Hear what some of our clients had to say

Testimonials

  • Viva went to Damien for restarting due to her lacking in confidence and understanding. I cannot thank him enough, she was looked after impeccably! Damien’s communication was great, keeping us up to date with everything he was doing with Viva! He got Viva understanding and doing things I never thought possible. I can’t thank him enough! Would definitely recommend him!

    — Jessica Paige

  • My 3 year old warmblood filly has spent the last 8 weeks with Damien to start her ridden education. But she gained so much more than that.
    She has had the best start you can imagine.
    Thoroughly recommend anyone of any discipline sending their horse to Damien.

    They get the best start and the best care imaginable.

    — Allison Hinchcliffe

  • Damien has been helping me for several weeks with my young (and huge) horse Dino. He’s been absolutely amazing and I cannot recommend him enough. I’ve been to him with a whole range of questions and problems, and he’s handled them all with good humour and remarkable skill. I’m always so impressed with how calm and understanding he is with horses, and I can’t wait to book more sessions in the future! 😊

    — Natasha Parker

  • Damien has been a huge help to me with my young horse who was hugely lacking in confidence under saddle. In just 4 weeks my boy has come on so much under Damien’s training and is much happier about life under saddle now! Not only that but Damien has equipped me with knowledge & tips which will not only benefit this particular horse but any horse in the future going forward. Thankyou so much for your time and patience with my boy Damien it has been so important for him!

    — Hannah Atkinson

  • Damien recently backed my big gangly 3yo mare. He was calm and patient allowing her to figure out what was right and learn for herself. He also gave me the tools to help her to continue to develop, and for both of us to grow in confidence.

    Thoroughly recommend Damien for starting any horse.

    — Jo Parkes

  • Had a starter session last week. I have a very large and bolshy gelding that I have quite a few issues with. We started on one of his worst, he's fab to catch but I can't bring him iin on his own, he barges me and gallops off back to the field. Damien got him in, stopped the arguing and charging about, got him leading nicely and did some work in the round pen. Tonight, after he's been stood in for a couple of days (a sure way to bring on a tantrum) I was able to walk him out quietly in hand with no problem! I was really pleased. Definitely going to book some more!!

    — Janine Smith

  • It is safe to say Damien has had the biggest impact on both mine and my geldings life since first meeting.

    At 17.2hh and a serial bolter Damien was my very last hope for him before he’d end up as a field ornament and too dangerous to ride.

    He came to see us for the first time in mid August after an incident which I finally decided I can’t carry on putting mine and other peoples lives in danger and only 4 and a half months on I have a completely different horse. Just by wearing a saddle he was so tense and stressed, I’d try get on and more times than not he would rear, bolt or both and try get me off as quickly as he could. When he had tired himself out he would be constantly tense so we achieved very little out of every ride. Open spaces and soft surfaces were just an invitation for him to run blindly.

    The ground work he started with opened my mind to a whole new approach and helped put his anxiety at ease and enabled him to start to trust. Building up to the ridden work I can now confidently get on board on a soft surface with no pressure on his mouth and no reaction from him what so ever (bearing in mind I had every piece of tack going complete with a Pelham and now just a snaffle!!) This in itself is something I never imagined we would be able to do, he works so soft and for the first time feel safe on this horse!!

    I cannot put into words how grateful I am to have found Damien and I know Sebastian is even more grateful that at 9 he can start enjoy ridden life for the very first time!! We are excited to be working with him ongoing and consistently into the future. Thank you Damien!!❤️

    — Emily Savage

  • I was recommended Damien from a client after I was saying my colt can be a little intrusive of my space/ nippy at shows and around new people. Star is a 16 month colt and as a foal I let him get away with a lot but as he’s got bigger I realised I need to set some boundaries.

    Well I am in shock. I didn’t realise all this time I was giving Star grey signals. After around 40-50 minutes star started to understand personal space, move just his shoulders by the lightest movement on a loose rope and much more.

    I am on such a high and honestly shocked at the difference. I didn’t even think that me and him had any issues but wow how wrong I was (this is about me not him 🙈). Communication is key and I couldn’t believe how much of a grey area I was giving him and once It was black and white the response Star gave was incredible. I have a lot of practicing to do but will never go back now, I am converted!!

    Star say good bye to Dressage and hello to Rodeo … I am becoming a cowgirl 🤠 (only joking 😂)

    Thank you so much for all your help and I will see you again in a couple of weeks.

    100% recommend to everyone

    — Amy Shipley

  • I have a 14 year, 17.2 warmblood gelding by Sir Donnerhall / Sandro Hit – Rotella / Donnatelli, that I have owned since the age of 18 months. Sadly, he was confirmed to have shivers May last year and became more and more anxious and spooky both on the ground and ridden. For no apparent reason he started doing ‘emergency breaks’ followed by a 180-degree spins resulting in two quite heavy falls, physio treatment and recovery time for me. I lost the trust we had, and I felt that I didn’t know my horse anymore. I knew I needed help from someone that would be able to help him calm down in himself, but didn’t know who to turn to. Thankfully my friend and specialist equine therapist Kathy Boyer (KB Equine Therapy & Rehabilitation) knew of, and recommended Damien. I couldn’t find much information about him apart from his Facebook page, but felt he was the right one to help us.

    Damien started working with Santi on the ground in the end of January and after a few weeks I was thrilled to see Santi being able to calm down, relax and not show any care about anything going on around him (including a skip being dropped at the end of the arena)! Santi was now ready to be ridden and it was a massive relief seeing Santi happy in walk, trot and canter on a loose rein without any spooks! Santi has always been a very sensitive horse that is easily offended and quirky, but he has not got a bad bone in his body!! In mid-April, unfortunately Santi did something in the field and ended up with the right pelvis out of line. This was put back in place by Kathy, but sadly the shivers condition got worse too– to the point it affected the forward movement (in a straight line, in narrow spaces, after halting) and the ability to step under with the hindlegs.

    Damien is very honest and has told me that going forward from this, he doesn’t know if his help will make a difference and improving Santi’s way of moving, but I will be forever grateful that he is still working with him as most trainers would have said they were unable to help any further!! He is now helping Santi with the rehab to; 1) helping him realise that he can step under. We have seen good improvement on the left side. 2) breaking the pattern of the shivers and enabling him to work the hindlegs more naturally. Damien is very conscious and sensitive to the horse’s personality in working with them and I believe this is essential in a good trainer. He is also understanding of your worries and fears as an owner/rider and knows when the time is right for you to ‘pick up the reins’ to move forward. I would have been ‘lost’ without Damien’s help with Santi and would recommend him to anyone who need help with their horse, whatever small or big the issues are! Thank you

    Santi & Anne xx

    — Anne Odden

  • Damien has helped me and my horse more than I ever expected and has genuinely made dreams come true! Best decision I have made to pick up the phone and ask for his help!

    I'd had my mare for about a year when I found Damien, having got to the point where I didn't know if we were ever going to progress further and ride together. Carla arrived from a fairly unknow background, was scared and shut down with serious reservations about the majority of humans. I was sceptical about anyone being able to make much progress with her and worried about who to choose given her outlook on life and quirky self.

    Upon meeting Damien my worries we're soon gone, his understanding for the horse, their emotions and wishes was amazing and he quickly won her trust and friendship. Damien spent aslong as it took for her to learn how to relax and think things through, never rushing her and giving her solid foundations for riding! ... Fast forward a few weeks and Damien had her riding away under saddle... Amazing! Next step was for me to get onboard and not only has Damien instilled confidence in Carla, he instilled it in me, guiding me to understand her needs and offering a push in the right direction when needed. Damien's patient, calm and consistent approach to both horse and rider is phenomenal. I wholeheartedly recommend him to anyone who needs a little or a lot of help with their horse.

    Carla was not an easy mare and she is complete testament to his hard work and horsemanship. He has given me a solid, trustworthy, happy horse!

    — Jo Cartwright

  • Damien has had my young horse Ginge for restarting due to her problems with rearing and napping. I was beginning to feel that we were completely overhorsed and the next step would be selling our much loved girl! That was until i found Damien. Over the last 8 weeks I have watched an amazing and rather emotional transformation from an unsure napping youngster to a happy forward going horse who takes life in her stride and a joy to be with.

    Damien has an incredible gift, his way is calm and quiet. He gains the trust of each horse and is never rushed. The horses respect him and even the most anxious horse relaxes with him very quickly. His knowledge and expertise is outstanding, He always puts the horses first and works incredibly hard, the horses and stables are always clean and well kept. I have watched him work other horses and he treats each one as an individual, he works methodically with each one unravelling problems and instilling confidence in both horse and human. He has helped me to understand his incredible training method and taught us how to continue Ginge's education at home. We wouldn't be where we are now without Damien, thank you so much.

    — Sarah Jones

  • Damian opened my mind to a whole new approach of horse training.

    He started groundwork with my 4 Yr old horse & this is where the trust began.

    His patient, calm & consistent approach gave my horse the best start I could ask for.

    He never rushes & is always relaxed.

    He also understands the owner/riders worries/fears & this is essential with a good trainer.

    Damian has given my horse the best start & a solid foundation for the future & I can't thank him enough.

    — Christine Waite

  • I have learnt so much from Damien! I feel so much more confident in the relationship I want with my horses!

    It’s amazing to watch him work; he seems to unlock the horse as he works with them and they become willing and happy to do what is asked!

    The horses learn to manage themselves which puts them (and us) in a much safer place when there really is something to be worried about!

    I will continue to work with Damien for sure!

    I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Damien for starting, retraining racehorses, behavioural problems, advancing schooling/dressage or even just to help you to establish the perfect partnership with your horse.

    — Jennifer James Copeland

  • Being fairly new to the area I picked Damien based on the huge number of recommendations I’d seen on Facebook for him. I was having numerous problems with my mare that I’ve had since birth and despite her being only 10, I was considering retirement livery for her. She didn’t like being groomed and didn’t like being tacked up with a reaction so extreme compared with her normal behaviour I was totally at a loss as to how to manage her behaviour. She is a very anxious pony and as Damien found with the farrier and back lady he arranged for her has acute “stranger danger”. Despite this she took to Damien immediately and was more relaxed than I’ve ever seen her. I was very aware that I needed work too, to change my management.

    Damien has completely turned us both around and I’m now grooming her daily without issue and had a fabulous riding lesson on her today surpassing anything we’d achieved before, she couldn’t have been more perfect. I couldn’t be happier and as you will guess I highly recommend Damien.

    — Angela Kirby

  • Highly recommend Damien to retrain your horse. Back in Feb I had a fall from my young horse, which resulted in a broken pelvis and all my confidence out of the window, once I was back on my feet I tried to get her working again (having 14 weeks off) and realised I didn’t have the confidence I once had to give a young horse the full training she needed.

    Then along came Damien, one of the most patient kindest men I have ever met.

    He has worked the past 4 weeks with my mare to make her the brilliant horse she is today. He has now handed they reins over to me and she is totally different to what she was like before he started with her. I can’t wait to see what the future brings for us because he has given her the best start possible! Thank you so much Damien! Maggie will definitely miss you as will we!.

    — Charlotte Croser

  • Damien has been working with a young horse for me that became hugely anxious, resulting in tacking up and mounting issues that were becoming more than a little dangerous. I cannot thank him enough for his patience, not just with the horse but with me also, and for his stoic attitude to my makeshift facilities and the British weather.

    We now have a marvellously chilled horse with such a positive attitude, and a toolkit of methods and information to take me foreword. We literally could not get on and today she stood like a rock steady pro

    Damien has always been there to answer my messages and stupid questions and approached the whole thing with a quiet humour I found refreshing. He was always willing to take as long as necessary to get it right for the horse, no matter what the clock said and nothing seemed too much trouble. I cannot recommend him highly enough. Thank you from Myself and Boo, but most of all from Maisie

    — Tracy Dunning

  • I would recommend Damien to anyone needing help with their horse!

    I got help due to my youngster who had bronked me off and I couldn’t get past it!

    Damien has worked on my horses anxiety issues, attitude and learning to move forwards resulting in me being able to ride him with confidence that he’s not going to do anything! The difference from the ground to the ridden is amazing and I can’t thank Damien enough as couldn’t of done it without you! Thankyou so so much

    — Becky Pearson

  • Amazing 🤩 thank you so much for your help with picking up Bentley’s feet today , I’m over the moon at how gentle you were with him and he now is picking up all four without resistance after just one session. Thank you so much !

    — Lara Rose

  • Highly recommend Damian for horse starting and training as I was very fortunate to purchase a young Australia Brumby that Damian trained from Wild in the Australia Brumby Challenge. This horse is so beautifully trained that my young children are learning horsemanship and riding skills from him now and he is so gentle with them. Wish I could have 3 more horses like him. Forever grateful.

    — Cherry Smith

  • Damien was a huge help. I was having trouble loading my ex racer into a new trailer. Damien's calm and methodical approach worked a treat and I feel that I've learnt a lot in the process as well. He was quick to respond to my cry for help and made sure the final solution worked well for me and my horse. Highly recommend!

    — Lily Rowntree

  • Damien did such an amazing job with Blue, after two weeks the difference in him is amazing, he was terrified of people after coming off the Welsh mountains, now you can catch him, lead him, he loves being groomed. 😊 couldn’t recommend enough.

    — Alice Clennan

  • I can not tell you guys how much Damien has helped myself and my mare only had her 4months but what a difference he has made to both of us both on the ground and ridden he is just so knowledgeable highly recommend him

    — Jo Pickles

  • I’ve been having Damian regularly to help educate my yearling. He is kind, patient and effective. He is also patient with me and a great teacher!

    — Louise Donnor-Broom

  • Just brought my young cob home after been away with Damien for starting. I had followed his way of working with horses for a while on FB, and he was recommended by a friend who he helped with some big issues with her horse. We were kept updated on what he had been working on throughout his stay. When we visited he was calm, happy and well cared for. The solid foundation Damien has given him is amazing. He has a thorough understanding of what he has been taught and what is been asked of him. No confusion no stress, just calm and willing. Damien obviously knows horses inside out and makes the work look so effortless! Cannot recommend him highly enough.

    — Jodie Snowden

  • Highly recommend Damien! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Very knowledgeable, patient and understanding trainer. I came to Damien approx 2 months ago after being recommended by my horses physio & a livery at the yard. My young cob had been sent away to be professionally backed at the end of last year and after 2 months was sent back to me as they could not ‘manage’ him. After working with my horse myself with some steps in the right direction with a trainer I gave him a month off. I started training with Damien end of March with ground work and I am now riding my horse!! Something that only 5 months ago seemed the impossible. Absolute professional with backing and training young horses.

    — Carla Hainsworth

  • Damien was recommended to me by a trusted friend. I wanted a professional who could do a yard visit rather than send the horse away to be worked with. The little racehorse Baloo, now owned by a life after racing charity, has a serious fear memory regarding being mounted due to a catastrophic incident/accident with a previous owner. Damien did a long session with Baloo, showing incredible patience and understanding. He clearly explained how using time and the methods used in the session Baloo could eventually overcome his fear and let go of the memory.

    I have recommended Damien to friends having problems/issues and would definitely seek his help in future if needed.

    Thanks, Caroline & Baloo!

    — Caroline Bullivant

  • Damien has helped me and my horse more than I ever expected and has genuinely made dreams come true! Best decision I have made to pick up the phone and ask for his help!

    I'd had my mare for about a year when I found Damien, having got to the point where I didn't know if we were ever going to progress further and ride together. Carla arrived from a fairly unknow background, was scared and shut down with serious reservations about the majority of humans. I was sceptical about anyone being able to make much progress with her and worried about who to choose given her outlook on life and quirky self.

    Upon meeting Damien my worries we're soon gone, his understanding for the horse, their emotions and wishes was amazing and he quickly won her trust and friendship. Damien spent aslong as it took for her to learn how to relax and think things through, never rushing her and giving her solid foundations for riding! ... Fast forward a few weeks and Damien had her riding away under saddle... Amazing! Next step was for me to get onboard and not only has Damien instilled confidence in Carla, he instilled it in me, guiding me to understand her needs and offering a push in the right direction when needed. Damien's patient, calm and consistent approach to both horse and rider is phenomenal. I wholeheartedly recommend him to anyone who needs a little or a lot of help with their horse.

    Carla was not an easy mare and she is complete testament to his hard work and horsemanship. He has given me a solid, trustworthy, happy horse!

    — Jo Cartwright

  • Following a few yard moves my horse Fred and I were having issues with Fred getting highly anxious and this resulting in me feeling equally as anxious! We struggled to walk to the arena due to having to walk past barking dogs and once we were there Fred was tense and spooky. Our world seemed to be shrinking as there was less and less we felt confident doing. Having done lots of things together in the past this was upsetting.

    Damien taught us how to get Fred to manage himself though ground work, this then transferred into the ridden work. After 3 lessons we were cantering around the arena (having walked calmly passed the dogs to get there) with no contact on the reins and stopping him through my seat. This is a million miles away from where we were.

    I would highly recommend Damien not only to anyone struggling with their horse but to anyone who wants to build a better connection and partnership with their four legged friend🐴👍.

    — Claire Rexworthy

  • I've had Damien 3 times now, to help me, with my girl's progress. This is a totally different way of working to how I was taught many years ago. I admire his honesty and have found physically seeing him working with my horse incredible, watching someone on a utube video is one thing, but witnessing it being put in to practise with your own horse is something else.

    He has left me with clear progressional steps to work with each time and it's been fantastic so far. He explains why we need to do each stage and is informative as to where it will lead and help you in the future as we transition from ground work to being on her back. I'm looking forward to seeing where we (April and I) end up as we learn together!

    — Fiona Bilbey

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