About Me
About Me
I'm a Trainee Instructor of Philippe Karl's School of Légèreté.
I teach and train horses with a logical, ethical & classical approach with the belief that training should be of benefit to horses to help them develop a sound body & mind for a long long time. I have been training horses & riders for 20 years, always with the belief that respect for the horse should be at the centre.
My background
My focus for a long time was working with horses with behavioural difficulties and starting young horses as well as competing in show jumping up to 1m20. Over the last 10 years I have been busy building London's largest equine therapy charity Strength & Learning Through Horses, heading up the equine staff team and designing and delivering horsemanship and education programmes for vulnerable young Londoners. I believe the skills required to train horses in an ethical way are also essential life skills to navigate human - human relationships and the charity is my offering to enable those in the most intense need to access the healing power of horses.
Alongside growing the charity I developed a passion for dressage training but found it a morally challenging journey as I struggled to find a training methodology that matched up with my belief that horse training should be ethical, kind and of benefit, to the horse. I have successfully trained my (very mediocre conformation-wise) Irish horse up to Advanced Medium level including piaffe & passage by picking and choosing the methods and teachings I felt were kindest to the horse. Eventually I found what I was looking for, a training methodology designed with respect of the horse at the centre and to enhance their natural abilities through developing correct posture & strength to work in true self carriage in a relaxed & willing manner. This is Philippe Karl’s School of Légèreté, of which I am now honoured to be training to be an accredited teacher. I believe this system is the key to schooling even ordinary horses to an extraordinary level of schooling in a way that is ethically sound and gives horses the best chance of staying sound in body & mind over the long term. The focus is on the use of the lightest of aids along with a logical training approach which enables horses to become light, responsive, happy horses to ride without the use of heavy handed techniques or restraining training aids.
However horses cannot be trained to work in a biomechanically correct way without the rider also riding in a biomechanically correct manner. For this reason I am also training in the Ride with Your Mind Method with Mary Wanless (but am not yet an accredited teacher of her method).
Groundwork & Behavioural Challenges
I believe groundwork is an essential part of training horses and utilise a variety of work including: in-hand schooling in a bridle; long reining; classical lunging; "natural horsemanship" rope work; liberty work and clicker training.
Working horses on the ground is a brilliant way to:
- Strengthen and rehabilitate horses with physical challenges
- Create an education of the aids and body positions required in ridden work in a relaxed and clear manner
- Develop the ability of the horse to regulate their nervous system and stay calm under pressure
- Establish "manners" to create a horse that is a pleasure to handle
- Have fun with your horse and build trust
Training horses with behavioural challenges has always been a specialism, taking a problem solving approach informed by equine learning theory to find workable solutions that don't push the horse over threshold. Common challenges I love to work with are difficulties loading; handling and groundwork challenges. I will only work with horses with ridden behavioural challenges after a full vet workup has been completed. My approach to influencing horse behaviour includes the use of positive reinforcement (clicker training) where possible, an approach that I love to get horses into a "seeking" frame of mind and to be enthusiastic participants in the training process. I believe even the plainest horse with confirmational faults can be trained to be a beautifully schooled partner & love working with all kinds of horses & riders at all levels. Having recently moved to the area I have availability to work with a limited number of like minded clients looking to get the best from their horses in the kindest, most ethical way.