Bingara Dell Horse & Rider Training Centre is in the tiny country hamlet of Castella, in Victoria’s stunning Yarra Valley. Only 1 hour 15 minutes drive NE of Melbourne, the centre is situated on 40 acres of perfect riding country, surrounded by towering mountain ash and stunning views. The equestrian centre was established to provide a fun, educational and safe environment for riding lessons for children and adults.
Owned and managed by Raenor Priest, NCAS Level 1 (General), First Aid Level 2, the centre has been teaching riding for more than 20 years and offers excellent facilities including an all-weather ménage, day yards and a challenging cross country course, including water jump.
Bingara Dell is home to approximately 20 school horses and ponies, all of whom are cared for on site. Raenor knows her horses’ temperaments and character and matches the right horse to her pupils’ ability and personality.
She personally ensures that each lesson is tailored to suit the individual. Safety and comfort are key to everyone’s enjoyment and at Bingara Dell you can be assured you are in capable hands. Raenor is a member of Equestrian Australia and Maroondah Adult Riding Club.
Welcome to Bingara Dell
About Us
Bingara Dell gets its name from Bingara which is aboriginal for “by the river” and Dell, an English word for a “valley”.
Bingara Dell is owned and operated by Raenor Priest and her husband Steve Juzva.
History
Raenor and Steve trail rode in the Strezleki Ranges and bought their first cross-bred horses there.
In 1981 they bought a stock horse foal, Trapper. While doing some research about Australian Stock Horses, they attended a stock horse demonstration in Doreen. While there, one of the organisers asked a woman to “jump on one of these young ones and show ‘em how they do dressage.” The woman got on a horse she had never seen before and did a fabulous dressage display. Not only was it a terrific demonstration of the beautiful temperament of the Australian Stock Horse, but a great exhibition of riding. So Raenor decided to ask that woman, called Anne Beasleigh, to give her riding lessons. Thus began Raenor’s formal riding career.
Raenor and Steve bought the property in 1984 and started accumulating horses.
Pepper was the first pony for Bingara Dell.
Pepper is still alive and well at 30 years of age. He is retired at a friend’s property.
Steve and Raenor took some interest in Campdrafting, because of Trapper and the influence of the Australian Stock Horse Society, and Raenor did a couple of years of endurance riding.
Anne Beasleigh introduced Raenor to Cecele Van Kemenade whose classically correct training focussed on the riders’ position and its influence on the horses way of going. Over the years, Raenor has trained with Bert Jacobs, Marion Malecki, Malcolm Barnes, Dirk Dikstra, Mary Hanna, Jenny Sheppard, Glen Fryer, Russel Johnstone, Mary Longdon, Jenny Bray, and Andrew and Manuela Mclean.
The Training
The methodology that Raenor uses is a combination of what she has learned from numerous trainers, reading and studies.
One of her first breakthroughs came whilst training dogs at obedience school. The instructor said that large dogs needed obedience training because without it, they can be dangerous. How much more so a horse who might weigh 500kg with a well-developed flight response.
Raenor attended clinics run by Robyn Jones about TEAM (Tellington Equine Awareness Method) and still uses some aspects of this method in her training.
The basics of most of Raenor’s training now are the methods taught by Dr Andrew Maclean. Andrew holds a PhD in equine cognition and learning and is the principal trainer at AEBC. Andrew and his wife Manuela Maclean have been hugely influential in the way that Raenor now teaches. Equitation Science explains so much about the horses’ behaviour and learning. Raenor and Steve found that when they re-trained horses in the absence of their owners, the horses’ behaviour often reverted to what it was before, once the horse went home. They, now, will not re-train any horse, unless its handlers learn the method too.
Riders at Bingara Dell do ground exercises before they ride. Raenor has found this combination of training the horses and riders ensures consistency in the way aids are applied and in the responses that the horses give – every day, same aid, same response. This is especially important for school horses, so that they do not develop conflict behaviours from being given a different range of aids from each different rider. She has found that the obedience of all the horses improved enormously once she adopted this strategy.
About Us
Bingara Dell gets its name from Bingara which is aboriginal for “by the river” and Dell, an English word for a “valley”.
Bingara Dell is owned and operated by Raenor Priest and her husband Steve Juzva.
History
Raenor and Steve trail rode in the Strezleki Ranges and bought their first cross-bred horses there.
In 1981 they bought a stock horse foal, Trapper. While doing some research about Australian Stock Horses, they attended a stock horse demonstration in Doreen. While there, one of the organisers asked a woman to “jump on one of these young ones and show ‘em how they do dressage.” The woman got on a four year old stockhorse she had never seen before, and did a fabulous dressage display. Not only was it a terrific demonstration of the beautiful temperament of the Australian Stock Horse, but a great exhibition of riding. So Raenor decided to ask that woman, called Anne Beasleigh, to give her riding lessons. Thus began Raenor’s formal riding career.
Raenor and Steve bought the property in 1984 and started accumulating horses.
Pepper was the first pony for Bingara Dell.
Pepper is still alive and well at 30 years of age. He is retired at a friend’s property.
Steve and Raenor took some interest in Campdrafting, because of Trapper and the influence of the Australian Stock Horse Society, and Raenor did a couple of years of endurance riding.
Anne Beasleigh introduced Raenor to Cecele Van Kemenade whose classically correct training focussed on the riders’ position and its influence on the horses way of going. Over the years, Raenor has trained with Bert Jacobs, Marion Malecki, Malcolm Barnes, Dirk Dikstra, Mary Hanna, Jenny Sheppard, Glen Fryer, Russel Johnstone, Mary Longdon, Jenny Bray, and Andrew and Manuela Mclean.
The Training
The methodology that Raenor uses is a combination of what she has learned from numerous trainers, reading and studies.
One of her first breakthroughs came whilst training dogs at obedience school. The instructor said that large dogs needed obedience training because without it, they can be dangerous. How much more so a horse who might weigh 500kg with a well-developed flight response.
Raenor attended clinics run by Robyn Jones about TEAM (Tellington Equine Awareness Method) and still uses some aspects of this method in her training.
The basics of most of Raenor’s training now are the methods taught by Dr Andrew Maclean. Andrew holds a PhD in equine cognition and learning and is the principal trainer at AEBC. Andrew and his wife Manuela Maclean have been hugely influential in the way that Raenor now teaches. Equitation Science explains so much about the horses’ behaviour and learning. Raenor and Steve found that when they re-trained horses in the absence of their owners, the horses’ behaviour often reverted to what it was before, once the horse went home. They, now, will not re-train any horse, unless its handlers learn the method too.
Riders at Bingara Dell do ground exercises before they ride. Raenor has found this combination of training the horses and riders ensures consistency in the way aids are applied and in the responses that the horses give – every day, same aid, same response. This is especially important for school horses, so that they do not develop conflict behaviours from being given a different range of aids from each different rider. She has found that the obedience of all the horses improved enormously once she adopted this strategy.