Sound Start

Sound Start Starting/breaking horses with a strong focus on building a solid foundation to support a successful future under saddle.

We are starting to ramp up here with clients horses incoming. I’m now booked up for the next few months! This handsome Q...
19/09/2025

We are starting to ramp up here with clients horses incoming. I’m now booked up for the next few months!
This handsome QH gelding arrived over the weekend, and the weather finally gave me a chance to start some work with him today.
He’s here for sales prep, so I’ll be putting him through his paces, tidying up where needed before he will be advertised. I’ll keep you all updated on his progress and who and what he will be suitable for once I get to know him a bit better!

16/09/2025

Billie has just started to work out if she lowers her top line, she can drive and lengthen!
You need to watch carefully to notice it, but this is a good example of good posture allowing drive from behind, in turn creating reach or length of stride while maintaining cadence.
When a horse lifts its neck line it becomes difficult for it to lift its back and drive with the back end, this ends up creating a short choppy, sewing machine action. Encouraging your horse to lower and lift enables the horse to maintain cadence (rhythm and speed) due to being able to get the back legs under themselves, freeing up the front end to allow for reach. This is, essentially what the good western pleasure horses do. To compensate for the acceleration which usually happens with drive (and you see this with English horses) our western breeds learn to hold the ground longer, which is what makes them slow.
It’s still very early days for Billie, and I think she’ll probably end up a better Hunter horse than a western pleasure mount, but she will still need to polish this skill regardless.

I’ve donated a gift voucher for 2 weeks free training to the Victorian Paint Horse Association. This will open shortly a...
16/09/2025

I’ve donated a gift voucher for 2 weeks free training to the Victorian Paint Horse Association. This will open shortly and I will update you all when tickets become available. The money raised will go towards building the club back to its glory days, it’s a club I’ve been a member of for decades and I’m very proud to now be holding the Presidents roll, we have some fantastic events in the making, so if you have western horses, or have ever wanted to get a taste for the western industry, pop on over to the page and send a request in, we’d love to have you on board!

It’s been a pretty horrible couple of days here in the Yarra Valley … a day and night of crazy winds followed by rain al...
16/09/2025

It’s been a pretty horrible couple of days here in the Yarra Valley … a day and night of crazy winds followed by rain all day and then this storm rolled in tonight, still raining now… spring is my favourite season but also the most challenging bringing horses back into work! Fingers crossed 🤞 we get a couple of good days now 🌞

13/09/2025

Training away from the arena

11/09/2025

Wet ol day in the Valley today… not much horse work getting done but it sure is a good day to clean up the stables! What do you do on rainy days?

10/09/2025

I’ve got a couple of my youngsters up in the stables and I’m back on task!
Today I’m sharing the very beginning of Billie’s performance versatility training, lungeline here to be specific. Billie has been taught the fundamentals last year, but has not had any consistent work, or any work towards the versatility class Lungeline.
The last few sessions have been recapping last years lessons and today I started to ask her to move through her gaits, walk, trot, canter … create an arch, stay out on the circle. We also worked on helping her manage her emotions through this. I will track Billie’s progress through her preparation and hopefully it encourages some of you to get out there and try these classes, they are a lot of fun and so good for young horses minds.

10/08/2025

So happy to announce Freddie (Mercury Rising) has found himself a wonderful home and will be staying reasonably local so hopefully we will get to see him around at some shows and events in the not to distant future! Today I put him through his paces after he’s had a huge rest over winter… he did really well!

05/08/2025

Cupping VS Taping

Both k tape and cupping therapy are awesome tools in my bodywork “kit”.
They might look pretty different, however they actually share a lot in common.
Each one has its own unique way depending on the horse.

K tape is applied to gently lift the superficial layers of tissue. This helps create space between the skin and the underlying muscles and fascia, allowing for better blood flow, lymphatic drainage and neuromuscular communication.
I often use it over larger muscle groups like the glutes, or over areas of previous injury like old fascial tears, to give ongoing support between sessions and encourage correct muscle activation as they move.

Cupping, on the other hand, uses suction to physically lift and decompress the tissue underneath the cup. This is great for breaking up myofascial congestion, and it helps restore glide between the layers of tissue.
(I find cupping really helpful in more localised areas), where there might be pockets of tightness or trigger points.
Unlike deep pressure techniques, cupping gives the tissue a bit of breathing room and encourages the body’s natural healing without adding more compression.

So why would I pick one over the other?
Sometimes it is about what the tissue needs.

Taping gives longer lasting input that stays on for days, gently guiding the body to move in more efficient patterns.
Cupping is more of an intensive short term technique, used right there in the session to shift stuck tissue.

Other times, it comes down to the horse’s preference.
Some horses absolutely love the lifting sensation of cupping and visibly relax into it, and others find it a bit too intense and respond better to the tape.

Picture today of this girl who enjoys both cupping and taping- and had both today in different areas ❤️

I missed this yesterday, life is busy atm! BUT here we go "kids"Happy belated birthday to all my beautiful equines! From...
01/08/2025

I missed this yesterday, life is busy atm! BUT here we go "kids"
Happy belated birthday to all my beautiful equines! From youngest to oldest, Saffy 1yo, Billie 2yo, Freddie 2yo, Murphy 3yo, Teddy 4yo, Ava 5yo, Tank 8yo, Bubba 11yo, Letty 18yo and Rosie 26yo!

Now, of course it's not their REAL birthdays, most of my guys are registered, so we have their actual DOB, but it's a formality with equines that compete and hinges from the Thoroughbred industry.

So the 1st of August marks the "official" turn over of the new year, it coincides with the start of breeding season and puts all babies from the 2025/26 foaling season on the same playing field.

Breeders who produce for competition try to gear mares to foal down as close to the 1st of August so the babies are as close to a year old as possible for the next click over season (26/27 season).
Get your timing wrong and have a foal born before the 1st of August and your baby is now set back 1 whole year ... example; foal is born the 20th of July ... 1st of August clicks over and your 2 week old foal is now a yearling! ..... bu**er! The bigger issue is your 2 week old foal will now be competing against horses that are actually yearlings! ... so timing is important when breeding.

Anyway, a little bit of jargen for a Saturday morning, Spring is drawing ever closer which means I have a job and a half getting a 3yo started under saddle, 2 2yo's lightly started under saddle and a yearling organised for this upcoming show season! My break is almost over!

15/07/2025

Sorry for my absence lately, fortunately it’s been way to wet, muddy and cold to work horses! I have been working behind the scenes on a new venture so stay tuned for that announcement in the upcoming weeks! Todays chat is about feeding youngsters in a way that supports their genetics, so that they are given a strong foundation and a long useful life

Good morning! We’ve been away for a few weeks holiday exploring Bali, but will be back in cold Melbourne tonight, all ha...
20/06/2025

Good morning! We’ve been away for a few weeks holiday exploring Bali, but will be back in cold Melbourne tonight, all hands on deck Monday. I’ll be listing a few horses for sale shortly, one of them a nice reg mare going under saddle. Not for a beginner or nervous rider but she will be fantastic for a competent rider wanting to compete in western performance. More information in the next few weeks!

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