Soft and Sound, North Bovey (2026)

04/06/2026

Next weekend we have Légèreté Master Teacher Catherine Marshall coming to Ayton PRE in Devon. Due to horse lameness there is now one rider space available on this 3 day clinic.

It doesn't matter what stage you or your horse are at - you will both get something useful from this clinic. Catherine is a quiet, empathetic teacher; who understands the principles of Légèreté to a very high standard. She spent many years training directly with Philippe Karl and is a very accomplished rider in her own right.

I will be there, as will many other members of the S & S community. I hope someone will grab this opportunity to ride for 3 days in the best venue in the SW!

Plenty of opportunity to spectate too.

Please contact Catherine directly on [email protected]

03/06/2026

The truth of young horse dreaming.

When you buy a young horse you never quite know how it is going to pan out - but it always starts out so full of optimism and hope. There is nothing like a foal for inspiring this in a person. Every foal is perfect and glorious and wonderful.

However, the truth for many of us is the discovery that not all young horses are meant to be riding horses - however much we wish that was the case. I know this is the reality for several of my students and it can feel like a very lonely road - because we often don't talk about it. We just quietly grieve for what we had imagined was going to be, and readjust to what actually is.

I bought Ellesar as a yearling, having admired him as a foal. He is everything I want in a horse; well put together, trainable, very sweet natured, easy going with other horses. Can be lead by children and is great with small animals. Plus, he is ridiculously good looking.

However, at the end of this month, at the grand age of 7, he retires to a non-ridden companion home. On the one hand I couldn't be more delighted to have this person offer him a home - she is a student and a truly wonderful human who is so happy to have him join her. I am very lucky and so is he. She can give him the restricted grazing he needs, with access to a friend and a human who will shower him in attention. From his perspective, this is all grand.

But, for me there is a big sadness which has to be stuffed down, because being sad doesn't change anything. Obviously, this is not what I hoped for, or dreamed about, or spoke to him about when he was a little horse. I thought we would have many years adventuring together, and going to clinics, and riding back across the moor of an evening with friends. However, aged 3, he began to show signs of physical discomfort and we discovered his hocks were a real mess. And with the onset of metabolic issues it has become clear that despite our collective best efforts, he cannot be ridden and stay comfortable.

My young horse doesn't mind. He will have a lovely life as a horse with friends and being cared for. But I do mind, if I am allowed to be honest.

As do many of my friends and students who see a similar progression from foal to young horse - where somewhere along the line they learn that this will not be the life they had planned together. And if we are ethical, and care about the actual horse in front of us (rather than our dreams and hopes) we say 'I must do the right thing by this horse', and sacrifice our desire to ride them.

If you are going through this, you are not alone. I know many people who have had the same sad conversation with their vet, as they stand with their hand on their young horse's neck, re-calibrating their dreams of the future, paying their bills and thanking everyone who has helped this young horse not become yet another 'ridden horse in pain'.

02/06/2026

Thank you so much to everyone who came to this weekend's demonstration and lessons, it was a hot day, but a good day.

The focus was Classical in-hand training and lunging. However, we did a little detour into some things which were important to a pony in the moment.

It is always a pleasure to work with people who care this much about doing well by horses and who are prepared to dig deep, challenge themselves to learn more about who they are and what their horses need.

I certainly don't have all the answers, and every approach to horses is imperfect. But we just keep trying to do the best we can and see what might be most useful to our horse (or pony).

As ever, a huge thank you to Ayton PRE East Beere Farm and Nicola white for hosting us in such style. Sorry I haven't got any photos with you and your lovely mare.

There will be more demo days later in the year.

01/06/2026

Advice please.

It’s been brought to my attention that a very big name, promoting their own hacking course, is using wording which is pretty much a direct lift of my own description of my Art of Hacking course.

I’m assuming they’re using AI which is lifting my copy.

I’m only very small fry compared to them - so not sure what I can do? But it feels rather galling to see my own home spun words being used as part of their huge marketing machine…

30/05/2026

‘Oh he’s very good at standing still’.

My neighbour said this yesterday about Capri and I felt I needed to call The Red Mare and ask to be allowed on the podium.

Most of you know the backstory of this horse, he was gifted to me as a project as by the age of 8 he was very under exposed regarding life. He arrived at the start of March; exploded off the lorry and didn’t keep his feet still for the first two months he was here. He was utterly exhausting to be around and I can only imagine how it felt to be him.

I had to call on every idea and approach I had up my sleeve and in the end resorted to sitting on a chair in the middle of the arena with Capri on a 22’ rope and me with a book in my hand. My plan was to read and do my absolute best to ignore the powder keg on the other end of the line. Other than when he attempted to come over the top of me, I just kept reading - even in the never ending terrible spring gales.

And this, along with every other bit of insight into horses I had, began to change things for Capri. He started to see that just ‘being’ was possible. He stopped frantically searching for treats, or an interaction, or a ‘we-must-be-doing-something’ action and started to wonder about hanging out.

Yesterday was our third ever walk off the farm. We have worked through the bolting on the ground and his understanding of leading is pretty good now (my standards are fairly high…) so it feels like it’s an acceptable ask.

For the first time we went all the way to the next house (we live in a remote part of the moor) and there were builders doing buildering things and they were a cause of curiosity rather than concern. And they said ‘That’s a nice looking horse’ and I was sure Capri heard that.

Then my neighbour came out and said what a pretty face she had (Capri isn’t worried about his pronouns) and we chatted and Capri stood and looked around at this previously unseen part of the planet for ten minutes. It was only as we went to leave and my neighbour said ‘Isn’t she good at standing still’ that I realised how different things are. And remembered the hours of wearing my thermals whilst sitting on a plastic chair and trying to turn the pages of a book in the wind, while Capri danced this way and that on the end of the line.

Small Olympian sized changes.

29/05/2026

This June Légèreté Master Teacher Catherine Marshall is holding an open clinic in Devon, at Ayton PRE. There are spaces for spectators and it is a wonderful venue to spend time at.

We very much hope that there will be a Foundation Instructor training course in the South West in the future - this is a chance to find out more about the French classical school and the it's interpretation though the Ecole de Légèreté.

Catherine will be meeting a group of horse and riders for the first time, all at very different stages in their education. You will see her ride the horses to assess how she can best help their riders, and then teach them how they can most benefit their horse.

Catherine spent many years learning directly with Philippe Karl himself and is a very competent and experienced rider. She has trained her own horses to a very high standard according to the principles of the school.

Almost all of the riders attending are from the Soft and Sound community, so it will be a great opportunity to catch up and spend time with like minded people in a welcoming learning environment.

Event details below...

29/05/2026

In the membership we are looking at the subject of canter.

This is something I feel well placed to teach on, as for a long time it was a matter of extreme hideousness between Desmondo and I. I would do anything to avoid cantering, even though my teacher insisted we should do it 'often'.

People who watched the early days of the Legerete instructor course may well remember Des and I dashing around the arena at high speed, Philippe's head in his hands, and mine whipping back onto Des's rump. Riders far greater than I got to improve the situation and got off again saying, 'It's harder than it looks'. The 'It' being Des generally, and Des's canter specifically.

I had bought myself a Lusitano and I assumed as such a great canter would be a given. We all now about ass's and er, me and you. Or me and Des.

Because, the problem with the Ecole de Legerete is that you are not allowed to cover the problem up - it's a stinker that way. You are not allowed to just pull on that curb, hold your horse's neck in place and set your thighs against the saddle blocks. Had I been 'allowed' to do that (which is sadly a common sight ) I could have trapped Des in a vice like grip and charged around 'under control'. Looking flashy, easy for me, but extremely difficult for the horse. One of PK' infamous expressions is that instead it should be, 'Difficult for the rider and easy for the horse'.

This means the horse must be allowed to use their head and neck as they need. They must be allowed to show us the truth of their physical and mental balance and it is then our job to improve the situation for them. Not just paper over the cracks. We must use our brain, not our brawn (or our curb).

Therefore, with the help of some great suggestions from Sylvia Stossel, and with a huge amount of research in places various, I set about unpicking what was going on and trying to improve the situation. Incremental gains would be a generous description of how it proceeded.

BUT, this is one of those times in which things did actually get better. A lot better, and today Des's canter while still 'not easy' is something of which we are both proud. I mean, Des was probably pretty proud of his warp speed canter for all I know. These days. we canter all the time - it feels good. He is balanced, mobile and relaxed, I can smile and enjoy the scenery. It only took a decade, but maybe good things never come easy.

The upshot of this is that I do know how to help people with problems in canter, and this one horse and I have completed the Top Trumps of 'Canter challenges'. If you would to join us for the ride, please do.

Deets below.

28/05/2026

Why I don’t desensitise my horses.

There are a lot of little plastic clackers kicking about in the horse world at the moment. And there are a lot of horses who are experiencing small plastic hand clackers being clacked around their person.

And it feels quite controversial to say I don’t own any and have no intention of buying any. Edge of the seat stuff, I know.

Now I don’t have a gripe with the clackers per se; other than none of us really need any more plastic landfill. But, what a lot of horses are being taught with these and other means - is to ignore life. To find a way to shut out noise and movement and energy. And what all too often I am seeing is that they’re being trained to exist in a state of semi-perpetual shut down.

Learning to block out life might be vital for a police horse, they have to find a way to shut out much of what they experience to do their job. But I want my horses to stay ‘awake’. To stay sensitive and responsive and curious, and retain all that horseness that we love about them. It’s why I have them in my life rather than the much more sensible choice of a push bike.

The pursuit I have set myself instead is to show my horse how to refer to me. To be sensitised to our relationship and to seek my guidance about how to how to respond to energy or noise or movement. I have witnessed the most brilliant horse people I know doing this, so have hung my hat on their night stand. I think I’m mixing my metaphors, but you get the gist.

It is ‘relatively’ easy to overwhelm a horse with noise and energy to the point where you can drape them with tarpaulins and stand on them letting off fireworks. A horse can assume a freeze position and remain there. It’s much much harder to have a horse awake and present enough that they can constantly converse with you about what they should do in relation to all these crazy things the human world throws their way.

One of my favourite pieces of equipment is a flag. A flag can say many things to a horse. It can draw their attention and direct it. It can provide micro suggestions about go or slow, or shape your body like that or this. It can, very importantly, help a horse to take guidance from you about whether energy is about them or not. The energy of a flag can really make sense to a horse. If I only was allowed one piece of equipment it would be a flag. When you meet a horse who does not respond to a flag this usually tells a tale of desensitisation which can be hard to unpick, I feel sad for these horses where a central part of ‘being a horse’ has been lost. I don’t want a ‘bomb proof’ horse, I want them to ask the question as to whether we should get the hell out of here if a bomb is going off.

I know we need to not blame the clackers - but the ex*****on of the clacking. My dislike of clackers is not personal. But the need to take away the sensitivity of a horse feels a shame. Considered exposure yes of course, they learn through contact with life and experience. Education to ‘what to do if…’ absolutely. And most intriguing to me is the possibility of sensitising a horse to ‘us’ - to checking in with me about what to do when. This feels like the holy grail rather than teaching a horse to not be a horse.

26/05/2026

Who am I?

With an influx of new followers to this page (welcome,welcome) it might be useful to reintroduce myself, in order you can make a swift exit if need be…

My name is Kate and I am obsessed with our relationships and interactions with the more-than-human world. I’m also pretty interested in how humans relate to each other. It feels like we could all do with being a whole lot more Bonobo and a lot less Chimp.

My love of horses specifically revealed itself aged 3, from who knows where (neither my parents or other family members had any apparent interest in them). And since that time I have thought about them, drawn them, written about them and spent all my pocket money (and what should be my pension) on them. And obviously whenever I possibly could, been physically near them. I absolutely love to ride them. They have both driven me bonkers and kept me sane. Life tends to deal all of us a crappy hand at some stage and my equine pals have been invaluable, thank you horses.

And while horses might not be in my recent DNA, teaching is; with a raft of teachers and lecturers in my family. Having sworn I absolutely would definitely not, under any circumstances, teach - I do. A lot. I really didn’t mean to but sharing what you love, research, practice and wonder about feels important. It began by working in conservation charities as a teacher naturalist and education officer, ambled through stints of delivering person centred training and courses on young people’s mental health - and now it’s almost solely about horses.

I am interested in both the relational side of a life with horses and the serious art and science of training and good horsemanship. Now, I got lucky, I didn’t spend too much wasted time in fields of horsemanship that weren’t really my bag. I went straight for the motherload and trained first (and still live with) with Tom and Sarah Widdicombe (check out their excellent books) who opened my eyes to ways of being with horses I had no idea about. And through their interest in Baucherism and the French school I found my way to Philippe Karl, modern master and founder of the Ecole de Legerete. And by some stroke of good fortune (and working my proverbial off) I got a place on his instructor training course.

When I got this place I had really only ever practiced riding adventures out into the world with my horses, and trying to make myself a human that horses might appreciate. I had never competed, I had never ridden a dressage test, I didn’t know which diagonal to be on and why. I kid you not. No wonder certain local classical trainers were horrified that PK was allowing me to train with him. Thank goodness for Mr Karl and his insistence I could learn, and do better. And so I did. And now under the sharp and kind eye of Sylvia Stossel I continue to improve.

Because what I am, and what I believe everyone can be with the right environment and good tuition, is a good student. I bloody love learning. I have studied books and videos and I have studied horses, endlessly. I have spent thousands and thousands of pounds and more than that in hours of practice, on learning about how they move, how they think, what their bodies may or may not do, what they eat, how they are with each other, how the learn etc etc. I have a bank of certificates to this effect but much more importantly, I have my own small herd who tell me everyday where I might need to dig a bit deeper. I practice. A lot. There is rarely a day goes by where my own horses don’t reveal something which feels new.

And I then try my best to share any of this as clearly and simply as I can. I don’t believe in complicating matters; it’s a complex subject for sure, but it doesn’t need to be mystified. I teach a lot of people in a lot of places, both on-line and in-person about the art of training a horse and what kind of person that horse might enjoy hanging out with. My experience is we are usually happier to hang out with ourselves as a result.

I have written a book which quite a lot of people liked called ‘Riding in Release’, I’m just sending in the synopsis for my second one right now. I run a membership, give on-line lessons and increasingly provide coaching - and teach a whole lot of people face to face.

And I ride as much as I can. I still love adventuring out into the world with horses and am lucky enough to live in one of most beautiful and wild places in England, Dartmoor National Park. My current small herd of Iberians collaborate in training cool, interesting and sometimes ‘knock your hat off brilliant’ things; and they also regularly bring me back down to earth with a bump.

If any of this sounds like something you’re interested in, I try to write regularly here for free. I host a podcast with my great friend Kathleen. There is an incredible subscription Soft and Sound community who you are welcome to join (a lot happens there), and I will be opening up more coaching places soon. I’m also to be found teaching in-person very regularly.

That may or may not give you a better idea of what this page is all about. It’s simple but not easy I have found…

24/05/2026

Legerete Master teacher Catherine Marshall will be in Devon running an open clinic June 11th-13th at Ayton PRE East Beere Farm.

Here she is on her heavy cob Flo, who is light as a feather as a result of this training. Legerete is for horses of all shapes and sizes and for any rider interested in riding for the horse.

If you’d like to watch there are will spectator tickets available.

Soft and Sound

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