RSH EquineConnection

29/11/2025

This has been my company for my morning jobs missed these! What a cool lady! ❤️🦄

It's been a while since I released a podcast, it's been hard getting my timetables and guests timetables to mesh.

But we have a new one today, and it's a great one.

My guest on this episode is Josephine Jammaers.

Josephine's bio reads

"Joséphine is an outdoor psychologist, lifelong horsewoman, and adventurer who feels most at home far from the beaten path. She has crossed the mountains of Kyrgyzstan with stallions and competed in the Gaucho Derby in Patagonia — the world’s toughest multi-horse endurance race — where she earned the Spirit Award for her resilience and positivity in extreme conditions.

After two years of living almost entirely outdoors — traveling on foot, by bicycle, sailboat, packraft, and horseback — she developed a profound understanding of how nature and adventure shape the mind, build resilience, and spark personal growth. With years of experience as a trainer, speaker, and practitioner, she blends scientific insight with lived wilderness experience.

She now leads Outdoor Psychology, inspiring individuals and organizations to step outside and far beyond their comfort zone, using nature and adventure as catalysts for change."

I met Jospehine in Argentina when we were both competitors in the Gaucho Derby, and was immediately drawn to her amazing energy. In fact, one night eating dinner at start camp, I said to her "I want what you're having", and she generously pushed her plate in my direction. I said "Not what you are eating, whatever it is your are nourishing your soul with". her open energy was so amazing I wanted to know where/how she got it!

I'd been trying to get Josephine on the podcast for a while now, I hope you guys enjoy this episode as much as I did recording it.

The Journey On Podcast is available of all of the podcast platforms.

27/11/2025

🐴 The correct use of learning theory in horse training is good for horses.

Every goal-directed outcome that is satisfied is confirmed mainly via the neurochemical reward system.

When actions become habits, these habits also are maintained by a charge of dopamine every single time.

Therefore, horse training, when done correctly, can lead to positive sensations for every learned response and movement.

💢 But here is the crunch: for training to be rewarding, it must follow the sequence of the operant contingency—signal, response, reinforcement.

Contemporary horse training, particularly in horse racing and Olympic sports, has increasingly drifted away from the correct use of learning theory.

Driven by commercial pressures and the subjective nature of judging in sports like dressage, horses often become overly habituated to rein aids.

🌀This leads to a detrimental spiral where riders escalate to harsher bits and more severe gadgets just to maintain head position.

In these circumstances, horses become motivated less by the original foundation cues—such as leg aids—and more by the release of rein pressure, essentially the release of the brakes.

At speed, a simple release of the reins means the horse accelerates, a result of what is called ‘restraint training’ rather than true signal-based response.

From the horse’s perspective, this approach is confusing and amounts to ‘changing the rules,’ which can be harmful in a variety of ways.

💡Always remember, a horse’s remarkable abilities in classical conditioning mean that countless things in the horse’s environment can become triggers for behaviors, often in ways you never intended.

📖 Modern Horse Training: Equitation Science Principles & Practice, Volume 2- Andrew McLean

23/11/2025

Two days of learning, at the healthy horse conference one in person and one the sofa listening to the rain.
NKCs talk on imposter syndrome reminded me that growth matters more than perfection. We can help horses if we don’t put ourselves out there.

I really enjoyed Dr Gillian Tabors’ talk and was so pleased to see classical in-hand work recommended from a physio perspective.
Nic from Redwings gave such a useful session on the 5 Domains and beyond, a great reminder that we can only do as well as we know at the time, which is exactly why we must keep learning.
Kate .equine.vets showed once again just how much knowledge and passion she has. My horses are very lucky she is their vet.
Watching my friend really got me thinking about the dead space I could turn into a loafing area.
Plus there was so much more. I definitely need to rewatch Sue Dysons talk!
I loved hearing so many talks about the progression of the equestrian industry. It took me back to my early twenties, when I first started questioning what we do with horses. A non-horsey friend said something that has stayed with me ever since:
“Rach, people are going to ride and have horses anyway. You giving up won’t help. You need to help find the way that works for the horses.” This has been my mission ever since.

18/11/2025

Your horse’s skeleton is built for impact — not confinement.

Three decades of equine bone research makes one thing painfully clear: Horses kept in box stalls lose bone density.

Not metaphorically. Literally.

Confinement triggers the same biological process humans call osteoporosis — and it starts fast.

Key findings from the research:

- Horses moved from pasture into stalls and worked only at slow speeds began losing bone mineral content within weeks.
- A single short sprint per week (50–80 m) dramatically strengthened bone.
- Corticosteroids mask pain and increase risk of further injury
- Good nutrition cannot override a lack of mechanical loading.
- A skeleton that doesn’t experience impact simply cannot stay strong.

All of this is drawn from:
Nielsen, B.D. (2023). A Review of Three Decades of Research Dedicated to Making Equine Bones Stronger. Animals, 13(5), 789.

So what does this mean for our modern domesticated horses?

It means bone weakness is not inevitable.

It’s a management problem.

It means many “mysterious” pathologies — stress fractures, suspensory injuries, joint degeneration, chronic compensation, recurrent lameness — are downstream consequences of bone that never had the chance to adapt to the forces nature designed it for.

Box stalls create osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis creates a whole lot of other pathology.

Your horse doesn’t need to be an athlete. But their bones require impact. Free movement. The ability to respond to their own nervous system’s cues to trot, canter, play, stretch, and even sprint.

Turnout is not enrichment.

Movement is biology.

Bone health is built — or lost — every single day.

A question I encourage every owner to sit with:

If you knew your horse’s bones were weakening in silence every day they stood still, would you keep managing them the same way?

Because in the end, it’s not confinement that keeps a horse safe.

It’s a resilient skeleton.

And only you can give them the environment their biology requires.

Change begins with us.

06/11/2025

04/11/2025

Takes seconds click the link and support

📢We need your help!
Earlier this year we were lucky enough to receive some funding from Selco Builders Warehouse and now we have the chance to win up to £10,000 in funding - but we need your votes!

Simply click the link and select Strength and Horses to win:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=kZvu8VGfM0eewUIdsvPKw3exrNeGkjdMil3AiaoVlaZUMzFBTlNLMTNFNzFPUFZITVdJU0VDVUlKNS4u&sc_src=email_3190739&sc_lid=406166835&sc_uid=i1f9f7ECmO&sc_llid=2639&sc_customer=C21692&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=VOTE+NOW+%3E&utm_campaign=Community+Heroes+Regional+Vote+-+North+London+-+October+20252025-10-24+13%3A58%3A00

Thank you!

30/10/2025

Positive changes! ❤️🦄

Vocal aids and no nosebands: British Riding Clubs introduce new rules to promote horse welfare.

Riders are now permitted to use their voices during tests, provided they are discreet do not distract others, and nosebands are no longer compulsory for competitors.

Many have praised the change and really welcomed it. Read the full story via the link in comments.

25/10/2025

Sit down with a cuppa and enjoy ❤️🦄
I feel very proud to part of this school, learning how work in a way that our horses can understand.

Philippe Karl, renowned rider and teacher of French classical riding, shares his passionate critiques of modern dressage riding, and discusses how we can tra...

23/10/2025

Baucher’s flexions and the Ecole de Légèreté.

One of the corner stones of the Ecole de Légèreté is the serious education of all horses with in-hand and ridden flexions. For anyone new to the concept of the flexions, they are a systematic and progressive way of using the bit to develop relaxation, balance and positive posture. In the U.K this method of education to the bit is not part of our tradition, so it can look unusual. The flexions are probably more familiar to our stateside friends, who have variations on this concept woven into the Vaquero and Buckeroo cultures.

The flexions were significantly utilised and made (in)famous by Francois Baucher. They were likely developed by horsemen before him, but he took the idea and ran with it. Throughout his life with horses, he was constantly developing and adapting their application and can be seen to move from extreme techniques (something like hyperflexion and very pronounced lateral flexion) to much more subtle and gentle uses.

In the Ecole de Légèreté we teach a range of flexions according to the individual needs of the horse. Early on in a horse’s education these feature significantly; and as the horses progresses physically and mentally, we may draw on them more to ‘troubleshoot’ or keep a track of how our horse is. The flexions, when done with tact and knowledge, can be both a diagnostic and a solution.

The flexions which Phillipe Karl studied and developed relate more to Baucher’s second manner than the first, and Mr Karl has also added to and adapted them. They are a way of showing the horse what the bit ‘means’, but also that our hands (via the bit) can result in significant releases in tension and improved balance.

This is the progression most commonly taught in this school, known as the Mise en Main. (‘To bring the horse in hand’).

1 Mobilise the lower jaw and tongue in response to the bit.
2 Raise the neck to improve the balance
3 Laterally flex the neck
4 Extend their neck
5 And finally, flexion of the poll.

Baucher knew that release of tension in the front of the horse resulted in release of tension in the whole horse. He understood the importance of fascial chains and skeletal links between poll and the pelvis, long before dissections showed us this. He also understood that a horse’s neck was their balancing pole, and needed to be free of resistance to allow the horse to move well.

Early on in Baucher’s teaching of the flexions he encouraged a ‘chomping’ of the bit, but over time this became a much gentler ‘tasting’, with the tongue and lower jaw. Equally, his early experiments were reliant on the two bits of the double bridle, but later he became passionate about the snaffle. In the Ecole de Légèreté we begin with the snaffle and only progress to the double bridle if it would be particularly helpful to the horse. Phillippe Karl is clear that chomping of the bit is not desirable, but instead a release of the tongue under the bit, as though the horse is savouring a sugar cube!

In his second manner, Baucher showed the flexions with the head and neck raised very high, and the angle of the poll extremely open. While this may occasionally be seen in our school (if the horse has been really taught to push on the bit, or alternatively, to come behind the bit) it is not something we do as ‘the norm’. It might be used as a corrective flexion to help a horse transition from a stuck physical or mental pattern, but there can be negative consequences, which are to be mindful of. Typically, we ask for the mobilisation of the jaw (the first communication between your hand and your horse’s mouth) with the horse in a ‘natural’ position.

Phillipe Karl added in a rein aid (or flexion) to provoke ‘Neck-extension’ - where the horse learns to lengthen their whole body, with their neck ‘forward and out’. This flexion is called Action-Reaction, and is incredibly helpful for horses who are contracted, or for whom lateral bend is not enough to provoke lengthening of the spine. Again, we would consider this a ‘corrective’ flexion, only to use if necessary and with the aim of dispensing with. Baucher used lateral flexion to extend the neck ‘one side at a time’, but Action-reaction is not a Baucher flexion (as far as we know) and some modern day Baucherists do not believe he really utilised neck extension. However, for many of the horses we ride, it is a necessary complement to riding them in a higher, more challenging balance. And, neck extension can be essential for horses with pathologies in their back or neck and can be a game changer when developing a holistic healthy posture.

Baucher’s early work considered Ramener (the classical head set of the face on the vertical, with the poll the highest point) the prerequisite to balance or movement. However, by the time he was engrossed in his second manner, he believed instead that Ramener was an outcome of collection. A horse would be able to offer this when they were sufficiently relaxed (with a mobile jaw) and in balance. In the Ecole de Légèreté this is the principle we follow with most horses. However, there are some who may need to be shown how to flex the poll earlier on in their education; so there also a special flexion to teach this. I will discuss this more in the essay specifically on ramener.

More to come in future posts…