Those of you who have had horsemanship lessons, I’m sure you have heard the term soft feel and soft hands before. There’s a huge misunderstanding though, that soft hands are not solid. They are very solid when it comes to holding - when a horse has resistance you’ll see many people pull, but the key is to hold - like a solid tree trunk in the ground. No give, but no take either - it’s a hold. Firm, without fight - just hold. But when the horse gives we must soften, slow down and give A LOT. it’s a tough concept to get your head around - so later this week I’ll launch the soft hands course. 6 really good exercises for you and your horse to soften and build the lightness that feels like magic. At half the price of a lesson and lifetime access it’s a great way to start the new year!

Share your fav pony picture - I’ll start… sir Julius in the sunlight

Ive been away enjoying New Zealand and yes I bought the rain back with me 😂 you’re welcome! I know it’s been hot but what has everyone been up to?

The thing I really love about liberty training is the honesty. Your feedback from the horse will change daily, dependant on so many variables - the main one of course being environment. When we take a horse into a new (most times scary) environment you’ll get pure, truthful feedback about your relationship. When a horse is under pressure (and a strange place is the greatest of all pressures) they will either look to you for guidance or they’ll look for help somewhere else. This is the main reason I never train in round yards. Round yards create a false sense of security for us, and horse create a natural sense of safety with the wall of the arena -away from you!! When you start at liberty it’s much easier for us to use a small yard. But in fact this is the biggest downfall in liberty. If you lose your horse to the outside wall you have created a huge problem - a release of pressure AWAW from you. Any time that horse feels pressure it will just leave. And we see this a lot in competition - when the horse leaves to find safety because the pressure is too great. This weeks focus will be how to keep your horse feeling safe with you without the need for a round yard. The ultimate in building trust. #bettertogetherhorsemanship

Leading a horse over a scary or new object - it’s a human thing to do, thinking we are helping them with their confidence. But most of the time this doesn’t help them at all. Horse need to work through a new object with as little interference from us as possible. If we think more about it as a preparation for riding then we have to remember that we are BEHIND their eye when we ride, so leading them is counterproductive to their confidence. 22 foot ropes are great for building confidence as we can really stay out of their way.