Kate Fenner understands how the mind of a horse works, but don't call her a 'horse whisperer'.
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"There's a lot of old wives' tales, a lot of myth and mystery about it, but there's hard data on what works," Ms Fenner said.
Ms Fenner spent a morning at Sutton Farm Equestrian Centre teaching a group of horse owners and riders about the science behind horse training in an attempt to demystify the process.
It was also an opportunity for owners like Maree Garrett to check in with an expert and know she was on the right path with her young mare, Doll.
"This mare has been quite difficult. She's really hot and sensitive and we got the opportunity to learn the science behind what we teach them. It's nice to know that my instincts are spot on," Ms Garrett said.
Ms Fenner said her online training program had been the missing link in her experience as a horse trainer and had enabled a community to grow for an otherwise solitary vocation.
"I'm travelling up and down the east coast of Australia, setting up training groups where people can use the online training I provide and then I pop in three or four times a year and we do a clinic together. We make little communities because it can be quite lonely training your own horse," she said.
Ms Fenner said that in that solitude is where a lot of misunderstanding has been able to develop.
"We've got to approach training from things that we can measure. People make assumptions about what the horse is thinking and the horse's motives for doing things. It's a matter of breaking it down and making it work for the horse and the rider together so that you build the confidence of the pair."
Ms Fenner is midway through a PhD in Equine Training and Welfare at the University of Sydney and has, found in her studies so far, that training the owner is equally as important as training the horse.
"What I realised was that training other people's horses is great fun. Unfortunately, when you send them back to the owners they revert back to their old behaviour and it's much better to train the owners."
