Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from O’Grady Equine, Horse Trainer, 69 Punrak Road, Serpentine.
06/02/2025
⭐️Gordon’s training journey ⭐️
Gordon was sent to me as his owner Isabell had become nervous around him and she was considering having to find him a new home. Gordons ground manners were very bad, if he wasn’t sure of something he had no issues running his handler over to avoid it and when ridden he would plant his feet, rear and refuse to move forward. For this reason Isabell had not ridden him for a long time as she just didn’t have the confidence with him and didn’t want to risk getting hurt. She had sent him to another trainer a few years ago but they also didn’t have any luck in helping with his issues.
I initially started working on Gordon’s ground manners and doing ground work in round pen to build a connection with Gordon and try and suss out where his problems were coming from. After my first ride a week into his training I decided he needed to go back to the very basics on the ground before continuing to ride, although I managed to get him moving and he didn’t get me off it was clear Gordon was very confused about accepting contact and quite offended by any leg aids. If you asked for flexion on either rein he would try and counter flex and lock his head the opposite way and if you applied any leg pressure he would try and plant his feet and if I had let him be any straighter this would have eventuated into a rear. Basically he had learnt he needed to resist & fight all aids from his rider.
We went back to ground work for a few days to help him understand, relax and go forward into bit pressure and become less defensive about leg pressure.
His 2nd ride was so much better than his first, Gordon was relaxed, he was stretching over his back and down into the contact with no naughtiness or defensiveness about my legs. I Love how the video from the first ride to the 2nd shows how effective going back to ground work can be to fix issues under saddle! After a few more rides in the round yard we progressed to the arena and for the next 4 weeks with Gordon we just continued to go over the basics with him, helping him to relax under saddle and look to me/ his rider as a partner to help reassure him when he was unsure of something rather than thinking he had to take matters into his own hands to protect himself which was his go to before!
The last video is his owner Isabell having a ride before he went home, she had two rides on him before leaving and he was a super star, she has now decided to keep him and is confident with the new training techniques I have taught her to continue training Gordon herself!
It’s such a satisfying part of my job seeing owners have successful rides on their horses, I can’t wait to see the continued progress with this partnership!
