By Margaret Maccoll
Sally Clayton was only 11 years old when a pony named Dazzler started her on a journey of understanding horses and the lessons they can teach people.
“My non-horsey family finally bent to my unyielding pressure to have my own horse,” she said.
“He was an Appaloosa, very brightly coloured and was a total gentleman. I had to get a job at the local grocer to help pay for the feed and agistment, and I never looked back.”
Sally started riding horses when she was five years old and for the past 20 years she has rescued and rehabilitated horses across Australia, most recently from her property at Cooroibah, and used her positive horsemanship to train horses and people.
“My first wild horse was a Welsh mountain pony stallion. He was four years old and had never been handled,” she said.
“We had a few hours to get him off the place before he was going to be shot.”
“With the help of a good friend and horse trainer we got him haltered and onto the float. He was terrified, poor little guy.
“As I was driving out with him he tried to jump out and got stuck. I had to manhandle him back over the bar and back on our way. It’s never a dull moment with horses.
“I have now had Dude, as I called him, for 16 years and I love him so very much. He has taught thousands of children to ride and handle horses and has given so much joy.”
Though she’s had many mentors over the years, it’s the horses that have been her best teachers.
When a friend asked Sally to take over some of her kids’ lessons while she was away, she discovered she also had a talent for teaching.
“The method that I use when working with horses is a combination of everything I have learned over the past 20 years,” she said. “I am a strong believer in working with the nature of the horse and that using your strength is not necessary when you communicate what you want the horse to do for you clearly .
“I use a phase system and work on rewarding the horse for trying which leads towards building the horse’s confidence and self-respect, at the same time as the human becoming a positive and fun leader.”
For eight years Sally ran Naturally Horsey in Margaret River, Western Australia, where she taught people horsemanship skills. When she realised how horses could change people’s lives and help them find better ways of communicating she started working with children from the Department of Child Protection.
“Seeing these children feel confident and capable was such an honour that when I moved to Mansfield in Victoria I decided to see if I could do some work with the local youth education program, which turned out to be a huge success.
“I love working with people as well as horses and would like to feel that I am good at sharing my knowledge with my students”.
After five years in Victoria running her own business, which included horsemanship clinics and working with children for residential clinics as well as teaching at the local pony club, she decided to move to Queensland.
From her five-acre property and extra land thanks to the generosity of her “fantastic neighbours” she now focuses on rescuing horses and sharing her knowledge.
Sally currently has 11 horses and all have a story. Some have arrived there because of neglect, some are there because they have behaviour issues from being spoilt, which she said could make them dangerous.
“If I could I would have hundreds of horses but with the workload and high cost of keeping and rehabilitation it’s just not possible,” she said.
“The only reason I keep doing this is to see the horses open up and begin to understand us and trust us. The feeling I get from this is irreplaceable. And to see people understand their role in communication with the horse is a big thrill for me. I don’t care about competing or being the best, I just care about the emotional and physical well-being of the horse and keeping both horse and rider safe.
“In saying that I have had Dude for 16 years and Phoenix for 14 years and little Obi has been with me for six years. It’s always heart-breaking for me to have to say farewell to one of my herd, but to know they are going to homes where they will be loved and looked after and bring joy to others makes me happy too.”
Not all horses can be rehabilitated, as Sally found out.
“I have had a couple that were so badly damaged that they were dangerous,” she said.
“I had a stallion recently that I tried for six months and even got a second trainer’s opinion, thinking I might be missing something, but he was extremely dangerous and I was going to get myself killed or injured. It was a heart-breaking decision but in the end I felt it was the kindest thing to do.”
An illness has forced Sally to scale down on her programs with children at risk, but she continues to teach group and private lessons for children and adults and school holiday programs for children including residential horse camps. She also offers travellers the chance to have an Australian farm stay and learn more about horsemanship.
For the future, Sally hopes “to continue to help horses and people have a more joyful relationship and keep finding horses in need that I can help to become valued riding horses for people so they will always be safe”. For more information visit www.facebook.com/Sally-Clayton-positive-horsemanship-860083000673937/
