For more than 20 years Sally Clayton has rescued and rehabilitated horses across Australia, most recently from her property at Cooroibah, and used her positive horsemanship to train
horses and people.
On Saturday 26 January Sally will be teaching people more about horses and bringing along some ponies for rides as part of the Noosa Australia Day Festival.
Sally has been teaching people to ride since she discovered she had a talent for teaching after a friend asked her to take over some of her kids’ lessons.
“I love working with people as well as horses and would like to feel that I am good at sharing my knowledge with students,” she said.
“The method that I use when working with horses is a combination of everything I have learned over the past 20 years.
“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.
For five years in Victoria she ran her own business, which included horsemanship clinics and working with children for residential clinics as well as teaching at the local pony club, then she decided to move to Queensland.
She now focuses on rescuing horses and sharing her knowledge.
“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 communicating 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.
The Noosa Australia Day Festival, organised by volunteers from Tewantin Noosa Lions Club and the Rotary Club of Noosa Heads is a free event.
Running from 7am to 5pm at Lions Park on Gympie Terrace on Australia Day it will provide a rang of entertainment, music and food and funds raised will support local charities United Synergies, Katie Rose Cottage and St Vincent de Paul.
