Sponsored Teams

What started your love of horses?

Oh I absolutely love this question as this was such a special moment in my life and one of my fondest memories. My love for horses actually came from my grandmother. When I was a little girl, she would always take me to our local horse carousel and I fell in love with all the beautifully hand carved wooden horses! I would spend hours trying to choose which horse I wanted to ride and would have to go around and speak to each and every one of them, giving them a pat and admiring their beauty! Which always made my grandmother laugh because I would always end up on my most favourite carousel horse - Blue Skye! My grandmother always encouraged me to pursue my passions and to chase after my dreams. I am forever grateful to her for helping me get into lessons with my Aunty and for encouraging me to stick with it!

Why did you choose to work with Magic Pines?

For me the thing that most drew me to want to work with the team behind Magic Pines was watching their journey unfold with Kali. It was so inspiring to watch Kali truly flourish under their care and to see the bond they developed with her. It was just so incredible and inspiring! It still gives me goosebumps to this day and is the reason I always want to keep learning from this extraordinary team. I have always loved people who are willing to go above and beyond for their family. I just knew that I could find no better team to help me work with Luna than these guys! I absolutely love everything that Magic Pines stand for and feel very privileged to have the opportunity to learn all that I can from them.

What is your proudest horse-related achievement?

Definitely learning how to become a master of groundwork and learning just how important having a good bond and groundwork sessions really help to mold a horse for their entire life and ridden career. It is so very difficult to find many places that will be willing to work with you and teach you  the basics of how to lunge a horse, to teach you what pressure points are used to get your horse to move their forequarters/hindquarters or even how to work with a horse at liberty! But this is one of the things I have loved about being able to work with Magic Pines. They are so very passionate about wanting to teach people not only how to ride, but how to respect their horses and to learn how to take the time to understand how to work with our horses to achieve the best results for everyone, I find this step is quite often overlooked in the horse world and I am so eager to learn more skills to use in the future!

What is the best piece of advice you have taken from Magic Pines that will always stick with you?

Oh my goodness this is a hard one! Especially because I have been privileged enough to work with the team behind Magic Pines for well over a year now and have learnt so very much! I would have to say that my most treasured advice that I have learned is how to listen to your horse and to allow them the freedom of being able to be themselves. This has proven to be so incredibly invaluable when it has come to strengthening the bond that Luna and I share together, and Luna is certainly a very expressive little lady! Which I absolutely adore about her. Luna will always tell us how she feels! She trusts me completely and always knows that I have her best interests at heart and in return I also trust her completely.

Why do you want to be part of the team and represent Magic Pines?

What I absolutely love about Magic Pines is their core values when it comes to horsemanship and what the represent day in and day out, not only just to their clients but to their own personal horses as well. You can truly see the love and passions they have for what they do and for each and every horse that they work with. They both strive to make the horse industry more aware of how to work with your horse and to respect who they are not only as an athlete but a unique individual as well. I feel so incredibly grateful that they have given me the opportunity to not only further my knowledge in this area but  to be able to help represent these values too!

What are your favourite things about Luna?

There is just so much to love about Luna! She has a bigger than life personality and she isn't afraid to let you know how she is feeling! She will always greet you with the biggest neigh when you come to visit her and always demands to be the centre of attention and to be cuddled when you are trying to do your chores or not paying attention to her. Even more than that she is incredibly patient and such an amazing teacher. She is so much like me but in horse form - I just love her! She truly is my heart horse and I just feel so incredibly lucky to have such an amazing and patient soul in my life.

What is the biggest lesson Luna has taught you?

I absolutely love this question, especially because Luna has taught me so much over the years that we have been working together. From learning how to ride a non-school master horse to becoming more and more confident with groundwork and how to read a horse's behaviour and movements. It is so very hard to pick just one lesson, as I truly value them all! But I would have to say that the biggest lesson I have learned from Luna would be to be patient, trust in the process and not rush anything at all. I have never worked with such a young horse before and most training packages for horses run for 6-8 weeks and then the horse is sent home to the rider to work with. For me, this is not enough time to have been able to take on Luna's education myself nor to have taught most horses absolutely everything they need to know to succeed. All horses are different and require more or sometimes even less time to understand the fundamentals. Luna is definitely a prime example of that. She has been in training for well over a year now and I am grateful that I have taken the right steps to ensure Luna and I receive the proper education that we need to be successful and to really work well as a team. I believe that by doing this it has not only strengthened our bond but has in return taught me so much more about horses that I would have never known by just buying a schoolmaster horse.

What are your goals with Luna?

One of my biggest goals for Luna and myself is to be able to compete with a bit-less bridle in a dressage test! I know this sport is a long way off from being able to do this, but I would love for us to be able to prove that you can work with a horse and help them learn certain dressage moves without having to use the bit. Apart from that I would love to be able to take Luna to some big shows and compete in some of the Friesian classes with her.

Where do you see yourself and Luna in the next 3-5 years?

The biggest goal I have for Luna and myself is to be able to compete in an elementary dressage test. Not necessarily to win or get high scores, but just to be able to have fun and learn new skills! I would also love to be able to take Luna out to a jumping show! How fun would that be, to have a Friesian out doing a jumping course!

What is one thing you would like to see Magic Pines achieve?

One of the biggest things I would love to be able to see the Magic Pines team achieve would be to be able to rescue a horse from one of the doggers who purchase a poor animal that no one else wants from the sales and turn it into someone's dream pony club mount! I'd love to be able to follow them along on their journey and to eventually be able to do this myself one day when I have my own property.

Do you have any advice you would like to share with other horse owners?

The biggest piece of advice I would love to be able to share with any horse owner is to believe in yourself and your dreams and to trust in your gut instincts. You must be willing to get your hands dirty and be willing to learn everything that you can!