Dukes Livery Stables & XC Hire

10/09/2025

Equine-X Connexion Look out for your horse's tendons, ligaments, cartilage and bones with CONNEXION. Specially designed for equine connective tissue maintenance. This advanced formula provides a highly bioavailable form of dietary silicon, expertly microencapsulated with Acacia Gum. Boosted with a t...

19/08/2025

ONLY TWO PLACES REMAINING!!

Working In Hand Saturday 13th September 2025

Whether it is part of rehabilitation after an injury, fittening work or just a way of enjoying non-ridden time with your horse, the principles of in-hand work are a valuable tool.

Over the years I've helped a number of my clients discover the benefits for their horses. In some cases we have been using in hand work as a way of helping the horse to find better balance and learn lateral movements that have then helped improve ridden work. In other cases we have worked under veterinary supervision and rehabbed after injury. I've helped young horses learn balance, suppleness and the language of the aids as preparation for riding. But perhaps most importantly for me, when we train this in a way that makes use of positive reinforcement and pays very close attention to how the horse is feeling, it becomes an important part of relationship building, developing trust and understanding, a vital foundation for all aspects of training.

If you'd like to learn more, perhaps you would be interested in my next workshop in September. This is part of a series that I've been running this year at Dukes Cross Country and Livery thanks to the sponsorship of Equine-X and their wonderful product, Connexion.

Learn how the basic steps and cues can be trained through positive reinforcement, creating an engaged, willing equine partner. This is a practical workshop with the opportunity to bring your own horse.

In order to book, either visit the events page of my website , scroll down to the appropriate workshop and click on 'book now', or use this direct link to the booking form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11oDa_UIuWu97gN8p31M4Fr4DG33H5OVT8lTkCAj5fc0/viewform

As always huge thanks to Michael and Claudette of Equine-X for their sponsorship of the venue, part of their ‘Keeping it Real’ ethos, for horse wellbeing and performance.

About Equine-X
A registered feed company and BETA Trade member based in Northern Ireland.
Home of CONNEXION®, a premium nutraceutical for tendons, ligaments, bones, cartilage, and other equine connective tissues.
Premium Horse Supplement – Equine-X Connexion | Science-Driven Formula | equine-x

11/08/2025

Calling all qualified/registered equestrian coaches and equestrian sporting clubs/bodies interested in holding horse-related clinics in Northern Ireland.

We are now offering hire of our 60m x 35m all weather, floodlit arena for you to use for group clinics / private lessons. Day and/or overnight stabling in 12' x 12' stables with automatic drinkers in our secluded yard is also an option.

We are located just outside of Portadown and will help make your clients feel welcome. As a reminder, we also have a cross-country course and show-jumping on grass area adjacent to the yard.

Interested? Then contact Michael Duke on 07753 900772 to discuss further.

11/06/2025

Super feedback from The Irish Rehabilitation Centre!

29/05/2025

Exciting news
Connexion is now available online with Equine-x getting our offer of £70 (10% discount) and subsidised postage of only £1.09 (total cost of £71.09) to anywhere in the UK and Ireland by using the code ierfc10tub when checking out on the equine-x.com online shop!!
We have seen terrific results with the horses using this product for repair of soft tissue and tendons, mobility and flexibility and also of skin and coat condition. The price point is very affordable - I've even put my own veterans on it!!!

19/05/2025

Looking to hire Dukes Cross-Country or our Showjumping on Grass area?
Then please contact:
Michael Duke on 07753 900772

03/05/2025

We have now opened up our SHOWJUMPING ON GRASS for HIRE for the 2025 season.
£15/horse or pony per hour, for exclusive use of the showjumping area.
Advance booking required.
Text/phone ⁨07753 900772⁩.

18/04/2025

The Cross-Country Course at Dukes is NOW OPEN for the 2025 season! Showjumping on grass will follow shortly.

Advance booking is required either via FB message, or phone/text 07753 900772 / 07736 806254.

Please note that a Rider Assessment Form will be provided at the time of booking, for your completion and return prior to using the course.

Price: £20 per horse/pony for 1 hour.

10/04/2025

13/03/2025

Equine-X may offer CONNEXION as a nutritional supplement to help your horse feel good in his body but they also acutely value the Horse-Human Connection and are delighted they are using our facilities to support *Spence Horse Sense* in their delivery of this learning opportunity to the equestrian community in Northern Ireland / Ireland. Suitable for anyone interested in understanding their horses and how to interact with them better 🐴.

First Spence Horse Sense Northern Ireland practical workshop of the year kicks off in April!

Understanding how horses feel and learn
Saturday 12th April 10am to 4.30pm

Have you ever wondered how your horse feels about things? At this workshop we will discuss equine body language and behaviour and what they tell us, and understanding how this relates to training, motivation and learning. This is a classroom based day with lots of video and group discussion and exercises.

We have a beautiful, comfortable class room space for this workshop, this is an upstairs space so you need to be able to go up stairs to attend.

If you're interested in attending and want to find out more, give me a shout or go to my website for information and booking (link in comments below)

This is the first of a series of six running at Dukes Livery Stables and Cross Country, Portadown. You can book them individually or all together, depending on what you're interested in. The rest of the workshops are yard/ arena based with horses.

The venue has been very kindly sponsored by Equine-X, as part of their ‘Keeping it Real’ ethos, for horse wellbeing and performance.

About Equine-X
A registered feed company and BETA Trade member based in Northern Ireland.
Home of CONNEXION®, a premium nutraceutical for tendons, ligaments, bones, cartilage, and other equine connective tissues.

Remaining dates:
Saturday 17th May 10am to 4.30pm How to Build Reward into Regular Training

Saturday 14th June 2025 10am to 4.30pm Target Training

Saturday 9th August 10am to 4.30pm Liberty Work

Saturday 20th September 10am to 4.30pm Work In-hand

Saturday 11th October 10am to 4.30pm Confidence Building

Each workshop builds on the skills learned at the previous one, and you will learn how to train with a marker signal such as a clicker as part of the series, along with a deeper understanding of horse behaviour, motivation, body language and emotion and how these relate to learning theory. However you can also attend only the ones in the series that are of interest to you. I have online courses and can do one to one sessions to 'catch you up' with anything you might have missed!

12/08/2024

03/08/2024

https://equine-x.com