Bio
I have been working with horses for most of my life. As a young fellow I got the bug to compete in show jumping and dressage, but this led onto a more serious study of horse behaviour and learning an approach to horsemanship that best suited the horses rather than being purely focused on the needs of people.
I have heard from a lot of different sources that I am a western trainer or that I am a natural horseman or that I use a specific method. None of these things are true. I start and train horses, as well as teach people about horses and in the process try to help people understand their horses better.
My career with horses began at an early age with a weekend job at a Sydney riding school. I soon took an interest in dressage and show jumping and quickly discovered many owners wanted me to compete on their horses. I began breaking-in horses during my mid-teens. At university I undertook a science degree and later was awarded a doctorate in physiology. During this time I continued to educate horses and compete at a high level in the show jumping arena.
Subsequent to being awarded my PhD, I pursued research interests overseas in North America and Europe. While living overseas I continued to work with horses on a casual basis. I received several contracts to start horses in in different countries. But I also worked privately for the general public.
After several years overseas I returned to Australia and shortly after substituted my academic and research career for working full-time as a horse trainer in Victoria. In early 2003, I met Michèle Jedlicka from Kansas at a Harry Whitney clinic in Arizona. We were married at the end of that year and the partnership extended into the business of training horses and teaching at clinics together. We moved to Delungra in northern NSW in April 2011 where I focus most of my time teaching clinics, writing and enjoying my horses. Presently my interests have followed down the road of more teaching and clinics and less time spent training horses for people.
Michele and I continue our higher education in horse training by studying the principles of good horsemen in Australia, North America and Europe.
Philosophy Of Horse Training and Teaching
Horses give their best when they feel good about the work and not perform simply because they have been trained to do a job. Just about all behaviourial problems are based on bad feelings the horse is experiencing about the work. Change the way he feels and you change the way he behaves. Part of that is not killing his personality. I work every horse from a basis of understanding of what that horse is feeling towards the training and how the training can be modified in order to help each horse to feel better about his role.
Horses are bigger and stronger than we are, yet have a gentleness and curiosity about them that seems childlike. They also have an immense capacity to try to get along and forgive all our faults when we present training in a way that they feel does not threaten them. Qualities such as these are sometimes lost when the human attempts to ‘train’ a horse.
In the process of training we often try to eliminate essential parts of a horse's personality because they appear to get in the way of making him submissive. The very things they we often love about them we destroy so that we can turn them into performing robots. I feel this is a short sighted and unnecessary approach to training.
It is important to allow a horse to try something different from what they know, to venture further than they have before and come out the other side is key to helping a horse feel better about the horse/human relationship. Many people appear to be unable to allow a horse to make a mistake, and put the animal in a situation where they can't get anything right. It's either the human's way or nothing, and that's not the way a horse functions. It kills their curiosity, their natural urge to know what is safe, and what will save them. When training, helping a horse to feel confident to try, even if it's not what we eventually want is important. If a horse feels they can offer something, anything, and that they will not be criticized or get into trouble, then I have a place to start. Most horses we see have learned that trouble is nearby when a person is in the picture. I want to change that.
When it comes to teaching people about horses I think learning to understand what motivates the behaviour of a horse in a ‘moment to moment’ sense is the biggest obstacle that people face. Once you learn to listen to how a horse feels inside, you can then learn to present yourself and your ideas to a horse in a way that feels good to the horse and will allow him to go along with your ideas with a minimum of fuss. You can’t work horses to a formula or recipe because a horse’s needs change every second let alone from horse to horse. Methods are not nearly as important as ‘feel’ when working a horse because if you have ‘feel’ you can adapt just about any method in a way that will feel good to a horse.
I have been working with horses for most of my life. As a young fellow I got the bug to compete in show jumping and dressage, but this led onto a more serious study of horse behaviour and learning an approach to horsemanship that best suited the horses rather than being purely focused on the needs of people.
My career with horses began at an early age with a weekend job at a Sydney riding school. I soon took an interest in dressage and show jumping and quickly discovered many owners wanted me to compete on their horses. I began breaking-in horses during my mid-teens. At university I undertook a science degree and later was awarded a doctorate in physiology. During this time I continued to educate horses and compete at a high level in the show jumping arena.
Subsequent to being awarded my PhD, I pursued research interests overseas in North America and Europe. While living overseas I continued to work with horses on a casual basis. I received several contracts to start horses in in different countries. But I also worked privately for the general public.
After several years overseas I returned to Australia and shortly after substituted my academic and research career for working full-time as a horse trainer in Victoria. In early 2003, I met Michèle Jedlicka from Kansas at a Harry Whitney clinic in Arizona. We were married at the end of that year and the partnership extended into the business of training horses and teaching at clinics together. We moved to Delungra in northern NSW in April 2011 where I focus most of my time teaching clinics, writing and enjoying my horses. Presently my interests have followed down the road of more teaching and clinics and less time spent training horses for people.
Michele and I continue our higher education in horse training by studying the principles of good horsemen in Australia, North America and Europe.
Philosophy Of Horse Training and Teaching
Horses give their best when they feel good about the work and not perform simply because they have been trained to do a job. Just about all behaviourial problems are based on bad feelings the horse is experiencing about the work. Change the way he feels and you change the way he behaves. Part of that is not killing his personality. I work every horse from a basis of understanding of what that horse is feeling towards the training and how the training can be modified in order to help each horse to feel better about his role.
Horses are bigger and stronger than we are, yet have a gentleness and curiosity about them that seems childlike. They also have an immense capacity to try to get along and forgive all our faults when we present training in a way that they feel does not threaten them. Qualities such as these are sometimes lost when the human attempts to ‘train’ a horse.
It is important to allow a horse to try something different from what they know, to venture further than they have before and come out the other side is key to helping a horse feel better about the horse/human relationship. Many people appear to be unable to allow a horse to make a mistake, and put the animal in a situation where they can't get anything right. It's either the human's way or nothing, and that's not the way a horse functions. It kills their curiosity, their natural urge to know what is safe, and what will save them. When training, helping a horse to feel confident to try, even if it's not what we eventually want is important. If a horse feels they can offer something, anything, and that they will not be criticized or get into trouble, then I have a place to start. Most horses we see have learned that trouble is nearby when a person is in the picture. I want to change that.
When it comes to teaching people about horses I think learning to understand what motivates the behaviour of a horse in a ‘moment to moment’ sense is the biggest obstacle that people face. Once you learn to listen to how a horse feels inside, you can then learn to present yourself and your ideas to a horse in a way that feels good to the horse and will allow him to go along with your ideas with a minimum of fuss. You can’t work horses to a formula or recipe because a horse’s needs change every second let alone from horse to horse. Methods are not nearly as important as ‘feel’ when working a horse because if you have ‘feel’ you can adapt just about any method in a way that will feel good to a horse.