McLean Sport Horses

10/01/2025

06/01/2025

The age at which horses are mentally fit for training is a subject of ongoing research and debate among equine professionals.

While most agree that formal training under saddle should not begin until the horse is physically mature enough to carry a rider, opinions on the mental readiness of youngsters for non-ridden training vary widely.

A recent study examined a group of Warmblood colts undertaking a pretraining programme for stallion licensing.

The researchers examined 18-, 24-, and 30-month-old stallions over a 12-week period, measuring salivary cortisol, heart rate, and heart rate variability (HRV) in response to various pretraining events that included free movement in an indoor arena, exercise in a horse walker, lunging, and free jumping.

The results showed that all pretraining events induced a stress response in the young stallions, indicated by increased salivary cortisol and heart rate, as well as decreased HRV. However, the degree of stress response decreased with repetition of the same event, suggesting rapid adaptation to these challenges.

The most pronounced cortisol release was observed in response to free movement and lunging in the early weeks of pretraining, and particularly during first exposure to the automated horse walker.

The study found no major differences in stress response between ages groups, contrary to the researchers' hypothesis. This suggests that even eighteen month old colts are mentally capable of coping with the demands of pretraining.

Heart rates during pretraining events peaked at 150-160 beats per minute, which is considered moderate compared to competing horses, with researchers noting that the observed physiological changes may actually enhance learning in horses, representing a eustress (positive stress)response rather than harmful stress.

The full study can be found at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751731124003100

19/12/2024

Thank you to all of our clients in 2024 and their wonderful horses. We have had the pleasure of training 170 horses this year ❤️ A special thank you to our long-term clients - We look forward to 2025 already! If your horse has been trained with us in 2024 we would love to hear how they are going - Please add a photo in the comments ❤️ Also a special thank you to our wonderful staff ,Emma and Alanna - we couldn’t do it without. Merry Christmas everyone 🎄

17/11/2024

We are looking for casual staff every 2nd weekend.
Full day Saturday and morning feedout only on the Sunday. Please PM us if you are interested😃

16/11/2024

A beautiful morning at the farm ❤️

14/11/2024

Our Quando Unico yearling 💕 His paddock name is Otis, but he still doesn’t have a show name 😱 Any suggestions? 😃😃😃

17/10/2024

Thank you for letting us start another one of your beautifully bred horses. This one is particularly cute 🥰 Springside Sorrento (Stedinger X Florencio X Krack C). We look forward to following her journey 💕

25/09/2024

First outing for the lovely 4yo Hollands Bend Four Seasons owned by 🥰 He was a champion even with all the distractions! Four was started by Alistair and has been with us for long-term training - We think he is a bit cute and feel very lucky 💕 Hollands Bend Warmbloods

24/09/2024

16hh rising 5yo gelding by Glenara Rockefeller out of a Blue Hors Don Schufro mare for sale. Maverick has 3 correct rideable paces and a lovely temperament. He has just finished his foundation training with us. Message Rikke 0448 222 633 for more details

22/08/2024

Lovely to see Nelson and Herb taking it all in their stride on the track after finishing their foundation training with us 🥰

18/08/2024

Very happy with ‘s rising 5yo Springside Floriani. First competition done and she was so relaxed and rideable in a busy environment. Very proud of her 🥰 Great scores as well with 68 and 70% for 3rd and 4th place. Thanks to for hosting another great event. Thanks to our sponsors and

07/08/2024

Imagine a world where dressage scores were awarded for the most ethical performance? The lightest of pressures, the most self-carriage, the least amount of gear, and so on.

As in other sports, many horse-owners, trainers and riders will arrive at a choice between doing something ‘bad’ that may increase their chances of winning, or not doing it and relinquishing the possibility of first place.

It may be a decision about using a gadget or a drug, withholding food or water, or hurting the horse.

The extent to which sport horses are coerced to perform is often the focus of welfare debates. Equitation science will be able to play a vital role in deciding the outcome of these discussions, and, particularly in dressage competition, emergent technology will remove subjectivity from judging and will underpin the development of high-welfare dressage.

The sport of soccer has set an excellent example of how judges’ decisions can be supported by technology (e.g., by introducing goal-line technology to increase objectivity of judges’ decisions when keeping scores).

Equestrian sports that involve judging decisions might be well advised to learn a lesson from the progressiveness of other sports and science may be able to help us value training of any manoeuvre that is dependent on and achieved through lightness of pressure (i.e., attesting to self-carriage and the horse’s self-maintenance of rhythm, straightness and outline).

Equitation Science, 2nd Edition, Andrew McLean, Paul McGreevy, Janne Whinther Christensen & Uta König von Borstel

03/08/2024

The horse is acutely aware of changes in its visual environment. To the detriment of training, horses seem to remember far better than the rider ‘what happened where’.

For example, riders may occasionally notice that the horse goes better on one part of the circle than elsewhere and, gradually, if training is correct, the length of this sector increases.

The horse in this case makes associations between the behaviour it is currently doing and where it is doing it. This context-specific (or place-dependent) learning can be a very useful tool in training and some behaviours that are hard to train should be trained in the same place until some reliability emerges.

On the other hand, context-specific learning can be a hindrance if, through classical conditioning, the horse learns to exacerbate flight-response behaviours in certain places or contexts.

Sometimes it takes just one or two episodes of a flight response to cause a recurring pattern.

Fear memories can be suppressed with error-free practice, but when circumstances are the same, the response can return with alarming speed and accuracy.

This is known as spontaneous recovery.

For this reason, it is an essential principle that flight response behaviours should be properly identified and training strategies should generally be tailored to avoid them.

Equitation Science - Second Edition
Andrew McLean, Paul McGreevy, Janne Whinther Christensen & Uta König von Borstel

11/06/2024

⭐️ NOVAK ⭐️ 4yo Clyde x TB for sale. Novak is back with us to finish his foundation training and is for sale. Please PM for more information and video

06/06/2024

We have a 1 bedroom (can be made into a 2 bedroom) cottage available for lease from July 2nd. Option to bring a horse as well.
PM us for more info 😊