Ken Dromgool

Ken Dromgool comes from a family that bred and rode pleasure horses and grew up on sheep and cattle farms that his family owned in the far North. 

He rode his first horse aged two (with the help of his father!) and broke in his first horse aged 12.  As a child, Ken was a member of the local pony club, back in the days when kids rode (and jumped) bareback. 

In his teenage years, Ken worked for his father droving cattle up and down the famous 90 Mile Beach, between their two properties in the Hokianga and Houhora – 200 head of cattle at a time. 

Ken has continued on with the Dromgool family’s breed of horses and this year’s foals are the ninth generation. 

Ken’s horsemanship journey changed when he had a horse he couldn’t break in ‘conventionally’ and took it to Australian horseman Merv Kildey, who helped Ken to be where he is today.  Ken has also travelled with renowned American horseman, Ray Hunt.  Exclusively teaching horsemanship for over a decade, Ken’s loves range from dressage to roping, but his true talent is communication with both horses and students. 


Jane Dromgool


Jane Dromgool always had a passion for horses but lived in the city and couldn’t have a horse as a child.  She rode her first horse, which belonged to a friend (a very naughty Welsh pony), aged 12. 

 Jane’s initial career choice was nursing, specialising in intensive care.  Moving to Whangarei in 1991, she bought her own property and consequently her first horse, and started competing in dressage and eventing. 

Her passion for her work with horses saw her leave nursing and start a business breeding thoroughbred racehorses.  This has now expanded to pre-training, sales preparation, riding and schooling horses. 



Jane and PrimeTime

Ken and Jane first met six years ago at one of Ken’s clinics.  They are now working and living together, and share their businesses – Ken Dromgool Horsemanship and Culzean Equine.

 
Our philosophy
The object of teaching is to get the horse to do what we want it to do, when we want it to do it.
We use respect, communication and trust rather than force and intimidation.
It is paramount to create a respectful relationship between ourselves and the horse rather than having a relationship where we always dominate and the horse always submits.
 



The horse knows all the things we want it to do, we don’t teach it anything new. We only teach horses to do the things it already knows, at the time we want them to do it. In order for us to do this, we need to become "connected" to our horses feet.

Know when to stop.

We believe horses have a highly developed sense of what is fair and what is not.

The horse deserves our respect - we have to earn his.
 
 
 

If you are being unsuccessful teaching your horse, the first thing to look at is whether the horse understands you. Next ask yourself, is the respect system in place?
 

Horses like consistency
 

The horse should have the opportunity to express himself.

When you get on a horse, they sense where you're at. They are looking for a good feel to follow.
 

 

Your horse won’t know what you want him to do unless you have a clear picture in your mind as to what it is you want.

We must stop and let the horse soak up what he has learnt.

 
 
 
 

Horses don’t have the same sense of time we do, we need to learn to take the time - to take the time it takes.
 

 

 

Setting overall goals for you and your horse is appropriate. When you set very specific goals for an individual teaching session you are setting yourself, and your horse, up for failure.

 

Horsemanship is essential to all riding disciplines. From dressage to western, clydesdales to miniatures.

Good horsemanship to us is when the horse follows a feel. This only happens when we feel the horse from his mind right through to his feet.