Classical Dressage Riding Holiday - Ilka Keenan (Deposit)

Private booking already made via email. Holiday booking is for 8th-14th November 2026.

Avoca Park hosts one of Australia’s most experienced coaches and riders. They take pride in their beautiful property, designed with the idea “to want for nothing” in mind. They offer you a covered arena for your lessons, gardens to walk and relax in, animals to entertain you, and, best of all, amazing and experienced school horses to learn from.

This 7-day holiday includes your evening of arrival and your morning of checkout. The 5 days in between will indulge you with dressage training from Leanne Williams, who has dedicated her life to understanding horses and developing a respectful way of training them with kindness and lightness. 

Instead of forcing the horse to conform to the ideal position, she will teach you the correct tools on how to school your horse with technique and kindness to achieve a trusting bond and beautiful movements. Her previous competition experience as a Grand Prix rider enables her to deliver her lessons from a position of wealth and knowledge; this, combined with her classical learning, is priceless.

This holiday package also includes learning Australian horsemanship, partaking in some liberty sessions with Australian horseman Jason McInnes. The program will introduce you to the wonders of connection with your equine partner. The skills you use during these lessons will guide your approach to horses for the rest of your life, forming bonds using trust exercises with your horse.

Each full day during your stay will allow time for you to visit the amazing local attractions, or stay onsite to and relax and enjoy the simple beauty of the native wildlife on a beautiful reserce. 

Every day includes carefully thought out and delicious meals, and riding lessons. Avoca Park hopes to wow you with its beautiful area and wonderful horses. This is the holiday you need for a truly indulgent and educational equine retreat.

-Itinerary

-Day 1: Sunday (afternoon arrival)

Settle in and have a wander around the property, this is an opportunity to meet all the horses, dogs, cats, cocky, and, of course, Avoca Park’s beloved donkey. There will be a fully catered Australian welcome barbecue dinner.

-Day 2: Monday

A little sleep-in will be allowed on your first morning. You can follow this with your first working introduction to the horses. You will then be taken on an outing to a beautiful, local sparkling wine winery for some wine tasting and lunch. Come back in the afternoon for your first private lesson with Leanne, where you will get to discuss your goals for the week. Following your lessons, there will be a happy hour and you can have your prepared dinner.

-Day 3: Tuesday

Tuesday morning will have you arising and preparing for your second lesson in in-hand work. This will be a group session; this way, the conversations will run a little deeper. Avoca Park will then take you off to the local native sanctuary for the afternoon with one of their homemade picnic lunches. Upon returning to Avoca Park, your horses will be saddled for you and ready for your private lesson with Leanne. This is followed up with a lovely local glass of wine with matching cheese and crackers. Dinner will be prepared for you by the in-house chef.

-Day 4: Wednesday

Wednesday morning will have you up and at it early enough to take over your already prepared horses for your semi- or group-ridden lesson. There will be an outing for lunch at a beautiful local restaurant, Elevation, followed by a rejuvenation session of your choice at the local day spa, Skin Renaissance.

Alternatively, you may choose to have an outing to the local chocolaterie for lunch, where you can experience anything and everything chocolate. Full of food and relaxation, you will come home for your private riding lesson to continue to develop your riding skills. 6:00 p.m. will bring on happy hour, followed by another wonderfully prepared dinner.

-Day 5: Thursday

Thursday morning will have you out and about for your group or semi-lesson. Then the activity of the day is a trip on Puffing Billy from Belgrave to Emerald Lake. Picnic lunch at Emerald Lake will be supplied and you can ride the paddle boats if you so desired. Once you return home from your fun afternoon, you will have your first private lesson with Jason. This will be a liberty session where you will discover the beauty of connection. Wine and snacks will be waiting for you when you finish this amazing experience.

-Day 6: Friday

Friday morning, you will again have a lesson with Jason, this time, using those newly learned connection skills and putting them into the ridden work. The outing this day will be to one of the local national parks, where you can have a walk up the 1000 steps, where there is a chance of meeting an Australian Lyre Bird. Alternatively, you can take a quiet look around the park while Avoca Park prepares your picnic lunch.

Your final afternoon's private lesson will be with Leanne where you will consolidate all the information you have received of the days you have been with Avoca Park. For your final dinner, Avoca Park will take you to a local winery called Wild Cattle Creek, where you can sit on the deck amongst the grapevines and watch the sunset with a cocktail, this will be followed by a wonderful dinner to remember in the main restaurant.

-Day 7: Saturday

Saturday can be a sleep-in followed by your last breakfast with Avoca Park, then, it will be time to pack up and they will wave you goodbye to take on the next part of your journey.

-Riding sessions

Once Leanne has made an assessment of your skills, she will design a program that will rapidly aid you in the development of the proper grounding necessary to educate your horse through the training process. Avoca Park will talk about what you would like to achieve during the days you are with them and they will customize an individual program for your riding objectives. There will be a combination of semi-private or group and private riding lessons each day, with all the amazing instructors and their combined talents. The topics that will be covered are:

*Cavesson work

*In-hand work

*Ridden work

*Liberty

*Horsemanship groundwork

*Trail rides

Group classes are conducted when it is beneficial for the riders or if riders come in pairs or groups. Group lessons are tailored to the goals of each rider, just as with an individual lesson. Even though a rider is part of a group, each rider is still treated as an individual and will experience individual instruction during the program.

-Equipment

Avoca Park has helmets of all sizes available for use. All horses have their own handmade leather dressage saddles fitted to them; their individual bridles are all fitted and maintained.

-Riding gear

All horses have their own handmade Peter Horobin saddles or leather dressage saddles fitted to them. Their individual Snaffle bridles are all fitted and maintained. The ponies have little pony saddles. Avoca Park has helmets of all sizes available for riders to use.