Workshops and Training

A Clear Connection

One of the most challenging aspects of training horses, is understanding how to be progressive, train step by step to advance in the direction you want. To do this we must firstly understand the psychology of training, why horses do anything and how much to expect on a daily basis in order to keep progressing.

All of this comes from experience and dedication. We are all bound to make mistakes, and mistakes aren’t such a bad thing, as long as we learn from them. Problems develop when we aren’t aware of our mistakes and therefore keep repeating them. Eventually this leads to frustrations for both horse and rider.

What we should hope to learn from a teacher, is a way of learning to think for ourselves. The end result is never handed to us on a plate, but it helps a great deal to have someone who is gifted in helping you to recognize those mistakes in their infancy and more importantly how to correct them in a logical and effective manner.

Good training comes down to good communication through a balanced seat allowing accurate messages from the seat to the hands. Achieving this “connection” is an essential part of the process of creating calm, supple and responsive horses.

Steve Jefferys is a man well known in this country, with demonstrations at all 3 Equitanas and Olympic games. His beautiful stallion ‘Jamieson’ has thrilled us all in demonstrations of incredible communication on the ground and in the saddle. He and ‘Ammo’ stopped the world with that breathtaking gallop and rear to open the Sydney Olympic Games. Whilst his talented four year old stock horse ‘Drummer’ was ‘The colt from Old Regret’ in the recent Man From Snowy River Spectacular. In addition to their fame all three horses are National Champions in competition.

Steve Jefferys will be conducting a number of progressive schools over two days, designed to enhance the skills of everyone from beginners to advanced riders, both on the ground and in the saddle.

There are 14 rider positions available in each clinic and unlimited spectator numbers. The dates for the clinics are listed on our coming events area with details of how to register.

Steve has written a number of training articles for the NSW EFA magazine. 

The following articles are Copy write to Steven Jefferys and may not be reproduced without his permission

Focus on the Basics

People’s perception of what I do with horses is often very wrong.  They see me working in one particular area or discipline of horsemanship and they immediately categorize you.

I am often being referred to as either ‘a natural horseman’ or ‘horse whisperer’. As much as I am flattered by their intent I am not really comfortable with either tag. To me, a good horse is a good horse regardless of his breeding and a “good horseman” is just that! There seems to be some apparent difference between a ‘natural horseman’ and your old fashioned ‘good horseman’. I’m not too sure what actually gets you placed in one category or another, A Horse whisperer appears to have an almost magic touch, yet I’m sure that you will find some correlation between the amount of magic performed and the amount of hours spent grinding it out in the dust and the dirt learning to be a better communicator.   I say, “Whoever does the most homework wins”

It appears that “natural horseman” on the other hand seems to be using less equipment and in general asking less of their horses. Read more >

Buying a new horse
 As I’m sure we are all aware, buying a horse can be an extremely difficult and frustrating experience, and whist experience is certainly an advantage finding the right horse can be a minefield. Read more >

Desensitisation or deafening your horse to your aids
Desensitisation or deafening the horse to the aids of the rider is one of the biggest issues I come across, with it occurring in all disciplines and at all levels. This is a common problem where horses are exposed to more and more pressure from our aids, in an effort to achieve or maintain appropriate levels of response. The reality is however, that although the pressure of the aid increases in both intensity and consistency, the response from the horse decreases, to the point where we often receive nothing but resistance. . Horses do their best work when they are corrected for their mistakes and then left alone; allowing them to perform without resistance.  Read more >

Programming your horse  

Everything we teach a horse is a learned response to pressure. A repetitive response to the same pressure will soon become a habit.  Read more >

Feed to Need  

One of the main ingredients in training successful well behaved horses, is managing the amount of fuel or energy you put into them through their feed. There is no doubt that you will make life hard for both you and your horse by not balancing the amount of fuel that you put in, to the amount of energy you burn up on a daily basis. You don’t need to be a nutritional expert to work this out, it’s more common sense than anything else, yet many of us don’t seem to recognise the importance or the benefits of getting it right. Read more >