What is it that I teach?

A prospective student recently asked me a very good question: what do you actually teach?

It made me pause and really distil the essence of my work.

What I teach will always look different for every horse–and–human combination, because no two are the same. But at its core, my teaching is about balance — for both the horse and the rider.

Balance is especially vital for horses. As prey animals, their sense of safety depends on it. Their cerebellum, the part of the brain responsible for balance and coordination, is proportionally one of the largest areas of their brain. A horse that feels unbalanced is very likely to feel anxious, and that anxiety often increases once a human is added on their back.

For the horse, the work begins with balance on four feet, on the ground first, and then under saddle. But horses also rely heavily on us to be balanced. Our modern, often sedentary lifestyle doesn’t naturally support good balance or body awareness, so this is something I pay close attention to in my teaching.

Both horses and humans usually come with their own physical stories — asymmetries, old injuries, compensations — and these need to be acknowledged and worked with, not ignored. Riders also come with different ambitions and experience, so what I teach will never look identical from one partnership to another.

In the end, the aim is simple (though not always easy):

for horse and rider to move together in harmony.

And true harmony can only exist when both are balanced.

photo of my horse Dolly who as a Clydesdale was not naturally balanced under saddle and was an anxious mare as a result. Carefully crafted training has allowed her to work in beautiful self carriage and the best part is how relax and happy she is in herself.