Soft and Sound

15/07/2025

Preparing your horse to go away from home.

Students often ask how to prepare their horse to take them away, so this is something I have given a lot of thought to. Having also just taken my own 'new' horse away for the first time, this is fresh in my mind.

Because the truth is, we don't know what is going to 'happen' when we go to a new place. There are so many variables which we can't account for; how things occur at that yard or venue, other horses, other people, their dogs, the weather - you know. Life.

Instead of trying to second guess what will or won't take place when you leave the shire and venture forth, you can consider how you want things to feel between you and your horse at home - practice that - and then take it away with you.

When we're away, the truth of our daily interactions reveal themselves. My horse Des was a great leveler on that front - when I took him away and his anxiety would go up he would show me what I was not paying attention to at home. Mostly in his case I was missing all the small signs of worry and concern which became big markers of ,'You are of no use to me human' when we would leave home . All my small inconsistencies and not paying enough attention at home, became huge red flags of disconnect in a new situation.

I have apologised to Des and tried do better with him and other horses since then. I try when we go away not to mentally disappear in relationship to my horse. To stay just as consistent and supportive and noticing of what they notice in a new situation as in a familiar one. This can be tricky when there is so much newness and difference for you too . However, the flip side is that by committing to being consistent for your horse you can give yourself a helping hand. It gives us a purpose too.

You can't know what is going to happen when you go away, but you can make a choice about who you want to be. You can use your daily handling and interactions as an ongoing practice which you then get to test out in new places. You can be clear and consistent and focused on quality in all those small ways, so that you can practice them big when you leave town.

No one might notice that things are quiet and easy between you and your horse, as this work is unimpressive. It does not get rosettes or trophies. You might get told you have an easy horse, but don't mind. Because your horse is actually the only one whose opinion you really care about anyway.

As long as you take yourself with you when you and your horse leave home, all the rest of what happens is not your business.

01/07/2025

I had a fabulous Lipizzaner who had 8 spine impingements. Spotted by my amazing vet physio, the end of it called by my vet when at the time I wanted to carry on with the rehab. I understand now why I was told ‘For the good of the horse, stop’. I was beginning to see the things Becks Nairn describes here.

Not all horses should be rehabbed.

30/06/2025

It has been such a pleasure to work with Shona McLauchlan Equine - she couldn’t have been more dedicated and open to searching out what her horse needed.

30/06/2025

I have just finished my summer run of clinics with three days at Brandy House Farm in Wales. I had heard of this place over the years and knew it welcomed an interesting range of horse people, I had also heard it was a little bubble of Welsh heaven. It tuns out it really is a very special place.

A student in the membership Niki Taylor Equine Bodywork had been quietly lining up planets to get me an invite as a new clinician there, and I am very honored that Medina and Richard invited me.

It was a truly lovely blur of horses and humans, dogs and swifts, red kites and the Welsh hills. Every single clinic venue I have been to this summer has provided a safe and welcoming place to be and this was no different.

We talked about being useful to our horses in whatever way we best could. We looked at the connections between French classical training, good horsemanship and functional partnerships between horses and people. It turns out that every single person could do more than they thought they could,. and every single horse was just there waiting for them. It was inspiring to be reminded again how very robust we all are, and what brilliant learners we can be and also how good toasted marshmallows taste when wedged between two biscuits.

Thank you all, I have put some hopefully useful captions with the photos, see you again in September!

30/06/2025

Will you be joining us?

30/06/2025

Great to meet so many people at this weekends clinic, thank you to Emma Malone Equestrian for this wonderful post.

Yes, that’s me under that big hat, scribbling away lots of golden nuggets of information!

Last weekend I had the joy of attending a clinic with Kate Sandel at Brandy House Farm!

I’ve long followed Kate and her Soft and Sound page. I admired her writing and the way she conveyed many topics that were so on point, often saying ‘darn it’ I wish I could write this well!

So when she was coming up from deepest darkest Devon to Brandy House, there was no question that I was going to this clinic. I had to meet this woman who I had admired from a distance and she didn’t disappoint!

I knew I was going to love this weekend as she started quoting Simon Sinek (who I once sat across in a noodle bar in Oslo) asking us what is your why and do you have a golden why!

And this made me think, why am I here…...I love to learn, always have done, it brings me such joy! I wanted to learn from this woman in the flesh, what would I learn if I immersed myself….well I’ve got over 20 pages of notes to show from my weekend which I am sure I will refer to time and time again!

She had the ability to draw from a wide range of sources that were applicable to our riding!

She made us think, question, provide ‘ah ah moments’ lots of I didn’t know that!

And with everything she did in her teaching there was clarity and kindness delivered to the horse and rider!

What we saw was the horse and rider shine both emotionally and physically! Many horse-rider combinations doing things I don’t think they thought was possible!

Being asked and stretched in the best possible way!

Therapeutic riding demonstrated right before our eyes!

My mind is full and it will take some time to process it all but it will be forever in my tool kit for my own riding and teaching!

Sadly I decided that Fiddle wasn’t quite ready for it but we are booked into the September clinic!

Thank you Kate, my fellow spectators, the riders and their wonderful horses! A truly special weekend at one of my favourite places, Brandy House Farm

Emma xx

26/06/2025

I hope this may prove to be useful to some of you

24/06/2025

Thank you to Master Teacher Catherine Marshall for writing such an informative post.

IMPULSION AND COLLECTION

In a previous post I discussed the difference between activity and impulsion, and why both are key for healthy movement under saddle.
Now let’s move on to collection, and why a high level of impulsion is such an essential ingredient for collected work.
Very simply, collection may be defined as ‘high actvity in a slow rhythm'. In other words, a horse is only really performing a collected movement if it is ready to move up a gear at the lightest suggestion from the rider’s leg. This is absolutely key to its depiction of light liveliness and what differentiates collection from just going slow.

There are many examples of collected movements, but for the purposes of this article, let’s focus on the piaffe. Piaffe is an air performed on the spot or with minimal forward travel. It is a diagonal movement with no time of suspension, in which the horse elevates the neck and engages the hindquarters. In many ways it is the pinnacle of collection, displaying absolute mastery of the horse’s balance in movement.

A good piaffe should show:

1 A regular two beat rhythm
2 A happy face (effort is different to pain)
3 Well flexed joints in the hind limbs, with the hind feet engaged under the body
4 A clear shift of weight to the hind quarters (could the piaffe lead to a pesade?)
5 Clear and energetic lifting of each diagonal pair on the spot
6 An elevated neck with the poll the highest point

On the other hand, a less impressive piaffe might demonstrate:

1 Lack of a clear two beat rhythm
2 Tension
3 A loaded front limb, angled so that the landed front hoof is positioned behind the shoulder
4 Bouncing hind quarters
5 Limbs lifting in a staccato and unnatural fashion
6 A dropped poll

As is the case with all good equitation, the aids should be imperceptible, the contact light, and the horse should look as though he is performing the movement by himself; the kind a stallion offers in the stable when a mare walks past for example. Contained energy, a coiled spring.

All too often we see piaffe produced by using a whip from the ground. Someone is usually on board, and a handler on the ground uses a whip to encourage the horse to lift his hind legs in an exaggerated manner while walking or trotting slowly. No real impulsion is required here, just a trainer with reasonable timing. The problem is, the horse never really learns how to change his balance to the hindquarters, and in fact quite often offers the exact opposite – as a hind limb lifts, he shifts his weight onto the forelimb on the same side to compensate.

As an alternative, more progressive strategy, in the School of Légèreté we train piaffe using transitions. They could be direct initially, moving from halt to walk, walk to trot, trot to walk, walk to halt, halt to rein back, rein back to halt to walk. All with an elevated neck, no tension or resistance to the leg or hand. We insist on absolute separation of the hand and leg at this point, ie when we ask the horse to go the hand allows, and when asking for the downwards transitions the legs are quiet.

Incorporating shoulder in into the transittion training develops the flexion and weight carrying capacity of each haunch individually, depending which hind leg is engaged under the mass at the time. Quite a clever way to develop the strength required and symmetry in the piaffe at the same time!

Progressively, the transitions become quicker – as soon as we ask the horse offers, the responses are immediate and anticipated. Quite soon it is possible to ask for indirect transitions: halt to trot, trot to halt, even rein back to trot and vice versa. The poll remains the highest point, ensuring that we are progressively lightening the shoulders and developing strength, flexion and weight carrying capacity in the hind limbs.
Frequent breaks are essential for relaxation and to prevent muscle fatigue. I cannot emphasise this enough.

After a while, it is probable that the horse will start to an@cipate the transitions, so that from a high quality rein back for example, he is expecting to trot, so starts to offer a couple of strides on the spot.
We praise.
It is easy to see how this progressive mastery of the horse’s balance, combined with a high level of impulsion (the desire to go forward) would in time produce a piaffe which is relaxed, energetic, regular and with good engagement of the hindquarters. The kind that strengthens and enhances the horse’s capacity to carry a rider with ease and confidence.

No tricks, no shortcuts.

And that’s what it’s all about.

19/06/2025

In the run up to the Advanced Teacher Training clinic with Master teacher Sylvia Stössel, riders on the course will share some of their favourite exercises in the U.K Legerete group https://www.facebook.com/groups/philippekarluk.

We hope these may be inspirational and interesting , and you might fancy seeing some of them ridden in the flesh in a few weeks time.
-----------------------------------------------------

I am going to kick off with an exercise suggested to me by Sylvia, which significantly contributed to the turning point Des and I experienced in our previously troubled canter.

The exercise is - Flèche droit in counter canter down the long side - Shoulder-in Trot across the short side. Repeat.

Anyone who watched the first few years Des and I attended the course may remember our many challenges with canter. Well I say many, but really the main problem was speed - way too much of it, all of the time. He was out of balance and being the kind of horse he is, would use speed to deal with this loss of balance. And then he would get panic struck (me too) and start going faster and faster. It wasn't fun for either of us.

I knew counter canter could be a great way to develop balance in canter generally, but this would just make him contract, and any attempt at a corner in counter canter was a a big mess.

In her usual intelligent fashion, Sylvia helped break each element down. In the Ecole de Légèreté we teach counter canter with the bend to the inside - away from the leading leg. This is different from what is often taught, but can be absolutely revolutionary for horses who find counter canter difficult. It can also really help improve the balance in canter generally, by adding amplitude to the leading leg, and setting the balance to the hind quarters.

We began with a clear and calm progression which gave Des and I to think.

1. Strike off in counter canter down the long side,
2. Gradually add in flèche droit (which he knows from the foundational schooling in walk and trot).
3.Before the corner, transition back to trot.
4. Go through the corner in shoulder in trot and across the short side. This really helps rebalance and as you repeat the horse knows this is coming and anticipates the need to slow down and balance as you come out of the canter.
5.. Repeat the counter canter with flèche droit down the long side.

To begin with this was all a bit of a mess, but as we practiced and Des started to know the pattern and feel that there was time - with nothing he found too challenging in each element - he began to relax. And as he relaxed he could work out how to better manage his balance, and because he was in a better balance he could relax.

The flèche droit in canter created a much more uphill canter, the trot transition and then shoulder-in got him thinking about slowing down and rebalancing. As he rebalanced I could introduce counter canter around the corners. Before we knew it the whole thing was almost what you would call easy.

The days of problems in canter are long behind us and both canter and counter canter as something we now really enjoy - that has been the biggest treat for me. Photo shows Des in counter canter and me smiling because the balance feels so nice and we’re not in fear of the upcoming corner.

Thank you Sylvia and the principles of Legerete! If you would like to buy tickets for the clinic, the link is in the comments.

18/06/2025

Well another great clinic at Ayton PRE, thank you as ever Nicola White for hosting so graciously.

This weekend’s focus was on the joy of movement and the beauty of touch. I love this clinic, it probably most accurately reflects what I do at home with my own horses. Combining the principles of the Ecole de Legerete, with shared movement on the ground and body work.

The participants brought an interesting range of ‘conversations to be had’ through movement and touch. Two horses had neurological issues which were both significantly improved through movement. A couple of horses showed their humans that they too had something magical in their hands (contrary to popular belief that ‘I can’t do that stuff’) and one rider developed a new understanding of the positive action she could take to help a horse move differently, and how she could really feel that in her own body.

We talked about balance and relaxation and impulsion and how those support each other, and we explored helping horses to move from a fixation on the environment back to a connection on themselves and us.

It was as ever a delight to see horses become sounder, more attentive, more present and maybe showing more of who they are through the act of moving with a person.

Thank you to all participants, 4 and 2 legged.