EA Education Conference a Great Success!

The inaugural Equestrian Australia Education Conference was held over the weekend at Sydney Showground and was a resounding success, with 174 delegates from around Australia and one delegate from Malaysia in attendance at the two day conference. 

It was a great opportunity for various groups across the industry to come together and share new ideas and technologies and to learn from professionals in other industries.

"It was fantastic," commented Christine Johnson of Nelson, NSW, "it was a great initiative. I would highly recommend it to everyone for next time. It really inspired thought and interaction."

"Avril Henry was awesome, as was Jacqui Cooper, those women were so inspirational that I would have been happy if they were the only speakers at the whole conference," said Jody Barczyk from Tasmania.

"I really enjoyed it. There was a great mix of horsey and non-horsey speakers. It catered for a broad range of people, from a pony club mother, to a business person or elite athlete" added Ms Barczyk.

EA Education Manager Ben Harris was happy with the feedback from the delegates and pleased that people took time out from their busy lives to give the new initiative a go.

"Being the first conference many people did not know what to expect but I think they were all very happy with the outcome. The feedback was very positive with many people grateful for the opportunity. We came away from it with confidence that people are open to new things and want to learn, which is great."

Kentucky Equine Research was represented by Dr. Clarissa Brown-Douglas. "It was great, very beneficial. Although I was presenting I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all the other speakers," commented Dr. Brown-Douglas.

"It really encourages you to think outside the square and apply principles from other industries. KER and Barastoc were very happy and have received lots of inquiries from people that attended wanting nutrition advice."

Congratulations to Christine Johnson, who won the lucky door prize of a PerformAir Animal Transport Ventilation System and one year supply of PerformAir filters. Thank you to PerformAir for their generosity.

Equestrian Australia would like to thank everyone who attended the conference and the speakers who made the conference a success who included:

• Jacqui Cooper - a five-time Olympian (Aerial Skiing)
• Wayne Goldsmith - one of the most respected and authoritative sporting minds in Australia
• Rosemary Towner - National Player Development Manager from Rugby Union Players Association
• Geoff Trip - former Events & Marketing Manager for Basketball Australia
• Lynne Dalton - The Centre for Volunteering
• Brett Mace - EA High Performance Director
• Ben Harris - EA Education Manager
• Dr. Clarissa Douglas-Brown - Kentucky Equine Research
• Grant Baldock - CEO Equestrian Australia
• Dr. Andrew McLean - PhD (Equine cognition and learning), BSc (Zoology), Dip Ed
• Dr. Bidda Jones - RSPCA
• Mariette van den Berg - Equine Nutritionist/animal scientist
• Gareth Mole - Condor Performance Psychology

Quick Link

• Visit the Equestrian Australia website