HEAD TRAINER: David Murdoch

David Murdoch, originally from New Zealand, has lived in California for the past 17 years where he has been a regular on the A-show circuit. David began riding at an early age and ran his first pony club show when he was just 16. As an adult, he made major contributions to the development of the sport of show jumping in his native New Zealand, riding for the National Team and managing the largest show in the country, The Isola International Festival.

David is certified as a British Horse Society Riding Instructor and has trained with the riders at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna as well as in Germany, rounding out his credentials as an instructor. He has trained and shown horses internationally competing successfully at the Grand Prix level.

David's accomplishments include training many successful show horses including Charisma who became a double Gold medalist with rider Mark Todd at the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympics and Fairway, a multiple Grand Prix winner with Hap Hansen. David's wealth of experience and knowledge in both showing and teaching provide his students with the skills they need to accomplish their personal riding goals.

Cover of Mark Todd's book about Charisma

The NZ Isola International Festival featured some of the world's best riders

ASSISTANT TRAINER: Amanda Fisher
Amanda Fisher joins us from New Zealand where she grew up competing in multiple disciplines. Amanda worked and trained horses around the world, primarily in Belgium, where she worked for Show Jumping World Cup winner, Ludo Phillippaerts. There, her achievements included riding Allah Jabek, who was successful in the Beijing Olympics, and the stallion, Winning Mood, who successfully competed in World Cup events. Amanda has experience in A-level Hunter equitation barns, she has trained showjumping riders and has sold many wonderful show horses.

Amanda is an exceptional horsewoman. She has helped many Isola clients and horses grow and develop their potential. She is tireless in her pursuit of quality horsecare and training. With her bright dynamic personality, Amanda makes in-house schooling shows fun with novel classes at each new show.

Providing quality training at horse shows

Schooling up and coming horses at home

PONY CLUB RIDING CENTER ADMINISTRATOR: Rhonda Weiss
Rhonda Weiss graduated University of California at Santa Cruz with a degree in psychobiology, the study of the biology of behavior. As a student, she studied horses and their natural behavior while working as a Research Assistant for the Equine Research Foundation (ERF), whose goal is to understand equine learning capabilities. This experience gave Rhonda invaluable knowledge about horse intelligence, communication and behavior which she puts to use while training horses under saddle and on the ground.

As the Riding Center Administrator, Rhonda enthusiastically coordinates the teaching and mentoring of Pony Club students. Having worked with horses for almost 20 years in such disciplines as dressage, trail trials, hunter/jumper classes, hunter paces, and foxhunting, she has much to share with other horse enthusiasts.

Schooling before foxchasing

Rhonda & Trinity: double Championships at the 2010 Oregon High Desert Classic

3-DAY EVENTING: John Michael Durr
John Michael Durr, winner of the 2010 Woodside Horse Trials on his stallion, Warrick, is a successful 3-Day Evening rider and trainer. He began his career as a working student under Yves Sauvignon, where he competed at the Preliminary level and acted as a groom for 3 and 4 star events. In 2004, he earned a spot on the Area IV Eventing team at NAYRC in Chicago with is mare, Imagine That. In 2005, they competed on the Area IV team in Lexington, KY. John Michael travels to Germany severage times a year to work with well-known dressage trainer Stephan Kiesewetter. Hemaintains an active competitive schedule, attending 15 - 20 shows per year.

His passion for teaching students and horses the 3-day disciplines of dressage, cross-country and show jumping is evident. Students of all levels expand their skills while enjoying the fun and excitement of eventing.

John Michael Durr