Straightforward Horsemanship

04/08/2025

A useful lens, worth applying to the feet and to the rest of the horse.

If they're bothered by their feet, back, gut, overall strength or anything else, that'd be the place to start 🎯

Sensitive Sole Dysregulation Disorder (SSDD):
Why Your Horse Isn’t a Jerk—He Just Has Sore Feet 🐴🔥

⚠️ This is long. Possibly the most important thing you’ll read this year about your “frustrating” horse. So dig deep and let me transplant some good ideas into your head....

People come to me for all sorts of reasons.
Some are curious about my nerdy, no-nonsense take on horse training.

Some want help building a better relationship with their horse.
And some arrive clinging to the last threads of hope, unsure whether their horse is traumatised, dangerous… or they are just not good enough to own a horse 😔.

Most of the time, the horse is just confused.
Once we clear up the misunderstanding, lay out a process, and build some real skills, the change is phenomenal.
✅ Communication improves.
✅ Confidence blooms.
✅ Partnerships are born.

It’s effective.
It’s beautiful.
It works—until it doesn’t.

Because there’s a subset of horses—genuinely lovely horses, with well-meaning, capable humans—who still struggle.
Not from lack of effort.
Not from uselessness.
Not because the horse is a waste of time.

It’s because the horse isn’t physically in a state to learn.
And the top culprit?

Sore. Bloody. Feet. 🦶💥

Which is why I’m proud (and mildly exasperated) to introduce a term that I believe deserves a permanent spot in the equine lexicon aka lingo:

Sensitive Sole Dysregulation Disorder (SSDD)

A multifactorial, stress-induced hoof spiral that masquerades as a behavioural problem—but is actually your horse’s way of saying, “Human, I cannot cope. And what you're asking me to do is bloody uncomfortable and I feel threatened.”

Why We Need a Term Like SSDD

If you’ve read my blog on New Home Syndrome, you’ll know how powerful naming things can be.

That post gave thousands of horse owners a lightbulb moment:
💡 “Ah—it’s not that my new horse was drugged and sold by an unscrupulous lying horse seller. He’s just completely unravelling from the stress of relocation.”

Naming gives us a grip on the slippery stuff.
It stops us chasing trauma narratives, mystical contracts, and fantasy horsemanship rabbit holes wasting our time, money, and enjoyment of horses.
It invites clarity.
It invites action.

So let’s do it again.
Because SSDD is real.
It’s widespread.
And it’s quietly ruining training, relationships, and confidence—for both horse and human.

The Official Definition (Because I’m Nerdy Like That 😎)

Sensitive Sole Dysregulation Disorder (SSDD):

A stress-induced, multifactorial syndrome in horses, characterised by systemic dysregulation and poor hoof integrity. It results in chronic sensitivity from inflammation, poor structural balance. It causes altered posture and movement, and unpredictable or defensive behaviour—especially when the horse is asked to move, load, or engage physically.
Commonly misdiagnosed as poor training, bad temperament, or “being crazy, dangerous, or… a bit of a dick.”

How It Starts
(And Why It’s So Sneaky 🕵️‍♀️)

Stress—whether from relocation, dietary change, social disruption, intense work, poor training, or all of the above and more—disrupts the gut.

We talk about ulcers and hindgut issues, but gut disruption reaches much further. It impacts:

- Nervous system regulation
- Nutrient absorption
- Muscle and fascia development
- Sensory processing
- Postural support
- Biomechanics
➡️And yes… hoof quality

Systemic inflammation gets triggered, and it ripples to the hooves.
Thin soles.
Inflamed hoof structures.
Suddenly, every step hurts.

And when all four feet hurt at once?
There’s no limp.
No giveaway unless you know what to look for.
Just a horse who suddenly doesn’t want to:

🚫 Go forward
🚫 Bend
🚫 Load
🚫 Be caught
🚫 Be mounted
🚫 Leave its friends
🚫 “Trust you”
🚫 “Connect”

From the outside, it looks like resistance and unpredictability.
But inside?
It’s one long, silent “Ouch.”

And just because they run, buck and gallop in the paddock does not mean it isn’t festering away.

Case Study: The Off-The-Track Time Bomb 🧨
Meet the OTTB.
He’s fresh off the track with the emotional resilience of a sleep-deprived uni student living off Red Bull and vending machine snacks.
His microbiome is wrecked.
His feet are full of nail holes.
His hooves are thin and genetically fragile.

Hoof balance and form has been considered for the next race—not the next 20 years.
And someone’s just pulled his shoes in the name of “letting down naturally.” 🙃

Cue: SSDD.

Now he’s bolting, spinning, rearing, planting, or shutting down.
The forums recommend groundwork, magnesium, a different noseband, an animal communicator, or an MRI for a brain tumour.
The horsemanship world says “move his feet.”
The trauma-informed crowd say “get his consent.”
Kevin at the feed store says “get his respect.”

But nothing changes.
Because it’s not a behaviour issue.
It’s a hoof–gut–nervous system–biomechanical spiral.
And until you break the cycle, no amount of connection, compassion, or carrot sticks will touch it.

What SSDD Looks Like:
🔹 Short, choppy strides
🔹 Hesitation on gravel
🔹 Tension through the back and neck
🔹 Braced posture, dropped belly, collapsed topline
🔹 Popping hamstrings
🔹 Loss of bend, swing, or rhythm
🔹 Explosions without warning
🔹 Refusal to leave the paddock
🔹 Sudden regression in training
🔹 Being labelled a “dick,” “bitch,” “jerk,” or “nutcase”
Imagine removing your shoes.
Now walk barefoot over gravel, or Lego hidden in shag-pile carpet 🧱
Add a backpack.
Now have someone control where you have to move and how fast.
Now smile, be polite, and do what you’re told.

Sound like trust and connection to you?

That’s SSDD.

Let’s Be Clear 💡
This isn’t an anti-barefoot rant.
And it’s not a pro-shoes crusade.
It’s about recognising that stress undermines hoof quality…
And compromised hooves undermine everything else.

Hoof pain is a master dysregulator.
It breaks posture.
Fractures movement.
Feeds stress.
Causes breakdown.
Blocks learning.
And it’s hard to see—especially when you think your horse is acting like an idiot.

What To Do (Especially for OTTBs, STBs, and New Arrivals)
✅ Be strategic.
✅ Be clinical.
✅ Be kind.
- Replace shoes or hoof protection, don’t rip off shoes on Day One.
- Support the gut from the start.
- Prioritise routine, rest, and recovery.
- Make sure they’re sleeping—properly.
- Work with a hoof care pro who understands stress transitions.
- Wait before reassessing shoeing choices.
- Stop mistaking pain for personality.
- Choose insight over ideology.
- Choose systems thinking over magic silver bullets.

Why It Matters

When we name SSDD, we stop blaming horses for not coping.
We stop shaming owners.

We stop spiralling into horsemanship cults where stillness is the only sign of success.

We start looking at the actual horse.
In the actual body.
With actual problems.

Because sometimes, it’s not temperament.
It’s not training.
It’s just a hoof—
Tender, tired, inflamed—
Whispering softly:
“I can’t cope.”
A hoof that needs support and protection.

📸 IMAGE TO BURN INTO YOUR MEMORY BANKS
Study it.
See the posture searching for comfort?
The tension lines?
The zoned out face that says “pain”?
The weird stance?
That’s SSDD at a standstill.
Even if you can’t see it yet—please consider it.
I might’ve made up the name…
But the thing itself is very, very real.

Just like New Home Syndrome, SSDD deserves its own hashtag.
Okay fine— is a bit long.
Let’s go with:

If This Blog Made You Think—Please Share It 🙏
But please don’t copy and paste chunks and pretend you wrote them.
There’s a share button. Use it.
Be cool. Give credit. Spread the word.
Because if this made you stop and wonder whether your horse isn’t being difficult—but is actually sore, stressed, and stuck in a spiral—
That moment of reflection could be the turning point that changes everything.

We’ve just released our Racehorse to Riding Horse – Off the Track Reboot course, plus other clear, practical resources to help you understand OTTBs & OTTSTBs and support these incredible horses, as they are more prone to this than most.

Because with the right information, what feels impossible…
Can become totally achievable. 🐎✨

I’ll pop some references in the comments.

16/07/2025

Great point - distinctions are important!

Accurately reading situations supports staying safe, kind and progressive 🌱

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!