Smart Rider Happy Horse

11/10/2025

Let’s talk about: Science and Horsemanship

A majority of experienced equine professionals are unable to accurately explain the scientific reasoning as to why and how their training methods work, which can make the dismissal of science’s role in horsemanship easy.

Here are some sobering statistics from a questionnaire conducted by the National Coaches Accreditation:

79.5% of respondents considered Positive Reinforcement to be “very useful,”

…yet only 2.8% correctly explained its use in horse training.

19.3% considered Negative Reinforcement (the foundation of most traditional horse training methods) to be “very useful,”

…with 11.9% correctly explaining its use in horse training.

These statistics highlight a larger issue in our industry. A lot of information in the horse world gets passed from one trainer to another, which can lead to outdated or inaccurate ideas being shared.

When that happens, the nuance and the why behind each method often get lost along the way.

It is possible for a trainer to have incredible feel, timing, and skill, yet miscommunicates how or why what they are doing works.

That lack of explanation does not make them unskilled, but it does make it harder for students to learn beyond just imitation. Without understanding the underlying principles, important details get lost with every retelling.

This is one reason terms like Positive Reinforcement and Negative Reinforcement remain widely misunderstood, and why newer research in equine science often gets overlooked.

So why is science important, and how does it help with training?

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👉 Learning Theory includes concepts like Positive and Negative Reinforcement.

It helps us understand how learning happens and what motivates behaviour.

It bridges the gap between what we feel when we train and the science of how horses actually process information.

Understanding motivation is at the heart of all effective training.

It allows us to create clearer communication, reduce confusion, and support learning through consistency rather than pressure.

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👉 Equine Behaviour helps us understand why horses act the way they do and what their behaviour is communicating.

It gives us context for what we see, helping us recognize when a horse is learning, coping, or struggling.

Many professionals can identify the obvious signals, but the more subtle signs of tension or stress often go unnoticed.

Learning to observe and interpret these details deepens our empathy and allows us to respond before a horse feels the need to shout.

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👉 Equine Ethology is the study of horse behaviour in natural or semi-natural environments.

It helps us understand how horses communicate, form relationships, learn from one another, and meet their behavioural and social needs.

The principles of ethology form the foundation of modern behaviour and welfare science.

By observing horses as they are, researchers have identified patterns that help guide more ethical training and management.

From this research, we have developed ethograms: structured lists of observable behaviours used to identify and categorize what we see.

Today, ethograms are used in both research and domestic settings to assess things like discomfort, pain, stress, and social interaction.

I have included several ethograms in the comments, including the Equine Discomfort Ethogram, the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram, a Facial Behaviour Ethogram, and others used in current welfare research.

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👉 Equine Welfare Science helps us recognize and encourage management practices that support species-appropriate lifestyles for domestic horses.

Frameworks like the Five Freedoms and Five Domains guide how we assess wellbeing, taking into account both physical and emotional needs.

Welfare science reminds us that training outcomes are always linked to the horse’s overall environment, health, and ability to meet their natural needs.

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👉 Applied Behaviour Science brings all of this together.

It is where learning theory, behaviour, ethology, and welfare meet in practice.

It guides how we apply scientific principles to real-world training, ensuring that what we do is effective, ethical, and centered on the horse’s wellbeing.

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Science has a vital role in horsemanship, even when it is overlooked or dismissed.

It gives us the language to explain what we feel and the knowledge to do better for our horses.

When we combine education and evidence with lived experience and hands on skills we create trainers who are informed, adaptable, and empathetic.

Science does not replace feel, it gives it meaning.

01/10/2025

Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.

11/09/2025

My turn ⬇️. Talking about how I prepare taking a young horse to a 4 day clinic. Nothing new here, just a bit of common sense required 🤩. There will be a couple of youngsters at our upcoming clinic, so please come and see how they learn. Spectator tickets info ⬇️

10/09/2025

08/09/2025

Fascia remembers what muscles forget:

In manual therapy, bodywork, and movement science fascia’s unique mechanical and cellular properties allow it to retain tension patterns and adapt to stress long after the muscles themselves have relaxed or released.

1. Muscles vs. Fascia in Holding Tension
• Muscles actively contract and relax under nerve signals. When the signal stops, a healthy muscle can usually let go quite quickly.
• Fascia is the web of connective tissue that wraps, connects, and transmits force between muscles and other structures. Repeated load, poor posture, or injury can make it densified, “stuck,” or adhesed. This can restrict motion even if the muscles aren’t actively tight.

2. “Memory” as a Mechanical Pattern

Fascial layers adapt to the stresses placed on them. Repeated movement patterns, trauma, or surgery can lead to fascial remodeling — thicker collagen fibers, altered alignment, and increased stiffness. This is a kind of mechanical memory:
• If a horse (or human) compensates for an old injury, fascia can remodel around the altered movement.
• Later, even if the muscle injury heals and nerve signals stop, the fascial restrictions can persist and continue influencing movement.

3. Neurological Component

Fascia is richly supplied with sensory receptors — sometimes even more than muscle tissue. These receptors constantly feed information about tension, position, and pain to the nervous system. When the nervous system “learns” a protective pattern, fascia can help reinforce it, like a groove worn into a record, making the pattern habitual or hard to change.

4. Implications for Therapy

This is why techniques like myofascial release, gentle stretching, and movement retraining are so effective:
• They address not just muscle contractility but also the viscoelastic and sensory properties of fascia.
• By restoring hydration, sliding, and alignment of fascial layers, you can “reset” stored tension so muscles can function normally again.

In Short

Muscles act. Fascia adapts.
Muscles may relax quickly, but fascia remodels slowly and holds onto patterns until it’s specifically mobilized.
That’s the real meaning of “fascia remembers what muscles forget.”

04/09/2025

Just 3 weeks to our next Foundation Instructor Clinic at the Naturally Light Equitation Centre, Preston Capes. We will have 3 pedagogy lessons which Georgina is talking about ⬇️, 3 theory exams and 8 lessons per day. If you have an interest in learning more about French Classical training pop along and join us.

27/08/2025

02/06/2025

Excellent post⬇️

THE BIOMECHANICAL IMPACT OF TIGHT NOSEBANDS

Tight nosebands, though commonly used in many equestrian disciplines, can cause significant biomechanical disruptions in the horse that extend far beyond the face. While the primary intention of a noseband may be to stabilize the bridle or limit evasive behaviors, when fitted too tightly, it can interfere with the natural movement and function of the jaw and surrounding structures, triggering a chain of compensatory effects throughout the body.

The horse’s jaw needs to move freely to maintain balance and comfort during work. Movements such as chewing, softening of the mouth, and subtle oscillations of the jaw play an important role in muscle relaxation and the regulation of tension through the head and neck. A tight noseband prevents this mobility, locking the mandible and increasing pressure through the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The TMJ is a key area of both movement and neural feedback, it connects closely with the cervical spine and plays a role in coordinating head and neck posture.

When the TMJ is restricted, the horse may begin to develop tension through the poll and upper neck as it attempts to compensate for the lack of mobility in the jaw. This often presents as stiffness in the cervical spine and can lead to a change in how the horse carries its head and neck, typically with a more braced or inverted outline. These changes affect the alignment and movement of the entire body, especially the way the horse uses its back and shoulders.

Facial nerves, lie just beneath the skin where nosebands often apply pressure. When compressed, these nerves can become irritated, causing discomfort or even numbness. This neurological stress can result in subtle signs of evasion, like tilting the head, reluctance to bend, or general inconsistency in contact. Over time, it may also contribute to behavioral resistance or long-term hypersensitivity in the facial area.

Changes in head and neck posture feed directly into the function of the thoracic sling. If a horse begins to carry tension through the base of the neck, scapular movement can be limited, shortening the forelimb stride and reducing range of motion through the shoulder. These compensations can make the horse appear stiff in the front end or reluctant to lift through the withers, often mistaken for training or conformation issues rather than biomechanical restrictions.

The chain of compensation doesn’t stop at the front end. Because the spine is a continuous system, disturbances in cranial and cervical mechanics often affect the horse’s ability to lift the back and engage the hindquarters correctly. Horses may begin to hollow through the back, trail the hind legs, or show signs of discomfort in transitions or collected work. Over time, these compensatory patterns can place abnormal stress on joints and soft tissues, increasing the risk of strain injuries or uneven muscular development.

Scientific studies using motion analysis and muscle activity tracking have shown that horses ridden with tight nosebands demonstrate restricted movement patterns and changes in muscle activation. These biomechanical shifts may not always appear dramatic to the eye, but they indicate underlying discomfort and adaptation away from the horse’s natural way of going.

In essence, a tight noseband disrupts the horse’s ability to use its body freely and functionally. While it may produce a quieter mouth or a more polished appearance in the short term, the cost to comfort, movement, and long-term soundness can be significant. To preserve biomechanical integrity and promote sustainable performance, tack must always be fitted in a way that respects the horse’s anatomy and allows for natural movement.

The illusion of control it creates masks the very dysfunction it causes, ultimately working against the principles of balance, suppleness, and symmetry that underpin all forms of evidence-based training.