Ashlee Slavich - Event Rider and Coach

21/05/2026

Putting in the work is always worth it!

17/05/2026

I love my work. Especially when I’m teaching cross country! 😄

Some take aways from a morning out on the course were:

🔹Get your horse in front of your leg. You want them to travel for you without having to constantly nag them.
🔹Make the basics of having the horse in front of your leg, being in rhythm and balance and riding accurate lines so well practiced that achieving them becomes second nature to you. You need to achieve these on auto pilot almost so that you have space in your mind and time to think about other things that will make your ride better.
🔹 You must work on rideability in your horses. We need to be able to go up and down the gears, turn easily from one rein to the next and overall have a horse that listens to our aids.
🔹 Ride the whole horse, not just the head and neck of which you see in front of you. Make adjustments in bend, balance and engagement not just in your hands but in your legs and body/seat.
🔹 Get on terrain! Go up and down things, across altering terrain as much as you can. This can be challenging living on the flats of the Goulburn Valley so go and find terrain every chance you get.
🔹 Cross country riding requires many different body positions. A galloping body position is different to a position preparing for an upright rail which is different from a body position for going down a bank. Don’t ride cross country like a show jump course in a paddock.

29/04/2026

Last call for cross country clinic entries 🏇
Entries close this Sunday

🔹Saturday 9th of May

🔹Euroa Horse Park

🔹Address: 2 Millard’s Ln, Euroa VIC 3666

🔹 $93 per combination (this includes $33 course hire per rider).

🔹Minimum level of rider/horse combination - Grade 6 Horse Trials.

🔹Direct deposit payment.

🔹 Entries close Sunday 3rd of May. Groups and times will then be finalised and emailed.

Please email:
[email protected] to book.

I will reply to your email to confirm entry and send relevant forms to be filled out.

Please reach out if you have any questions regarding the clinic.

Thank you in advance and hope to see many of you there 😄

04/04/2026

Upcoming Cross Country clinic ‼️🐴

🔹Saturday 9th of May

🔹Euroa Horse Park

🔹Address: 2 Millard’s Ln, Euroa VIC 3666

🔹 $93 per combination (this includes $33 course hire per rider).

🔹Minimum level of rider/horse combination - Grade 6 Horse Trials.

🔹Direct deposit payment.

🔹 Entries close Sunday 3rd of May. Groups and times will then be finalised and emailed.

Please email:
[email protected] to book.

I will reply to your email to confirm entry and send relevant forms to be filled out.

Please reach out if you have any questions regarding the clinic.

Thank you in advance and hope to see many of you there 😄

03/03/2026

With a lot of my students going to Inter-schools this week and the competition season being in full swing, I felt inspired to write a little post.
A little bit of advice, which I put my hand up to say can be very hard in practice sometimes 🙋‍♀️😅

Everyone is on their own journey.
Stick to what you know is the best thing for the rider that you are on the day and the horse that you have on the day. Special note to “on the day”. Competition is different to training and both us and our horses can feel different.

Don’t get flustered with what others are doing around you, they are doing their thing and you are doing yours. The worst thing you can do for yourself and your horse is change things in your warm up because you’ve seen what someone else is doing.

Stick to your system and stick to your plan.
If problems arise, breathe, stay calm.
It will be ok 🤗

08/01/2026

Great advice 👌

A Boyd Truth Bomb 💣

It's cool to have chandeliers and a hundred acres of farm and all of that, but if you don't have it, don't use that as an excuse. Plenty of riders have gone to the Olympics training on 2 acres!

Most riders have some kind of limitation. All it means is you're going to have to work harder to figure out how to make it work, but it doesn't mean you can't make it work.

✅ Comment 'eventing' for your spot in the Boyd Martin Eventing Program 🙌

18/12/2025

Clinic announcement 📣🐴

Lessons with myself and my coach Amanda Hocking plus extra fun….😄

Open to riders 13yo and above.

What you can expect from our clinic.
🔹 Brilliant facilities!
🔹 Learning opportunities on and off the horse
🔹 An enthusiastic, supportive and motivating atmosphere
🔹 2 days of fun and learning with your horse and other like minded people

Spots are limited. Please PM me for booking information.

11/11/2025

Let’s get around the Benalla Pony Club and their incredible effort in bringing some massive names to the area! How lucky are our local riders to have the opportunity to learn from such high profile riders and pinnacles of our sport.
I personally am incredibly grateful to be part of it 😃

⭐️ BENALLA PONY CLUB CLINIC ⭐️

We have some of Australia’s best coming to Benalla!

🗓️ Australia Day long weekend, 24th and 25th January 2026.

▪️CHRIS BURTON
▪️HAZEL SHANNON
▪️ASHLEE SLAVICH
▪️STACEY BRIGGS

Entries now open via Event Secretary.
Places are limited, get in quick!

02/10/2025

Cross country practice opportunity this Saturday 🏇
Offering last minute cross country lessons at Moora Reserve this Saturday 4th of October.
Please message me if interested 😀

30/09/2025

💡Free dressage advice anyone

I took on the role of penciller and spectator today as some of my students were coached by my dressage coach of many years Amanda Hocking.
Thanks to Amanda we were able to create a small dressage protocol day for some students to practice their skills in the arena.
As the scribe of the day 📝
Here are my notes to share:

🔸 A halt should be a forward stepping movement. A halt should not be, pull the hand break and take the leg off.
Analogy: a jogger running in the city. They approach traffic lights and have to keep jogging on the spot.
Think of the horses hinds legs “jogging” like that into the halt.

🔸Remember. Mares are not Geldings.
You need to lead a Mare, you can’t boss them. You must have them onside with you and them seeing you as their leader.

🔸Major difference between a Novice horse and a Grand Prix horse is the response time. Response time to the aids you apply.

🔸 When you sit back, sit up straight, think about your posture, sit behind the movement a little, you soon find out if the horse is carrying you or not.
So often you’ll sit up straight and realise that the horses motor is not running enough and isn’t doing anything.
Sit back to feel that, create more energy and sit back to be carried 🌊

🔸 “When your horse is crooked he is in charge. When your horse is straight, you are in charge”.

🔸 A good contact is like a good handshake. 🤝
Supportive, not too demanding or dominating however committed and installing confidence.
Like Goldy Locks and the three bears. Not too soft, not too hard, just right.

Happy riding everyone 🐴