Anne-Maree & Max

When I met Shelley, I was at a bit of a loss. I purchased an 18 month old Warmblood with the idea of starting my own horse. With no prior experience starting a young horse and having always owned TB’s or Arabs, I had no idea where this journey would take me!

I started Max under saddle which seemed to go easily to begin with until he started becoming resistant. The advice I was given was that this was normal and I just needed to force him through it which only seemed to make things worse. He began evasive behaviours like refusing to go forward, even at just a walk and bucking. Realising I was out of my depth and also becoming pregnant, I sent Max off for some training with a professional. The behaviours worsened and now he not only bucked but had begun charging, kicking and bolting!! He was 17hh and 700kg of angry horse!! Being pregnant, I had no idea where to go next so put him on spell and left him untouched in a paddock for 12 months.

After the 12 months, I bought him home and decided to start a fresh and give myself 6 months. If I couldn’t resolve his issues, I would give him to someone who could. Trying something different, I took Max to some ground work and liberty clinics which began to help unravel some areas where I had gone wrong and through connecting with other people, met Shelley. Shelley very kindly offered to help me and we arranged a lesson together  I will never forget this lesson LOL but knew straight away that there was light at the end of the tunnel!! Shelley showed me that Max was never a nasty horse and that it was simply confusion that drove him to be resistant and develop avoidant behaviours. Unfortunately, these avoidant behaviours had become very well ingrained as he earned himself a 12 month holiday after bucking everybody off. In Max’s mind, bucking was a very efficient way of ridding himself of confusing humans who never seemed to listen LOL. Never the less, Shelley always gave me hope and more importantly, the skills to safely and effectively work through all of these issues. She taught me how to read very subtle signs in Max and to listen. She taught me how horses think and learn. She taught me how to shape and encourage positive responses and discourage “negative” behaviour. She always listened and offered her help and support when I needed it. She always made everything manageable and through this, gave me courage to continue working with a horse I was once terrified to ride! 3 years on and thanks to Shelley, I actually have a pretty amazing horse who I feel blessed to own every time I ride him. Max has always been a courageous, bold and honest horse. I get compliments on his quiet, steady and pleasant nature at every outing I take him to. Without Shelley, I would never have uncovered what a truly amazing horse he is. Words cannot express how truly grateful I am. You will always be more than just my trainer and look forward to many more years of learning and growing.