My Journey to becoming a QS Professional

I am flattered that you have taken the time out to find out a little more about me and although you have probably gotten to know me as Mel Peacock, QS Instuctor, Agent and Foundation Trainer, my journey to this point has been somewhat adventurous. I would like to share with you the path I have followed.

My first horse was a 3 YO pinto gelding that my parents bought for me when they finally gave in to my constant nagging for one. None of my family knew anything about horses so I was just handed this horse that had only recently been 'broken in' and had to work out how to look after and ride him for myself. I was about 14 at the time and was so thrilled to have such a magnificent animal that I had no idea what I was about to get myself into or where it was going to lead me.

As I had no one to guide me, I started out by buying lots of books to gain the know how, but when it came to going out for a ride on my beautiful horse, I learnt through trial and error. Every day we would head out down the road, which was OK until we turned for home. He would then gallop off for a little way, stop, buck and land me on the ground. Not being one to give up I would get back on him the next day and do the same thing all over again. I continued this process until I decided that if I kept going, I would seriously injure myself, so I resolved to just walking everywhere. For weeks, I did not let my horse out of a walk until I gained enough curage to start trotting. This seemed to work for me and after about six months, I was finally able to walk trot and canter without any bolting, bucking, or falling off (well maybe it was less frequent! ).As I grew older, I knew that I wanted a career that involved horses, so when I finished High School, I enrolled and completed the Advanced Diploma of Applied Science in Horse Management, hoping that this would take me to where I wanted to go.

Following this I moved to Cranbourne in Victoria and started working in a Racing Stable as strapper. I worked here for two years, but as I had no desire to work in the racing industry, I felt that there was no future here for me. So instead of pursuing my career with horses, I found myself living in Broken Hill, shearing and crutching sheep. It was here that I acquired a Thoroughbred Mare who had done a lot of racing in the local Gymkhana's. She was a very impulsive mare and completely different from the lazy pony that I was used to. At the same time I had been hearing people talking about Shane and Meredith who visited Broken Hill regularly, and being a little curious about what natural horsemanship was all about, I booked into one of their schools.

The first day absolutely blew my mind away and I knew I had finally found what I had been looking for. What I was learning made so much sense to me that I couldn't believe why everyone didn't already approach and handle their horses in this way. With Shane & Meredith's help, my Horsemanship was now on the way and as I progressed through Levels 1 & 2 with my mare, 'Dolly' I took on the role of Group Organizer for the Broken Hill area. When Quantum Savvy presented their first professional courses I thought all my dreams had come true and I knew I just had to be there. Initially I was interested in just training horses, however I could not get past the fact that all the horse training in the world will not help their new owners if they did not know how to 'drive' them. I also believe that every horse owner & lover should have the opportunity to be able to enjoy true partnership with their equine friends. Although I had never pictured myself as a teacher of any description, I challenged myself because of my beliefs. I set my sights on passing Level 3 with my horse, Dolly, applied to become a Quantum Savvy Agent and attended the QS Professional Instructor Course in 2004.

Just getting to this point required a lot of determination and hard work but I still had a lot more to do, to achieve my goals as now that I was starting to teach people, I wanted to help the horses as well. In 2006, I completed the Foundation Training Course and gained entry-level status as a QS Foundation Trainer. At this time I was still an Entry Level Instructor and passing the Foundation Training Course put me another step towards becoming an Endorsed Instructor. All I had left was to coach a few more students through their Level 1. It was in November last year (2007) that I was conducting a Lesson Weekend in Mildura that I had recieved a message on my phone. As I listened to the message I was concerned that it was from Shane, thinking that there must be something wrong when it dawned upon me what he was saying. He was congratulating me for becoming the very first ENDORSED Quantum Savvy Instructor!!!

Now my dreams have become a reality as not only am I developing my rapport and bettering my relationship with my horses, I am also helping lot's of horses and lot's of people to enjoy each other, be safe, and get a whole lot more from their partnership!