Jonathan Oehm is an Australian Master Farrier who completed a four-year apprenticeship in NSW.

While the training years were hard and the hours longer than is actually allowed these days, Jonathan remembers them as essential to his development and skills.

He has worked on horses in virtually every field of equestrian sport and in some of Australia ’s leading studs and training establishments. Today, Jonathan lives in Beaudesert – a recognised centre of the horse industry in SE Queensland - which he selected as his base because it has a broad range of horses involved in everything from Dressage and Showjumping to racing, and studs of various breeds.

Jonathan works constantly at his physical skills, plus his theoretical knowledge.

In early 2007 he travelled to the UK as the 2006 recipient of the James Love Churchill Fellowship to study advanced techniques in therapeutic farriery. Jonathan is passionate about the help that can be given to horses by a skilled farrier, especially in the enhancement and maintenance of performance horses and in his interest in the specialist field of early care of with foals and therapeutic work.

He has recently introduced to Australia a system of computer-aided video analysis of horse gaits and conformation, which gives the owner, farrier, vet or trainer an unprecedented vision of action which cannot be seen by the naked eye. This system allows him to measure stride length and deviations within millimetres, and will be a major addition to his operation as a farrier.

If Jonathan could clone himself, his second life would be spent in starting young horses. He was brought up with horses, and became interested in the horsemanship philosophies of Tom and Bill Dorrance and Ray Hunt.

Sasha Oehm comes from a background of classical Dressage and loves competing. Sasha's main focus is on Dressage now, but in the past also in Showing/Hacking, and Interschool/Pony Club Showjumping and Eventing – nothing too big!

She grew up on a cattle and horse property in the Adelaide Hills and subsequently on acreage in Brisbane , following her father’s interest in classical Dressage. In Australia her long-term teacher has been Ray van der Drift, himself one of the acknowledged few outstanding pupils of the late great Portuguese master, Nuno Oliviera.

Over the years Sasha has won many competitions in riding, swimming and cross country running (national and state level).

She has spent a few years in Germany , firstly as an exchange student where she lived and rode with a high-level Dressage family, rode with their coaches, and travelled with them to their major European Dressage competitions.

Later she returned to Germany as part of her university studies in international business and worked with an engineering company. Armed with a much-appreciated introduction from international judge, Uwe Spenlen, she was able to spend evenings riding with a fantastic teacher in Essen. After graduating with a degree in International Business with majors in marketing and international business, and a separate business German degree and financial planning qualifications, Sasha worked in financial planning but hadn’t lost the travel bug and set off to the USA to work, and later to ride with Bettina Drummond, another of Nuno Oliviera’s outstanding pupils.

Sasha and Jonathan met and married in the Hunter Valley, NSW. Sasha, like Jonathan, would love to have more time to follow her interest in riding. She has a new young Dressage horse that Jonathan has just started for her, and she is looking forward to competing again on something nice! She currently runs the farriery business and it is her voice that most clients hear when they ring. She enjoys teaching Dressage, and sometimes has openings for new students (children and adults). They have two young children, Alex and Isabella, and a dog, cat, and the horses! Hopefully, a few laying hens will soon join the clan.

Ryan Wighton has been with Jonathan since January 2008. Ryan started his apprenticeship 2005 but then had a break to go and play with tonka toys (back-hoes) before coming back to complete his time. He is interested in cutting and has two Quarter Horses of his own.

He travels to Scone in NSW every month to study at TAFE.

Alex Oehm - future apprentice. Already making shoes what a champ!