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Australian Horse Training – Jason Webb
Creating a Balance Between Horse and Rider
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“Jason gave my quarter horse gelding a great start to...Read More
Jamie Hubbard, Farrier
“Jason gave my quarter horse gelding a great start to...Read More
Jamie Hubbard, Farrier
“I was astounded by Jason’s original methods of dealing with all manner of behavioural problems, some severe… he’s a truly great horseman” Fiona Price, Founder www.horsehero.com
For more testimonials, please click here
We are dedicated to finding the solutions to all behavioural problems. The list is ever expanding, but they include;
Aggression, Leading, Loading, Foot handling, Mounting, Napping, Rearing, Bucking, Bolting, Spooking, Refusals, General Manners, Traffic Shy, Excitability at Competitions, Kicking, Control Issues, Catching, Tying-up
Photos showing a unbroken young competition horse resisting on the ground before ending the session calmly accepting Jason.
Jason has a remarkable ability to re-educate the most dangerous or unhandled horses and regularly receives referrals from vets, farriers, training yards, instructors and professional riders including Olympians! He is often seen as a ‘last chance’ for horses that have been recommended by vets to be euthanised.
Jason always starts with his basic groundwork, gaining respect and control of the horse on the ground and laying the foundations for work under saddle. Over the years, Jason has developed some unique solutions to various problems that have been tried and tested to ‘reprogram’ the horse’s reactions to certain situations.
Jason firmly believes that it is equally important to educate and equip the handler/ rider with the skills, knowledge and training tools to continue the horse’s progress at home.
For more details on our Training Philosophy please click here
We provide the following services for remedial horses:
We firmly believe in ‘honesty is the best policy’ and if we don’t feel that horse and rider are suited, or if the horse is going to be too dangerous, we will advise accordingly.
We are happy to provide references from satisfied clients with horses that have similar problems to yours or you can visit testimonials. Below are some Case Studies of horses with common and not-so-common problems.
Lindt is a beautifully bred dressage horse who had started his competitive career before becoming “virtually unrideable and dangerous” at a professional dressage yard. After six months out of work, Jason was seen as his last chance. Jason decided to take Lindt right back to basics, almost treating him like a starter.
Jason explains “Lindt is a very sensitive horse – very claustrophobic and he couldn’t deal with pressure well, which led to him behaving in the way he did. I spent a lot of time desensitising him and getting him to work without bit contact. Once he had softened and relaxed into his work, I was able to ask him to accept light contact and getting him to deal with pressure situations in a calm and controlled manner”
After an eight week stay, Lindt’s owner and trainer were able to come and ride him and take him home, confident that they would be able to continue his dressage training. We are delighted to hear that Lindt is back competing successfully in Affiliated Dressage, and gaining high scores and qualifying for the Regional Championships.
Katie Jaye-Lipton, Lindt’s owner explains “We were really losing all hope and cannot thank Jason and his staff more for giving us our horse back. I never, in a million years thought we would make it through and get to this point with him. I have been recommending Jason to everyone with “problem” horses! The transformation in Lindt is amazing and he continues to progress in leaps and bounds. We are very excited about his future. Watch this space, Lindt will be taking the dressage world by storm very soon!”
Willow developed a severe bolting problem, which had resulted in a bad accident for his owner, Kim. Again, Jason built on groundwork exercises and general handling before starting his ridden work. Using a technique that Jason has developed from working with a lot with remedial horses, he was able to get Willow to the point where Kim was able to ride him again. Once Kim got Willow home, he as continued to improve, even happily hacking over the motorway bridge near their stables!
Jason explains “For horses that have developed a bolting problem or are naturally ‘rushy’, I teach them to steer and stop without rein pressure by getting in their eyeline to redirect them. Once they stop rushing and can be controlled this way, I will gently reintroduce a light contact. Willow is very similar to ‘Angelo’ who features on a video I filmed for Horse Hero, click here
Kim Weatherly, Willow’s owner said “I just wanted to say a big thank you for all of your hard work sorting Willow out. He has returned a well mannered, all round nice person both on the ground and under saddle.”
Antidoto is a Lippizaner who was cut late and had been driven before being imported to the UK as a riding horse. He quickly developed anxiety issues that resulted in him rearing under pressure and labelled as ‘unrideable’ and dangerous. He also had issues on the ground, pulling back when tied up, difficult to catch and box walking in the stable.
Jason says “Doto was a bit of a nervous wreck when I started working with him. His rearing issue had become severe and his owner was at his wits end. I started by sorting out his ground issues and worked on developing a pattern exercise for when he became anxious. I then took this into his ridden work and amongst other things, I taught him and his owner this same pattern to use when Doto became upset. Over time, this pattern has reduced to a small ‘cue’, much like a nervous athlete taking a deep breath!”
Robert, Doto’s owner, states “I can’t believe the transformation in Doto – we now have a settled, happy and calm horse that I can hack, have fun on and I have even taken up polocrosse on him! We loved it so much at Risebridge and could see that Doto thrived so much in the atmosphere there that we have stayed on as permanent liveries!”
Here is Doto and Robert on our Libery Training Course!
Don Amour was started by Jason before going home for a break before starting his dressage career. When he came back in to work, he was going beautifully under saddle but started to develop some handling problems, particularly when leading, and becoming too dominant with his owner. Jason visited them at home for an assessment and recommended that he come back for a week’s groundwork.
“Amour needed a bit of a reminder that he was not the leader and I worked on re-establishing his boundaries and a respectful relationship with his handler. He is a big, strong horse and to avoid him regressing once he went home, I spent a lot of time with his handlers teaching them my methods to keep him on the straight and narrow!” Says Jason
“My young German Warmblood Don Amour, has now competed four times at affilliated Dressage, winning the open section three times and coming second once. Not one score yet below 70% – thank you so much Jason for giving my horse such a brilliant start and thanks for sorting out his leading issues!” Alison Nye-Warden
Jason receives regular referrals from farriers who have been beaten black and blue from horses that do not like having their legs handled. Handling a horse’s legs is going against their instincts as these are the areas that are attacked first in the wild, not to mention the fact that when you have hold of their hooves, you are taking away one of their key survival mechanisms (kicking), so it is understandable why some horses develop these problems.
“People seem to expect us as farriers to deal with horses that don’t like to be shod, but our livelihoods depend on not getting hurt! Jason works wonders with horses that have leg and foot handling issues enabling me to do my job safely and efficiently. All the staff handle the horses well for their first shoeing experiences – so important for the young horse!” Jamie Hubbard, Farrier
Loading is such a common problem but the reasons are very varied – ranging from the downright stubborn horse to the highly claustrophobic and nervous animal. Jason has developed a highly effective method that works for the horse and owner, based on the same groundwork that we use in all training situations.
After watching your demo I decided to try loading our 20yr old cob that hadn’t been loaded in over 10 years. He had many issues with loading but using your techniques, he loaded perfectly in 20mins of trying, even walking calmly down the ramp afterwards! Thank you for your sharing your technique and encouraging me to do something I had been dreading for a long time! Amy Knibbs
Tally Wade is the editor of Western Horse UK and has a lovely young Quarter Horse colt called Remus who developed a habit of leaning right back in the trailer and becoming unstable. Not only was he endangering himself, he was also making it hard to drive the trailer and was becoming increasingly nervous and difficult to load.
Tally says “Kudos to Jason Webb at Australian Horsemanship – he worked wonders with my colt who had a strange travelling habit! A welcoming, horse-focussed yard with great staff and 5* care”
Alison Scott owns a showjumper who they hope will jump at international level one day… Here, she gives her story of how we helped with an unusual problem!
“Our show jumper had a hang up about urinating in the lorry which was affecting his performance. In desperation I contacted Jason who advised me to try to find a trigger. Jason suggested dirty bedding and removing partitions to give him as much space as possible to spread his legs! Along with many meticulous horse owners I used to travel with partitions and religiously muck out my horse lorry after every use – NOT ANY MORE! The whiff of wet dirty straw and a bit of space to relax was what he needed to feel safe – my horse now pees for England! Let’s hope he jumps for us one day too!”
Jason explains “As with most horse behaviour, you have to think of how the horse behaves in his natural environment. A lot of horses, particularly stallions, or ‘colty’ geldings, like to urinate on the same corner of the stable, or the same patch of grass in the field. By leaving straw that has his distinctive smell on it reassured him, even if to our human eyes and nose (!) it was a bit disgusting! Also, by opening up the partition, he could move his legs apart to give him stability. This is also the first thing I recommend to people who have horses that travel badly.”