DUWELL Equestrian

About

DUWELL Equestrian - specializing in horse friendly training through rider education. Stockists of unique, quality tack & accessories.

Story

My name is Emma Kay. I am proud to bring my new business, DUWELL Equestrian to the NZ Equestrian community.

DUWELL has a completely unique all-encompassing approach that incorporates equine nutrition with DUWELL Supplements and DUWELL Equestrian, which focuses on highly effective, horse friendly, progressive equine training plus quality saddlery from world leading manufacturers. This unique holistic approach, backed with years of experience and training with world class horsemen and women, brings together all the factors necessary for you to be successful with your equine partner.

My methods come from knowledge accumulated over 30 years working in the equine industry and by studying with great horsemen and women such as Manolo Mendez, Jean Luc Corneille, Martin Black, Buck Brannaman and Maree McAteer.

I have worked in all aspects of equine care and training from a young age, working with race and show horses upon leaving school, competing in Round the Ring Jumping as a teenager with an OTT steeplechaser, winning many rider classes, working in yearling prep barns, competing a sport horse stallion in dressage, retraining OTT TB’s in to successful eventing careers, training a quarter horse for cow working and western events as well as working in the racing industry, caring for and riding racehorses.

Together with my husband Roger, we have bred many sport horses with our pinto stallion Pintado Desperado and have foaled thoroughbred and sport horse mares for outside clients. We also ajisted many racehorses for clients.

A Passion for Working Equitation –

In the last five years I have come to learn about a new equestrian competition - Working Equitation. This is a four phase competition –
Phase one - Dressage
Phase two – Ease of Handling through a course of obstacles
Phase three - Speed through the similar course of obstacles
Fourth phase in a big competition is team cow working.

Judging of phases is based on the horse’s calmness and focus in all situations, relative to its level of training. Tenseness in any form is not rewarded unlike modern dressage.

Working Equitation offers a progressive training system, or in other words, a step by step approach that encourages the horse to be curious and to try new things and teaches the rider how to train in this way.
This progressive training system fits perfectly with my philosophy of ethical equine training that focuses on the willing participation and “okness” of the horse.
This progressive approach can be used to train a horse for anything from WE to barrier training of a racehorse, because when training makes sense to a horse it learns quickly and does not forget.

I have studied Cowboy Challenge and horsemanship, training my own horses and those of students, in ground work and under saddle, to happily perform obstacles such as bridges, dragging a drum on a rope, walk over tarpaulins, jump obstacles, carry a full sized flag, go through a curtain and many more. WE is now a perfect outlet for this training with a degree of competitiveness to keep things interesting but still have the overall focus on the mental and physical wellbeing of the horse.

I educate riders how to look at things from the horse's perspective so they can continue to work with their horses in an empathetic manner that is faster in the long run and highly effective.

Education sets us free. Through education we can better understand the needs of the horse as they must come first.

Becoming stockists of DP Saddles and Markus Holst tack is a very cool progression too. Quality tack that fits horse and rider properly is an essential component of Duwell’s holistic approach.

We hold clinics, offer group or one on one lessons that can include:

--Ground work -- for ease of handling, classical inhand work, horsemanship and classical western groundwork, obstacle or float training, foal handling, rehabilitation in hand work, how to round pen and lunge correctly.

--Ridden work -- obstacle training for Working Equitation and Cowboy Challenge, ridden rehabilitation work, lateral work, problems such as herd bound, separation anxiety, how to get a soft feel, trail riding issues.

And much more.

Our sister business is DUWELL Supplements for NZ Horses.

The relationship between horses being free from diet related issues and the ease of trainability is a very close one.
Horses suffering from diet related problems cannot mentally function correctly and trainability is therefore severely affected.
We are passionate about the education of owners and riders to better understand the impact of diet on their horses and how to avoid very common diet related problems.