History
Vanessa’s natural affinity with horses began when she was a young girl and continues to this day, as she develops new training programs and innovative skill advancement tools built from her decades of experience.
In the 1980s, Vanessa began working in the stables of renowned trotting horse trainers Kevin and Stephanie Batt in Western Australia, earning a strong grounding in horse management skills.
She was also dedicated to developing her own riding ability and progressed to competing in Halter classes, where she won multiple ‘Champion’ and ‘Supreme Champion’ sashes with her Palomino mare “Cobblestone September Gold” (aka Blossom).
Throughout the 1990s, Vanessa advanced to compete in Open competition in Western classes such as Trail, Western Pleasure, Western Equitation, Bridle Path Hack and English Equitation.
During this time, Vanessa was provided the mentorship of Boyd Treloar, regarded as a ‘legend’ of the Western world. Vanessa was also fortunate to have the influence of so many wonderful people in the WA Western community, including Brian Cramp, Medina Judge, Dianne Bawden and Dawn Holliday (née Marshall).
When Vanessa moved to Bindoon, north-east of Perth, she ran the local Agricultural College Pony Club and wrote and delivered an Equine Management program, enticing and enabling more students from around WA to bring their horses with them to board at the College.
She was also involved in the formation of the Bindoon & Districts Horse and Pony Club, once again broadening her experience with organising and running competitions and events, time and safety management and group coaching.
Vanessa later joined several local committees such as the WA Quarter Horse and Appaloosa clubs, also representing Western breeds with a term on the committee of the Royal Agricultural Society.
In 2000, Vanessa completed an Equine Anatomy and Sports Massage course, offered by Equinology USA Inc.
In 2003, Vanessa accepted employment as an Equine Lecturer for Swan Equine TAFE, where she lectured in a wide variety of study areas such as Equine Breeding, Biomechanics & Anatomy, First Aid injury/wound management, Feeding & Nutrition, Breeding, Handling and Transporting, in addition to writing and delivering the centre’s first comprehensive Equine Sports Massage course.
In mid-2003, Vanessa was appointed Special Projects Coordinator for the Swan TAFE Equine Centre’s ‘Certificate Three in Farriery’.
In addition to running her equine services business, Vanessa was also studying part-time at Edith Cowan University. She commenced a Social Science undergraduate degree in 1999 (receiving High Distinction results in areas such as Psychology & Addiction Studies) and was selected for Postgraduate Honours study.
In 2005, Vanessa was awarded First Class Honours for her thesis entitled “Horsepower: A study of Equine influence on female adolescent self-efficacy”. The thesis explored the impact of horses on the self-concept and associated perceptions of young women (aged 13-17 years) and how their relationships with their horses improved their formation of identity.
Since 2005, Vanessa has continued to compete and coach in Western shows with client’s Paint, Appaloosa & Quarter horses, winning many State Championships in Halter classes. She has also achieved some great wins and places in Open Western classes such as Halter, Showmanship, Trail, Hunter & Western Pleasure, and Equitation classes.
By 2010, Vanessa was running her own business and delivering more than 100 teaching clinics each year in Perth and regional centres in Western Australia.
In 2018, Vanessa was elected President of the Western Dressage Association of WA and in 2019, she presented sold-out Polework and Western Dressage clinics for ‘Equestra WA’ to much acclaim.
Throughout the recent COVID pandemic, while reviewing her strong record of popular and successful training clinics and examining the progress of her attendees, Vanessa made a keen observation: her clinic participants were using the Polework exercises she had designed to improve their Dressage and general competition training.
Progressing this breakthrough, Vanessa continues to work on creating online skill development tools for her clients by applying this new form of skill training – the combination of Polework & Dressage into one discipline – PoleDressage.
https://poledressageonline.com/
https://poledressageonline.com/products/free-download-your-guide-to-using-pole-dressage-online
So what is PoleDressage?
PoleDressage combines the different gaits, technical aspects and movements of traditional Dressage with the benefits of Polework. Working over ground poles is a well-recognised and proven approach to improve rhythm and balance, while Dressage has centuries of proven training and tradition to contribute.
Polework has many benefits for horses including improving muscle development, encouraging tendon lubrication and correct muscle engagement, strengthening the core and improving cardiac fitness. Benefits for the rider are also numerous, as Polework helps riders to improve position, posture and balance, in addition to recognition and adjustment of stride length.
Dressage has so many benefits for both horses and riders: the many different movements of Dressage allow plenty of room for creativity in training and, when combined with ground poles, gives both horse and rider variety and structure. She found this to be vital to avoid arena sourness or boredom.
The ultimate goal of PoleDressage is to create a harmonious relationship between horse and rider, leading to a confident, respectful and capable equine partnership which is essential for riders seeking to improve their riding and training, or to take their performance to the next level.