics worldwide and through her Website and books, Peggy helps countless students discover their own "aha" moments, helping horses and riders get "unstuck", regain their elesticity, and learn what it is like to move without bracing patterns, compression and counterbalancing.  Thirty years after Peggy learned how to influence her horse King without even sitting on him, Connected Groundwork and Connected Riding became her answers to this universal riding dilemma.

www.connectedriding.com

Ian came into the horse industry as a stockman competing in rodeo and campdrafting and started training horses as a necessity for station work.  He began training seriously in the 1970's and 1980 started Ian Francis Training Stables.  Ian's experience ranges started from colts, preparing sale horses, educating horses for a wide client base and showing horses in halter, pleasure, trail, hunter, western riding, show hacks, stockhorses, campdrafting, working cowhorse, reining and cutting.

Ian won major championships at halter, western pleasure, western trail, hunter, Royal Show Champions and Champion Station Hacks, Australian Quarter Horse Association National Champions and All Breeds Futurity Champions.  Major accomplishments include five National Reining Horse of Australia (NRHA) Futurities and four Reserves, another four NRHA Reining Derbies and four Reserves, four National Reined Cow Horse Association Futurities and seven Reserves, two Cloncurry Stockman Challenges,  2YO, 3YO and 4YO Widgee Stock Horse Futurities, and 2YO, 3YO and 4YO Monto Stockhorse Futurities along with Stockhorse classes at the Brisbane and Sydney Royal Shows.  He has won the National Cutting Horse Associations (NCHA) Futurities three times, the NCHA Derby and numerous regional cutting Futurities and Derby champions.

Ian has represented his country and won at the International Reinng Council's IRC World Cup, held in Canada, and was part of the Australian team which placed second.

Ian has been inducted into the Australian Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame, the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame and Reining Australia Hall of Fame, is a National Reining Horse Association Legend rider and was recently inducted into the Furlong Stud Equine Hall of Fame in Toowoomba.

Ian now concentrates on training cutting horses and giving clinics in horsemanship, cutting, working cowhorse and reining both in Australia and Internationally.  He has recently produced a series of three DVD's Foundation Training, Reining Training, and Stockman's Challange Training along with a motivational book "That Winning Attitude" and a biography "Living the Legend".

 

...many clinics with Western Trainers and also judging seminars.  Over the following ten years he continued to compete but was most successful with his home-bred Appaloosa "Foxy" who became State champion in many different Western disciplines.

He then purchased a weanling palomino colt who also had a very sucessful show career winning state awards.  Reining became the favorite discipline and he focused on this and also became involved in judging.  Around this time his work involved Farriery and he worked for Lindsay Park Racing Stable for a few years which presented the oppertunity to handle many horses from yearlings to stallions.

In 1990 he attended a course with Pat Parelli who paved his way into Natural Horsemanship.  In 1995 Steve was invited into the Instructor Programme and during his 7 years with PNH he achieved three star ratings as Instructor, Young Horse Trainer, Horse Starting Specialist, and 2 star ratings as a Foundation Trainer and Difficult Horse Specialist.  By this time the Farriery work had ceased as teaching and young horse starting took over.

During his association with PNH Steve conducted clinics in USA, France, Italy, Germany,UK and of course Australia.  He enjoyed this time of learning, but in November 2002, decided it was time to move on independantly.  This new direction of teaching is based on combining the styles of many horsemen who have provided the inspiration and knowledge for Steve to find an easier way for horse and rider.

He currently travels each year for 4 months to teach in Germany, Poland , UK, New Zealand and South Africa.  In the future Steve plans to improve his skills and education by studying with other reknowned horsemen and this will be reflected in his new programme.

Steve Halfpenny is also a contestant in the EQUITANA 2010 The Way of the Horse.

She was a student and subsequently an instructor at the Pacific Coast School of Horsemanship in California owned by her sister Linda Tellington-Jones.

Robyn competed successfully in hunter, jumper, three-day eventing, endurance, western events and more recently on gaited horses.

Since 1982 she has been working with her sister, Linda, to teach the Tellington method and editor of the TTouch Newsletter.  In 1986 she started teaching TTeam and TTouch on a full time basis in Canada, the US, Europe, Australia and South Africa and spends about 160 days a year traveling.  Robyn has given demonstrations and lectures at various venues inlcuding Spruce Meadows; EQUITANA USA, Germany and Australia; Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatchewan; International Humane Society Conference in Vienna and Murdoch University in Perth.

 Besides teaching TTeam and TTouch on the road and at her farm in Vernon, British Colombia, Robyn and her husband Phil, have been importing, breeding and promoting Icelandic horses since 1976.

www.ttouch.ca

and rider building a relationship based on fear and aggression - the result is inevitable - tense and/or fearful horses unable to perform to their maximum potential, unhappy riders and a potentially dangerous outcome.

After a lot of research David found out that the "John Lyons Training Method" using a combination of round pen work, ground control, ridden work and problem solving aspects on many different horses, best reflected David's personal experiences when working with horses and mirrored his aims and ambitions in horse training.  David believes that a horse at any stage of its life and from any background can be trained in such a way to promote calmness, responsivness in a non-threatening way.

In 1998, David and his wife Sandi, went to Colorado in the USA for seven weeks where David undertook and intensive accreditation training programme with John Lyons to become the first John Lyons Accredited Trainer in Australia.

In addition to using the John Lyons Method, David has established and developed his own unique training method and is now considered to be one of Australia's leading trainers and educators travelling extensivly around the country conducting clinics and demonstrations and teaching others how to establish a training routine that builds the foundation of a non-threatening , harmonious relationship for all riders and horses.

At their home in Drysdale in Victoria, David and Sandi have a private training facility where David trains horses of all ages, sizes and disciplines be that a weanling being taught the basics on their journey to becoming a happy, calm and responsive horse to training a youngster and their first experiences under the saddle, all the way to higher levels of dressage.

www.davidsimons.com.au

...or two children, but five!!)  she developed that innate sense of self preservation and her confidencein the saddle and dealing with horses was not what it used to be!

This is a familiar story that Sandi hears and sees time and time again and one with which she can definately relate.  Using her own experiences and unique style and incorperating some of the training methods of her husband David Simons, Sandi has helped hundreds of women regain the confidence that they once had in themselves to then get back in the saddle and enjoy a safe, harmonious relationship with their horses.  There is an added bonus for anyone that spends time learning Sandi's methods, women of all ages, experience and at various stages of their life journey come together to learn from one another and give each other support.  Perhaps it was a bad fall, injury, absence from the saddle, an unsuitable horse, or just the ups and downs of life that has taken a toll on someone's confidence, it really doesn't matter, the outcome is the same; it leads to fear and apprehension doing the thing that women who love horses most want to do - ride and enjoy the freedom and time with their horse away from life's demands.

Sandi's insightful, compassionate nature makes her a truely unique instructor and combined with her own experiences has enabled her to provide a training system that was sadly lacking for the majority in the horse world - women who love horses and need to feel nurtured, competant and inspired.  There are plenty of laughs along the way and some tears, but always in a safe and relaxed environment.  Many of the women who attend either a weekend clinic or a week long live in 'Confidence Camp'  think that they are going to ride and find a better way (which indeed they do) but equally many come away having found out more about themselves than they possibly could have imaginged.

www.davidsimons.com.au

...in Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

In Germany he has judged at many top events such as Aachen CDIO, German Dressage Derby in Hamburg and European Championships for JUN/YR.  He is the Event Director for the European Youngster Classics Bonn, a CDI for Pony Riders, Juniors and Young Riders.

Uwe has been educated besides his real profession by renowned riding instructors at Warendorf and Münster.  He holds an International Instructors License and used to be, for a long time, a board member of the Dressage Committee of German Judges Association (DRV).  He is well known for the clarity he brings to judging dressage, his emphasis on the Scale of Education as well as the focus on quality.

In his other life, Uwe used to be a Managing Director and Communications Consultant and Graphic Designer.  Besides his mother tounge, he speaks two other languages fluently.

Later, Adam developed passion for rodeo and camp-drafing that took him all over Australia.

Adam specialises in starting and re-training horses, especially sensitive characters with problematic behaviours.  He regularly finds that horses have been confused by conflicting signals from their riders.  Keeping things simple and taking the pressure off these horses helps enormously, but Adam points out that this philosophy works just as well for horses, not just those who have learned evasions and resistances.

He takes his time to listen to the problem responses as clients describe them.  The owners usually have a great deal to say about the horse.  Adam finds that the horse's responses to his cues during remedial training usually alert him to errors in the regular rider's technique.  So when he hands back the horse after the training, he is able to tell them what their horses have to say about them.

Adam is a great believer in minimising distress during training.  He likes to dismount with a smile on his face and he aims to do so when the horse too is effectively smiling.

Adam Sutton is also a contestant in the EQUITANA 2010 The Way of the Horse.

Most recently with her riding, last year she traveled to England to compete in the UK National Side Saddle Show.  She competed on two horses kindly borrowed from Lucinda Sims of Harroway House, Andover, grand-daughter of the late Betty Skelton.

At the end of that weekend she was placed third overall overseas competitor. She also traveled to Christchurch, New Zealand, to watch their side saddle classes at the Christchurch National Royal Show.

This year she intends on not only studying for and sitting my exam for my Intro EA Riding Coachs' Ticket, but also Side Saddle Instructor's Ticket, which she will be required to travel back to England for.