Soft and Sound

20/07/2025

Recent themes - Part 2.

Contraction. What is it and why does it matter?

Many things a horse may present us with (which we find challenging) are as a result of contraction. The source is usually emotional but the symptoms are physical. Although if you ride a horse’s body in contraction, with overflexion and strong aids, it can also work in reverse.
Contraction is a term many horse people use and it’s a catch all for ‘shortening, tightness, bunching up’.

And the response which may be suggested for a horse in this state is to add more pressure. More equipment most often, but sometimes just lots more pressure.

Rarely is this successful - a horse is usually contracting themselves in anticipation of something unpleasant occurring. Or they’re confused, or unsure, or bracing themselves because of something they’re finding physically hard.
A horse may buck because they’re contracted, or refuse to go forwards, or feel like a plank of wood to sit on, or struggle to turn, or be spooky. Many variations on a theme. They’re tight, so in their brain and their body they’re in defensive mode.

Having said adding pressure to contraction doesn’t work from the horses perspective, one can clearly be very successful overlaying contraction with pressure in other fields. If your bungees don’t break, and your knee blocks are large enough to anchor you in place, you can win lots of rosettes using this very tactic. That’s enough of that, thank you.

Because the opposite of contraction is release. And that has to come from the inside of the horse. We can force a horse to do many things, but we cannot force him to release contraction - we can only show him that possibility exists. And this takes skill, empathy, good timing, appropriate feel and a desire to be lead by the horse.

This summer I have seen several people dig really deep in order to develop these things on behalf of their horse. Sometimes it means being clearer so the horse can sure, sometimes it means doing a lot less. It may be something you can show your horse the way to via the bit and the reins, or it may be something you offer with your seat and your legs. It could be changing how you present something completely, or it might be just a subtle shift in what you’re already doing.

The only real route to the release of contraction is by showing a horses body and brain that they can trust the situation they’re in. If we just overlay contraction with pressure to get the job done, well one day your horse is going to break down or break open in some shape.

I’m so grateful that everyone I work with wants to see how they can be most useful to their horse and follow that scent…

17/07/2025

Des never likes to do things by halves, and his recent run of teeth issues has continued that theme. An extremely complicated situation for the golden one, treated with absolute care and dedication by .
Thank you so much Harriet and Kat, I know how tricky this has been and I really appreciate all your care..

17/07/2025

Over this summer I have done a lot of teaching; many trips away and a lot of local lessons. Too much in all honesty, but that is another story (although part of the balance challenge for sure).

I have, therefore, also been thinking a lot, because the way I teach usually requires more brain power than muscle power. And I have noticed some key themes presenting themselves across horses of all shapes, sizes, colours and type, and figured they might be useful to share. Each day I will write to one of the themes below:

1 – Balance
2- Contraction
3- Confusion
4- It shouldn’t be this tricky
5- Time

To start with balance, because it is so important for every horse everywhere. It is for us too, but we are less concerned about falling over than a flight using, prey animal. Our greatest fear of looking stupid probably keeps us upright.

There are many things a horse might show us which are all an indicator of a loss of balance. Three examples from this week alone which riders asked for help with, all relate to balance.

- Forwards movement (too much or too little)
- Leaning on the bit and hands
- Striking off on the incorrect lead

Now the bottom one was easy to see and easy to fix. This game little horse finds canter on both leads super easy - she has an excellent canter. And she also pays attention to balance (that’s one of the many reasons I like her). If the riders balance was even a little to the inside this would cause the horses’ balance also to be to the inside, so very sensibly she strike offs on the outside lead. Ensuring correct balance made the whole thing easy for the horse, now the rider just needs to pay a lot of attention.

The horse leaning on the hands was doing so because the first (and only) lesson she had been taught about the bit was to lower her neck and flex the poll. People think it looks pretty, but for the horse it results in a serious loss of balance. Then her only option is to lean on the hands, as she is so low, and so weighted to her shoulders, she has no choice – she cannot balance herself anymore. This is a talented and nice minded horse, who will be able to do pretty much anything her rider asks once her natural balance is restored.

And finally, the common and often complicated balance story of impulsion and its relationship to balance – too fast or too slow are often both intimately linked to a horse’s balance. When a horse, either through training, conformation, physical challenges, poor saddle fit – the list goes on – is propping themselves up with their front end, they find forward momentum with a rider on board tricky. And then their options are usually, put the brakes on, or start running and keep running. This may also relate to the kind of horse they are too, some choose fast, some choose slow as a way to compensate.

With many horses, we looked at helping them to move with ease, either slowing the whole train down, or allowing them to move, by improving the balance as the priority. It always amazes me what a horse will do when we show them how to get out of their way (which usually involves us getting out of their way first…).

Part 2 on contraction….

Photo shows my own horse learning how to change his balance in-hand. There is also a style icon in the photo, but that doesn't need mentioning.

16/07/2025

Another great weekend of learning, thank you to my friends and their horses for making it so much fun. Thank you to Rural for being a complete rock star.

15/07/2025

Preparing your horse to go away from home.

Students often ask how to prepare their horse to take them away, so this is something I have given a lot of thought to. Having also just taken my own 'new' horse away for the first time, this is fresh in my mind.

Because the truth is, we don't know what is going to 'happen' when we go to a new place. There are so many variables which we can't account for; how things occur at that yard or venue, other horses, other people, their dogs, the weather - you know. Life.

Instead of trying to second guess what will or won't take place when you leave the shire and venture forth, you can consider how you want things to feel between you and your horse at home - practice that - and then take it away with you.

When we're away, the truth of our daily interactions reveal themselves. My horse Des was a great leveler on that front - when I took him away and his anxiety would go up he would show me what I was not paying attention to at home. Mostly in his case I was missing all the small signs of worry and concern which became big markers of ,'You are of no use to me human' when we would leave home . All my small inconsistencies and not paying enough attention at home, became huge red flags of disconnect in a new situation.

I have apologised to Des and tried do better with him and other horses since then. I try when we go away not to mentally disappear in relationship to my horse. To stay just as consistent and supportive and noticing of what they notice in a new situation as in a familiar one. This can be tricky when there is so much newness and difference for you too . However, the flip side is that by committing to being consistent for your horse you can give yourself a helping hand. It gives us a purpose too.

You can't know what is going to happen when you go away, but you can make a choice about who you want to be. You can use your daily handling and interactions as an ongoing practice which you then get to test out in new places. You can be clear and consistent and focused on quality in all those small ways, so that you can practice them big when you leave town.

No one might notice that things are quiet and easy between you and your horse, as this work is unimpressive. It does not get rosettes or trophies. You might get told you have an easy horse, but don't mind. Because your horse is actually the only one whose opinion you really care about anyway.

As long as you take yourself with you when you and your horse leave home, all the rest of what happens is not your business.

01/07/2025

I had a fabulous Lipizzaner who had 8 spine impingements. Spotted by my amazing vet physio, the end of it called by my vet when at the time I wanted to carry on with the rehab. I understand now why I was told ‘For the good of the horse, stop’. I was beginning to see the things Becks Nairn describes here.

Not all horses should be rehabbed.

30/06/2025

It has been such a pleasure to work with Shona McLauchlan Equine - she couldn’t have been more dedicated and open to searching out what her horse needed.

30/06/2025

I have just finished my summer run of clinics with three days at Brandy House Farm in Wales. I had heard of this place over the years and knew it welcomed an interesting range of horse people, I had also heard it was a little bubble of Welsh heaven. It tuns out it really is a very special place.

A student in the membership Niki Taylor Equine Bodywork had been quietly lining up planets to get me an invite as a new clinician there, and I am very honored that Medina and Richard invited me.

It was a truly lovely blur of horses and humans, dogs and swifts, red kites and the Welsh hills. Every single clinic venue I have been to this summer has provided a safe and welcoming place to be and this was no different.

We talked about being useful to our horses in whatever way we best could. We looked at the connections between French classical training, good horsemanship and functional partnerships between horses and people. It turns out that every single person could do more than they thought they could,. and every single horse was just there waiting for them. It was inspiring to be reminded again how very robust we all are, and what brilliant learners we can be and also how good toasted marshmallows taste when wedged between two biscuits.

Thank you all, I have put some hopefully useful captions with the photos, see you again in September!

30/06/2025

Will you be joining us?

30/06/2025

Great to meet so many people at this weekends clinic, thank you to Emma Malone Equestrian for this wonderful post.

Yes, that’s me under that big hat, scribbling away lots of golden nuggets of information!

Last weekend I had the joy of attending a clinic with Kate Sandel at Brandy House Farm!

I’ve long followed Kate and her Soft and Sound page. I admired her writing and the way she conveyed many topics that were so on point, often saying ‘darn it’ I wish I could write this well!

So when she was coming up from deepest darkest Devon to Brandy House, there was no question that I was going to this clinic. I had to meet this woman who I had admired from a distance and she didn’t disappoint!

I knew I was going to love this weekend as she started quoting Simon Sinek (who I once sat across in a noodle bar in Oslo) asking us what is your why and do you have a golden why!

And this made me think, why am I here…...I love to learn, always have done, it brings me such joy! I wanted to learn from this woman in the flesh, what would I learn if I immersed myself….well I’ve got over 20 pages of notes to show from my weekend which I am sure I will refer to time and time again!

She had the ability to draw from a wide range of sources that were applicable to our riding!

She made us think, question, provide ‘ah ah moments’ lots of I didn’t know that!

And with everything she did in her teaching there was clarity and kindness delivered to the horse and rider!

What we saw was the horse and rider shine both emotionally and physically! Many horse-rider combinations doing things I don’t think they thought was possible!

Being asked and stretched in the best possible way!

Therapeutic riding demonstrated right before our eyes!

My mind is full and it will take some time to process it all but it will be forever in my tool kit for my own riding and teaching!

Sadly I decided that Fiddle wasn’t quite ready for it but we are booked into the September clinic!

Thank you Kate, my fellow spectators, the riders and their wonderful horses! A truly special weekend at one of my favourite places, Brandy House Farm

Emma xx

26/06/2025

I hope this may prove to be useful to some of you

24/06/2025

Thank you to Master Teacher Catherine Marshall for writing such an informative post.

IMPULSION AND COLLECTION

In a previous post I discussed the difference between activity and impulsion, and why both are key for healthy movement under saddle.
Now let’s move on to collection, and why a high level of impulsion is such an essential ingredient for collected work.
Very simply, collection may be defined as ‘high actvity in a slow rhythm'. In other words, a horse is only really performing a collected movement if it is ready to move up a gear at the lightest suggestion from the rider’s leg. This is absolutely key to its depiction of light liveliness and what differentiates collection from just going slow.

There are many examples of collected movements, but for the purposes of this article, let’s focus on the piaffe. Piaffe is an air performed on the spot or with minimal forward travel. It is a diagonal movement with no time of suspension, in which the horse elevates the neck and engages the hindquarters. In many ways it is the pinnacle of collection, displaying absolute mastery of the horse’s balance in movement.

A good piaffe should show:

1 A regular two beat rhythm
2 A happy face (effort is different to pain)
3 Well flexed joints in the hind limbs, with the hind feet engaged under the body
4 A clear shift of weight to the hind quarters (could the piaffe lead to a pesade?)
5 Clear and energetic lifting of each diagonal pair on the spot
6 An elevated neck with the poll the highest point

On the other hand, a less impressive piaffe might demonstrate:

1 Lack of a clear two beat rhythm
2 Tension
3 A loaded front limb, angled so that the landed front hoof is positioned behind the shoulder
4 Bouncing hind quarters
5 Limbs lifting in a staccato and unnatural fashion
6 A dropped poll

As is the case with all good equitation, the aids should be imperceptible, the contact light, and the horse should look as though he is performing the movement by himself; the kind a stallion offers in the stable when a mare walks past for example. Contained energy, a coiled spring.

All too often we see piaffe produced by using a whip from the ground. Someone is usually on board, and a handler on the ground uses a whip to encourage the horse to lift his hind legs in an exaggerated manner while walking or trotting slowly. No real impulsion is required here, just a trainer with reasonable timing. The problem is, the horse never really learns how to change his balance to the hindquarters, and in fact quite often offers the exact opposite – as a hind limb lifts, he shifts his weight onto the forelimb on the same side to compensate.

As an alternative, more progressive strategy, in the School of Légèreté we train piaffe using transitions. They could be direct initially, moving from halt to walk, walk to trot, trot to walk, walk to halt, halt to rein back, rein back to halt to walk. All with an elevated neck, no tension or resistance to the leg or hand. We insist on absolute separation of the hand and leg at this point, ie when we ask the horse to go the hand allows, and when asking for the downwards transitions the legs are quiet.

Incorporating shoulder in into the transittion training develops the flexion and weight carrying capacity of each haunch individually, depending which hind leg is engaged under the mass at the time. Quite a clever way to develop the strength required and symmetry in the piaffe at the same time!

Progressively, the transitions become quicker – as soon as we ask the horse offers, the responses are immediate and anticipated. Quite soon it is possible to ask for indirect transitions: halt to trot, trot to halt, even rein back to trot and vice versa. The poll remains the highest point, ensuring that we are progressively lightening the shoulders and developing strength, flexion and weight carrying capacity in the hind limbs.
Frequent breaks are essential for relaxation and to prevent muscle fatigue. I cannot emphasise this enough.

After a while, it is probable that the horse will start to an@cipate the transitions, so that from a high quality rein back for example, he is expecting to trot, so starts to offer a couple of strides on the spot.
We praise.
It is easy to see how this progressive mastery of the horse’s balance, combined with a high level of impulsion (the desire to go forward) would in time produce a piaffe which is relaxed, energetic, regular and with good engagement of the hindquarters. The kind that strengthens and enhances the horse’s capacity to carry a rider with ease and confidence.

No tricks, no shortcuts.

And that’s what it’s all about.