Testimonials

Kelsey and Polly

I was first introduced to natural horsemanship in November 2008 at my previous yard. One evening I wandered past the indoor arena and this person sitting on a horse with no saddle, no bridle and an orange stick in each hand called out..."would you mind filming me please?"..."Yes of course". I filmed Chloe riding Olive bareback and bridleless and I said to myself in awe "I wish I could do that but I could NEVER do that with Polly!" I wouldnt have dreamt of riding Polly without a bit, grackle and all the other "tools". From that evening I always watched Chloe and her relationship with her horses with immense interest (and envy) then one day, after being spectacularly bolted with and bucked off by Polly (again!) I asked Chloe for help and it was the best thing I have ever done for my pony, myself and my riding. I now have a wonderful relationship with my pony, we thoroughly enjoy each others company and I feel, although I have not been in the horse world very long, that I am a natural horseperson and I am very proud of that. Chloe has taught me to put my relationship with my pony FIRST and the rewards are tremendous and heartwarming. My journey is continuing with Polly and now beginning with my new horse Loup under the guidance of Chloe who I cannot thank enough for introducing me to this wonderful, natural world of horses and, of course, I now ride bareback and bitless every day!

When I first came across Chloe, she was wearing her Horse Agility Accredited Trainer hat (and, I seem to recall, a very fetching Stetson as well). She had set out an interesting but accessible course of obstacles and was taking a largish group of us round, essentially explaining what Horse Agility is and giving us tips and pointers about introducing our horses to the tasks.

Chloe was friendly and encouraging, and the day was fun and confidence-inspiring for me and my horse, so I decided to book a horsemanship lesson with her. In that first lesson, Chloe quickly observed and tactfully pointed out some less than helpful habits that I had let creep in and was completely unaware of. Very importantly, she expressed herself in positives: things I could start to put into play straight away. And when I say “expressed”, she did this not only verbally during the lesson, but also on a written homework sheet at the end. These written summaries of our lessons are invaluable. They remind me of the things I meant to remember; they are clear and succinct and I can scribble on them between sessions and use them to help me report back at the beginning of the next one: a simple but brilliant aid to progress. And all this is in a colourful range of gel pens!

Chloe also has a generosity of spirit that allows her to share her own sources of information, inspiration and ideas. As a student, I am aware of her continuing journey.

Through her, I have come into contact with other people either on the internet or in person that continue to be extremely important to me in my horsemanship journey. She is also willing to listen to my ideas; something which is very important to me.

Most importantly, everyone likes to feel that their horse matters to their instructor, that their horse likes their instructor and that their instructor can help them to understand and communicate with their horse better. I can very happily tick all those boxes.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Davies, HorseTails Photography

Sam and Finn

Chloe has provided an invaluable source of advice during my time with Finn, right through from finding the right horse to building a relationship with him and resolving specific problems. Having seen Chloe's achievements with her own horse I had no doubt about her knowledge and skill, but she has also proved to be an extremely patient and inspiring teacher. She has assessed exactly what my aims and goals are and we work around these each lesson with exercises that are appropriate to my level of experience and Finn’s abilities. After each lesson I have a list of specific tasks to practice before the next session. This serves as a really good reminder of what we’ve done in the lesson as well as focussing my mind on what I should be aiming to do – especially useful for those days when I go out to the school with a blank mind! My understanding of Finn has increased exponentially through this process, in a way that would not be possible simply through watching much of the natural horsemanship material that is available on the market at the moment. I have noticed such an improvement in Finn’s attitude to me, and I would thoroughly recommend Chloe as a NH instructor.