HORSEMENS

Childhood
Horse riding is in my DNA. I inherited my passion for riding from my mother, M’liss Henry. Before I could even walk, I was on a horse. There are so many reasons I am extraordinarily proud of my mum, an accomplished event rider, but one of the biggest reasons I admire her so much is her drive that propelled her to establish the Claremont Therapeutic Riding Centre (WA’s first RDA in Claremont).
Witnessing firsthand the transformative power of horse riding for people with disabilities has made a lifelong impact on me.

As a child, my favorite place in the whole wide world was at the stables. From riding and learning to work with horses with different skill levels to cleaning stables and being responsible for the care of
equipment – I loved it all.

Now Days
Nellandra Henry is a EA Level 2 Jumping Coach and Coach Educator based at Benell Park in Gidgegannup. Nellandra has trained and competed in UK and the US and still rides and competes in showjumping. She currently has two competition horses Noblewood Park Corsair and Soleil and we have some young horses in work.

 

Nellandra is a full-time coach, her aim to help riders achieve their goals – no matter what size. She started her coaching career at the Claremont Therapeutic Riding Centre. The Centre caters for riders of all abilities and has had many representatives at the Special Olympics and on the Para Squads. She feels this has given me a unique insight to coaching and being able to work with many different levels of riders. I love being part of each riders journey, progression and partnership with their horse, whether it be a 4* eventer, GP jumper or a young pony club member.

I have been privileged over the years to learn from so many talented coaches. I want to pay it forward and pass on what I have learned as a rider and coach to others. To me, it is critically important for young riders to receive good coaching from the beginning. It makes everyone’s life easier, better and smarter for young riders begin with a foundation of mutual trust, respect and correct skills.

Each and every day I wake up feeling so incredibly fortunate to be able to do what I love in a place that I love.

I was a member of the Perth Pony Club from 7 years old and competed in all the disciplines. As a teenager I competed in intermediate 3 day events and was on the WA Eventing Young Riders squad from 1992-94 and placed in the National Junior Eventing Championships in Lochinvar, NSW. When I went to university to study biology, my focused shifted to showjumping. I always had a love for jumping right from my first royal in the pony classes aged 11. I will never forget how big those jumped seemed
on my 13hh pony, I can remember seeing the top rail through his ears! After I completed my degree I went travelling and was able to work and ride with horses in UK, Europe and the United States.

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As a coach educator, I see this as helping everyone around the state be able to access good coaching. 

 

I believe there should be easier access to coach educators for jumping in WA and not have to rely on interstate assessors.

 

The future
The future is bright! We have developed a business plan to grow Benell Park to include new and improved facilities on our property so that we can run even bigger and better shows, training days,
clinics and coaching courses.

One of my personal goals I feel passionate about is to build the jumping team up again and be able to travel east for some of the bigger shows. I want to keep competing at the top level of showjumping for as long as I can, keep producing our own horses and possibly continue along the NCAS pathway to level three.