Our Story
Aaron and Kate have both had long-term involvement with horses. Kate grew up with horses as an integral part of her family history, with her grandfather Chester Wallis owning a popular riding school just out of Melbourne. Kate competed in eventing and show jumping while earning pocket money turning over ponies. While growing up she spent a number of years living next door to the Mclean family, who pioneered the concept of Equitation Science and the study of learning theory in horses. This all led to a keen interest in animal behavior, culminating formal study at Melbourne University.
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Aaron grew up in New Zealand and was introduced to horses through friends who used them on the farm to work cattle. It wasn’t long before Aaron became involved in the quarter horse industry and was showing extensively as a youth in everything from English classes to reining and cowhorse. In 1998 Aaron was selected for the AQHA-NZ Youth World Cup team to compete in Amarillo, Texas. This was followed by selection for the 2000 (Italy) and 2002 (Amarillo) World Cup Teams which led to the opportunity to stay in the US, spending time with some top all-around and reined cowhorse trainers before training professionally in both New Zealand and Australia.
The couple took a break from professional training and competing around 2009 before a trip to the US lead them to reconsider their involvement while at the 2014 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno, Nevada, the major show for reined cowhorses.
‘That first day, when we walked into the arena and took it all in, it just felt like coming home. It wasn’t long before we purchased a property just of out Myrtleford in North East Victoria and began the process of building our training business at the start of 2016.’
Since 2016 A&K Scobie Performance Horses has provided training for all areas of horsemanship with a special focus on training reined cowhorses and ranch horses, as well as running clinics and coaching. Versatility in both horses and riders has always appealed to both Aaron and Kate and the increased popularity of ranch horse versatility and reined cowhorse events has been an exciting development.
‘It takes a good horse to do all of the events, and done well it creates a special horse’.
The couple bring together a unique blend of performance horse training and science based methodology and really believe in taking the time to establish the fundamentals that set a horse up for a long and sustainable career; and although success in the show pen is great, the couple consider their horses' welfare and also recognition amongst respected peers to be their biggest drivers.
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‘To be recognised as a horseman or horsewoman, someone who puts the horse first and does them justice, that’s what’s important.’
The couple see competition as a great way to test and improve training and to demonstrate the value of what they can do with horses.
‘Matlock Rose used to say that horse shows are designed to see how much work you’ve done at home. We want to set that horse up to go the best they can at a show, and the best way to do that is to get them good everywhere else. We enjoy competing and feel it’s important for us as a great test and gauge of where our program is at, otherwise it’s too easy to just ride at home thinking you’re doing everything right.’