Our method of producing
Quiet, Safe and EasyHello from the McKinley family and our team here at Bespoke Equestrian Ireland and Sheans Horse Farm!
Our focus is to produce Quiet, Safe and Easy riding horses that can be used in our Equestrian Centre for Riding lessons, Trekking, Hacking Cross Country, Beach Riding and Coastal Riding Holidays.
All our horses are carefully selected for our team and we work primarily with Irish cobs, Irish Draughts and Irish Sports horses.
What sets our us apart?
- Our horses must be suitable for us to use in our team
- Our process focuses on spending time and developing strong bonds with our horses
- All of our horses are carefully selected from trusted sources
- They are very well used at our centre and often come with years of experience
- They must be Quiet, Safe and Easy riding horses before joining our team
- We are never in a panic to sell and can continue to use our horses in our team. If a suitable partnership occurs between one of our horses and a potential buyer, we are happy to allow this to happen
- We will not sell a horse if we feel our horse and rider are not well suited to each other
- We want to see our horses going to the correct home where our values are upheld
- They live out and in a herd which helps them to settle in their riding environment
- They are experienced in riding in a variety of different areas
How do we produce our horses?
We produce our horses using the 3 ‘T’s approach! Time, Trust and plenty of Treats.
Spending time with young horses, developing a bond with them and exposing each horse to different environments and experiences at a young age makes the training process much more straight forward. Before the breaking process begins, we focus on simple things such as grooming, leading, teaching voice commands, walking though different terrain, getting them used to things that will flap, lifting their legs and introducing them to vehicles to name a few.
We then have a great team of staff who will take our horses through the standard breaking process. Once backed and riding nicely in our arenas, we spend time riding out on are miles of off-road tracks, fields and hills where we continue to expose them to different terrains such as rivers, banks and softer ground.
We also begin to get our horses used to.
Riding out alone
Riding out in company
Riding away from a group
Holding back as a group rides off
Getting used to motorbikes, cars, trailers, farm machinery
Riding on roads
Riding on beaches
We also bring horses into our team who have been trained elsewhere. These are all very carefully selected and go through the same process of training as we use for horse that we have broken ourselves.
Once our team has the horse up to an appropriate level of riding, we begin to pass them onto our team of Volunteers and younger riders who are only to happy to help. This puts miles on our horses and continues to help them settle into the type of horse which can be used in our team. These horses will be introduced to Riding Lessons, Trekking, Hacking, Cross Country and Beach Rides after being assessed by our team of instructors
At this stage, the horses will begin to be used more and more meaning we are left with well used, reliable, experienced horses.