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WILLOW FARM RIDING SCHOOL
For those who want that little bit more we also offer:
Liz Burgess - Yard Manager "Quality teaching with a cheerful attitude" I took my first riding lesson at the age of 10 and was immediately smitten and have worked with and owned many horses and ponies over the years, ranging from a Welsh Section A, who lived to the ripe old age of 40 to a Thoroughbred stallion whose mother had won the Oaks! At 19 I established my own riding school in West Wales, something which stood me in good stead when going through the process of setting up Willow Farm Riding School all these years later! In 2001 I went to work on a Dude Ranch in Colorado, which was a great experience. I had already worked on join-up methods in England but got the opportunity to work more on this in the U.S. I was lucky enough to see Monty Roberts whilst I was there and I became a proficient western rider, leading out 'Dudes' in the Roosevelt National Forest. I returned to the UK in 2003 and contacted Roy and Sharon - offering to help them school their rescued horses, a great working and personal relationship grew out of this - I was very impressed at their commitment to their animals and the methods they used. Eventually we outgrew the old yard (because we kept rescuing horses) and so moved to Willow Farm in Faversham. As a team we have very specific goals; to educate our clients about the natural methods of horsemanship, accurate and gentle riding methods and improve the communication and therefore the relationship between horse and rider. We accomplish this not only through our own teaching methods - but also by hosting lecture demonstrations from world class professionals such as Kelly Marks and Richard Maxwell. We have now established an excellent reputation in the area for quality teaching, whilst maintaining a cheerful attitude on the yard. I love the daily challenges my job offers me and consider myself very lucky to have such a great team of people and horses to work with. Roy Paskell - Managing Director Roy is the proprietor of Willow farm and works as an instructor and horse rehabilitator. He works with yard staff to re-school horses that have been abused or neglected, to rebuild their trust, and was recently highlighted on BBC South East news. (Don't call him a 'Horse Whisperer'!) "We allow our horses to live out, to enable them to live as naturally as possible." My wife Sharon had ridden since she was a child and we came across two youngsters in a field who were obviously neglected. This was the start of our equestrian careers together. We negotiated with the owners and bought Kim and Tia and restored them to good health. However, they were both youngsters so we decided to buy a horse we could ride. We purchased Cedar with this in mind and we had to work hard on him to teach him that there were other paces than gallop! I did this with the help of an ex lifeguards (horse) trainer who was on the same yard as us. He taught me a great deal about horse psychology and told me that I had a natural talent that I should explore. Gradually over the years we rescued or were given more and more horses, breeding our own young stock too. We worked with helpers to school these horses, and I started to enjoy teaching them the methods I had learned. Eventually we had so many horses that we could no longer support them and had to review the situation. In 2003 we moved to Slough Fort and established a small riding school Running a Riding School was a steep learning curve for us, but we established a great team of volunteers and started to gain an excellent reputation for quality teaching. However, we were still rescuing horses and it soon became obvious that we were outgrowing the small acreage at The Fort. During this time we rescued over 30 horses and re-homed some of them. At Willow Farm we hope to continue to expand the riding school and use the excellent facilities to enable us to work with our horses to improve them to the standard that they can be sold on or used successfully in the school. We also plan to set up lectures and demonstrations for all aspects of equestrianism, run by professionals . Lourenco Cavaleiro has been working with the Willow Farm team since the end of 2007 and provides professional demonstrations and coaching lessons for local dressage riders. Jasmine & Megan Wall - Instructors Jasmine and Megan have worked at Willow Farm since June 2007, and are a vital part of the team. Between them (they are twins) they own 8 horses and have been riding since they were 4 years old. Now working through their NVQ and BHS examinations, they are very popular with our clients., Despite their similarities, there are slight differences in their teaching methods, both have a friendly attitude however, and are genuinely enthusiastic about their clients progress. Jasmine and Megan supervise the yard, sharing the responsibility between them. They often run inter-client competitions and are always coming up with fresh ideas for the Riding School. They are also responsible for the day to day care of liveries, for which their kindness and attention to detail is very much appreciated by Willow Farm clients. "We came to Willow Farm in search of a summer job - that's how it all started! Roy and Liz then pushed us to learn more and more and to take on more responsibility. Now we run the yard between us, train the staff and make sure all our horses receive the care they need. We both fell in love with the horses at Willow Farm - and even ended up buying 2 of them ourselves - Chino and Henry. Having listened to the stories that Roy, Sharon and Liz tell, about their rescued horses, we knew we would fit right in! Now we can't imagine life without Willow Farm. (see the testimonials to see what our clients think!) |
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