Merlon Park Open Day Tomorrow - Saturday, 9 October

Horseman, Dave Hollier, will be giving demonstrations at the Merlon Park Open Day

Merlon Park will be hosting an Open Day at its Oakdale property from 11am to 3pm this Saturday, 9 October, which will be an opportunity for the public to view their facilities and learn more about the services available.

Only one hour from Sydney, Merlon Park is located on 40 picturesque acres and is a purpose built equestrian property, with facilities to cater for most equine needs, from the enthusiastic amateur pleasure rider through to the exacting standards of the racing industry. There are steel post and rail yards with a number of groomed pasture improved paddocks and an on site veterinary service, catering for both in house and external clients.

Merlon Park personnel are experienced horse management professionals who pride themselves on their horsemanship and specialise in performance horse and eventing competitions. Services include:

• agistment


• breaking-in


• yearling preparation


• spelling


• lessons and clinics


• schooling-fitness


• veterinary


• selling your horse


• holidays

A feature of the proceedings at the Open Day will be demonstrations by local horseman, Dave Hollier, who[COLOR=windowtext] doesn’t particularly relate to the term “horse whisperer” but people in the southern reaches of the Macarthur area are twigging there’s something special about his relationship with horses.

[COLOR=windowtext]Hollier, 34, of Bargo, prefers to describe himself as a horse handler but his results have been compared to those of the main character in Nicholas Evan’s best-seller The Horse Whisperer. Hollier says he likes to think he can give a horse a second chance, whether it be emotional through a rebuilding of trust or physical by way of his farrier background.

[COLOR=windowtext]Despite his relative youth, Hollier is a journeyman who has gleaned a lifetime of equine experiences and knowledge, mainly in far north and central Queensland.
[COLOR=windowtext]He is also upfront. He didn’t get into a saddle until he was 20 and there was definitely no natural affinity with horses or secret communication skills. It was hard yakka.

[COLOR=windowtext]Hollier was born in Sydney and did his schooling in the Blue Mountains and Toowomba. While he was studying at university he had the opportunity to work as a tour guide in central Queensland. “There were two things I wanted to do; I wanted to learn to play a didgeridoo and how to ride a horse,” he said. “A showground guy showed me how to saddle a horse and go for a ride. It was an introduction.”
[COLOR=windowtext]There were other opportunities to ride - though not as many as he hoped - and he got “seriously into horses then”. Hollier doesn’t concur with the “whispering” techniques to get a damaged horse back on track.

[COLOR=windowtext]“Sometimes you need to be more confident and take leadership,” he said.
[COLOR=windowtext]Horses aren’t looking at you being hush-hush; they need you to be confident in your leadership, be understanding and communicate with your body language.

[COLOR=windowtext]While he works more hands-on with horses, Hollier also operates Bushbred, in Bargo, which hand-makes about 50 equine products.[COLOR=windowtext] He and his family have only been in the district for about six months - settling near his wife’s parents - but he said he planned to make Bargo his long-term base.

Click here to check out the Merlon Park website.