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Ally O'Neill

Ally O'Neill

FEI Dressage Rider, Judge, and Coach based in Victoria, Australia; owner of The City Barn training facility and passionate horse breeder

Jul 7, 2026

10:40
and
10:40
I've needed my trainer on the ground to remind me that what I'm feeling is not what I need to be doing and that's I think the really important thing because if you are a rider that's still working on your own balance that's not always going to be practical on a young horse that needs a lot of support from a rider who can pretty much take their hands off the steering wheel because in essence that's what you're doing because as soon as you start to hold on and block then you can be in a world of trouble.
11:10
So it kind of goes against the grain of everything that you're doing to keep yourself safe.
11:15
You have to literally cross yourself and be like, trust the eyes on the ground.
11:19
It's not enough ground cover.
11:21
Because they're still finding their own balance.
11:23
And I think when you are a rider who can listen to someone from the ground and actually make that happen for the horse's benefit, especially that really early stage of their learning, that's going to be really helpful for those young horses.

11 MINS LATER

22:16
Do you think there's particular like advantages and challenges that have come from that? Like, obviously it's, it's, it's hard work breeding and it's very risk versus reward, you know, what would you say you think are like the maybe advantages and challenges that have come from that? The challenges

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