Want an effective and fun start to your spring season with your horse?
Would you benefit from a clinic designed to help you build connection with your horse and hone your skills?
I’m a big believer in the power of good horsemanship to support every rider — whether you love heading out on the trail or have your sights set on performance and competition.
I regularly use groundwork with my eventing horses to:
Build better connection through clear, consistent communication
Suppleness and topline development
Add variety to their routine
Encourage playfulness and curiosity through liberty work
Make everyday handling calm and enjoyable by teaching them to follow a feel
If that sounds like something you'd like to explore more, come join us this September at our Spring Horsemanship Clinic at the beautiful Wairoa Lodge in Clevedon!
This clinic is designed to help you build (or refresh!) your groundwork, riding skills, confidence, and connection — so you can get the most out of your partnership, no matter what your goals are.
The clinic is organized into 2 sessions :
Morning Session: Groundwork for Safety & Connection
This session focuses on building groundwork skills that support safety, connection, and overall horse wellbeing.
We’ll begin with a discussion on how horses think and learn, then move into practical groundwork techniques and patterns. These exercises will help you :
Connect more deeply with your horse
Improve safe handling
Develop suppleness for wellbeing and safer riding
Whether you're refining existing skills or learning groundwork for the first time, this is a great opportunity to grow your confidence and your partnership.
Groundwork lays the foundation for everything we do with our horses - on the ground and in the saddle. It builds trust, understanding, and encourages softness which all support safer, more effective riding.
At Wairoa Lodge, we’ll make the most of the large round pen. Depending on the group’s needs, we may explore:
Liberty work in the round pen
Obstacle-based groundwork, including the pedestal/“box,” a small jump, and bending exercises around markers
These add a fun challenge to the session and offer real-life applications for the techniques - including building skills useful for tasks like trailer loading and everyday handling.
Afternoon Session: Groundwork Progression or Ridden Training
In the afternoon, riders can choose to:
Continue building on the groundwork skills from the morning session, or
Join a ridden session to apply those concepts under saddle.
We’ll begin by introducing the two key turns learned on the ground, now ridden - focusing on how to apply correct leg and rein aids to teach a safe turn on the forehand. This is an important tool for managing tension and creating calm, responsive horses under saddle.
From there, we’ll move into some fun ridden obstacles, designed to build connection, focus, and body control. We'll wrap up with an optional obstacle challenge, blending elements from working equitation and cowboy challenge styles.
This session is all about safety, softness, and suppleness under saddle. Through bending techniques and calm, coach-supported challenges, riders can test and refine their aids and build confidence in a low-pressure setting.
Whether you stay on the ground or get in the saddle - the choice is yours!
Clinic cost -
$215 - Sunday clinic
$30 - Ground fee per horse
Participants need to have basic handling skills and the ability to keep control of their horse in a group teaching situation. If you are unsure, or would like to be more prepared, we recommend a one on one horsemanship lesson prior to a clinic.
Maximum of 8 riders. As a qualified teacher I am excellent at ensuring fair and equal attention is provided to all participants during group teaching.
