Rachel Clarkson is a former Parelli Professional who has been in the equine industry training and developing horses for over 20 years. Now the owner and operator of Horsemanship Australia based in the North East of Victoria near Rutherglen.You can be confident that Rachel comes highly qualified to teach all areas within the equine industry. Rachel was one of the youngest ever students to achieve her 3 star Parelli Instructor rating here in Australia and also the title of a Horse Development Specialist. .
Rachel’s ability to read and understand the nature of the horse has enabled her to not only be skilled at teaching people but also in training and developing horses for clients. This type of horse development can be in the form of foundation training, starting under saddle for first rides, training foals, weanlings, yearlings and dealing with challenging or problem horses. No matter what your challenges are concerns with your horse Rachel is more then happy to help and support you both to form better relationship.
Rachel has taught not only all over Australia but also spent time in New Zealand starting young horses and teaching and training in the USA with various world renowned horsemanship trainers. Whether it is a one on one lesson or teaching a month long intensive horsemanship course Rachel has the experience and ability to make her courses fun, interactive, informative and practical horsemanship that helps you to move forward no matter what level you are at.
Where it started….
It seems like the majority of people on this horsemanship journey are first inspired by seeing a demo, attending a clinic or having problems with a horse. Well for Rachel it wasn’t much different. She was lucky enough to sit in on a 3-hour clinic, watching Pat Parelli start a young horse when she was 10 yro here in Australia.
As a child, Rachel was fortunate enough to grow up with access to an abundance of horses. Her family bred and trained their own performance horses for many years on the family farm in the north east. Rachel has always had a strong passion and dedication towards Natural Horsemanship, especially the horse development side, so becoming an Instructor was a goal of her’s from a very young age. At the tender age of just 2 years old was when Rachel first started riding with her family, where she learnt to ride through purpose driven horsemanship like cattle work on the farm, trail riding through the bush lands and having the opportunity to attend Pony Club for several years.
Through the abundance of horses Rachel’s family bred she gained many opportunities while growing up to get experience in different areas of horse development; from foal imprinting and early training of yearlings to starting young horses undersaddle, foundation training and all the way to higher level competition in various English and Western disciplines. Rachel competed for some years and enjoyed it a lot, however it was very evident there was problems that people and horses were experiencing in the traditional horsemanship world that were not been fixed. It was here that the spark was lit for Rachel to help others find a better solution to their problems than to use force, fear and intimidation to achieve results. So with this in mind Rachel than focused on becoming more skilled and knowledgeable on horse psychology to better help her horses and others. This is of course what lead Rachel down the path of becoming a certified Parelli Professional Instructor at the time.
Through having plenty of experience with horses and a strong determination to go for her goals and dreams this was able enable Rachel to be awarded a substantial scholarship to attend the 12-week Extern program at the Parelli Centre in Florida, USA. Every year Pat and Linda visited Australia Rachel always rode with them in events such as at Melbourne Equitana and at Parelli Celebrations and through this exposure Pat could seen a little potential allowing Rachel the privilege to come and study on his campus. Rachel than went on to successfully complete a 12 week externship then moved on to become an Apprentice in the Mastery Program. Rachel had the privilege to ride and study under Pat Parelli for over 18 months, where she was part of a team of instructors from all over the world developing performance horses for competition and demonstrations that were held all around America.
Rachel has not only ride with Pat and Linda Parelli, but also spent time been coached by dressage master Walter Zettl and Vaquero horseman Martin Black.
Now Rachel owns and runs Horsemanship Australia where she is committed to providing progressive outcomes for both the horse and rider delivering results. Her positive attitude shines through in all areas of her teaching, with her philosophy centering around utilizing the brilliance of natural horsemanship methodology. Rachel’s objective is to help you achieve your goals, in any discipline within the equine industry.
Rachel is well known for giving her students just the right amount of encouragement and guidance to keep them on the edge of their comfort zone, so they can be progressive while still staying safe and confident. As your guiding coach she will give you a logical plan that will keep you focused, motivated and give you the confidence to excel at your goals. We all want results and to be successful; that is what Rachel can deliver as your trainer, coach and mentor on your horsemanship journey.
Rachel looks forward to helping as many people as she can on their horsemanship journey and sharing with others what has been shared with her over the many years of been involved with horses and studying Natural Horsemanship.