Equestrian Canada Competition coach
Coaching & Horse Training From Beginners to Prix St George
Jillian is delighted to coach anyone interested in learning about horsemanship both on the ground and in the saddle. Her emphasis is harmony – establishing a connection with the horse to ensure a trusting and willing partnership. This is done with groundwork, dressage fundamentals and cross-training with the ultimate goal of creating a confident horse & rider team working in harmony and having fun together.
Whether you’re just starting your riding career, working you way up the Dressage levels, or want to get the competitive edge in disciplines like Working Equitation, Eventing or Hunter/Jumpers, Jillian will create a personalized training program designed to help you and your equine partner reach your goals and dreams.
Jillian’s love for horses started in 1984, when she rode her first horse, an American Saddlebred, owned by her family. She soaked up as much as information as she could from the horse savvy adults in her life and worked at an equestrian summer camp offering vaulting lessons, riding lessons and trail rides.
Several years later, as a young adult Jillian made a life changing decision to move to Ontario and pursue her passion of riding and horse training as a working student at European Stallion Zentrum. Here she learned everything from backing green horses to riding and schooling Prix St. George stallions. It is here where Jillian’s passion for riding and dressage in particular became firmly anchored.
Later, in 2004, Jillian further augmented her equine knowledge and skills by mentoring with Terry Scott, where, after being a working student for Terry full time for a year, she achieved her Instructor certification with Equine Canada. Since then Jillian has enjoyed teaching many students the basics all the way up to Intermediare movements. She has also trained countless green horses to competition-ready for their owners.
Sharing her knowledge and watching her students evolve and develop is what makes Jillian smile and continue to love her chosen career in the wonderful and challenging world of horses.
Influences in her training and coaching program include:
Specialty coach and Grand Prix Dressage rider – Christine Jacobson,
Seven-time US National Championship competitor – Mette Rozencrantz
Grand Prix jumper and high performance coach – Joelle Froese
as well as studying training techniques from world class athletes such as Ingrid Klimke, Charlotte DuJardin, and particularly Tristan Tucker (TRT Method).
