April's Profile

April has owned, bred and shown countless horses throughout her lifetime, competing in various disciplines and breed categories. She trained and showed top horses for many clients in Arabian, Quarter Horse, Morgan, Appaloosa, Thoroughbred breed divisions, and English/Western - halter, flat, pleasure, reining and Hunter/Jumper, throughout North America.

April currently teaches throughout the BC Lower Mainland in the winter months, and in the spring to fall, April travels around Canada giving clinics and lectures.

April Reeves is a Clinician, Instructor and Trainer, and has taken many young and senior riders through the show circuits.

April's Philosophy

Solve Those Problems!
Quit fighting with your horse. Learn to work quietly and softly, getting results you never knew you could accomplish.

The "Common Thread" of Riding: What and How I Teach
I work on both horse AND rider. I think the rider has been left out of the equation lately, and my forte is not just equitation but teaching riders how to sit, balance and feel what’s happening around them. Horses can only perform well when the rider rides well.

I see many people struggling to achieve a particular step in their training and coming up against barriers. In most cases, by working on the rider’s position and mindset, you can break through those barriers for faster results. Over time, we as riders pick up habits that sneak up on us quietly, and many simply have not been shown basic elements to position and technique.

"After quietly searching for a new instructor I found April. Having 3-4 friends highly recommend her I decided to try a lesson with her. That was one of the best decisions I have made!

Not only does April explain things well she is positive & enthusiastic which really rubs off on her students. My stallion is learning at an incredible rate & even in such a short time I can see & feel the improvements with both of us. I have been recommending her to all my friends & so far everyone has nothing but great things to say. After every lesson I have with April I can't wait to schedule the next one."
Kara Lingam & Regalo, Andalusion Stallion

An integrated riding system that gives the rider all the tools to perform the task
When instructing, I look at the whole package, as riding technique, mindset and attitude, and horse’s talent and performance go hand in hand. It is all connected, and you cannot change one without affecting the other.

Having a multiple discipline background (hunter, jumper, dressage, reining, cutting, driving, breed specialties, show ring) allows me to use the best or appropriate method for the individual rider and horse.

About the Rider
I believe that riders should not be taught just to ride, but to have a full comprehension of what goes on underneath them and within the horse’s mind. I set my students up to learn beyond mechanics, and to grasp a deeper understanding of skills and knowledge that lives intuitively within. They learn how to train their horse.

The Important Steps
It is important to fully understand and accept the level of training your horse is at, and take your training one step at a time. It is important to understand how to move through each level and why. And it is important to do it all with consistency. I see too many people jumping from kindergarten to grade 6 in one day, and not having important foundations first. I show people how to build that foundation and keep it.

On another note, regarding levels, while there are sequential steps to obtaining specific movements or maneuvers, there is no set pattern that applies to all horses. Each horse has abilities and challenges that ask the rider to be creative and spontaneous when training. To be rigid and conforming to ‘the book’ in training (and teaching), you run the risk of falling into a trap. I have found this to be a frequent cause of where horse and rider get ’stuck’. I work at obtaining foundations that are solid, and stay flexible to the horse and rider’s abilities and skills. For instance, one rider may have a young, brilliant, calm, straight horse that is capable of advanced movements, while another rider’s horse with more years of training on it, may be capable of very little and have to go back to calm, supple and straight first.

I also teach riders how to quietly refine a horse and their aids for better results. Put all the right “buttons” in place - keep the horse soft and supple.

Knowing where you are in your training, and doing it one step at a time with consistency is the key to all training. Yet knowing where your training is at, is the least understood. Like my good friend Jay O’Jay says, “We train our horses in the future, when we should be riding in the here and now.”

"I am so glad you took over - now you see my frustration all along. Thank you so much for all your help!! You are awesome..."  Jo Salley

The Disciplines and Levels I Work With
I work with both English and Western disciplines, for pleasure riding or show and competition.
Although I have ‘polished’ many show horses and riders, I love to work with beginners and recreational riders who just want to enjoy their horses more. The art of trail riding and pleasure is often where the majority of problems reside, and the place where riders just want to be able to enjoy their horses. By learning basic techniques and methods on the ground and riding, and refining the aids and their application, many of the ‘trail bugs’ can be worked through.
I have always taken my show string out on the trails. It improves their minds and mine! Less barn injuries result from happy horses.

My Beliefs
I believe in respecting all breeds and disciplines. Although many of them teach and use methods that may not be of use to you, they still are part of the big wide horse world, and becoming a ‘horseman’ is about knowing or respecting what and how other breeds and disciplines do things.

What I do not believe in, is the abuse many of the breeds are now suffering in order to win. At what level does it cease to matter anymore? If we, as horsemen, continue to add training methods to ‘get that one step ahead of the competition’, then it’s only a matter of time when everyone does it anyway, and the entire group is right back to square one: finding another ‘trick’ to gain the edge. We have lost the real point of competition: what happens when you take the raw material and refine it without gimmicks.

I believe the horse’s welfare should not suffer for our egos. In each of my clinics I ask the students to leave their egos at the gate and enter clear and willing. When the horse begins to feel constant and continual pain, physically and emotionally, and when longevity no longer matters over the dollar, we have diminished our industry to a place I am no longer willing to participate in.

What winning really boils down to is hard work. You get out of it, what you put into it. If THAT criteria was the only difference between a first and second ribbon, that would level the playing field for all riders and trainers. THAT would truly be the art of competition. It was like that in the 60’s and 70’s when I showed heavily.

Going back there would open up the chances for those who are not willing to use some of the techniques it takes to win. It would also open up the opportunities for groups and associations to gain more members and growth.

QUESTIONS FROM OUR VIEWERS

“Are you a Natural Horseman?”
I do not consider myself a Natural Horseman in the “Parelli” style. I work quietly and treat horses with great respect, but I also train for the show ring and work with students to take their horses to the next level, whether that’s a safer trail horse or a softer show partner. There are many great ‘Natural Horseman’ clinicians and teachers such as Adiva Murphy, Jay O’Jay and Jonathan Field who do brilliant work.

I do believe however, that all riding must blend in the principles of Natural Horsemanship, in the sense that we need to understand how horses evolved and developed, and how they think, act and relate to man.

I integrate Natural Horsemanship techniques in the English disciplines, especially Dressage, Hunter and Jumper, to help my students achieve greater safety, balance, suppleness and general horsemanship. This is important in ANY discipline. I have always taught this ‘common thread’ in all riding and horsemanship.

Can you teach show techniques?
Yes and no. Although I have competed in most disciplines, there have been changes in how horses have been ‘worked’ and ‘manipulated’ to win classes over the last 20 years, and I have ‘bowed out’ from teaching some of those methods. I strongly believe that the pressure to win has moved ahead of the horse’s priority and welfare.

Can you show us how to use specific equipment?
Yes, and that is one area I am willing to show people. I think it is important that riders understand what equipment is used for and how to USE IT PROPERLY (and sparingly). I especially love to show people how to get the same results without specialty equipment.

I have taken many students with ‘hard-mouth’ horses and within a single lesson found softness. Hard mouths is more of a ‘conditioned response’ horses get from pain avoidance, and you don’t need a martingale to further force a horse into submission.

I have video on the use of specialty equipment but I also state that it is used sparingly, and usually at the end of a ride. It is not for daily use.

April Reeves is the Host and Producer of HorseTales TV
April has produced and hosted HorseTales TV since 2006. The show runs monthly on Delta Cable, and educates all levels of riders on how to improve every aspect of horse ownership and riding.

The Business Side of April Reeves
Since 1975, April has owned and operated 7 Advertising and Graphic Design Agencies across Western Canada. She has been in TV and radio production, Corporate Communications, Event Planning, Media Buying, PR, Industrial & Graphic Design. Her walls are adorned in American Design Awards, and she won ‘Project of the Year‘ for her efforts in ‘The Essor Project‘

April has renovated homes and farms since 1978. She created ‘Horseman’s Park Alberta Ltd.‘, a bare land strata Equestrian Development outside of Calgary Alberta in 1979, years before such developments became common.

April is a publisher, writer and expert author for online and print, and co-owned Trading Trends Magazine in Calgary, Alberta. She volunteered as PR and Advertising Director for Babe Ruth World Series and BC Games, and taught daytime and evening courses at Selkirk College.

The Horse Side Of April Reeves

April began riding in 1961 on a small pony named Dusty. After being bitten and dumped daily, she figured this was the life for her. At the age of 6 she entered her first show and after being tossed out of the arena, her father decided to get the poor kid lessons.

It paid off, and April spent many years up and down the North American Coast competing in numerous disciplines and breed classes, gathering Top Ten and National Championships in Arabian, Quarter Horse, Open and Hunter/Jumper divisions for clients.

At the age of 14 she began teaching (Burnaby Horseman’s Association) and judging small local shows. That eventually grew into several training centers in BC and Alberta, where April turned out some very skilled riders in both English and Western disciplines. Teaching has always been her passion, with a preference for equitation, inexperienced riders and those with problem horses.

"I can't explain the feeling when a student just 'gets' it. You see so many people struggling with everything from ground manners to flying changes. One hour, one right word can turn around a person's relationship with their horse. It's all about communication and being able to identify the problem."

April has been a student of some of the top hunter/jumper/dressage coaches (Rick Maynard, Paddy Boal, Jennifer Maynard, Dietrich Von Hofgarten, Patricia Deptford), and reining/cutting (love Al Dunning clinics, Kevin Pole, Morgan Libbert), western pleasure and driving coaches.

Her favorite horse has always been the Arabian, and she began breeding them in the early 1990’s, along with Appendix Quarter Horses. She currently has downsized to one horse, Max, an Appendix Quarter Horse, and instructs and trains for private clients.

The Business Side of April Reeves

The Horse Side of April Reeves

April's Resume

April's Graphic Design Portfolio - LOGOS

April's Corporate Design Portfolio - Corporate Brochures & Annual Reports

Illustration Portfolio - Miscellaneous & Equine / Horse