Equestrian Spirit in Calamvale, Queensland, Australia | Sports & fitness instruction

Equestrian Spirit

Locality: Calamvale, Queensland, Australia

Phone: +61 422 429 925

Address: Waterford Tamborine Rd 4027 Calamvale, QLD, Australia

Website: http://www.equestrianspirit.com.au

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24.01.2022 Hey guys! It's been a minute! Actually 2 years 2 months to be exact I've been on hiatus from lessons trying to navigate motherhood #raisingboys Swipe across to see the cutie We're in the process of taking over the lesson schedule at dove haven equestrian park and now available for lessons on our beautiful team of schoolies. ... So if you're keen for a catch up and a ride or just want to say hello let's tee up a time. You can keep up to date with what we're up to on instagram, facebook, youtube or email. Jump across to our website and see what we're doing! www.equestrianspirit.com.au

23.01.2022 What would workshop would you prefer?

23.01.2022 Feedback please and thank you If someone asked you what equestrian spirit was about how would you describe us and what is your favourite thing youve learnt? Mine is obviously righty tighty, lefty loosey! Whats yours?

23.01.2022 So excited for this to be ready!!! I know how hard it is to remember everything we go through in lessons, I think this is going to be an easy actionable resource that you can watch through and go ride

22.01.2022 I have a really exciting announcement for everyone who has been anxiously awaiting news on whether or not I will be extending my training services to workshops and other learning opportunities. I guess its pretty obvious to you that while I love everything I do in Equestrian Spirit let's say my organisational skills and ability to stay focused and on task is much to be desired and as such I haven't been able to take Equestrian Spirit to the heights I had dreamed of alone. On ...that note I would like to announce a collaborative effort with colleague and vet tech Sarah Gallagher who is far more competent in all things marketing, promoting and social media management. Together we have hatched a new baby "Equestrian Movement". Equestrian Spirit will continue as is for 1:1 lessons with some goals to incorporate a bit more of my naturopathy world although that will probably come through with Equestrian Movement as well. For all horsey development skills we would love you to like our facebook page "equestrian movement" and check out our website: https://www.equestrianmovement.com/ We have more exciting news coming up throughout the rest of this month. Shhh secret squirrel business. See more

21.01.2022 "There are only two emotions that belong in the saddle; one is a sense of humor, and the other is patience." John Lyons

21.01.2022 "The art of riding is keeping the horse between you and the ground" One of our primary focuses in our lessons is developing our students to have a strong, stable lower leg, followed by a strong, centered core for balance and an independent seat. Not only does this help us stay on the horse but the more balanced we are in the saddle the clearer our communication with our horse is.... When we teach contact we do start with kick means go, pull means stop but we quickly help out students move on to how to have a conversation with their horses. It is a priority for me that my students have soft, sensitive hands and are listening to and feeling their horses and they learn to work together with their horses as a team.

19.01.2022 Only 1 spot for the full 4 days left for our kids camp on December 14. PM me for details

19.01.2022 Why does my horse evade? There are 4 main reasons for a horse to evade: - it doesnt know what you want - it cant do what you want - its not giving you its 100% or applying itself to the task... - it is actively challenging your leadership ability Often when riding we get told to be firmer, stricter, stronger in our aid but this only works in 1 of 4 of the reasons why your horse is not doing what you ask. You cant hit understanding or ability into your horse. So then how can you figure out which reason your horse has for not cooperating. - if your horse is trying but trying lots of different things, it doesnt understand. You need to stop and figure out how to explain yourself more clearly. - if your horse is trying but not giving you the quality you want. You need to stop and figure out which building blocks in your horses condition you have skipped or not done well. - if your horse is trying but not giving you its 100%. You need to stop and ask yourself have I let my horse become desensitised to my aids or have I pushed them too far physically or mentally? You will probably also have to go back to your foundations and resensitise your horse to your aids and build up their endurance for performance. - if your horse is doing the EXACT opposite of what you are asking. If you stop they keep walking, if you go they stop walking, if you ask right they pull the bit and go left, if you go left they pull the bit and go right. Your horse is actively testing your leadership abilities. It knows what you want well enough to know the opposite, it can do well enough what you want to do the opposite. So you better step up and prove yourself as a leader that your horse wants to follow otherwise your horse will take on the leadership role by default. Which isnt necessarily a bad thing this the case with kids and beginners, youll just have a hard time making your horse do anything because it doesnt respect you. So next time your horse doesnt do what you want, instead of going straight to the whip, take a breath first, calm yourself, and ask these 4 questions before you react

19.01.2022 Horse mad already... I'm in trouble

18.01.2022 Ponies writing me messages on my dirty car. What do you see? I think its a duck waving a long blade of grass in front of a kangaroo #equestrianspirit

17.01.2022 I dont want to big note myself or anything but I just got my chaff bag open first go without a knife #likeaboss

17.01.2022 Lessons From The Horses Mouth https://www.equestrianmovement.com//lessons-from-the-horse

17.01.2022 Youre horse is talking to you whether or not youre listening and whether or not you like what they have to say. They talk with their positioning and body language so it takes time to understand what they are trying to say and open a conversation up between the 2 of you. In the first picture king is asking me to take his halter off and in the second he is asking to go out in the paddock #equestrianspirit

16.01.2022 We only have a couple more lesson times available until we are fully booked!! So if you're thinking about learning to ride or getting back into it send me a DM and we can organise a time

16.01.2022 Just a little bit excited about a project we have in the works, I reckon you guys are gonna love it!!! If you havent started following equestrian movement yet get about it so you dont miss out

15.01.2022 We have an announcement to make tomorrow, are you ready?

15.01.2022 When your bringing your horse back into to work after the festive season be kind to yourself (and your horse) after 3 weeks break you will start to lose muscle tone, coordination and contractility. Do light training as your work for the first couple of weeks, keep the length of training shorter but more regular if you can and only do the exercises that were your warm up before you went on break. Youll be surprised how quickly these muscle groups start coordinating again and it will happen without forcing and bullying yourself and feeling down about how much athleticism you lost over the break. Give yourself some grace to bring yourself back into your training slowly #equestrianspirit

15.01.2022 Question: Do you feel like your riding is holding your horse back from its potential? If so why?

14.01.2022 How to nail the canter: Save this post If you are wanting to perfect the accuracy of the strike off or the pop of the canter, these are my go to moves ... Outside leg says get ready to canter. The key here is feeling your horse. If your horse is thinking about canter their balance and weight distribution changes in preparation. This is so important when you say to your horse get ready to canter. Are they thinking canter? Don't even worry about perfecting the strike off until you have this Inside leg says canter on. Your asking your horse to strike off into canter as you apply your inside leg. This makes everything else down the track soooooo much easier. Walk through simple changes, canter strike offs at the letter, flying changes, canter strike offs on a straight line, counter canter etc. Perfecting the strike off, off your inside leg as you apply clarifies your aid so there is no confusion. Reward for the transition. If you want your Transition better stop and reward for it! Don't spend laps and circles of canter and then reward. Your horse will feel rewarded for the canter work and will have forgotten the transition. Mark the transition and reward when you get a good one so your horse understands what you want. Bonus tip. If you want your canter better get your transition better. The first jump into the canter is the most bounce and elevation we have. The longer you spend in the canter the flatter and more strung out your canter will get and then all youre doing is training a flat, strung out canter. Now go play and report back!!!!

14.01.2022 Heres to a life well lived in the saddle chasing your dreams, doing what you can for others and lifting up those around you, especially when theyre scrambling on to those damn big ponies

13.01.2022 Hi friends Facebook has updated its algorithm again which means I pretty much have to pay to boost posts if I want you guys to see what Im sharing. I dont want to do that. I just want to keep you in the loop with whats going on and occasionally share my classic comical value. So if you want to stay up to date make sure youre on the equestrian movement email list and have added our emails to your inbox (because your email providers will filter us as well if youre not opening the emails) and comment and use an emoji when you see our posts to tell Facebook youre interested even if youre not

13.01.2022 If I got a motto tattooed on my arm for my riding what do you reckon it would be?

13.01.2022 There's 4 weeks left of the school term until the Christmas holidays Have you started looking at activities to entertain your small humans? Our kids camp is always lots of fun. Over the 4 days December 14 - 17 they learn:... Horse husbandry skills for daily care of the horses like feeding, grooming, tacking up, washing and more Each day has a ridden focus on dressage, show jumping, trail event and gymkhana (games) Fun horse activity workbooks like colouring the different parts of the horse and horse gear, find a word and theory workbook for the day Horsemanship skills like liberty and trick training where you learn how to cue in tricks and learn how horses learn Days run from 8am - 4pm. Lunch is provided $110 per day or $395 for the week. Book in early to avoid disappointment. Spots are filling fast! To book in send me a PM or jump over to our website http://www.equestrianspirit.com.au/contact-us

12.01.2022 We buried king today. Sometime yesterday between 4 and 5pm we think he had a stroke. He was down and not able to get up and believe the stress of it also coliced him. On the vets advice it was the only humane thing to do because he wasnt able to get up and was stressing himself. I had planned to keep this on the DL because I dont really want to talk about it but he was such a special horse to more than just me. So to everyone who had king in their lives and appreciated the cool, quirky creature he was, say goodbye to him in whatever way is meaningful to you.

12.01.2022 Is this one of your favourite things to see when you go out to the paddock? #canwefixitnoitsfucked fun side note I just found this hashtag, sorry if its offensive to you but I feel it sums up life with horses pretty well

11.01.2022 Why the Mouth Comes Last This is coming on two years old Topaz,sharing his field with the sheep from next door who invited themselves over. There was a day whe...n a sheep was a completely new experience for him and he would be full of snorts and hops, alert and vibrating with excitement, fear, curiosity...In times like these, having nanny-horse Brolga near by, grazing peacefully and unconcerned, taught Topaz that the new things in his life were not to be feared but carefully explored. To be observed from a safe distance, approached, sometimes tentatively nosed, understood, friended and eventually, simply cohabited with, peacefully. And so with every new experience he is allowed to process at his own pace and for himself, Topaz's brain, his mind, is being stimulated, flooded with new data that has to be processed and organized. With each new experience he grows more intelligence, with each positive learning experience, his confidence increases and that has a direct influence on his behavior and character. In this way, Topaz is learning to EXERCISE his MIND just as much as he is exercising his body. What bearing does this have on starting a young horse and the introduction of contact? Everything. This week, Manolo was explaining to a Mother/Daughter riding duo on a green and adult horse that when we start a young horse, contact should come last in all the things that we will introduce him to. Contact, touching the mouth with the bit through the reins, will come after the young horse's body is fit enough to carry the rider in a modicum of balance and when the young horse's MIND has had the time to observe, understand, process and assimilate what it is to be ridden, and began to learn the language of the rider's aids. Becoming a riding horse impacts the young horse in two ways. One is physical. The young horse is having to adjust to having a living weight with its own balance on its back. The young horse has to adjust to a girth, to having a saddle which often enough does not fit. Physically, having to carry this new weight affects the horse in several ways: his muscles and back may be a little sore, he is having to exert more effort and having a girth is impacting his breathing, he is doing something completely new and this impacts his heart rate and his overall physical comfort. It has immediate repercussion on his balance, his straightness. There are truly myriads of ways the young horse's body is registering this change. Especially since for some unlucky young horses, being started means being stalled with minimal turn out and having to learn a new way of life in addition to being ridden. The other way carrying a rider impacts a horse is mentally. The young horse by this time has learned how to co-exist with us and stand with us when we ask. He has learned about taking a bath and giving his feet. He has learned basic manners and how to work with us on the lungeline, in-hand, walking in the arena and around the grounds. He has learned to trailer and stay by us as he arrives in places filled with sights and smells, with people, horses and all manners of creatures he does not know. He has respect for us (as we have for him) and humans are overall friends. (This is a best case scenario!) At this stage, he his willing and able to collaborate with us on the ground. Now the young horse is being ridden and with the unfamiliar weight his body has to carry comes suggestions that escalate into requests and demands, aids he does not understand at first. And that have to be repeated patiently until with repetition spread over time, things begin to click. He cannot walk, trot, canter, turn, halt, leave when he wants to. He is like a child on the first day of kindergarden, learning about the letter A, learning about when to crayon, and when to snack, when to nap and when to go to recess. Learning to obey, read, write, and prepare for elementary school where the same will repeat. It will be a long time before the child is capable of spelling without errors, able to graduate and then to write a thesis. It begins with A, B, C and patience. For the young horse, the arena is a classroom - not just a gymnasium. It is a classroom where he must EXERCISE his MIND to figure out what we want. No matter how simple we make things, there is a massive learning curve. The young horse is having to process information all the time, at our pace, not his, and new data is flooding his brain. The rider's weight, its smell, its breath, its heart rate, its voice, its legs, seat, hands, its whip and spurs (in some cases) its intent and energy, its requests, all are all elements the young horse's mind has to process. It is not a matter or wanting to be obedient or not. Before the young horse is able to do what we wish, he first has to learn how to learn. A young horse who has not be taught how to learn will turn into an adult horse with learning difficulties that are too often mistaken for resistance and a bad attitude. In this process of learning, the young horse makes mistakes. He loses his balance, goes sideways, too fast or too slow. He decides to canter or accelerate or decelerate, he brings his neck up or way down. It is a very intense time for him and one where the rider's job is to create NO negative experiences that will break the trust of the young horse and destroy his good will and desire to please and work with us. Through the bridle, bit and reins we can control the young horse's posture, speed, movements. Through the bit, we can use contact to MAKE the horse stop, turn, be round. But should we? No. We should not. Making is not teaching and it is not training. In our hands, through the reins, we hold the horse's emotions and his future. We have the power to influence the entire work life of the young horse. The quality of his experience and thus his responses and the quality of his work. The bit is not a brake, the reins are not a steering wheel. The bit and reins are there as a means to communicate with our horse as simply and clearly, and as lightly as we can. Contact, can never be allowed to be ignorant, crude, harsh, brutal or overbearing. Contact should not communicate to our horse our confusion, our fear, our lack of knowledge, our desire to dominate, our disrespect and our aggression. Even when the horse is more advanced and the contact firmer, quality contact will remain about teaching, guiding, informing. Throughout the lifetime of the horse, the degree of softness, resistance or activity his mouth, jaw, poll registers when under saddle will be the first informant to the discerning rider about how well or poorly trained the horse was. For the horse, the act of picking up the reins and establishing contact will be a direct and immediate source of information about the quality of the rider and his/her nature. When does "touching the mouth", using contact, comes? 1) AFTER the young horse has started to learn how to learn and understands basic rider requests. In Manolo's system, the horse learns to learn as basic riding cues are introduced to him and reinforced in-hand, gently, slowly and progressively with the rider and handler working together to introduce contact and the handler having 100% control at first. As the horse's understanding grows and his familiarity with being ridden increases, the rider becomes incrementally more independent until he is free to get off line and begin to move without the assistance of the in-hand handler. 2) AFTER the young horse has had the time to exercise and get accustomed to how he feels physically under saddle so that for the first few months of training if he picks up or loses speed, if he loses balance, if he has a momentary moment of exuberance, it will not translate into the rider pulling on the bit intentionally or accidentally. By pulling on the reins, the rider is punishing the young horse's delicate mouth and causing pain that will interrupt his ability to learn and change his understanding of his relationship to the rider. For this reason, Manolo uses a bit-less bridle for the first few months or more of training. This eliminates any chance of accidentally catching the horse in the mouth. When allowed to exercise his MIND and BODY and given time to learn in this manner, the young horse has a much greater chance to develop into a horse that is enthusiastic about working with its rider and has a SOFT mouth and a WILLING mind. That is why the mouth comes last. NOTE: Regarding starting young horse's, Manolo's approach is very progressive and slow. It begins after months of in-hand conditioning so the horse is fit and already a little balanced. It begins in-hand, at the end of the in-hand sessions, with a very light and balanced rider sitting on the horse, bareback with no bridle and being guided by the handler on lightly bended and straight lines for a few steps at a time. There is no saddle and no girth and no contact on the reins when the bridle is added under the cavesson. The experience of carrying a rider is introduced gently,over time, with a following seat, pats and caresses. The young horse is given the time for his body and his mind to grow familiar to being ridden. Note: the bit-less bridle Manolo uses is a Tellington TTouch Lindell which does not put pressure on the horse's poll.

11.01.2022 Today was our scavenger hunt for day 3 of camp. Our elf on the shelf broke quarantine, stole Gunners shoes and hid them around the property Luckily he left us clues

11.01.2022 One of our beautiful schoolies Gunner Gunner is the first horse I rode after being pregnant to build my confidence and fitness in the saddle back up. He is an absolute sweet heart and an crowd favorite I call him my big floofy puppy dog. When we stop to discuss technique he drops his head into my chest for an ear rub.... We like our students to build positive relationships with our horses and be their people as well. Sarah and Gunner have been working together for a little while now and he's starting to show excitement to see her.

11.01.2022 When I say riding "straight" what does that mean to you?

10.01.2022 Do you put all your effort into your horses fitness but neglect your own?

09.01.2022 Hooray, were ready for you to join!!! as founding members if you join before June 30 you will get 12 months free access. We have so many fun plans for where we want to take this! Just this month we have free a training theory guide and part 1 of our first aid guide, plus a discount on our mini course to improve your position in the saddle. Also as founding members you get to help shape what we make!!! What topics you want covered, and in what format, you will have easy access and reference to go back to between lessons when you say to yourself, what did I learn about in that lesson again?

09.01.2022 Opportunity to sign up free for the next 12 months ends tonight! Sign up here: www.equestrianmovement.com (click login at the top left corner to sign up)

08.01.2022 I'm online for the next couple hours writing up a meal plan. Keep me motivated to stay on my computer. What questions do you have about horses/your horse/horse riding?

07.01.2022 Lachy just taught me what the part under the coffee table was for. And here I was thinking it was for me to store books for easy access, silly me

07.01.2022 We had such a good day at our first camp today!!! We embraced the weather and played in the glorious rain

06.01.2022 Hey gang, if we offered a free webinar what would you like it to be about?

05.01.2022 I love having a little herd (much to micks disgruntlement) but theyre so cute how they all hang out together. Now if I just had a pally and a black I would have a pony rainbow #justonehorsesaidnohorseriderever

05.01.2022 We are looking to run a workshop in the very near future in SE QLD. What would you like to see first - Overview of a Prep Test, or Foundations of Equine Development?

04.01.2022 Staying sun safe at equestrian spirit. Grateful for more pleasant weather, was able to do my lessons without a waterfall of sweat down my back #sunsafe

04.01.2022 DON'T PUNISH THE GROWL "Just a generation ago if you went near a dog when he was eating and the dog growled, somebody would say, 'Don't go near the dog when he'...s eating!, what are you crazy?' Now the dog gets euthanized. Back then, dogs were allowed to say, NO. Dogs are not allowed to say no anymore...They can't get freaked out, they can't be afraid, they can never signal 'I'd rather not.' We don't have any kind of nuance with regard to dogs expressing that they are uncomfortable, afraid, angry, or in pain, worried, or upset. If the dog is anything other than completely sunny and goofy every second, he goes from a nice dog to an 'AGGRESSIVE' dog." - Jean Donaldson See more

04.01.2022 If I were to hold a workshop on developing feel who would be interested? Im thinking 4 hours $25 bring your own horse, $45 with horse hire. 2 hours doing exercises on the ground without the horse. 1 hr doing the exercises with the horse on the ground and then 1 hr in the saddle. Would be a group lesson with max of 10 participants. Most likely a Saturday afternoon. What do you guys think?

02.01.2022 I actually love this and its quite educational

02.01.2022 Sneak peak into Equestrian Movement members only space. 18 days left to join for free! Inside the members only portal we will be sharing free premium quality tips on training and horse management and discounts on our other programs and workshops. Get in before the price rise 1st of July <3