Xenophon Equus Centre 2, 4 Nile Road, Gordon's Bay (2026)

06/02/2026

Not So Merry Go Round

The round pen, rope halter and lead rope. This combination of things seems to have become as much a part of each other as bit, spurs and whip have been over the course of many centuries. As opposed to bit and spurs, the round pen and the lead rope seems to have an image of kindness and friendliness whereas bits and spurs do not. “Working the horse gentle and without violence” is what I hear people say about it. When I ask people why it is so friendly, they mostly reply that it is natural to the horse to be handled in this way. Hence the term ‘Natural Horsemanship’ that is often used to describe a way of working with a horse with rope halter, rope and round pen.
Question is, is this way of working and handling the horse really natural from the horse’s point of view? What really is the effect on the horse’s physical and mental state?
Let us take a closer look at the biomechanics and mental factors behind working the horse in a round pen. I am now only going into the round pen itself.

Round versus square
In Europe we put horses behind or train them in square or rectangular paddocks, arena’s and picaderos since ancient history.
Round penning or corrals seem to be associated with the ‘Far West’, the Cowboys and mustangs. Indeed, I presume the round shape is a good choice to chase in wild horses. Here I see a clear danger with corners either for the panicky horses themselves or the humans that need to handle them. Nowadays, the wild horse scene has become a rare image.
Still the round pen is used and not only in the US, it has come to Europe. More and more we see the round pen being used for just one horse and often not a wild one at all. I have asked western trainers and trainers who call them selves horse whisperers or natural horsemanship trainers, why they use a round pen and not a square pen, to me known as a picadero or simple an arena. The answer I received was: “Because the horse can not ‘hide’ in the corners.” If there are any other reasons to it that you, reader, might know, please enlighten me. But so far, that is the only one I have heard over many years from many people. The horse can not ‘stop’ in the corners, or use the corners to change direction, brace himself etc.
The use of the round pen, when googling, tells me it is first and foremost to ‘break (in)’ horses. Breaking a horse would indeed need a pen where he can not hide, stop or brace so that makes a lot of sense. However, where does that leave this ‘non violent’, ‘kind’, ‘gentle’ and ‘Natural’ training in relation to the round pen? I shall come back to that later.
First I would like to explain, why, if you want to work in a way that will benefit your horse, you better use a picadero (square pen). The answer to that is: because the corners benefit the horse’s physical development.
When a horse walks, trots or canters in a square or rectangular arena, every time he really goes through the corners, he lifts his shoulders and comes out of the corner more straight and uphill. Therefore the corners are a big part of the Gymnasium
(anciently known sequence of exercises that empowers the horse) for a horse who takes a corner produces a small Shoulder In. Shoulder in, is in fact a horse walking as if going through a corner, but then keeps his shape and walks in a straight line forward. Of course, when you work a horse free in a rectangular space which is too large, the horse will often cut the corners.

That is why a picadero was invented. It is a square measuring 12 by 12 or 15 by 15 meters. Within the picadero, just following the track in walk, trot or canter will benefit your horse by lifting his shoulders each corner.
Hide and seek
The next benefit for your horse is the very thing which was called a disadvantage by users of round pens: The horse can ‘hide’ in the corners. So why would that be an advantage? Because you can learn about the best of way of handling that specific horse. If your horse seeks to evade you, he simply does not feel comfortable with you or sees any benefit in doing what you are asking. If your goal is the benefit of your horse, you are very happy with that knowledge. For you want to adjust your question or the situation thus ,so your horse does feel more comfortable. Only this way will he truly learn to trust you because he’ll know, the things you’ll ask him are for his benefit, through fairness and consistency.
Horses are able to go long and low because of correctly being supported by the corners of the picadero and the body language of the human. This way, the horse will not injure his shoulders.

“Okay, so the round pen does not have the benefit of the corners”, you might think, “so what”? Well, it is not just that the round pen lacks the benefit of the corners, it presents the horse with the exact opposite of this benefit. You see, the problem with the lack of corners produces a health hazard to the horse as soon as he starts walking, trotting or cantering along the track. Going round in circles is an unnatural move to a horse. A horse is shaped to eat from the ground and go, walk, trot and canter in sort of serpentine lines, never really round and never on a true straight line. In nature, just going straight constantly or round will never happen. So, the equine body is not equipped to do circles and straight lines. In a round pen however, the horse makes continuous circles.
The effect of this will produce the following:
The horse will pivot around his inside front leg and shoulder. This will, over the long run produce contra collection, crookedness and lameness. The horse will immobilise himself and will become very hard to work in hand or ride in lightness. By chasing a horse in a round pen, you chase the collection out of the horse and produce exactly the opposite.

06/02/2026

The picadero
– much like a round pen with corners –
is a place where we can explore our own truths and look in the mirror of how we relate to others. With our equine partner, we have the opportunity to experience the impact of our presence – our emotions and energy – on others. This experience can be very powerful.

Even though people have good intentions, they may be using only methods they have been exposed to and these methods may not always be the ideal.

Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling, in his book "Dancing with Horses". writes of the Spanish tradition of working horses in a square picadero. He feels the move to the round pen in America came about both because it looked as though the horses were being worked in a circle and because an occasional horse might try to seek refuge from working by hiding in a corner.

But Hempfling points out that the horse working in the picadero is actually working in a square with rounded corners so he gets the benefit of straightening and bending which is much less likely to happen in a round pen.

03/08/2025

Are you a horse owner looking to deepen your connection with your horse? At the end of this month, I’m hosting a special clinic dedicated to raising awareness about the true nature of horses.
Horses are incredible, unique species — not humans in horse form. Too often, we humanise horses, which can hinder trust, respect and effectiveness in our relationships. That’s why I’ve developed “Speaking Equinese,” a transformative approach to understanding and communicating with horses on their own terms.
This clinic will teach you how to speak equinese, fostering a stronger, more respectful bond and achieving better results. Let’s celebrate and honor the true nature of our horses for healthier, happier partnerships.

Contact for more details

02/08/2025

Suppleness

Suppleness can be an elusive concept for many people as well as horses. Suppleness is the key to all good movement. Without suppleness, you and your horse are left to always ride in tension and with a counterproductive posture.
Each component listed below takes time to learn and develop. In fact, you will likely need to go through these steps every time you learn something new with your horse. Every new skill will cause a certain amount of tension until both you and your horse figure out how to do the movement with better balance and impulsion.
Do this for every single movement – a trot circle, a walk pirouette, a lengthening or a half pass.

1.Rhythm
First off, find rhythm. Pay attention to your horse’s footfalls. Is he doing a clear 2-beat in the trot? Can you hear an even 1,2,3 suspension in the canter? Listen closely, feel for the footfalls, and make sure the rhythm is crystal clear. In each case, focus on finding a good rhythm for your horse. He should be able to maintain it, regularly, for several strides.

2. Energy
Next, work on energy level. There are times when almost all horses need to increase energy. The idea is to get the rhythm first, then recognise when your horse is letting the energy “out the back end.”
Ask for more energy, which should translate into bigger strides and a rounder back.

3. Longitudinal Flexion
Once you have rhythm and energy, you can focus on getting your horse to move “over the back.” The energy you now have can be transferred over the back to allow your horse to round better. Try to stay with the horse’s movement (don’t get left behind) and then lighten your seat so that you don’t inadvertently block the energy.

4. Lateral Flexion
After you have the horse moving over the back, you can focus on side-to-side flexion and bend. I find that once the horse finds longitudinal flexion, he’ll flex laterally much more easily than if he was tight over the back.
Then work on the sides. You can ask for a mild flex to the inside (or outside too) using your body position and light fingers.

You might get through all four steps within 2-3 strides.
Do you have rhythm?
Great, then get some energy. Enough energy?
Then let the energy come over the back. Enough roundness?
Then let’s work on flexion.

You might find that as you go through these steps with your horse, your own tension starts to dissipate. For some, breaking down the steps helps to focus their intention. Others might want to keep things more cohesive, and try to get it all together at the same time. We are all different.
In all cases, listen to your horse. Look for a rounder, swingier movement. Listen for snorts and deep breaths. Feel for lightness, relaxation and joy!

Image: Sandy Biggs and Caradoc at Xenophon Equus Centre

19/06/2025

Look Up to Improve your Core Stability

Rider suppleness needs to be filled with some positive tension and some expression of energy. We need to be able to sit with our own bodies remaining supple and a dynamic core supporting our horses in every move.

Looking down at the horse, can negatively affect our core stability.

To understand this concept, try this: Sit on a chair and align your pelvis, chest and head as though they were three baskets sitting on top of each other. Now place one hand on your lower back and one on your abdominal muscles. When you move your whole upper body while rocking a little forward on your seat bones, you can feel how the muscles start working automatically. When you are leaning forward, the two muscles next to your vertebrae become tense. But when your body gets a little behind the vertical, the abdominal muscles become activated. The middle position between these two extremes is the correct balance.
Now keep your upper body in the same position but drop your head and look down. Repeat the forward and backward rocking movement on your pelvis. Now you should be able to feel that your upper body will have to move much farther backward until the abdominal muscles start working.
That means that the moment you look down while sitting on your horse, the automatic chain of the core muscles stops working in balance. To encourage more self-carriage and expression in your horse’s movement, you need to look up, allowing your body to activate the muscles in your core and in your back.
I once had an instructor tell me that in collected movements I should ride like I am growing the bones in my legs, and in all half halts, turn my heel slightly out, even spreading my little toes a bit sideways inside my boot. It can be surprising how much horses are able to to feel a tiny movement such as spreading your toes in your boot. But this actually makes sense because it does have an effect on your ability to connect with your pelvis.
Try this: When you stand on the ground with your feet a bit apart, you can activate the muscles as you turn your legs out or in. With the inside rotation you can feel how your heels naturally want to turn out and at the same time your upper body becomes stimulated to stretch more upright. Conversely, the outside rotation of your leg will open your knee with your kneecap facing outward. This will create a slight roundness in your pelvis and upper body.

19/06/2025

THE HAND

The hand is probably the most misunderstood and misused concept in riding today. The hand to mouth relationship should be the starting point from which to create lightness and balance. Flexibility of the jaw and general mobility of the mouth, which was advocated by all our great riding masters, past and present, seem to be totally ignored in much of today’s competition scene.
Considering the fact that humans use their hands for most things and the horse its mouth, then bringing these two crucial components together to form a vital communication link requires an element of sensitivity, a great deal of thought and consistent technique.

Image: Riding Halfpass

14/06/2025

TRAIN your EYE

The horse's neck muscles tell the story!
You can tell a lot about how correct a horse's frame is by evaluating the way he is using his topline muscles. The muscles in the horse's neck really tell the story, with an area of bulging muscle at the top of the neck behind the poll proving the horse is in a false frame, from being pulled together from front to back. The first picture shows the signs of an incorrect frame, while the one below it shows a horse that is using his neck muscles properly.

14/06/2025

Two Scales of Training compared

This article by Craig Stevens is not meant to suggest that one school is better or more correct than the other. He is merely demonstrating how different the so called scales of training can be.
The two examples are the German Scales of Training and the “Ecole de Legerete” or “School of Lightness” as presented by Philippe Karl who was a member of the famous school in France, the Cadre Noir.
A brief summary of the two of schools of thought:
It is intended to give a snapshot, a flavour of the scales of training. It is quite clear that there are some major differences in the thinking between the two.
The first point to pick up on is the placement of rhythm in both scales. In the German scale it appears first and through the young horse phase it is a prime concern. Their argument would be that without rhythm how can there be relaxation; no relaxation no swing through the body and suppleness cannot be achieved. Philippe would suggest that if a horse is not straight he cannot be balanced; no balance then how can you have rhythm. This is why he places rhythm much further on, preceding collection.
The creation of the contact combined with the relaxation to the hand is another interesting comparison. The German system would suggest that the contact is created by the horse being sent forwards with good engagement to a soft receiving hand, first on the lunge via the use of side reins and then under saddle to the riders hands. It is due to this that the horse releases through his body and gives his jaw and poll. Philippe Karl suggests that the hand mobilises the jaw from the very start of training, looking for the release through the jaw via subtle flexions. This is achieved without crisp forward engagement and the horse is then made supple by voltes and patterns - not side reins and straight line work.
The horse, in the German system, stretches through his body, reaches over his back and seeks the hand. This can and should feel light. It should not, as often mis-understood, be made from strong legs and heavy hands. However the feeling of a horse encouraged to be light via jaw flexions made by the hand, a neck carriage created without the energetic impulse from engagement will feel different. The optical impression these two methods give is also very interesting and clearly dissimilar. The term “throughness”, an article in itself, in both of these scenarios will feel quite different and this is why I now believe there are different Rome’s.

Sources of information:
1. “The Official Instruction Handbook of the German National Equestrian Federation” – printed by Threshold Books.
2. “Classical Dressage” with Philippe Karl - 4 part video series by TV Produktion, Thomas Vogel.
The “Scales of Training” diagram designed and drawn by Simon Battram.
The “Legerete” diagram drawn by Simon Battram, based on Philippe Karl’s organisation chart.

09/06/2025

A fashion that is failing the horse

"... they may well be able to produce something superficially similar to a correct head carriage, but at the same time intrinsically detrimental in its final effect. For, whatever the head carriage may look like, it can be of no value unless it is based on increased energy of the quarters, resulting in free and improved forward movement. "Wynmalen”

So why is it considered a good idea to have the horse's neck round and the head on the bit?
Because it is believed/assumed that a head position automatically confers the mantle of correctness, goodness and collection. Unfortunately this is false.
Many training techniques employed today are formulas. Formulas that are based on partial facts, looking for specific results, but without a true understanding of the process behind them. It is an assumption that the head on the vertical, is synonymous with collection. The idea that we should first bring the head into position is often the first falsehood.
In their efforts to find unreserved acceptance of the bit, riders can come up against many difficulties. For all of the different riding practices that are seeking an unreserved acceptance of the bit, of course there are almost as many mechanical contraptions to find this "loyal surrender". We somehow seem to forget that this is just as much - or more - about us, than it is about the horse. From hyperflexion to long and low, from deep and round to hands down low, each and every training method at heart has it that we want the horse to respond to our reins, to an acceptance to finding loyal surrender, somehow forgetting that loyal surrender can only come from trust earned, never forced.

The idea of keeping the horse's mouth shut has been there for so long, and those issues that we face today were seeded long ago. This is what has happened with the idea that we need to keep the horse's mouth shut. At one time, it was by using what was perceived as a kind and gentle drop noseband. The truth being we needed the quiet acceptance of the bit, the falsehood was that we needed to make that happen externally through equipment. The truth is that we are most likely the problem.

Most horses, after they are introduced to the bit, will stay for hours quietly with the bit in their mouth while standing in the yard or stable. It is not until the rein, that is attached to the bit, is taken up by the rider that resistance becomes apparent. So to blame the horse is childish, in that we cannot see beyond ourselves and what we perceive as our own perfection.
Besides the physical resistance that happens throughout his body, there is the mental breakdown of the horse’s spirit.

“The horse that over bends with sufficient confidence to go into his bridle will of necessity “lean on the bit” with a downward pressure on the rider’s hands, than which I know no more unpleasant sensation in riding, nor one more directly opposed to the principle of “lightness”. “Apart from trying to avoid the intended acceptance of his bridle by assuming undesirable attitudes, the horse may easily be taught to take evasive action with the mouth itself. He may get his tongue over the bit, or else simply stick it out sideways. Or he may, more likely, open his mouth wide. "The cure usually recommended to prevent a horse from opening its mouth is to fit a drop-noseband. It is a “preventative,” certainly, but it is not a “cure”.

Preventing is not Teaching.

I see but little merit in the use of the drop-noseband as an aid to training... "But I can say this, and that with absolute conviction: there is no short cut, no mechanical means, no contraption, no method or invention of any kind whatever, whereby a horse’s mouth can be made well and properly otherwise than by the skill and tact of his trainer.” Wynmalen

These words of wisdom remain as true today as when they were first written. They haven’t changed. The only thing that has changed is how too many riders today are deaf to the wisdom within these words.

09/06/2025

How do we extend the neck?

What can we do to cause and teach a horse to extend his neck without using gadgets or pulling his nose in with the reins?

We can ask him to bend laterally.
Lateral bend creates longitudinal stretch naturally.

In other words:
We can ask the horse to bend side-ways and then allow him to stretch forward and down.
In other words:
If you can get a pronounced bend in the neck to the side, the natural result of the sideways bend will be to extend the neck.
In other words:
Flexion of the neck sideways will result in a need to elongate the neck and lower it.
Why?
In order to explain why this works, I need to explain something about the muscles. (Please humor this overly simplified explanation)
When a horse "hollows" or star-gazes, he does so by shortening or contracting the splenius and stretching the brachio-cephalic muscles.
When a horse is over bent (hyper-flexed) he does so by shortening or contracting the brachio-cephalic muscles and stretching the splenius muscles.
These muscles are also involved in the sideways bending of the neck. When bending/flexing to the right or left, the horse uses both these muscles either on the right or the left to bend that way
Anatomically and mechanically it is not possible for the horse to bend laterally/sideways when he is in hyperflexion/over bent longitudinally, or when he is in the other extreme, star-gazing.
If a rider allows a natural position of the neck, and knows how to get lateral bend in the neck, he will be able to use lateral suppling exercises which will quickly give extension of the neck without the use of force.

09/06/2025

Spiral Circles

Spiral circles are a great exercise for “speedy” horses that want to rush around and not listen to your cues to slow down. The smaller circles make it difficult for horses to go anywhere very fast as they need to balance, step in under themselves with the inside hind leg, and they eventually catch on that they aren’t going to go anywhere very fast. They will slow down on their own without having to pull on them.
To begin, ride a big circle. Travel all the way around the circle then begin to slowly spiral in, making a whole circle every time you spiral in. Keep spiraling until you can ride a small circle and then start to spiral back out. Use a cone or barrel to mark the centre of the circle can be helpful to make the circles evenly round.
The aids to spiral in are much like the aids for turning they are just slighter. Remember to look slightly in the direction you want to go.
Practice these patterns in as many different areas as possible. They can be useful for any discipline or level of rider.

23/05/2025

Lesson of the Leg

Riding literature is full of expression like “energetic actions of the legs,” or “graduated action of the legs”, inferring that there is a proportional relation between the strength of the action of the rider’s legs and the energy and vivacity of the horse’s response.

This is a Misconception!

If it were true, jockeys would ride with long stirrups and would attend body building courses.
Horses were not born with little accelerators in the ribs so that they run when you press them. It’s quite the opposite; when you use your legs for the first time on a green horse that has never been ridden before, they tend to slow down or stop and contract their bodies or buck, and sometimes try to bite the rider’s boot!

Point is, the rider’s leg draw all its impulsive power from a Conditioning. After the horse has been given this specific Conditioning, he is never to forget it, if the riding has been correct (that is, applying the principles of release, separation, and moderation of aids).
But, if he should forget, a stronger action of leg would be to no avail, for it would not address the real problem, which is that he forgot the meaning of the leg action.
What ought to be done then is to “refresh” the conditioning.

Apply this situation to yourself: If I speak to you in Greek and you do not understand me because you do not speak Greek, will you understand me better if I SHOUT?

Either the horse “speaks legs” or he doesn’t. If he does, it is useless to shout. And if he does not, it is stupid.
So we will do well to limit the strength of our leg actions to the minimum he can feel, which is the standard action he has to become responsive to.

Xenophon Equus Centre 2

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