Strong Performance Coaching

Strong Performance Coaching Welcome! I'm dedicated to sharing insights on building strong equine partnerships, backed by extensive experience in Dressage and Working Equitation.

My focus is on horse welfare and continuous learning, helping you and your horse thrive at any level.

💚🐴 What exactly is In Hand work? 🐴💚For me it is one of the most important things I can ever do with my horse. I never us...
02/07/2025

💚🐴 What exactly is In Hand work? 🐴💚
For me it is one of the most important things I can ever do with my horse. I never use to believe that though, I was a rider, all that work on the ground was for people who did not want to get on and ride. It shocked me when I actually put the work in and learnt the skills what a massive difference it made to my horses mental, physical and emotional understanding of being a ridden horse.
So In Hand for me can encompass many things. Explaining contact, moving with the horse in their bubble to build partnership and understanding, helping them to feel where their feet are by taking slow methodical steps.
I use bending exercises, lateral exercises such as shoulder in, quarters in, half pass and walk pirouettes and rebalancing exercises to move them off the forehand.
It’s also fantastic and giving horses confidence over and around obstacles you might find on Working Eq, Ranch or Trail competitions.
Sound like a skill you would like to learn?
Upcoming clinics.

https://nominate.com.au/EquestDn/Event.aspx?e=0B9939CBC9344F669AFF2D07B9652DA1&eventlist=2

https://nominate.com.au/EquestDn/Event.aspx?e=93D047587A184FD1AEDDA616533450CE&eventlist=37

https://www.strongperformancecoaching.com/product/the-art-of-in-hand-workshop-july-27th/

💚🐴Young Horse, how much do you do?🐴💚I was chatting with a friend today about horses, herd bound issues and young horses ...
01/07/2025

💚🐴Young Horse, how much do you do?🐴💚
I was chatting with a friend today about horses, herd bound issues and young horses in general. Pondering just exactly what does it take to set them up with a great foundation and skills for life. The sort of horse that will always have a great home and be valued and not going from owner to owner and beyond.
Here is my take and I would love to hear from you what you believe is essential as well.
To me its not that you have to ride them a lot, I know there is a saying about wet saddle blankets making good horses. To some extent that can be true but I also think for the longevity and soundness you have to be careful to not overload them and break them down instead of build them up. Muscles tendons ligaments and growing bones do need some stress to get stronger and build an athlete and I honestly do not think starting horses later in life is to their advantage. But I do feel that doing a lot of ground work and In Hand work is invaluable.
For me the most important thing is "exposure"
Introducing your horse to lots of different stimuli, starting at home and building up to outings to different places. Teaching them how to deal with pressure, knowing how to get some self regulation when things go wrong.
It can sometimes be very hard in the English style disciplines to be able to take your young horses just for an outing. Most often you are only allowed to bring horses that are entered. I feel this is a great disservice to being able to produce long term happy athletes. Their first outing is a "competition" one and they never really get to have an introduction that is zero pressure and just an easy day out to see the sights. The western style competitions have this really covered. They take their baby horses everywhere, no restrictions and the more the merrier and it really makes a massive difference to how well adapted those horses become.
So what can be done? You have to look for excursions on your own, go to clinics, set up play dates, find situations that you can be safe but push the boundaries and still have a good experience.
Go to places that do not have an entered horse only policy like local shows, pony club or obstacle play dates(think Karinya in the Valley)
Don't hesitate to pay for clinics that you can take young horses to or multiple horses. It's actually paying for foundation on your horse and if you consider just how much trained/ going horses cost then its money well spent.

I have a couple of clinics coming up so dm if you are looking for opportunities :)

💚🐴July opportunities to work with me🐴💚Well June was a very busy fun month with some great clinics hosted by Clubs. July ...
30/06/2025

💚🐴July opportunities to work with me🐴💚
Well June was a very busy fun month with some great clinics hosted by Clubs. July looks to be just as much fun with a trip to the Whitsundays the first weekend to coach. Here are a few more upcoming clinics but I suggest booking in pronto.
July 19th Clinic at Mt Hallen
https://nominate.com.au/equestdn/Event.aspx?e=0B9939CBC9344F669AFF2D07B9652DA1&eventlist=2

July 20th YH/Green horse clinic at home here at Allora, only 2 spots left.
https://www.strongperformancecoaching.com/product/young-green-horse-clinic-july-20th/

July 26th Private Clinic at Cedar grove, some positions may become available so stay tuned.
July 27th In Hand Clinic at home here in Allora. Once again limited spots available.
https://www.strongperformancecoaching.com/product/the-art-of-in-hand-workshop-july-27th/

This workshop incorporates work from the ground and theory around the Art of In Hand work. You will learn the theory behind the exercises and then get to practise lateral work, balance and contact with your horse.

💚🐴Young/Green Horse Clinic 20th July🐴💚Do you have a new horse or a young horse or a green horse that you would like some...
19/06/2025

💚🐴Young/Green Horse Clinic 20th July🐴💚
Do you have a new horse or a young horse or a green horse that you would like some help with?
Confused by all the online information and just want a practical step by step hands on guide?
Looking for an educational and fun day to give your horse a positive experience?
Then this is the clinic for you! Only a few spots left so do not delay booking.

💚🐴 This makes my day 🐴💚I’ve been a student of Naomi’s for over four years now, and in that time, she’s helped me realise...
18/06/2025

💚🐴 This makes my day 🐴💚
I’ve been a student of Naomi’s for over four years now, and in that time, she’s helped me realise one of my lifelong dreams—bringing along a young horse to become my perfect partner.
Three years ago, with Naomi’s guidance, I found Dougie—my once green, just-started four-year-old—and together we began the most rewarding journey of my riding life. Naomi has been there every step of the way, helping us take things slow and steady, always focusing on Dougie’s physical, mental, and emotional development.
Through regular lessons and clinics, we’ve worked as a team to navigate the highs and lows—tackling physical challenges with diet, bodywork, tailored treatment, and the mindset that every ride is ‘onboard physio’ and every groundwork session a chance to build his body and his trust.
Naomi’s knowledge, care, and calm guidance have made all the difference. She’s not just my coach—she’s the steady hand I trust to help me make the right decisions for my horse. Today, I’m lucky enough to have the horse of my dreams. Dougie is everything I ever hoped for—and more. He’s now the benchmark others use when they’re looking for a new horse. Everyone wants a Dougie.
I have Naomi to thank for that, and I’m forever grateful!

💚🐴Opportunities to work with me coming up🐴💚June 20/21st Darling Downs Working Equitation Super Clinic. Closing tonite so...
09/06/2025

💚🐴Opportunities to work with me coming up🐴💚
June 20/21st Darling Downs Working Equitation Super Clinic. Closing tonite so get in quick
https://www.nominate.com.au/EquestDN/Event.aspx?e=B6B36ECFFD544038AFD18E5686D1D478&eventlist=30
June 25/26th Darling Downs Western Downs Western Dressage Inc
July 19th UQEC Clinic at Mt Hallen Lockyer Valley
https://www.nominate.com.au/EquestDN/Event.aspx?e=0B9939CBC9344F669AFF2D07B9652DA1&eventlist=2
July 20th Green/Young Horse Clinic at Allora
https://www.strongperformancecoaching.com/product/young-green-horse-clinic-july-20th/
July 26th Rosewood Clinic details to come
July 27th Art of In Hand Workshop at Allora
https://www.strongperformancecoaching.com/product/the-art-of-in-hand-workshop-july-27th/

This workshop incorporates work from the ground and theory around the Art of In Hand work. You will learn the theory behind the exercises and then get to practise lateral work, balance and contact with your horse.

💚🐴 My lovely Maggie is quietly ticking away on getting stronger and developing into a bit of a superstar.🐴💚
09/06/2025

💚🐴 My lovely Maggie is quietly ticking away on getting stronger and developing into a bit of a superstar.🐴💚

💚🐴Saturday morning reading with your coffee maybe 🐴💚
30/05/2025

💚🐴Saturday morning reading with your coffee maybe 🐴💚

No Guru. No Gimmicks. Just Layers.

Over the years, I’ve gone from riding horses to unravelling them—layer by layer, like a dirt-covered onion with opinions 🧅🐴. What began as a casual hobby quickly spiralled into a full-blown forensic investigation of everything from behaviour to biomechanics to herd dynamics, with the occasional brief holidays in Overthinkingville (population: me) 🧠⛺. Apparently, once you start paying attention to horses, they return the favour by showing you everything you didn’t know you didn’t know. It’s both magical ✨ and mildly humiliating.

I began, as most do, with the Standard Model of Horsemanship: lead, ride, rug, feed, repeat 🔁. If a horse was “tricky,” there was always a solution—get lessons, bigger bit, fancier gear, lunge them into submission. We called it “training.” I thought that’s how it was done, mostly because that’s what everyone else was doing while nodding confidently 🙄.

Then a horse came along who didn’t just refuse to play along—he tore up the script, lit it on fire, and handed me the ashes 🔥📝. And that’s when the real learning began.

I discovered that horses actually learn things 🤯. Not just learn about things—but learn through things. Wild, right? I’d spent years doing stuff to them, and now I had to figure out how to do stuff with them. I got curious. I got better. I started spotting gaps in their understanding and learned how to build bridges instead of battlegrounds 🌉. I even built a business out of it. Turns out, I’m quite good at helping confused horses make sense of our nonsense.

But then came the mare.

The one who couldn’t learn that she’d be okay. Not just whether she could do the thing—but whether she could cope doing it 💥. Confidence, I learned, isn’t a side-effect of click-and-reward or a byproduct of pressure-release. It’s a whole internal ecosystem. And when that ecosystem is out of balance, no amount of cheerleading or technique will stick. In her case, the cause? Pain. Subtle, sneaky, unseeable. Her body couldn’t do what her brain knew it should, and her failure to gain confidence was the only breadcrumb she left behind 🧩.

By this stage I thought I’d reached the summit 🏔️. Turns out, I was still at base camp, holding a stick and calling it a compass.

And just when I’d stabilised that paradigm shift with a cup of tea and some deep breathing—enter wild horses 🐎🌾.

No saddles. No stables. No five-step plan to connection. Just horses being… horses. Grazing, breathing, moving as one—wired by nature, not rebranded by humans 🌿. And it hit me square in the prefrontal cortex: I’d spent years working with horses without ever really meeting the horse (note: Thank you to Kerry M Thomas ❤ )

It was like discovering your housemate of 20 years has a secret identity, and you never thought to ask what they do on weekends 🕵️‍♀️. I’d helped horses cope with the lives we gave them—but I never stopped to ask what life they were meant for.

I thought I understood “herd dynamics.” I could talk about alpha mares and hierarchy and "herd bosses" with the best of them—which is to say, confidently and inaccurately 😬. Turns out, a lot of what we call “natural” is just domesticated dysfunction and that's the only horse behaviour we are exposed to so we "think" it is normal 😵‍💫.

But these wild horses? They were functional. Their instincts were firing like a well-tuned alarm system 🚨. They were dialled in, not spaced out. When I energetically projected my desire to be their friend and guardian and emotional support human, they said, “No thanks. This is our family. This is our life. We already have a system. You are… not part of it.”❌ (True story 😆)

And just like that, the domesticated horse looked different to me 👀. I saw how captivity doesn’t break their instincts—it triggers them. Their brilliance becomes their burden. Because when flight is your superpower, suburbia is a psychological maze full of plastic bags, squeaky gates, and people who believe “groundwork” means walking in a circle until your soul leaves your body 🔄🫠.

But here’s the twist: those same instincts that make horses reactive also make them remarkably adaptive 🧠⚡. Nature didn’t just give them alertness—it gave them learning. Which means the problem isn’t their wiring. It’s whether we honour it.

And just when I thought I had reached a nice, balanced place with all this—along came Tami Elkayam Equine Bodywork.

While I decode behaviour and external expression, Tami dives into the deep tissues and anatomy of the horse and speaks fluent fascia 💬🧬. Where I build communication through behaviour, she builds it through biology. She taught me that tissue talks—and your touch can either soothe it or send it into full-blown DEFCON 1 🚫🖐️. She showed me how to read the horse’s movement, even when they aren’t moving, and how my own sensory system could be trained to listen like fingertips reading braille. [Note: I will admit here that this did involve a lot of Tami putting my hands on horses and asking me if I “Can you feel that?”. And me saying “I think so” while secretly panicking because I felt nothing before finally I felt enough tissue to feel something 😂].

She taught me that every single thing we do—the feed, the feet, the tack, the terrain, the exercise, the thoughts we had at breakfast—all of it feeds into the horse’s nervous system 🔄🧠. It’s a full-body conversation, 24/7, and you’re participating whether you mean to or not.

Tami also reminded me that every time I teach a horse something, I’m asking them to do something nature didn't necessarily create them to do. And that comes with risk. My job isn’t just to teach—it’s to protect the process 🛡️. To recognise when I need to back off, modify, or support. Because safety isn’t just a concept—it’s something a horse feels.

Now, I know some of you might feel overwhelmed by all this. You might think I feel overwhelmed by all this.

I don’t.

Because when you stop needing to know everything, the not-knowing becomes wonder instead of worry ✨. I don’t feel lost—I feel bloody lucky. Lucky to be learning. Lucky to be part of the conversation. Lucky to still be here, peeling back layers with muddy boots and an open mind 🥾🧠.

So yes—I’ll keep learning. I’ll keep listening. I’ll keep calling out red herrings, rabbit holes, and rebranded fairytales that promise magic and deliver mediocrity 🎭. I’ve been blessed by the horses I’ve met, the people I’ve learned from, and the lessons that hit me like a sack of feed when I least expected it 🪣💥.

And I’ll keep sharing it all. The good ideas, the bad ones, and the ones that just need a firm tap with the “this could be better” stick 🔨.

Because the horse deserves better. And we can do better 💛.

And now, a few closing notes for the back row philosophers, bored scrollers, and Facebook comment warriors:
👉 If this resonated, hit the share button. Thoughtful horsemanship isn’t built on silence and side-eyes. It’s built on brave conversations and brains that like a bit of friction 🧠💬.

🚫 Please don’t copy and paste this and pretend it’s yours. I wrote this. With my brain. And my time. Plagiarising me is not the flex you think it is 🚷🖊️.

🙃 I discuss ideas, not people. So if you’re reading this and thinking “Is this about me?”—take a breath. Probably not. But if it feels uncomfortably close to home… well, I’m not a psychic, but I’d take that as a gentle cosmic nudge ✨🫣.

📍 And if you think we shouldn’t critique ideas because they’re linked to people—pull out a map. If you don’t live in North Korea, you are not banned from having public discussions. This is not a gulag. It’s a conversation. Welcome to democracy 🗺️🗣️.

🎻 And finally, to the tone police:

✔️ Yes, I make you think.
✔️ Yes, I’m cheeky.
✔️ Yes, I know my stuff.
❌ No, I’m not writing for everyone.

I’m writing for people who want to do better by their horses and enjoy a laugh along the way 🐎😂. If that’s not you, that’s okay. Scroll on. There’s an entire internet full of other stuff for you to enjoy 🎶🌈.

I’m not your guru. I’m the person who makes you drag your favourite ideas out onto the porch and give them a good whack with a cricket bat 🏏. (Hat tip to Tim Minchin.)

Now go forth—and get curious about your horse. 🐴💡

IMAGE📸: Wild horses in Kosciusko Natural Park rejecting my subliminal messages for me to be their friend. They didn't want a human, they strongly preferred the world they had evolved to thrive in ❤

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💚🐴 Enjoy the journey🐴💚A little bit of reflection today on one of my horses Ludo. I purchased him out of a paddock as an ...
27/05/2025

💚🐴 Enjoy the journey🐴💚
A little bit of reflection today on one of my horses Ludo. I purchased him out of a paddock as an unbroken 3 yr old. He was showjumping lines out of a Tb mare. He was broken in soon after and I have to say he was not my favourite young horse to ride. Opinionated, big strong and just plain tricky. I decided that he was probably better suited to eventing and anyone who knows me knows that’s not my idea of fun. I sent him to Linda and Melanie Schmerglatt for more training and to be sold. I was dealing with 2 critically ill parents at the time and just could not give the horse the time he needed.
Melanie did a fabulous job with him and he was sold pending vet check which he promptly failed. Homeward bound for Ludo! I was pleasantly surprised just how nice he was to ride now and decided to keep going. Mindful he had failed a vet check we did a full work up only to discover that his front joints and feet looked like a 25yr plus horse that had jumped at the highest level all his life. The prognosis came back that putting him to sleep was probably the kindest thing to do. Mind you this horse cantered up to be ridden every day! I think I cried for a week then decided that if he stopped wanting to be ridden then that was then I would make a decision.
He retired at 18, he never stopped cantering up until the day he died at 23.
He was the hardest horse I have ever had to teach changes to but one time changes became his forte.
He was fairly normal moving in his basic paces but could piaffe and passage better than any horse I had seen or felt.
He was always tricky and I wish I knew then what I know now so I could have helped him more and given him better peace and harmony.
I wish I had been more grateful for all the lessons along the way and less worried about other peoples opinions and results on the scoreboard. I loved him dearly, all the quirks, all the tears and the frustration he was worth the learning and the heart ache.

Address

Allora, QLD
4362

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 6pm
Tuesday 7am - 6pm
Wednesday 7am - 6pm
Thursday 7am - 6pm
Friday 7am - 6pm
Saturday 7am - 6pm
Sunday 7am - 6pm

Telephone

0429323819

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