This is me (far right) teaching 4 people out in the open wilds of Dartmoor. All these people had never ridden naturally before, but within an hour in the training paddock, they felt confident enough to carry on the lesson out on Dartmoor. Notice their horses are wearing halters. Can you spot the difference with my mare? (Nothing on her head at all!)

This is for those of you who dream of riding with the wind in your hair, holding on to nothing but a bit of mane. Whether you dream of riding with no tack or you simply want to feel confident over jumps or have a better seat, feeling more at one with the horse, these lessons are for you.

The teaching starts on the ground, establishing a respectful relationship and progresses to riding without a bit, learning the natural ways to signal your horse for what you want them to do.

As well as teaching natural riding, I am a BHSAI and I can use the natural techniques alongside this to teach and improve all aspects of competition, show jumping, dressage etc.

Dressage

In regard to dressage, lots of people have horses that are heavy on the bit. Using my teaching methods, you take the bit away yet still achieve self-carriage which is very light in the hands. When this is achieved, you can bring the bit back and you have a completely different horse to ride who is butter soft instead of pulling your arms out!

We first teach the horse to go "on the bit" in a natural halter. The horse will carry themselves fully collected as if on the bit, in a light fashion, but as I don't use a bit for this part of the training, we will call this "soft feel".

Soft feel in a halter in trot... ...and in canter

Once soft feel is achieved in a natural halter, you can return to using a normal bridle and bit or, as I prefer, a Cherokee bridle. This is what the Indians used and is actually attached in a very loose loop so that the horse can spit it out at any time. This shows that the horse will be working with you and will give you Soft Feel because they want to rather than they have to.

This is a Cherokee bridle and I am asking for a little Soft Feel.
Collection at canter in a Cherokee bridle. Notice my one rein is quite slack.