Ashlee Slavich - Event Rider and Coach

Ashlee Slavich - Event Rider and Coach Ashlee Slavich - EA coach. Event rider. Based in Goulburn Valley, VIC

Mornings only for the most dedicated of students 🥶…. And her mum!
20/07/2026

Mornings only for the most dedicated of students 🥶…. And her mum!

Spending hours on my feet, in rain, hail or shine, repeating directions of a course 100 times over and loosing my voice ...
30/06/2026

Spending hours on my feet, in rain, hail or shine, repeating directions of a course 100 times over and loosing my voice at the end of a weekend because building a relationship with riders and helping them grow and develop is always worth it 🤗

30/06/2026

Taking the young/green horse to their first comp.

🐴 A little snippet it of, not young, but definitely green, ‘Red’ out at his first🐴

Variables which may affect how your horse manages the outing, which are often forgotten about:

🔹Travelling
🔹Being tied to the float
🔹Yarded with other horses
🔹 Leaving their buddy
🔹 Warming up amongst other horses
🔹 Size of warm up areas. Do you have space to do your own thing or does a feeling of claustrophobia or horse shy start to creep in
🔹 Moving arenas from warm up to competition arena. This can be very distracting for some horses and it may feel like you’re starting your warm up all over again
🔹 Noises eg; PA systems, crowds or machinery
🔹 Walk ways to and from arenas and float parking. These can be very busy and may wind up your horse before you even get to the arena.

What to do:

🔹 Pick the event wisely based on what will be best suited to your specific horse. A horse which is inclined to be nervous, hot or spooky needs to start with very little atmosphere.
🔹Do the work, do the prep. Not just the week before, but months before.
🔹 Have practice outings which are smaller and of less atmosphere and get you practiced in different environments eg; riding with friends, lessons with your coach, clinics.
🔹 Calming pastes are helpful, but they are not the be all and end all and do not replace work.
🔹 Ride them every day (or as close to) the week leading up to the event.
🔹 Give yourself heaps of time - more than you think! Being in a rush is the last thing you and your horse need.
🔹 Walk them lots. Don’t just leave them in the yard or at the float until it’s time to ride. Get them out seeing things and settling on the end of a lead rope first. Not grazing - walking!
🔹 Pre- ride. Have a ride before you get on to warm up and then compete. Often going out for a short ride then coming back to the float for some hay and a chill out, gives them time to think.
🔹 Ground work before you ride.
🔹 Be around your horse. Take note of how he is taking in the atmosphere. If your horse because stressed, it’s best to get on top of it sooner rather than later, help them settle, then leave them alone again. If you leave them for hours unattended you will of missed out on valuable information regarding how your horse is actually managing all things related to the outing.
🔹 Your horse forgets a fair percentage of his education and overall rideability when stressed, anxious or distracted so be prepared to be sitting on a different horse. It’s because of this that you want to prepare with educating the horse above the level that you want to compete at - don’t do the bare minimum and hope to get away with it.

21/05/2026

Putting in the work is always worth it!

17/05/2026

Yes we all find cross country exciting, (well most of the time 😅)
We get to go a bit faster, get out of the saddle, jump some cool jumps, take a couple of flyers here and there ✈️😅
But what doesn’t always look so shiny and fun in our practice is the more detailed approach. These of which actually end up paying off in competition and in the long run.
And that is the discipline to develop good rideability in our horses.
We need them to turn and bend well, stay in balance while changing direction, while jumping and landing and while going up and down terrain. Have adjustable canters, be able to easily go up and down the gears and be polite enough to pay attention to us and not just go out and gallop.
So next time you go out schooling test out how much control you have by:
1 - Making more transitions. Go up and down the gears in trot and canter.
3 - Changing direction more often
4 - String more fences together rather than jumping them singularly
5 - Ride curves and straight lines
6 - Use transitions and circles in your lines to help make the horse more responsive to your aids

Thumbs up to Matilda riding this tricky line. From one rein, to the next, and back again in a relatively short space of time. What you can’t see from the video is how little room there is between and on either side of each of these jumps. She had to ride super accurate corners in order to be square and straight to each jump as well as having to work at acheiving bend and balance all throughout the pattern👏👏

I love my work. Especially when I’m teaching cross country! 😄Some take aways from a morning out on the course were: 🔹Get...
17/05/2026

I love my work. Especially when I’m teaching cross country! 😄

Some take aways from a morning out on the course were:

🔹Get your horse in front of your leg. You want them to travel for you without having to constantly nag them.
🔹Make the basics of having the horse in front of your leg, being in rhythm and balance and riding accurate lines so well practiced that achieving them becomes second nature to you. You need to achieve these on auto pilot almost so that you have space in your mind and time to think about other things that will make your ride better.
🔹 You must work on rideability in your horses. We need to be able to go up and down the gears, turn easily from one rein to the next and overall have a horse that listens to our aids.
🔹 Ride the whole horse, not just the head and neck of which you see in front of you. Make adjustments in bend, balance and engagement not just in your hands but in your legs and body/seat.
🔹 Get on terrain! Go up and down things, across altering terrain as much as you can. This can be challenging living on the flats of the Goulburn Valley so go and find terrain every chance you get.
🔹 Cross country riding requires many different body positions. A galloping body position is different to a position preparing for an upright rail which is different from a body position for going down a bank. Don’t ride cross country like a show jump course in a paddock.

Last call for cross country clinic entries 🏇Entries close this Sunday🔹Saturday 9th of May🔹Euroa Horse Park 🔹Address: 2 M...
29/04/2026

Last call for cross country clinic entries 🏇
Entries close this Sunday

🔹Saturday 9th of May

🔹Euroa Horse Park

🔹Address: 2 Millard’s Ln, Euroa VIC 3666

🔹 $93 per combination (this includes $33 course hire per rider).

🔹Minimum level of rider/horse combination - Grade 6 Horse Trials.

🔹Direct deposit payment.

🔹 Entries close Sunday 3rd of May. Groups and times will then be finalised and emailed.

Please email:
[email protected] to book.

I will reply to your email to confirm entry and send relevant forms to be filled out.

Please reach out if you have any questions regarding the clinic.

Thank you in advance and hope to see many of you there 😄

Upcoming Cross Country clinic ‼️🐴🔹Saturday 9th of May🔹Euroa Horse Park 🔹Address: 2 Millard’s Ln, Euroa VIC 3666🔹 $93 per...
04/04/2026

Upcoming Cross Country clinic ‼️🐴

🔹Saturday 9th of May

🔹Euroa Horse Park

🔹Address: 2 Millard’s Ln, Euroa VIC 3666

🔹 $93 per combination (this includes $33 course hire per rider).

🔹Minimum level of rider/horse combination - Grade 6 Horse Trials.

🔹Direct deposit payment.

🔹 Entries close Sunday 3rd of May. Groups and times will then be finalised and emailed.

Please email:
[email protected] to book.

I will reply to your email to confirm entry and send relevant forms to be filled out.

Please reach out if you have any questions regarding the clinic.

Thank you in advance and hope to see many of you there 😄

With a lot of my students going to Inter-schools this week and the competition season being in full swing, I felt inspir...
03/03/2026

With a lot of my students going to Inter-schools this week and the competition season being in full swing, I felt inspired to write a little post.
A little bit of advice, which I put my hand up to say can be very hard in practice sometimes 🙋‍♀️😅

Everyone is on their own journey.
Stick to what you know is the best thing for the rider that you are on the day and the horse that you have on the day. Special note to “on the day”. Competition is different to training and both us and our horses can feel different.

Don’t get flustered with what others are doing around you, they are doing their thing and you are doing yours. The worst thing you can do for yourself and your horse is change things in your warm up because you’ve seen what someone else is doing.

Stick to your system and stick to your plan.
If problems arise, breathe, stay calm.
It will be ok 🤗

Address

Shepparton, VIC

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Ashlee Slavich - Event Rider and Coach posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category