Classical Dressage

I believe in following the fundamentals of good horsemanship, working with the horse's natural movements and behaviours to induce the correct responses in my pupils and their equine partners. I endeavour to improve my skills constantly and to pass on my knowledge to clients and pupils. In 1995 I received an NCAS Level 1 instructor's certificate.

RP Babylon (pictured above) by RP Zimran is one of Rimni Park's progeny I kept for myself! She has won and placed in many PSG and Inter 1 competitions at the local, State and National level before her spell. Now back in training, I will be competing her at Inter 2 and GP in 2010.

Recently I participated as a rider with my stallion Mozzimo in a Philippe Karl 'School of Legerete' or 'Lightness' clinic in Bathurst in September 2009. Phillipe's respect for the horse at the centre of his philosophy struck a deep chord with me, and I hope to continue learning Phillipe Karl's methods in the future. For information on Philippe Karl's methods please see his website at www.philippe-karl.com

 

After working with dressage horses in Japan in 1993 I decided to breed and train warmblood horses full time. I have continued my lessons with many top class instructors such as Matthew Dowsley, Ricky Mac Millan, Ulla Salzgeber, Martina Hannover, Stefan van Engelman, Carlos de Cleermaker and most recently Hartmut Shmidt. In 2008 I trained for 3 months in Germany under Hartmut. His classical methods derived from his 11 years as assistant to National trainer and talented rider Willi Schultheiss in Warendorf.

Since the age of 14 I have been lucky enough to have received lessons with excellent dressage instructors such as Clemens Dierks and Glenn Fry. In the late 1980s and early 1990s I trained and competed many young horses, amongst them were Beaufort Miss Dior and RP Cassidy two of Australia's top 3DE horses. I competed in 2DE till I began specialising in dressage with my first FEI horse RP Oskar, a modest percheron WB cross but one of Victoria's top small tour horses. We took part in the first High Performance clinic in lieu of the Sydney 2000 olympics. Shortly after this we tragically lost Oskar.