Blue Metal Equestrian

27/11/2025

USE YOUR VOTE! One member one vote - let your voice be heard!
Follow the instructions to nominate a proxy, it is really easy ! Unsure who to nominate … Lloyd Raleigh has invested the time for all EA members to get this SGM legally over the line after many member attempts failed so just pop his name in at the prompt !

SGM REMINDER | Special General Meeting - 11 December 2025

We know there has been a lot of information circulating on social media in respect of proxies for the SGM.

EA would like to clarify that Vero Voting is the RECOMMENDED method to submit your proxy to ensure it is valid.

With over 19,000+ members, we want to ensure no human error occurs with proxy submissions and processing.

Why Vero Voting Portal?
• Automatic verification & validation
• Instant notifications when submitted & matched
• Detailed records for complete transparency
• Eliminates human error in processing
• Peace of mind your vote is counted

We acknowledge that human error occurred with Director Elections. The automated Vero portal prevents this by removing manual processing for validating and assigning proxies.

Already submitted your proxy by email or mail? We strongly encourage you to RESUBMIT via the Vero portal to ensure your proxy is valid and counted.

Any proxy which is received in accordance with the Corporations Act and is valid will be accepted at the SGM.

Proxy Deadline: 7.00pm Tuesday, 9 December 2025.

Access the Vero Voting portal using the link from your Notice of Meeting.

Need help? Contact: [email protected]

This SGM is separate from the AGM/SGM held on 19 November. The Board has scheduled this meeting following receipt of a requisition pursuant to the Corporations Act.

Your voice matters - submit your proxy via Vero Voting today!

Equestrian Tasmania Equestrian NSW Equestrian Victoria Equestrian Queensland Equestrian Western Australia Equestrian South Australia Inc Equestrian Northern Territory

27/11/2025

I Think that there is truth in this for any athlete in training .. if you don’t push out of a comfort zone, you don’t progress. It’s easier to recognise those boundaries within ourselves but harder to feel when to cross the line when schooling our horses. I like the explanations here ..

24/11/2025

It’s time to get behind the member led SGM … this is the start for the reform that’s needed. A super number of members responded to the last meetings … we need more this time. If you can’t attend the meeting on line, don’t want to, can’t be bothered .. then please nominate Lloyd Raleigh for your proxy - it takes 2 minutes - either click on the link in the email he sent members or click on the link in the email vero voting sent you. PLEASE DONT WASTE YOUR VOTE. Together we can lead our sport in the direction that we as riders and members want to.

21/11/2025

Looking forward to these training days !

2026 we are back. Visiting coaches. More information to come.

18/11/2025

If you are wanting to get finished with your intro or level 1 coaching accreditation or work through some of the components, Sarah and Ben offer a great education and mentored program that they have successfully developed - we highly recommend it! Sarah’s two series books .. “on the right track” are also a great asset to your coaching toolbox as she is the absolute master of managing group lessons in flatwork on an arena 🤩

If you are wanting to attend the Fast Track EA coach assessment in January- make sure you have entered now and collating all your prior certificates.
Text call if you want to clarify: Sarah 0417419229

https://nominate.com.au/EquestDn/Event.aspx?e=04B4DE45FD9F4A04A49211E1B843E5D9&eventlist=37

09/11/2025

Great post Dr Shelley Appleton Calm Willing Confident Horses !!
We look forward to welcoming her to BME as a clinician next year ! 🙌🏽

On the Bit

Ah, “on the bit” — three innocent words that have caused more equine misery than a saddle that doesn’t fit (and that’s saying something).

Generations of riders have yanked, seesawed, and gadgeted their way to glory — all in the noble pursuit of putting their horses “on the bit.” The arched neck, the tucked chin, the “look at me, I can ride” pose. The term has made us worship the picture, not the process.

But here’s the twist - it’s all built on a translation mistake.🤓

The original German never meant “on the bit.” It meant something closer to “going to the hand” or “working toward the rein.” A dynamic, living process - a horse reaching out through balance, posture, and activity from behind.

Which, if you think about it, is the complete opposite of “pull and seesaw the horse’s face into submission.”
Dressage rider Steffen Peters once translated it more simply: “muscle them up.”💪

And that’s the point - it’s about building posture and strength, not sculpting a neck like a pipe cleaner.
I was lucky enough to experience the missing piece of this puzzle firsthand, thanks to a ten-year-old girl I once coached.

Her mum had her learning training with me and riding position with a show rider. She had a lineup of ponies that had been rejected by her pony club friends as “naughty,” so we restarted them from scratch, from the ground up, and I showed her how to do it.

Then something magical happened. Every time we reached the riding phase, when the ponies were ready for her to pick up both reins, within a couple of minutes they would move into a beautiful frame — no pulling, no pushing, no drama. It was intriguing, because I had a process for achieving this, yet we never had to use it.

Out of curiosity, I asked, “Are you doing anything with your hands?”🤔

She said, “No way — Anna (my riding instructor) banned me from doing anything with my hands. I’m not allowed to move them. My hands must stay still.”

That was the lesson.

When a horse is relaxed, understands its work, and isn’t busy surviving your corrections every half-second, it has a chance to find a functional way of going. It goes to the hand. Its spine flexes, its back muscles stay dynamic, and its posture finds harmony all on its own.

And it didn’t come from a clinic, or a German masterclass, or an expensive biomechanics workshop.
It came from a ten-year-old kid who didn’t have a clue how to do all the typical things people do - she just knew she had to keep her hands still. And in doing so, she showed me more.

I actually think this has had larger ramifications for how we understand the training process, especially in disciplines like dressage. Our fixation on head position has disrupted the understanding of the deeper process that involves both mind and body - not just the head and neck.

Moral of the story? There are two:
1️⃣Translations can get us into trouble.
2️⃣Never underestimate who can teach you incredible lessons.

This is Collectable Advice Entry 75/365 and my series on the words and terms we use in the horse world. Please hit SHARE for others to benefit from this as well, or just hit SAVE so you a keep this collection of work. But please, no copying and pasting as that is not cool.

02/11/2025

As most of you know BME's goals are about developing grass roots community and helping amateur riders achieve their riding dreams through clinics, coaching, mentoring and retreats.

We believe that it is really important to acknowledge the work that our EA state branches do to support us in these goals. Educating judges and coaches to better meet todays welfare demands and ensure that we as riders are on the right training paths with our horses, assisting event committees to run and developing programs for encouraging grass roots and amateur riders. If we lose our state branches, we will lose this support as well as open points of contact to help us when we need it.

The motions that EA have put forward for the Special General Meeting concern me greatly. By allowing EA to become a state branch and effectively taking members from other state branches and/or allowing any member to join any state branch, we will ultimately see the demise of the state branches. EA as a state branch might entice you with cheaper member fees but they will be not be able to provide you with the services that your current state branch does. Smaller states with smaller membership will find it increasingly hard to maintain their services if members join elsewhere. If members abandon their states and funding diminishes the states will not be able to provide the amazing services we receive and EA has shown little interest.

Despite the surveys asking for our input as members, the reforms over the past 2 years and the promise of offerings, EA has become more and more bureaucratic and mostly focused on govt funding for high performance and Olympic selection. Nothing has been offered for grass roots and amateur riders which makes up over 90% of membership.

The AGM and SGM have been scheduled late in the evening and in order to vote on the SGM motions, members must sit through the AGM first. So if you know that you will not register to attend, PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR VOICE AND YOUR VOTE. It is really easy to register a proxy on Vero Voting.

If you do not know anyone who is going to attend the meeting, or you do not know any of your state branch representatives, then Lloyd Raleigh, a QLD member who has been heartily advocating for members voices and is a competitive equestrian of many years - is happy to advocate for you via proxy. This is really easy.

Open the email from Vero Voting that was sent out on the 28/10 and simply click the link that says "lodge a proxy" then follow the prompts. Please don't let EA dictate how our sport runs. Support our state branches.

15/10/2025

DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, Amanda Kennett is running some pop up cross country schooling next week (Wednesday & Thursday) prior to Nana Glen. So please message us if you need a little more last minute exposure to water, ditches, drops, steps, banks, skinnys or apex's etc. EA accredited Level 1 coach (up to 80cm).