Red Gum Equine Services

01/08/2025

Planning for 2026 adventures is underway...... first up, spectating a 3 day classical dressage clinic somewhere down south 😁 Anyone want to join me?

Australian Clinics

25/26/27 of February
Ripplebrook
Organiser Natasha Jones
Confirmed ✅

28/2 and 1/and 2/ of March
Yea
Organiser Lamers
Confirmed ✅

4/5/6 March
Ballarat
Organiser Rylana Stauffer
Confirmed ✅

8/9/10 March
Canberra
Organiser Bonnie Skinner
Confirmed ✅

13/14/15 March
Willinga Park
Organiser Shona Telfer
Confirmed ✅

17/18/19 March
Brisbane
Organiser ———-
Proposed

Please get in touch with relevant organisers regarding application for ridden and spectator spots
Please keep checking back in case we had to make changes!

Posted by Rylana, (as accurately as i can at this stage

31/07/2025

One of the big things I've been playing with this year is not wearing a single track amongst the trees. I used to have a rather well defined circle around a clump of trees and it irritated me that I'd gotten to the point of mind numbing circles with my horses. This year I set out to change that and have been aiming to create tracks absolutely everywhere and not just one singular one.

The benefits have been numerous. My horses are more with me physically and mentally, they're finding a better balance, they're getting comfortable with unpredictability and they seem like they're enjoying the work so much more. Our rides are interesting now as we pick a path through the trees, go straight here, sharp turn there, big circle around these trees, smaller circle around those trees and when you get things wrong avoiding smacking into a tree is a great time to test out your stops 🤣

Don't be afraid to change things up and get off the beaten path whenever you can, your horse may well thank you for it.

📸 part of my riding area. Can see a bit of a defined path above Pennys right ear but for the most part you'd be hard pressed to tell where I mainly ride.

30/07/2025

Sometimes you just need to get creative.

I don't have an arena, it's in the plans but for now it doesn't exist so I make do with what I have. I recently had to lock the horses off a part of their paddock while the boundary fence got replaced. This has now left me with about 180m of straight fence line to work alongside and boy have I done some laps up and down this fence. I've trotted it, I've cantered it, I've down little leg yields, I've done transitions up and down every however many posts and the list goes on.

Best thing you can have in your tool box when you're training horses is your imagination 💡

29/07/2025

Where you end a ride with a horse is so important, it can be the difference between making progress and not.

I've been playing around with a few things with Penny lately, got an awesome improvement tonight and couldn't get off quick enough and call it quits for the day. Could it have been better? Absolutely but if I'd kept going and looking for just a little better then it would have been one step forward and several back. It can be so easy to get greedy with your horse, to do something cool just one more time and blow it all completely. It's a fine line to tread at times that's for sure.

28/07/2025

It's not long now until the Darwin clinic with Anthony Desreaux from Reata Ranch Horsemanship. Riding places are available but if you're not up to riding we have plenty of fence sitting available too, $25/day no need to pre-book.

🪑Grab a comfy chair, bring a notebook and definitely bring your questions, never know what you may learn.

Here's some details.
📝 9, 10 and 11 August.

🕘 starts at 9am each day.

📍 Darwin Horse and Pony Club Grounds Lagoon Rd Berrimah (we will be in the sand arena).

See you there 😁

27/07/2025

I once heard it said that wood carving is simple, just remove the bits of wood that don't look like what you want to to finish with. If you're carving an owl then simply remove the bits that don't look like an owl. Simple just not easy.

It's similar in a way to trimming horses feet.... simply remove the bits that dont look like a good foot. Simple just not easy.

What you remove in either instance is dictated by your level of observation and knowledge. The more you learn, the more you can see what makes a good foot, what needs removing and more importantly what needs to be left behind.

Simple just not easy.

📸 a foot from this morning. Not my best work but not too shabby either, I've lost the groove for putting a decent edge on my knife and it's driving me nuts. I'll get it back though.

22/07/2025

Big reason I don't sedate horses for clipping is this 👇Simply put I'm not a vet and thus not licensed to administer sedation. Clip courtesy of Dr Ethan Ramos Hill on the Tikky Tok.

20/07/2025

This time last year I had only ever ridden Penny in a snaffle bridle (with the odd brief ride here and there in a halter), definitely only ridden her in my dressage saddle, canter was hit and miss whether it would be relaxed or full of anxiety and when I'd bring her back to trot it would take quite a bit of work to find relaxation again.

Today canter is not really a "thing" any more and she's been ridden in my western saddle (which she was not really a fan of at first) and traditional hackamore since August last year. We happily pick up canter on a loose rein and come back to a soft relaxed trot just off my seat 😁

If anyone wants to know why I'm a huge fan of Anthony Desreaux Reata Ranch Horsemanship....... THIS horse is the reason why. It's been a hell of a long haul to get to this point and I'm not entirely sure I could have done it without Ant's help. Bring on the Darwin clinic in a couple of weeks time 😁

20/07/2025

Some ears cam footage of Mr's first proper ride out on the trails and what a legend he was 😁 Happy to lead through places he had never been before, pushed through some scrub, wandered along behind and cantered out no dramas at all. He was a bit tired towards the end, this was the longest he's ever been ridden and 3rd ride in 8 months so he's not overly fit. All in all an awesome morning for the little dude.

19/07/2025

19/07/2025

When you saddle up your horse don't ever forget to pull the saddle pad up into the gullet of your saddle 👌 Doing this helps keep pressure off the sensitive withers.

16/07/2025

This 👇 1000% this. I could say more but read this as many times as you need to get it. Wise words.

Training Tip Tuesday:

TRUST THE PROCESS.

Yesterday while I drove my trailer out to the shop, I got caught up on the newest podcast to hit the western industry:the Gallop and Gossip Show.
Dude.
So good.
If you're not listening YOU'RE missing out.

In one of the episodes they talked about "trusting the process", and how many people are in such a hurry they won't let the process play out.

I won't lie. I see this everyday with young girls and their barrel horses. They ask for help, you share your experience, and then they tell you it didn't work. But for how long did you stick with it?

From over my 3 decades of experience, I know that
1. I don't know it all and won't know it all,
2. There is most definitely a process, and
3. It takes as long as it takes.

You cannot expect the same results your trainer or your mentor get -- in the same time frame. Your experience and skill-set limit you in that regard. But if you TRUST the process, keep at it, continue to study, learn, better yourself with feel, timing, balance, and the like, YOU will get there.

Your horses will get better as a result. But you can't quit the process in lieu of quick results because you're impatient. It takes as long as it takes.

If you don't have clinic or lesson money, it's likely going to take you even longer to learn what you don't know because you're not able to take advantage of the shortcuts other people have discovered. But still, TRUST THE PROCESS.

For most of you, barrel racing is supposed to be FUN. It's a hobby. You're spending money on it because you enjoy it. So, if you're not enjoying it, AND enjoying the process, find something else to do. If you are enjoying it, but want to win before it's your time, well, that's just not how this works. You've got to TRUST THE PROCESS.

Anyway, that's all I have for you today, folks.

But before you go -- I'm currently trusting the process on a young mare that I'm riding for a client. She's a little front-endy, hollow-backed, and speed control from our seat isn't great yet. But, everyday she gets a little bit better. And by the time I send her to her owner in Texas in another 60-90 days, she's going to know how to drive from behind, pick her front end up, have her shoulders follow the nose, and be able to carry a soft feel on a slack rein, with some impulsion and collection. I'm going to TRUST THE PROCESS.

Will you TRUST THE PROCESS?

Be sure to check out the podcast sponsored by SynNutra Equine -- I've been fortunate enough to be on their team for several years now. Their products are second to none. I'll share that story for another time, but if you'd like my discount code to give them a try - reach out!