Testimonials

Julia has tutored many people over the course of the last year, working with them to help achieve their goals. Many have been kind enough to provide feedback describing their experiences. You can read a selection below. We'd like to thank them all for their kind words.

Karen Stokes & Alfie

After losing my confidence years ago, but not realising how much until I bought a 3year old welsh D, I got in contact with Julia, mind you it took me months of looking at her website and thinking if I get in contact she will make me face my fears!! so eventually I did and it was the best thing that I had done. Julia came to my house and my first thought .she's normal! No fancy words or things I didnt understand, she didnt make me feel that I was silly, so that was it my first lesson was arranged there and then.......ahh! it was brilliant I felt really good afterwards and couldnt wait for the next one and its been the same since. After a few lessons Julia said to me "I'm sure we,ll have you doing some dressage in the winter" my thought was "no way im far to nervous" well a month later I booked myself to do a local dressage test with a friend, we didnt get anywhere, but the feeling afterwards of doing this was amazing and Julia was really pleased that I had done it, since then I have been to two more, one which I took myself there, (as my friends wernt doing it) and just got a friend to call the test for me, i felt so grown up and brave that I had actually done this on my own! my next conquest is to start showing next year and I'm positive with Julia's help and patience I will be out there doing it! I would just like to say a massive thankyou to Julia for all your help and positive comments, I would have never been able to get even this far without you, so thankyou so much, and have a wonderful christmas. I look forward to our next lesson.
Karen and Alfie

Sam Coote & Ashley Dazzler

I first met Julia when my sister started having lessons last year, leading to fantastic results. As a nervous rider I enjoy handling horses, especially in hand showing. Julia has worked with me since March 2010, her calm, consistant approach has filled me with confidence and enthusiasm. Last season I have enjoyed excellent results at local shows in hand and am confident riding at home now. This year, as well as sustaining momentum with Duke, I am embarking on a new challenge to fulfill my life long dream of bringing on a youngster. Julia has helped me and Dazzler every step of the way from matching us perfectly, to settling him in and continuing his journey. Dazzlers early education with Julia has resulted in a very, very mannerly yearling. Julia is now helping us prepare for the 2011 show season, which both of us cannot wait to get started!!

Anna Hollis & Duke

Before we met Julia at one of her showing clinics, I felt rather nervous riding at shows and achieved varied results at local level. Talking to Julia it seemed like she knew straight away what we should work on and so we started our lessons in January 2010. It seems like Julia has a way of matching our enthusiasm and she has been a great help with every aspect of Duke’s development. This has made such a difference that during 2010 we were placed first in every local show we entered including a championship win, and by the end of the season we were ready to attempt to go up a level . Julia has helped us constantly over the winter and now we are looking forward to starting the new season. So we would like to say a big thank-you, Julia, for all your support and encouragement, bring on 2011!

Sarah and Derek Burchett & Alfie

After a disasterous first show this season with our three year old colt Alfie we decided it was time to bring in some professional help. Having briefly met Julia through a friend I thought she might be just that person brave enough to take us all on! We thought that the boys weren't too bad at home and only showed their true colours when in public but it seemed that home was exactly the place it all starts. Although not monsters by any means Julia tactfully pointed out some areas that needed some work and all this preparation work would prove to pay its dividends when next in the show ring. We learnt some excellent leading and long-lining techniques and even my husband who had never picked up a line before is now happily working the boys in the schooling paddock. Although my confidence when handling the boys at shows was a big sticking point Julia was there encouraging and cajoling me along and if she couldn't be there in person was always on the end of the phone. We still haven't won the big time yet and maybe we never will but with the help and professional coaching from Julia we are getting to where we want to be. Thanks Julia from Sarah, Derek, Reg, Alf & Charlie

Abigail Schoenmakers & Lilah

I would like to thank Julia for all her help and support during 2009/2010. I started off a experienced but nervous rider on my newly backed Highland pony Balleroy Delilah in late 2009. I had Delilah to ride and show but coming from a dressage background I was not sure where to start with the showing and also being new to just backed ponies I found it all a bit much. I had heard many great things about Julia and the best thing I did was to contact Julia and arrange some lessons. Julia worked very hard with me and Delilah all through the winter months, thanks to Julia we gradually gained our confidence and I even had the confidence to take Delilah to Julia's clinic in December. By April we were ready to go to our first show at New Park, Julia came too and was a rock to have around and got me through the pre class tears and nerves. Very pleased to say we came 2nd (even with a wrong leg in the canter!) May saw us compete in our first ever NPS Picton Qualifier which we WON!!! Unfortunately not too long after the Picton Qualifier win I fell down the lorry steps and hurt my ankle rendering me unable to ride for a while and not sure if Delilah would go to the NPS Summer Champs in August. Luckily a friend agreed to ride her and take her to the champs for me, at which she was very good if unplaced. In 2010 Julia also worked with my 4yo Highland Balleroy Razzmatazz. He was used at Julia's lunging and long reining clinic in Feb and she also had him in to ride on for me but due to my ankle I haven't been able to ride him yet but will re-start him in Feb next year and plan for Julia to have him again for a few weeks (she doesn't know that yet!!) I will soon be starting my lessons with Julia again on Delilah and also next year I hope to get Razz out under saddle with Julia's expert help. If it wasn't for Julia's hard work and patient tuition I would not be as confident riding Delilah and taking her out and about as I am now. I am very much looking forward to competing Delilah and Razz next year and with Julia's help I hope to qualify Razz for the Picton and Delilah for the Peasdown and maybe an open.

Rachael Peyton & Ricardo (SEIB Riding Horse Winner and Reserve Champion, HOYS 2009)

With the expert help from Julia I was able to go from happy hacker to a HoYS winner and reserve champion in 7 months. Julia helped me at home and came to the shows to see for herself how my horse and I reacted in different situations. With this professional approach Julia set about teaching us and I have fulfilled my dreams of producing, competing and winning at the highest of levels. Thank you so much and i am waiting for next season with pride now.

Kayti Harvey & Wickham’s River Dance

The first time I saw Lilly, she was at a foal show with Julia, being produced for a client. Having won the championship, I could only look at this smart bay filly and dream. With some odd quirks of fate, I didn’t expected Lilly to be mine a year later, but I was very pleased about it! I had always like her breeding, by Roviris (TB) out of an ID mare, but what I was most pleased about was that I liked her personality too. The more I got to know Lilly, the more her cheeky and occasionally wilful personality became evident. The good early work Julia had done with Lilly was clear; she had an accepting nature – most of the time!

Always one for a challenge, and never having done any in-hand showing myself, I wondered if Lilly would be good enough to show as a 2yr old. In May I asked Julia to give us a lesson and see what she thought of us as a possibility, despite it being a bit late in the showing season. Julia’s first task (an unenviable task!) was to politely but firmly set my expectations. Clearly working through Lilly’s confirmation we agreed that putting her into a hunter class wasn’t going to be any good, at about 15hh she would be dwarfed in the ring. As a small hunter she would have some chance, however finding a small hunter young stock class isn’t so easy!

Before the first lesson Lilly had been bitted, walked in hand out on the roads and with her previous time with Julia, how hard could this lesson be? So Lilly made sure that she was the perfect brat! Which, with hindsight and despite my embarrassment, made for a really good lesson, I was more nervous than I had expected and Lilly had met a determined and experienced handler in Julia and didn’t like it much! Julia was able to calm me down, show me some good techniques to bring Lilly’s excitement levels down (and put all 4 feet on the floor!). We worked on exercises to get Lilly “with me” and how I needed to move myself to show her to her best advantage – this isn’t as easy as it might look!! Leaving me with a clear plan on the training I needed to do for us both, the grooming and feeding Lilly would require. I am not keen on young horses being overworked in tight circles before they are mature in their joints, but the plan Julia provided didn’t give me any cause for concern for her long term health.

While Lilly’s training progressed at home, I took the opportunity to travel with Julia to shows. This gave me a great insight into how things need to run on show day. Confirming for me that all the work does need to happen at home, a healthy trained fit horse makes it much easier on show day. This was also a great chance to pick Julia’s brain on all aspects of showing, not just in-hand, from clothes, tack, feeding, rugging and ring etiquette. It was also good to watch Julia passing on advice to other clients, making the effort to rush from her own classes to watch their classes and offering advice for next time. Her genuine care for those involved with her in some way was very evident.

With more lessons from Julia, the day of our first show arrived, and it was exciting! For the first half an hour I had the dancing youngster everyone stared at – and avoided! It was a local show, close to home so a perfect place to start. It took all the techniques Julia had shown me to get my very excitable 2yr old into the ring and behave to her best advantage. But we did it and we even came home with some ribbons! It was lovely that unexpectedly Julia turned up to offer support to myself and another of her clients who was there with a young pony.

Next stop the New Forest Show. Having Julia there made it a lot easier to cope and focus on what we needed to do but still letting me make my decisions and prepare my horse myself. I was so very proud of Lilly working in calmly, listening to me on the lunge in the huge space of the lorry park with other horses also working in – I could have gone home then! We were entered into the Irish Draught breeding; I was delighted to have been placed 3rd in a group of 7. True to form Julia gave me a good idea of what we needed to work on for next time. With Julia’s encouragement I was brave enough to enter the National Hunter Championships at Addington in September. Lilly wasn’t so calm this time and my inexperience didn’t help matters, but we didn’t disgrace ourselves. One of the bigger breed classes we were 7th, I was even luck enough to have a ribbon. In the progeny class our very diverse “Roviris” group was 3rd. And Lilly did look tiny against the 17.2hh 3rd old hunter!

A year ago, I had would never have thought that I could have owned, produced and shown a horse good enough to appear at the New Forest and National Hunter Championships – and not look out of place! As an additional bonus I now have the benefit of a well behaved 2yr old that is easy to plait, trip, clip, shoe, stands quietly when asked and walks out in traffic. It was hard work, these things truly aren’t easy but with Julia’s constant motivation, reality checks and never flinching support I did it! I can’t thank Julia enough for being a positive part of achieving that dream.

So what is next? Lilly may show in 2010 as a 3yr old, but I need to start now to get my riding up scratch with my other horse, ready to bring Lilly out under saddle in the future. Having watched Julia’s ridden horses, you have to have a fit, not fat, horse that can canter for quite a while without struggling and a rider that always looks cool and elegant, fully in control. With Julia’s help this will be my next and even bigger challenge in the coming months ahead!!

Madeleine Shannon and Hurricane Grove (Show Cob)

Julia guided us through our first show season, with such infectious enthusiasm that we attended every show, convinced that we would succeed – and we did! Not afraid to roll up her sleeves and tackle our boisterous young cob, she has provided us with invaluable practical support and advice every step of the way. With her knowledge and expertise we’re looking forward to an even more successful season next year.

Debbie Dealey and Ellie

Hi Julia just a quick message to say a big "thank you" for all your help and advice this year. Ellie is improving in leaps and bounds and my confidence is returning too. Look forward to many more lessons and hope to do you and ellie proud next season.

Sam Osborne and Traemarr Seattle

Hi Julia, Frazier is improving on a daily basis and is a total pleasure to own. I took him to his first show ridden last weekend and he qualified for Royal London and Equifest champs. He was so well behaved for the judge and thrived of the show atmosphere. I am looking forwards to the next few years of showing him and hopefully one day we will get to HOYS!! Thank you so much for your support and kind words.

Laura O'Halloran and Brynaur Tywysog

Hi Julia, Just thought I would pop a picture of Brynaur Tywysog up after he won the ridden championship at a show over Xmas. Thanks for all your help so far, I must get booked in for another lesson soon. Many Thanks for all your help