Positive Partnership and Agility Competition

We are very excited to announce that Galston Equestrian Club is going to be running a small Horse Agility Taster Competition on Sunday November 8. It will be run in conjunction with a special Sunday Edition of Positive Partnerships and will be the last Positive Partnerships for the year. The idea of a Taster Competition is to see what interest there is amongst our members to run such Competitions in the future. The format will be: Positive Partnerships 9am -10.30am, $20 Competition 11am - 1pm, $15 for 1 round or $25 for 2 rounds.

The Agility course will be set up for the PP session for practice and then the Competition will follow for those that wish to enter. It's designed to be a fun day out with your horse with no pressure. We have Karri Nazdarzdy, who is accredited by the International Horse Agility Club, to Judge, and the benefit of entering the competitive section is that you will get constructive feedback on your performance.

For those of you that want to know 'what even is Horse Agility?'

"Horse Agility at The Galston Equestrian Club

If we look at Dog Agility to see what is different in the way they train, handle and compete with their dogs compared to how we handle our horses; we see they have no leads or other restraints, they have no whips or sticks to hit or threaten the dog if it makes a mistake and, importantly, the dogs move loosely and with great enthusiasm over the course.

The ultimate aim of Horse Agility is to work the horse loose over obstacles just like in Dog Agility. The training of horses to do Horse Agility is almost identical to Dog Agility, dog trainers teach the dog to lead, then to go over obstacles on the lead while using body language and verbal commands and then one day they turn him loose in a safe place and using the same signals see if they can still direct the dog over the obstacles.

Why though…

Some of the benefits of practicing Horse Agility are:

*It provides ideas for fun games to play from the ground with your horse.

*Encourages better communication between you and your horse.

*Encourages better movement control.

*It is an activity that both you and your horse can enjoy.

The Horse Agility Taster Competition at GEC will comprise a series of 8 simple obstacles which will test your ability to get your horse to move its feet forwards, backwards, right, left and halt.

There will be 2 open classes: In Hand and Ridden.

The only tack you’ll need is a head collar and a long rope, or a saddle, bridle and helmet if completing the course mounted." As numbers are limited I wish to offer positions to our Members first. If you are interested in joining us on the day please register your interest by email to pampike64@yahoo.com.au, or txt 0405 450 496.