Hamilton Acres Equestrian Centre

17/12/2023

✨POLICY CHANGE UPDATE✨
We've been umming and ahhing about this one for awhile as it's not necessarily something we wanted to have but as things grow and expenses rise we have come to the decision that a cancellation policy will be necessary going forwards. So as of January 1st 2024 we will have a 24 hour cancellation policy for all services. We understand things happen last minute and people can't always make their bookings but we're hopeful all our clients will understand that when last minute cancellations take place, that's our time we had put set aside to make income and when we lose that we lose the income with no way of recouping it. We want to be able to continue to provide all our services to everyone which means we need to make it financially sustainable. So with that being said, all cancellations within 24 hours (weather related cancellations aside) will still require full payment. We will be updating our website to reflect this and are providing 2 weeks notice to all clients with this post🙂

We hope everyone has a fantastic end of year and gets to spend a very merry Christmas with their ponies 🐴🎄

09/12/2023

Keep your eyes peeled for an announcement coming in the new year 🐎🏹🤭

16/10/2023

🩵 SOLD 🩵

Arlo is a beautiful one blue-eyed 17 year old, 16 hh Paint Horse x Thoroughbred gelding. He is named after Arlo the Good Dinosaur as he is truly a good boy. He is incredibly gentle and loves to be dotted on. He gets along with any horse he is paddocked with and always shows kindness to people. He has been used as a lesson horse the last 6 months but due to me cutting back on the amount of lesson days I have available, I no longer will be needing as many lesson horses. He is up to date with vaccinations (including hendra), teeth done under sedation by a vet, hooves (currently barefoot and has strong feet), worming and body work - which he receives every 4 weeks and is easy to catch, trim, float. He is currently ridden bitless and does great this way as he is very responsive to leg and seat aids but he can be ridden with a bit. He has 3 established, balanced gaits with a lovely rocking horse canter. He has begun mounted archery training where he is happy for arrows to be shot while standing next to him (he will continue training in this area until sold). He has been ridden by beginners and young riders under supervision however he is not being sold as a complete beginners horse. He requires a capable, confident rider with a balanced seat as he can get tense and worried if his rider is bouncing around on his back and has been known to throw a couple pig roots in this situation. But with a balanced seat, he doesn't put a foot wrong and is lovely to ride. He is currently leased out by a 13 year old girl who rides him very capably and she has no issues with him. She is able to do all his handling and ride him on her own without me present. Video footage in comments of him being ridden at all gaits. He is the kind of horse that can be left for months in the paddock and then get on and go. When I first got him, he spelled for 2 months and my first ride on him he didn't put a foot wrong. He does best with kindness and loves positive reinforcement and clicker training so would love to see him go to a home that will continue to provide him with the same level of love and care. If you are the kind of person who thinks they need to dominate their horse in order to be their "leader" than Arlo is not the horse for you as he deserves better than those old school philosophies.

PROS:
*quiet, easy to do anything with kind of horse
*easy to paddock with other horses but isn't herd bound and very easy to take out on his own
*experience with young riders
*established ground work - easy to yield shoulders and hind, neck flex and lunge
*understands leg and seat aids
*up-to-date with everything and currently in work - so ready to get on and go

CONS:
*requires a balanced seat or can get worried
*a heart murmur was picked up on at his last vet check-up. A previous vet report from a different vet made no mention of it and that report states that his heart sounds are normal. His heart has been monitored while worked and he retains a healthy heart rate even after canter work. Not sure if it was a temporary murmur but wanting to be as honest as possible as I want to find Arlo his forever home, as well as the new buyer deserves all the history/information that I know about him.

5, 🥕🥕🥕

05/10/2023

09/09/2023

Tabor is trying to see what it's Iike to have little humans on his back 🥹 very proud of the little man giving these new chapters of his life a go and feeling very grateful to have such great students who are just as passionate about ethical horsemanship as we are to help out in the process. It makes all the difference to these guys journeys to be surrounded by supportive and patient riders.

06/09/2023

The Hamilton Acres ponies definitely agree that we have the best agistees 🥰 they got homemade cookies baked by one of them and safe to say they left no crumbs behind 😅 We love being able to share our home with so many lovely people and the ponies love all the extra friends!...and treats 😆🤤

01/09/2023

Our lesson horse Arlo will be for sale in the coming weeks. We'll be sad to see him leave as he's been the sweetest boy! But are excited to see him continue on in his journey as he's a special boy with a lot to give 🐴❤️ feel free to pm if you'd like more info or else will be posting his ad when everything is ready to go ☺️

06/08/2023

Finishing off weekend lessons with a trail ride 🎉 a great way to get both rider and horse out of the arena doing something different and building on confidence 😄

03/08/2023

Horses with Trauma 💕🥹

This is somewhat of a specialty for our trainer, Tylah from Liberated Equestrian Horsemanship.

These two horses here have both had major breakthroughs this week which we just love to see 🥰.

Simba came to us suffering severe PTSD and had not an ounce of trust left in him that humans didn't 🟰 pain. This was from a lifetime of humans taking his choices away and teaching him he wasn't worth anything and didn't have a voice 😔. His way of coping was to stop most interactions before they even began. 🛑

Belle on the other hand went through several highly stressful events including moving properties several times, being started under saddle and giving birth all by the time she was 3 years old 👶. Her way of coping was disconnecting from reality - she didn't want a relationship with people (or other horses for that matter) and had only ever known fending for herself 💔

Both Belle and Simba did come to us with quite a lot of pain in their bodies so of course the first step is to treat this. But just like people, often times mental blocks are a lot harder to overcome than physical blocks. Tylah specialises in being able to really listen to what the horse is saying and tailor her training to what they are asking for.

🌹 With Belle that was finding a way to make the interactions fun for her so that she began to want to start participating and started looking forward to her training sessions, this opened the door to start to be able to build that all important connection and conversation. 🌹

☀️ For Simba Tylah had to give him his autonomy back. For a long time she let Simba just 'be'. His first session back under saddle was being rewarded for micro movements as he was still very resistant to being asked anything of him. The video is from his second session where you can see him engaging and enjoying making the decision to move (full video in comments). ☀️

These horses both had the very real possibility of people giving up on them and maybe you're at that stage with your own horse where you feel like you've tried everything. Sometimes it can even feel like with traumatised horses that you have given them a better life and they 'repay' you by acting out now that they're being allowed to have a voice. Tylah is very experienced at helping in these situations and would love to be able to assist you to have your own breakthroughs with your ponies.

There is hope for our traumatised babies (and also for our non traumatised ones!) Feel free to message us any time 💖

24/06/2023

Did you know we do pre/post vet care 🙊 if you require your horse prepared for veterinary care such as fasting before a gastric scope or require daily post op care but don't have the time or facilities necessary to do so, we can help. Our experience includes multiple forms of medications including intramuscular injections. Prices vary depending on the need so feel free to get in touch for a quote ☺️

14/06/2023

We've been working on preparing some of the ponies for mounted archery lessons 🫢 Snowy smashed his first trial lesson ☺️ we're always super proud of this boy! Stay tuned as we are working on offering this as a permanent service in the near future 🏹🐎

03/06/2023

Did you know that we offer a discount for emergency services workers? 🤗 If you work for any of the emergency services and can provide valid ID you will receive 10% off lessons - this can include ground work, liberty, and connection-based lessons if you don't feel comfortable getting on a horse.

Horses are incredible for mental health - being around them has been shown to lower stress and can lead to increased emotional awareness (they will make you pay attention to your own energy!).

We greatly value all of the amazing people that put their lives on the line for the rest of us every day and would like to give back to those individuals. 🚓🚑🚒❤️💙

14/05/2023

As humans we loooove to control things 😆🙌. For a long time the horse industry has been a prime example of this! But what happens when you take *away* the equipment instead of adding more. These might be some of the best conversations you'll have with your horse when there is a pure and open line of communication. 💬🤗

12/05/2023

These two angels, Snowy and O'Malley and Liberated Equestrian Horsemanship ran a clinic yesterday with a group of lovely girls visiting from the USA. They taught them all about how we can use our energy to communicate more effectively with our horses and build a relationship based on trust and understanding. 🥰

19/04/2023

Little Tabor the brumby is a great student and coming along in leaps and bounds with a daily short lesson every evening. He had no problems with accepting this ba****ck pad and girth for the first time 🥰

Regular, consistent training is one of the greatest advantages with on-property training and one of the reasons why it's so much bang for your buck! At this stage Tylah's off-property training slots are booked up but she still has some on-property training available. This includes 4-5 sessions per week to really have the most impact on how quickly your horse starts to understand the questions being asked of him/her. 💡🤓

08/04/2023

O'Malley is our newest kid on the block and today he got to learn that at Hamilton Acres we go bitless. Being an off the track Thoroughbred we imagine this was his first time!

Today was one of those days that I'm sure many horse riders are familiar with - where nothing goes to plan and there's monsters hiding around every corner! 👻 After attempting to go for a nice trail ride with some of our agistees many of the horses were saying "not today please" except for O'Malley. So we decided to give him a little ride in the round yard to get used to this new feeling of having no bit, and I don't think there were many complaints from this lovely gentleman. 😉

(Of course, it was one of *those* days so he threw a shoe and had to have a pedicure afterwards 🥴) Time to pack up the riding boots and try again tomorrow. 😌😂

04/04/2023

Time for another get to know me! This time meet Arrie, our sweet and very special little liberty mare. After running into many dead ends with Arrie using traditional training methods, Tylah decided to give positive reinforcement and liberty training a go. It was from the relationship she developed with Arrie after that point that inspired Tylah to learn all she could about equine psychology and positive reinforcement training and help others develop that same connection with their horses.

Arrie excels in the liberty game so if you are interested in honing your skills, building your connection with a horse on the ground, and discovering some super cool tricks then feel free to get in touch with us for a lesson with Arrie! You can also contact Liberated Equestrian Horsemanship if you would like Tylah to help you work with you and your own horse's connection in a similar way. 💛

31/03/2023

We're determined to find how the back of Hamilton Acres connects to the main trail network so it was another morning spent exploring with the ponies 🌞🐎😄

29/03/2023

For us having lesson horses it's important they are confident enough to face any difficulties their environment throws at them. We value being able to help them process their world in a healthy manner that keeps both rider and horse safe and happy. Here's Snowy having a go at one such exercise during one of his lessons 😁

18/03/2023

Our lesson program is starting to kick off now! 🐎🐎
To celebrate here is a little 'get to know me' for our parent's dream pony, Pan:

"Pan is our goofy kid that absolutely loves having fun and cherishes his lessons with the little ones. He is still young himself which means he has limited spaces for lessons as we want to give him the best start to his riding career! 💚 But he is an absolute gem and we can't wait for your children to build their connection with him and enjoy horse riding as much as he does."

07/03/2023

We have a website!! 🙌 Head on over to www.hamiltonacres.com.au to see our list of services, meet the team (aka ponies), and more about our head trainer and coach. 😄

The name 'Hamilton Acres' was chosen in memory of our maternal Great Grand Father Randal Hamilton - a renowned horseman and bushman from Eidsvold, Queensland. He in turn was the grandson of the intrepid Robert and Catharine Hamilton who sold their home in a quant Scottish village, located in East Lothian on the outskirts of Edinburgh, to relocate to central Queensland in 1851. There they started a cattle dynasty that featured properties like Calrossie, Rocky Bar, and Dareen. Ultimately each of the agistment paddocks will be named for either one of those original properties or other family historical connections. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇦🇺🌳🐎🤠

Liberated Equestrian Horsemanship offers a positive reinforcement approach to modifying equine behaviour and on-going coaching for the equestrian so both horse and human can experience the human-equine connection.

02/03/2023

"The try is all you need, because that's the open door to being able to train the whole behaviour."
🐎💛

01/03/2023

Phew!! What a big couple of weeks! We want to thank everyone for their patience while we moved in our own ponies (and ourselves!) and have been getting settled 🤗

And thank you to everyone that came out over the weekend to inspect the facilities! We're so excited to meet your lovely horses and hopefully provide them a place they can call home and you can feel at home! 🏡

We currently have 1 agistment space left! So feel free to message us for further info or to arrange a time to see the place 😊

15/02/2023

Hope all of your ponies appreciated the cool change today as much as ours did! 😍⛅️😌 Here's our Quarter Horse, Simba, enjoying one of his final baths at the old property before being moved to Hamilton Acres. 🧡

11/02/2023

There's a whole lot of information out there when it comes to horse feed and supplements! 🌾But it's such an important part of horse welfare. That's why we've dedicated countless hours to researching available products so that we can best meet our horses' (and yours!) varying needs. 🤓

All of our agistees that opt for feed included and horses here for on-property training will receive a dietician-approved, personalised, and nutritionally balanced diet.

It can also be incredibly hard to find everything you need in one place! And this is why we highly recommend Moreton Bay Stockfeed. Not only are they one of the only stockists we've found in the area that carry Johnson's Platinum Low GI (the base feed we use for all of our horses) but they also carry a majority of the other products we use and are extremely friendly and helpful to boot. ⭐️

*Note: The logos and trademarks featured in this post are the property of their respective owners and are used for informational purposes only. This post is not sponsored or endorsed by any of the brands shown.

09/02/2023

Let's start talking about some services that we offer now! 🤠

* Do you want a training experience for your horse in which they come away more confident, focussed and connected with you? 💛

* Does your horse exhibit undesirable behaviours, needs to be started/re-started under saddle, or do you even just want to teach your horse some cool tricks or create a more positive relationship with your horse? 😎

* Do you want a trainer that will allow you to be involved in your horse's training and development? 🤝

Tylah is our equine behaviourist from Liberated Equestrian Horsemanship and she can help with all of the above and so much more. Tylah has a Bachelor of Wildlife Science with studies in animal behaviour and welfare, a Diploma of Equine Psychology, studies in Applied Equine Behaviour Analysis, a Certificate in Equine Sports Massage Therapy, saddle fitting and hoof trimming courses, and is currently studying a Bachelor of Psychology and Neuroscience. Her approach is one where evidence-based methods meet connection-based training.

It is out of this approach she helps more and more horses every day see the world through the eyes of a liberated spirit, and not a broken one.

05/02/2023

Thank you to all the lovely people that have enquired about agistment and we will be in touch with those interested in the coming weeks! :)

For now we would love to introduce our range of other services that we will be offering. First up is lessons! We will be offering a range of lesson types from foundational horsemanship skills, liberty training, and of course horse riding.

We are dedicated to bringing the experience of kind and ethical horsemanship to both our students and our horses. We believe that a change is necessary in the industry so are raising the bar as our horses deserve no less. That's why we are proud to offer our connection-based approach which includes bitless riding to all of our students. We are passionate about helping you achieve your riding goals while fostering a positive relationship with the horse. With personalised attention, a supportive learning environment, and a focus on safety and kindness, we aim to make every lesson a memorable and enjoyable experience for both the student and the horse. We can't wait to foster your lifelong passion for these amazing animals and rewarding partnership.

02/02/2023

We just want to say thank you so much to everyone that has sent messages of support and enquiries! 🤗 We are really excited to kick off 🤩 in the meantime we're working on getting our website up and and running so stay tuned for that. And we will be in touch soon. 😊 Hope everyone is keeping cool today! 🥵

01/02/2023

We are so excited to finally be able to accept Expressions of Interest for our brand new Agistment Facility based at Pumicestone Road, Toorbul! This has been a dream for our family for a long time now and we can't wait to provide a friendly, quality, fun environment for you and your most precious friends. Horse welfare is at the forefront of everything we do. So what do we offer??

** 1 acre private paddocks with fresh water, shelters, horse-friendly fencing and mineral-balanced soil that has been specifically seeded for equines
** 24/7 experienced care on site
** 60 x 30m sand arena
** Direct access to extensive trail network
** Directly opposite Toorbul Pony Club
** Under 15 minutes to the State Equestrian Centre at Caboolture and Beachmere's horse-friendly beaches
** Coming soon: round yard, private storage sheds for each paddock, wash bay, jumps
** Opportunity to organise regular agistee trail rides and Pony Club days

Self care agistment price: $70 per week
Full care agistment price: $110 per week (owner to provide feed) or $140 per week with nutritionally balanced feed specific to your horse's needs provided by us.

Full care inclusions:
** two feeds per day
** rugging of horse as per your requests/as weather requires
** cleaning of paddocks
** daily water checks and trough cleaning

Extra services (please message to discuss):
** Stable access
** Barefoot trimmer on site (happy to arrange regular trimming cycle)
** For self care agistees we can provide feed (individually nutritionally balanced) for extra fee
** Riding lessons on your horse at a discounted rate with one of our qualified instructors

On site is also our highly experienced horse trainer/equine behaviourist, Tylah, of Liberated Equestrian Horsemanship. She is available for individual sessions when needed or can also offer advice to agistees if they have any questions.

At this stage we are aiming to open in late February/early March but are taking Expressions of Interest now as there are limited spaces.