My name is Teagan van Gaans and I am lucky enough to be participating in the 2018 McDowell’s Australian Brumby Challenge in the Dolly’s Dream Youngster Challenge with my Brumby VBA Dynamo. I am from the Adelaide Hills in South Australian and I am extremely passionate about Australia’s Wild horses. I hope to contribute to the training and rehoming of Australia’s Brumbies. I believe in always remaining positive when training horses as this allows for the horses to have positive experiences and memories.
VBA Dynamo is a bay filly whose mother, VBA Caelin was caught from Kosciuszko National Park in August 2017. Caelin was one of a group of mares who ended up at saleyards and sold for slaughter until she was discovered by the committee of the Victorian Brumby Association, purchased and brought back to their sanctuary to foal in peace. VBA Dynamo is very friendly and people orientated, therefore I believe that in the future she would make an amazing pony club or family pony.
Dynamo and I are working extremely hard towards EQUITANA however more importantly we are working hard to set Dynamo up for a happy and long domesticated life. This is where McDowells plays a big part in Dynamo’s life though feeding supplements. Both myself and Dynamo are extremely thankful that McDowells has sponsored the Australian Brumby Challenge this year.
Currently we are in week 3 of the Australian Brumby Challenge and Dynamo is walking confidently on her lead. She has enjoy exploring our property and the park behind it. I was extremely happy when I found out that Dynamo was my brumby for the Australian Brumby Challenge as she seeming pretty calm and had a sweet eye. Once the Victorian Brumby Association loaded her into our float, we took her straight to our property int he Adelaide Hills. Dynamo traveled extremely well and allowed me to touch her on her neck the morning after we arrived. Since then dynamo has allowed me to touch her all over, brush her, pick up all four feet, have a halter on and off, have a rug on and off, be led around including over poles and she also eats out of a hay bag. Dynamo has progressed quickly however this has of course been at her own pace. I look forwards to working more with Dynamo in the up coming weeks.
You can follow our journey on instagram by following vba_dynamo or on facebook by liking the page ‘Teagan van Gaans and VBA Dynamo’. If you want to know more about Dynamo, the Australian Brumby Challenge or want to know how you can get involved with Dynamos journey, please message me through one of these accounts.
