RICHMOND VALLEY RIDING SCHOOL offers students a unique equine experience.
We have been an approved Horse Riding School within the Australian Government Department of Education and also approved by the Australian Government Department of Health & Human Services which allows us to teach eligible school students right through to administration staff at the University of Tasmania due a grant application.
Kimberly’s qualifications include but are not limited to (TAA40104) & (TAE40110) Certificate IV WORKPLACE TRAINER & ASSESSOR within the Department of Education, Australian Qualification Training Framework (A.Q.T.F), Vocational Education & Training (V.E.T.)
In 2012 Kimberly achieved her latest qualification (SIS40510) Certificate IV in Sport Coaching Equestrian, adding to and surpassing her other credentials below. A first aid certificate is always kept up to date by Kimberly and Cassandra (You should make sure your instructor has appropriate or certified qualifications and experience wherever your children or yourself participate as horse riding is a high risk sport, but an un-regulated industry.
Kimberly was also employed as the Professional Equine Coaching Consultant by Wide Angle Tasmania to direct the actors involved in the equine scenes and the stunt riding on the movie set of “Little Lamb” due to premier on 29th November 2012. (A gothic thriller set in 1829 in Tasmania) A MUST SEE!! More recently Kimberly and Cassandra also gave riding lessons to the lead actors for the currently showing Movie on TV 2022 “Nightingale” set in Tasmania.
KIMBERLY has achieved her accreditation Certificates as an Australian Sports Commission (A.S.C.) Nationally Accredited (N.C.A.S.) Equestrian Australia (E.A.) LEVEL 1 GENERAL COACH (Dressage, S/Jumping, Eventing) a National Official (N.O.A.S.) E.A. DRESSAGE JUDGE and E.A. SKILL SPECIFIC TRAINER & ASSESSOR (S.S.T.A.) as well as an Australian Pony Club (P.C.A.T.) Level 1 Coach.
Kim began riding in the 1960′s at the age of 6 at Gillingbrook Riding School then at 8 at Willunga Riding School with Miss Sheilagh Young. She attended her first agricultural shows (Brighton & Huon) at age 10, to progress to showjumping and eventing successfully at State Championships as an adult, also competing successfully at State Dressage Championships up to 2004. Kim and her last home bred/trained horse La Vita Bella were selected onto the STATE DRESSAGE ELITE SQUAD. Kim has also judged at State Championships & Royal Shows into the 21st Century. Kim achieved registration as a National Dressage Judge, judging officially at National Level up to 2010 until she choose to commit all her equine time to specialize in coaching and instructing one and all to pursue their own equine dreams be it trailing safely through your native bush-land or aspiring for Olympic Gold.
Kimberly achieved her first formal equestrian coaching & judging qualifications in 1995, passing both theoretical & practical exams first attempt (which on average only 5 out of the 10 trainee coaches achieved) competencies included both riding & officially competing and achieving set percentage marks in dressage tests with your own horse and demonstrating riding other random horses, as well as teaching Dressage, Show jumping along with building showjumping courses and Eventing in front of a panel of 4 Examiners, including the likes of Olympian Barry Roycroft, to achieve her Level 1 E.A. General Coach Qualification, the only one of its kind in Australia at the time to have an International recognition. (She now prefers the Australian Government approved V.E.T. Certificate Courses as they are far more readily accepted/acknowledged across the general community and are in general able to be mapped across other V.E.T. Educational Certificate courses and do not require yearly membership of any elite (NON REGISTERED TRAINING ORGANISATION ) (RTO) (eg. E.A) to stay certified.
Kim lived in, instructed,started and re trained horses to re-sell at Moat House Riding Centre in the late 1970,s when qualifications in Australia where only being thought about. She was a jillaroo, polo cross player and breeder of Stock horses in central western N.S.W in the 1980,s (then instructed at 7 Mile Beach Equestrian Centre), while still teaching casually at Richmond, along with enrolling in a study group & becoming a Pat Parelli student for two years in the 1990′s to soak up and lean as much as she could about Natural Horsemanship from PatParelli & Philip Nye, then in the late 90,s onward Andrew & Manuella Mclean and evidence based training using equine science converted Kim completely as the only way to train (respecting how the horse learns)all of which she combines with her teaching today.
After selling her last fairly well known event horse “Black Adder” to N.S.W., the mid to late nineties and early 2000 saw Kim breed two more foals starting & training one (her last) (La Vita Bella) this time a Warmblood Holsteiner Sport-horse for her own dressage competition use, this saw the pair win their way onto the Tasmanian State Elite Dressage Squad along with privatly traveling the globe with her equine interests, resulting in Kim coaching in the U.K. in 2004/5. Kim continued coaching when back in Tasmania and accumulated new riding school horses while living at Wybra Hall due to the friendship and generosity of Wybra’s owners Robert & Kerrie Goudsouzian before returning to Richmond in 2006 with her partner now husband Kenny White who has helped Kim build Richmond Valley Riding School to the unique equine experience you enjoy today. As recently as 2019 Kimberly was recognized by International Horse College as a 3rd Party Industry Expert.
Cassandra Davis (bio under construction)
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