About the Instructors

Claire Hutlet started riding when she was seven, and by age nine decided to be a trainer. Since 2007, she has engaged in many disciplines, including dressage, sidesaddle, jumping, western, driving, and ranching, and has ridden various breeds, as well as young horses and problem horses.

She spent 10 years experimenting with different trainers’ methods, from traditional to natural horsemanship. She picked up the best aspects of each of these methods and has incorporated them into her own work with horses, but was still unsatisfied with the results much of the time. Like many of her clients, Claire often found that these trainers could not help her understand why their method worked, or what to do if it didn’t. Horses are individuals and are trained every time they are handled, so Claire believes horse lovers must understand how their horse’s mind works.

During her nine months of study and work at the Australian Equine Behaviour Centre (AEBC), Claire completed the Diploma of Equitation Science, the third Canadian to do so. This has enabled her to bring together training methods to train horses in an ethical way that can be adapted to any horse and rider. Equitation Science explains how horse training works through learning theory. This means she can create new solutions to difficult problems because of her thorough knowledge of learning theory.

Claire believes horse riding is more enjoyable with a well trained horse. Known for gentle and effective teaching, she has been helping riders of all ages and abilities improve their horse handling and riding since 2015. She enjoys using exercises that create effective, fun, and challenging lessons, making her a favourite at riding camps. Seeing horse owners incorporate her clear instruction to achieve success in training their own horses is what inspires her teaching.

In addition to the Diploma in Equitation Science from Equitation Science International (ESI), Claire is certified to instruct horse riding and handling by ESI, holds a Diploma in Equine Studies with Distinction from the University of Guelph, Canada, and has attained 4-H Level 5 Horsemanship.

Harmony Babich

Harmony Babich is one of Claire’s students and has started teaching July 2023 after finishing her certification courses.  She started as a tacking assistant for the past 3 years for Claire’s lessons.  She will be teaching beginner to intermediate flat and jumping lessons. As of May 2026, she is working on the last portion of her Diploma in Equitation Science from Equitation Science International (ESI) and is excited to teach and train in accordance with the best practices laid out by equitation science.

Rosina Crawford

Started working in the horse industry at age 14. She worked for many barns, starting out with the more menial and labour tasks and progressing through grooming and preparing horses for shows, including saddle seat and hunter competitions (which is one of the jumping disciplines). She went along the show circuit with the trainer and horses. 

Rosie went to college to take western horsemanship, and has been teaching horsemanship since she was 20. When she and I met 6 years ago, I introduced her to equitation science. She was already familiar with most of the principles, having raised an autistic son, and quickly and easily applied equitation science to her teaching and training, with excellent results. That also started her focus change to more English disciplines, including dressage and jumping, as the same principles apply to every discipline.