Skye Liikanen
Training & Horsemanship
Skye grew up riding horses and was very competitive to National level in Dressage and showing, being a member of the QLD Young Rider Squad and a HOTY winner. She spent over four years as a trick rider/performer at the Australian Outback Spectacular.
Skye had the opportunity to move to Tom Price in WA for two years, before following her passion for horses to North America. After spending time working with horses in Canada, Skye had the amazing opportunity to work as assistant trainers for Dan and Elizabeth James of the Australian Equine Performance Center in Midway, Kentucky. Working for Dan James gave Skye many unique opportunities and the experience of working with a large range of horses, including Warmbloods, Thoroughbreds, Quarterhorses and Mustangs.
While in the USA Skye’s took part in the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover. Training her Thoroughbred ‘Brumby’ over six months they won the Dressage Championship & placed 4th in the Freestyle in a field of one hundred.
Visit Skye Liikanen at the following sessions
Details
Thursday November 14th
9:30 am to 10:15 am
Duncan Equine Group Arena
Long Reining – Where to begin
There are so many opportunities to improve you and your horse with long reining. Done correctly and effectively it can enhance any horses education under saddle. Whether you have an OTTB, a young horse ready to begin its journey under saddle or just wanting to create a better connection through your horses body into bridle, teaching your horse to long rein opens a whole new calibre to your training with your horse. In this session we will take you through the very beginning exercises of how to begin long reining through to a horse that is more advanced in our program. We will also discuss how long reining can help find and fix problems that you maybe having under saddle.
Details
Saturday November 16th
12:15 pm to 1:00 pm
Village Green
Is your Horse Ready to Ride
Too often, people just jump on their horse and hope for the best… Whether it be a first ride, a horse coming back from a spell or even a horse with behavioural issues, unless you are one of Australia’s top bronc riders, there are safer ways to find out if your horse is ready to ride! In this session we will demonstrate the various exercises that we go through to ensure your horse is mentally ready to have a rider on their back. We will also outline the training tools we use if a panic situation were to occur with your horse under saddle. Our approach will also assist with horses that are difficult to mount or horses who don’t stand still once a rider is sitting up on their back.
