On Top Equestrian

05/01/2026

As I sit here recovering from another procedure today 🤕, it is time for update.

Unfortunately things haven't been wonderful and more injuries have appeared. The last year I have been like a boomerang in and out of radiology, physios, doctors and occupational therapists ⛑️ More of the year has been spent nursing some type of injury than being sound (if I was a horse I would definitely be at the knackers yard ☠️). I am now not doing any saddle fitting for the next 3 weeks until my fracture heals and will then evaluate things.

After that, for the foreseeable future, I will be doing saddle work & fittings on a very strictly limited timetable to be able to manage my hands 👐 so I can function in my every day life, which at the moment I am really struggling.

I find this extremely hard to write as being a Saddler has been a huge focus for my last 17 years. I have made some amazing friends and met some fantastic people and horses all round NZ. It has been wonderful to be a part of your world and have really enjoyed following everyone's progress over the years 🥹

This definitely isn't a goodbye, but it is a time to do things a bit differently. I will be available from my business property at Winslow, Ashburton and will be able to slot the odd one into my coaching days at West Melton or Ohoka. However I will have to keep these spots very limited to manage the load along with driving, which is proving to be difficult. One fitting a day will be my limit to start with on travel days.

Clients from further afield...organise to stop in on your travels throughout the South Island, I am just off State Highway 1. Please be in touch early to ensure I have a spot available for you as am coaching most days at home. Travelers will get priority but I do need good notice. I will be also putting together a comprehensive online protocol for remote saddle fitting for those that can't travel. I do remote work a lot all round NZ and overseas and it is a successful option. I will still be taking saddles for flocking and alterations, these can be couriered and I can talk you through how to do this and the cheapest option.

The positive, I now have more time to be able to dedicate towards coaching and educating. I am looking forward to a busy season helping riders.

Huge thank you to the friends and family who have helped me through all this and given support 🙏

fans

30/12/2025

DRESSAGE COACHING 👩‍🎓

🐴 North Canterbury dressage lessons

I have had lots of enquiries about doing a regular coaching day in Ohoka.

I would look at doing one day a month. This could be either a weekday or a weekend. If you are interested, please send me a message.

I am an ESNZ Dressage Development Coach and train riders from all disciplines and across all levels, from grassroots to FEI. I have a very clear system, making it easy for rider and horse to understand the questions asked of them. Always training with the horse's welfare at the forefront; striving to produce a harmonious partnership. For my regular riders, we work on goal setting, off-the-horse technical understanding, problem solving and mindset.

I have a good understanding of the whole horse process, breaking in and training my own horses through to FEI levels. I specialise in difficult horses and also used to be an eventing rider, so happily work with and understand jumping horses. I am fortunate to already work with some amazing riders who are out smashing their goals at Dressage, Eventing and Show Jumping.

🐴 West Melton
I will also be continuing my weekend West Melton coaching clinic, please message if you would like more info about that clinic. I will be increasing these days due to demand so will be able to fit in new clients.

🐴 Ashburton
As always, am available from my arena at Winlsow, Ashburton most days.

29/12/2025

Julia Latham always seems to have this uncanny ability for doing random acts of kindness just when they are most needed. Big surprise to find this beautiful Flying Horse Ltd hoodie in my favourite colour on the doorstep this morning 😍💙
I was fortunate enough to have met Julia over 15 years ago now & have become great friends. Over the years I have seen Julia have such a positive influence on so many people, especially with nervous riders. Southlanders are so lucky to have someone like Julia in the community.

23/12/2025

Merry Christmas 🎄

Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year. I am fortunate to have such an amazing bunch of riders to coach. I am proud that we have built such a supportive and positive community amongst us all.

I have enjoyed being a part of the team keeping horses and riders happy in their saddles. Great to work with some super combinations round NZ, from grassroots to High Performance.

My awesome team of sponsored riders all smashing their own individual goals - love following you all!
Beaumont Station Sport Horses
Abby H**e Jessica H**e Grace H**e
Frances Buckley
Sandy Houston
Allie Harper
CW Equestrian
Cindy Wiffin
And to those amazing people who look after my crew..
Julia Latham Flying Horse Ltd
Animal Therapeutics Online
Prestige Equestrian Ltd

Hope everyone gets to enjoy some time with their ponies and have a wonderful Christmas break 🎅

02/12/2025

Hot & windy weekend at the Carnmore Hotels Canterbury Dressage Kiwi Arena Rake Premier League.

Couldn't be more proud of my pupils, smashing goals, getting PBs and achieving what they went to do. Especially super proud of Sarah MacLeod & Donalaura who has puts a lot of work into training, which paid off, winning the Medium Level Championships, with a few 70+% scores 🙌🏆

My little unicorn did her first Championship show at Advanced level. She tried really hard and we had some super moments. The warm up is starting to feel more like what we can get at home, hopefully we can transfer that to the arena soon.

Great to catch up with everyone. Thank you to Sally Goldsmith & your team for putting on a super show, the officials, judges, sponsors and most importantly all the volunteers 👏 Huge thanks to my team keeping us both going (I know I'm a challenge to keep sound 😅) & my coaches chipping away at the training.

📸 Olivia Skidmore Photography
Flying Horse Ltd Animal Therapeutics Online Seija Parkkali-Glew Prestige Equestrian Ltd

10/11/2025

I have been increasingly frustrated by how limited I still am in doing saddle work but a few messages today from clients/friends really made me smile 🥹

I have however been madly coaching every day lately and riders' hard mahi is paying off. Great goal smashing up at the final of the Canterbury Dressage Spring Series yesterday. Proud to hear one of my riders was asked by a top level judge who they trained with as their work was so correct 🙌 Another had judges comment about their improvements and the training was on the right track.
This is what we strive for; horses that are using their bodies in the right way & in balance, horses that want to dance with us forming a happy harmonious partnership 👏 💞

Also at the grassroots 🌱, some super efforts at the Ashburton Pony Clubs combined Dressage and Jumping cups! I think it's a major win that I got a 10yo boy to want to come back to do dressage 👊 after reluctantly coming for a lesson last week for a boot camp session of how to navigate his way through a dressage test for the first time! I don't generally teach kids, however ones that are so polite and want to learn to be better are always welcome! And I was super impressed he could untack and sort his and his sister's ponies after the lesson! 🌟

08/11/2025

🤩 so humble. Even a beautiful rider on an amazing horse has feelings of not being good enough! Just the type of partnership we need at the top of our sport, showcasing how it should be done ✨️

05/11/2025

Absolutely love this. I believe, in both my own horses' training and in my coaching, that having a clear and fair system is so important. Understanding that it does all take time, consistency and hard work - especially if retraining old habits. My favourite word is patience ⏳️ Going fast just forms holes in the training, which always catches up with you later on! 🐴

This whole journey, riding, training, life, is really about getting just a little bit better every single day. That’s it. That’s the magic.

We have to stop chasing “perfect.” Perfect doesn’t exist, not in dressage, not in life. And that’s a good thing! Because the joy is in the becoming.

What does matter is believing in the process: Putting our energy into showing up, learning, growing, and doing just a little better today than we did yesterday. For ourselves. For our horses. For the people we love.

We get to choose how we show up, how we respond, how we grow. That’s real power, the quiet, steady kind that changes everything over time.

So, the question isn’t “Am I perfect yet?” It’s simply, “Am I a little better than I was yesterday?”

That’s the work. That’s the joy.

02/11/2025

Long day in the arena coaching up in Christchurch. I drive home feeling lucky to have such a fantastic bunch of riders to help; they inspire me to ride better myself 🤩 Also love getting all the message of successes across the weekend, not just winning ribbons but smashing individual goals 👊💪 slowly chipping away at improving the horses & making themselves better as riders! This is a sport of patience and consistency 👌

24/10/2025

Wishing all my clients & friends a good ride tomorrow at the Livamol FEI World Dressage Challenge 🌏 and a successful weekend at the Marlborough Premier League & the Bay of Plenty Premier League up north.
I will have FOMO staying at home feeling sorry for myself with my stupid wrist injury & doing lessons 😴

📸 flashback to a few different years I have done the WDC.

07/10/2025

Great start to the season for one of my lovely sponsored riders Cindy Wiffin 🩵

01/10/2025

Useless wrist update...unfortunately it isn’t great and am not really able to do much saddle work at all. I can do the odd one but not multiple fittings in a day.
Off for more scans at the end of next week and will hopefully have some answers and a plan for sorting it and recovery time.
So sorry for letting people down, especially down South, but I can guarantee that no one is more frustrated than me 😤😒
Will update as soon as have some plan of attack.