Life Is Better In A Saddle
Donna Ind; a Mother, a Horsewoman, a Businesswoman and a complete inspiration.
Donna spent her childhood following the path of many a horse-mad girl. Growing up with her horses at her Grandparents house in Canowindra, pony club formed a large part of her life; almost every waking minute was dedicated to her horse.
Years later, Donna moved to Mullion Creek with her husband, there, she started a Trail Riding business. “It was a really scenic property and just beautiful to ride through. It was a few years into it I realised people actually needed to learn how to ride properly. Many were riding very dangerously.
Donna went on to study horsemanship, teaching and is constantly educating herself. “I like to remain a student, it keeps me humble and it gives me empathy to how it feels when you are learning something, especially a frustrating sport like horse riding. Our education here will never end, we outsource to ‘Kintail’ and a coach comes each week to teach the teachers and help us with our professional development.”
10 years ago, the Ind family made the move to Kangaroobie Lane after outgrowing their Mullion Creek property, soon to be named, Ruby Hill Equine Centre.
“We wanted to move closer to town to make us more accessible, I needed a bigger property to breed the horses I wanted to breed and with that, a bigger area to ride around in. With 35 horses at the moment, it gives us the ability to breed and train our horses comfortably.”
Now focusing on lessons and activities in particular, Donna mentioned her students range from three years old to 75 years old.
“I love it when they love it... I love when they get that same feeling I get. It’s a really hard sport to learn, so small accomplishments are very rewarding, it takes a long time to learn how to ride.
Every day at the end of the lesson, seeing those kids, and the adults, achieving something small that they couldn’t do last week, or they weren’t as scared as they were last week, just makes me think, ‘this is why I do this.’ The kids are just a crack up, they bring me drawings and write me stories.”
Donna and her daughter still compete at local Agriculture shows, at Pony Club, Orange Equestrian Club and other events around NSW.
Talking horses, Donna explained, “I love how smart they are... I get them... I understand their way of thinking. I find that I communicate very easily with them, I always have... they pretty much fix anything that’s ever wrong with me, even when I was a little kid.”
With the knock-on effects of the drought, along with many, Donna is really feeling the pinch. “It’s increasingly worrying, everything has become more expensive, so many aspects have.
It’s very difficult to sell a horse for what it’s actually worth at the moment. Students have had to cancel their lessons due to not having the money and we’ve had to give horses away, it’s absolutely devastating.
Donna experienced a similar drought when she was a kid in Canowindra in 82’, “I was only 12 and I didn’t understand the impact of it. My kids have always grown up on a farm and they have always been conservative with water, they know the importance of it, and they know how it gets here.”
Donna is urging the community to come out and support Ruby Hill during the drought,
“Please come riding, we really, really need your support right now, particularly to get us through this drought.”
With Six classes a week, Donna encourages the nervous of nervous to come and try. You can find her on Facebook at ‘Donna Gai Ind Ruby Hill Equine Centre.’
“I can honestly say, in 27 years there has not been one moment that I feel like saying ‘I don’t feel like doing that today’, I am always keen and look forward to the next lesson.
I’m really lucky to have turned a hobby into my life, I see myself as a little old lady directing those riders, with my hearing aids in,” Donna smiled.
