Straightforward Horsemanship

12/06/2025

🌱 What a beautiful day of connection, openness and joy in Hertfordshire 🌿

Enormous thanks to the wonderful participants who showed up with so much openness, curiosity and courage, it was lovely to spend time with you all ❤️

A huge thank you to our wonderful host Alex at Equi-Reflect for creating such a perfectly peaceful setting for connection and joy ✨

And of course also to Rupert Isaacson from The Horse Boy for co-hosting, bringing the science of oxytocin and ~sacral rocking~ I mean diaper shakes.

09/06/2025

✨ Rupert Isaacson Clinic - Advancing In-Hand✨
🗓️ Wednesday 18th June, 10am - 4pm
📍 Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG4 7BS

This clinic is for advancing in-hand techniques including single-rein longreining, developing impulsion, and preparing for piaffe.

Accelerate your progress and understanding in this focussed session with Rupert Isaacson, founder of The Horse Boy method & internationally known as a trainer of the Old Masters dressage system of training horses from the ground as he shares the next steps on the path to joy with our horses.

Auditor tickets: £65
Participant tickets: currently fully booked

To book, please contact [email protected]

Many thanks to Alex at Equi-Reflect for hosting at:

The Dell Barn, Tile Kiln Farm, Back Lane, Near Weston SG4 7BS

03/06/2025

So Nottingham! What a beautiful day of exploration, laughter, the neuroscience of healing, and the right number of hammocks 💫

Thanks to all the lovely participants for sharing their stories, healing, exploration of cultivating tribe, and how things can be!

Many many thanks to Claire and Jen for creating the perfect space to explore, feel and to move through the energies 🍃

And of course to co-host Rupert Isaacson from The Horse Boy, for his insights on supporting the nervous system, cultivating change and finding the right leaves to eat 🌱

23/04/2025

For horses, balance means safety.

As prey animals, keeping their balance can feel like the difference between life and death – making them incredibly protective of it!

From the moment we mount up, we become part of their shared balance – which is a huge opportunity to support their sense of safety 🧡

To support our horses in developing strength, suppleness and confidence in motion, it helps to consider how we might affect their balance.

A few starting places include:

⚖️ Being aware of how we might influence their balance - for better or for worse!

⚖️ Understanding how to use that influence in a way that's helpful and comfortable for horse and human

⚖️ Developing our own body awareness & coordination so that we can change dynamics when needed

⚖️ Considering how this shared balance fits within the aids we use, so that we ask in ways which support balance rather than interrupt it

With some curiosity, exploration and practice, we can develop a shared balance with our horses - helping them to feel strong, balanced and confident ✨

21/04/2025

What I really like about perfectionism is the motivation - the care and the drive to do better by our horses.
I appreciate that. A perfectionist streak can work wonders.

It's tough though - if we let it, perfectionism can block the experiences we need to develop the skills and understanding of what "better" looks like, and how to get there.
Sometimes mess is good, like clay, giving us the raw materials to shape later.

The drive towards perfection can make us so critical of ourselves and our horses that we can’t gratefully accept their efforts on our long road towards perfection, and so it becomes its own barrier.

So here's to the nearlys, the not-quites and almosts, the good efforts, oh-god-nos, the so-close.

They're all their own steps towards other places.
So may we enjoy them, learn from them, and honour them for what they are - time spent trying to do better.

I have all the time in the world for that.

17/04/2025

✨UK Clinics & Retreats with Rupert Isaacson✨
Join us for a series of clinics and retreats in Nottinghamshire and Hertfordshire, see below for details, links & how to book!

📌Nottinghamshire:

🐴Helios Harmony Clinic, 17th May
https://fb.me/e/2pNuxuZ4U
Have you always wondered what were the secrets behind high school dressage training? How the piaffe, the passage, the pirouettes and tempis are actually produced?

Join Rupert Isaacson, founder of The Horse Boy method & internationally known as a trainer of the Old Masters dressage system of training horses from the ground as he unlocks the secret to in-hand work.

2 x spaces to bring a horse: £375 pp
Spectator tickets: £65

To book, please contact [email protected]
Or for more information, please contact Kez on 07951 751 527

🌿 Art of Joy Retreat - 18th May
https://fb.me/e/4JOfdcQyU
Join us for a day of connection and exploration as we journey through psychology, nature, Shamanism, and emotional awareness to rediscover joy.

Learn practical tools to regulate your nervous system, cultivate inner ease, and transform your day-to-day life. Hosted by Rupert Isaacson and Kezia Sullivan, this relaxed forest retreat blends science, storytelling, and play to help you reconnect with the joy already within you.

The cost is £75 per person; snacks and drinks are included.

To book, please contact [email protected]
Or for more information, please contact Kez on 07951 751 527

📌Hertfordshire:

🐴Helios Harmony Clinic - 24th May
https://fb.me/e/4WuixDIYJ

Have you always wondered what were the secrets behind high school dressage training? How the piaffe, the passage, the pirouettes and tempis are actually produced?

Join Rupert Isaacson, founder of The Horse Boy method & internationally known as a trainer of the Old Masters dressage system of training horses from the ground as he unlocks the secret to in-hand work.

2 x spaces to borrow a horse at the venue: £375 pp
2 x spaces to bring a horse: £375 pp (Apologies – geldings only, no mares!)
Spectator tickets: £65

To book, please contact [email protected]
Or for more information, please contact Kez on 07951 751 527

🐎Helios Advancing In-Hand Clinic - 25th May am
https://fb.me/e/68cYWQp5B

Building on the Helios Harmony clinic on Saturday 24th, this clinic is for advancing in-hand techniques including single-rein longreining, developing impulsion, and preparing for piaffe. If you & / your horse have begun shoulder-in and counter shoulder-in (also known as Pattern 1a & Pattern 2a), this clinic is for you!

Accelerate your progress and understanding in this focussed session with Rupert Isaacson, founder of The Horse Boy method & internationally known as a trainer of the Old Masters dressage system as he shares the next steps on the path to joy with our horses.

2 x spaces to borrow a horse at the venue: £185 pp
2 x spaces to bring a horse: £185 pp (Apologies – geldings only, no mares!)
Spectator tickets: £35

To book, please contact [email protected]
Or for more information, please contact Kez on 07951 751 527

🌿Art of Joy Retreat - 25th May pm
https://fb.me/e/6dV9o7DXt

Join us for an afternoon of connection and exploration as we journey through psychology, nature, Shamanism, and emotional awareness to rediscover joy.

Learn practical tools to regulate your nervous system, cultivate inner ease, and transform your day-to-day life. Hosted by Rupert Isaacson and Kezia Sullivan, this relaxed forest retreat blends science, storytelling, and play to help you reconnect with the joy already within you.

The cost is £50 per person; snacks and drinks are included.

To book, please contact [email protected]
Or for more information, please contact Kez on 07951 751 527

16/04/2025

✨April Availability - Sheffield , Manchester and surrounding areas, March 30th - April 10th✨

My approach combines natural horsemanship with classical dressage to build confidence, improve understanding and create safer, more enjoyable partnerships.

I offer sessions combining mental, physical and emotional aspects to support the development of strong partnerships based on understanding and clear communication.

If you're looking for any of the below, or if you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch; I'd love to hear what you're working on!

- Groundwork foundations
- In-hand work
- Ridden sessions
- Problem solving

16/04/2025

Lost confidence? Let’s talk about it!

For a lot of us, confidence is a really emotional topic – because we need it to do what we love!

So when it takes a dip, that can also bring up a lot of fear around the idea of losing confidence, because then we’ve lost access to being happy when we’re riding.

And then we’re into a vicious cycle of losing confidence, then worrying about losing more confidence, and then it’s a race to the bottom. And that’s possible even when the horse is behaving just fine! So how can you break the cycle?

I think a lot of it is in the way we think about confidence and safety.

To me, there are two types of confidence.

There’s beginner’s confidence, when you think you’re probably safe.
And this kind is, in my experience, if you ride for long enough on enough different horses, always lost eventually.
To my mind, that is the safest thing that can happen for a person.

Losing that beginners confidence ironically makes you 100% safer, because then you’re looking for ways to build true confidence.

True confidence comes when you understand what safety is built from, and how to build it.

For me, safety with horses comes from understanding – from being able to predict and shape how a horse will behave, understanding how to prepare for and get through tricky situations, and understanding how to reduce the chance of those situations coming up.

It also comes from understanding confidence as a signpost towards potential knowledge gaps.
It indicates where maybe there’s something you or your horse isn’t sure of, that can be broken down.

For example, if you’re totally fine hacking alone, but then don’t want to canter in company, there are things you can check.

1. How is your horse in company? In front, behind, being overtaken or ridden past in the opposite direction? Do they race?
This could be started in the school, then in slower gaits out on hacks, then faster ones, until you and your hacking buddy can overtake each other in canter with no drama.

2. How is your horse at stopping? Can you stop easily (and calmly!) from all paces? Even when the other horse keeps going? Even if they’re a little worried about something?
Again, start where you're safest, start from slow paces, check whether you can stop when you’re alone on hacks, and in front and behind, etc.

3. How do you actually feel about canter? Are you feeling a bit unbalanced or uncertain? How about the transitions – both upwards and downwards?

If you follow that confidence trail, normally you’ll find the piece that doesn’t work – and normally, if you fix that piece up, the “confidence problem” goes away with it.

And then you ARE safer. And more confident. That’s what it’s for! 🙂

17/03/2025

Something to consider as we start getting those ponies fit after winter 🌦️🌱

12/03/2025

Many thanks to all for a wonderful day of collaboration and learning at the EAS Symposium - it was great to meet so many people who are passionate about supporting others through equine assisted work, and an absolute privilege to be asked to share some insights from the developing evidence base.

Special thanks also to all the organisers for their amazing work, and to sponsors Horse Sport Ireland and to Clonshire Equestrian Centre for hosting and supporting this fabulous event!

Kez Sullivan presenting at the Horse Sport Ireland sponsored EAS Symposium at Clonshire Equestrian Centre yesterday!

28/12/2024

✨ Rupert Isaacson Demo - North London, Tuesday 7th January ✨

Have you always wondered what were the secrets behind high school dressage training? How the piaffe, the passage, the pirouettes and tempis are actually produced? Have you always wanted a horse that was at its most supple, mentally and emotionally happy and flexible, its most muscled and wise?

Join Rupert Isaacson, founder of The Horse Boy method & internationally known as a trainer of the Old Masters dressage system of training horses from the ground – the in-hand work as it is known, as he unlocks the secrets and shows us the way to joy with our horses… and with our human selves.

In this 2hr demonstration, Rupert will be showing progressive dressage exercises for ultimate equine wellbeing, from supporting healthy movement patterns to the beginnings of collection.

5 - 7pm, Tuesday 7th January
Oaklands College Equestrian Centre, St Albans, AL4 0JA
£25 per person

For more information or to reserve your ticket, please contact Kez on 07951 751 527

26/11/2024

Many thanks to HETI - Horses in Education and Therapy International for supporting this research!

If you provide equine assisted services in England, and:

- Are keen to get involved with research
- Have provided EAS services to at least 20 individuals under the “Troubled Families” or “Supporting Families” programmes (or county equivalent) anytime from 2015 onwards and/or ongoing
(NB These are national policy programmes and in each county they may be named differently. You may need to contact your own local authority or commissioning organisations to confirm that your work was/is within these programmes)

This could be for you!

If you fit the criteria listed above, and are interested in your service being considered for this study, please complete this survey to express interest.

https://forms.office.com/r/KDHVaTyf3G

This does not commit you to participating – there will be many steps to take and discuss prior to any commitment on either side.

Many thanks in advance for your support.

Are you an EAS practitioner based in England? If so, you are invited to express an interest in your Equine Assisted Service being included in a potential multi-site EAS study with Professor Ann Hemingway (Bournemouth University) and Kezia Sullivan MSc.

The project welcomes participation from all equine-assisted service providers (whether they are HETI members or non-members) who meet the following criteria:
- Are keen to participate and actively engage
- Operate in England (not rest of UK, as the programme is specific to English policy)
- Have provided EAS services to at least 20 individuals under the “Troubled Families” or “Supporting Families” programmes (or county equivalent) anytime from 2015 onwards and / or ongoing
(NB This is a national policy program, and may be named differently in each county. You may need to contact your own local authority or commissioning organisations to confirm that your work was / is within these programmes)

The idea for this research project stems from the HETI(UK) Autumn forum and we are delighted to be able to support this project. For further details on the project, click the link:
https://hetifederation.org/research-opportunity-for-equine-assisted-service-providers-england/

If you would like to be involved, please complete the survey below by 31st December 2024. The survey takes approximately 5 minutes to fill out, and you can withdraw at any time. This does not commit you to participating – there will be many steps to take and discuss before any commitment is made on either side.
https://forms.office.com/r/KDHVaTyf3G