It is almost impossible to quanitfy the time it takes because each horse has different needs and absorbs the training at different rates.

A couple of weeks is not long enough to truly get to know a horse on all levels. Neither is it long enough to make lasting changes to a horse’s behaviour. We know there are no short cuts to true education, and to gloss over imperfections is never beneficial for a future horse and rider partnership.

Although it’s possible to retrain a badly traffic-averse horse, we don’t believe such horses can ever be entirely reliable for the average rider. For road work, we focus on introducing them to different types of vehicle and mechanical rattles step by step until they are confident with whatever they meet approaching them or passing them, both alone and in company.

Not at all, our horses are very familiar with conventional aids which are entirely natural, and have been used for over two thousand years since being introduced by the great riding master, Xenophon.

Natural Horsemanship seeks to work with horses by building trust and co-operation, leading them to a greater feeling of security and understanding of what is required, which in turn makes for a safer and more predictable ride. Isn’t that the kind of horse you would like to own? The benefits go beyond even this; horses who stay mentally and physically relaxed away from the confines of a school help give the rider a feeling of confidence. What can be more natural than exploring the countryside from the back of a horse?

Yes, we normally introduce them to work in an arena as part of their training, where we can assess their appetite for school movements and evaluate their natural balance in a restricted space.

We feel it's important for the horse's correct muscular development not to be one-sided, especially in canter. We find most horses tend to be more resistant on one side, and favour a particular canter lead.

For the comfort and safety of the rider we believe it's necessary for the horse to be soft and willing to work with either caner lead, and to yield to the rider's inside leg and hand equally in all paces rather than going round corners like a motorbike.

For horses that do this, stiffness is always present, which can lead to increased wear on the joints, even when not working in a school.

All horses can jump, just like they can swim without being taught to do so. We find most cobs and cob type horses enjoy jumping natural obstacles, which is a good introduction for them. We pop over logs, ditches, or whatever we come across while out and about. When the horse is confident to do this, he is ready for further schooling through grids and little combinations etc. which your Instructor can help you with once you get to know your horse.

Normally we ride for an hour or an hour and a half five days a week. Sometimes this is longer if we need to visit a particular location for instance. We also spend time on the ground to cover essentials such as manners, and working with different equipment, etc.

Riders are pleasantly surprised to discover just how educated our horses are. We can achieve so much more in terms of balance, attention, responsiveness, and co-operation in a natural environment.

We believe nearly every difficulty is man-made, which means finding the key to remove the block preventing an acceptable performance fron the rider's perspective. We have kept horses for years in order to achieve the required responses and understanding with different situations, and such horses provided unrivalled training opportunities for us as well. We no longer have the time to commit to long term projects, which means that there are some horses that don’t make the grade so to speak, and you will only be introduced to those that do. We do feel we have a duty towards the more misunderstood horse, and we plan to work with those we would currently reject once we open the Natural Horsemanship Centre.

One of the most important aspects of this is to truly know our horses, which allows us to evaluate whether a potential owner is best suited to a particular horse. Coming from instructing backgrounds is a great help in assessing suitability.

This is more difficult to answer because we don’t have preference for colour, gender, height or breeding as such. We have to turn away from many lovely three and four year olds because we know we might end up keeping them until they’re at least five because a lot of people are naturally wary of youngsters. Correct temperament and soundness are a priority, since very little can be achieved without these.

Having the ability to see beyond a tangled mane, overgrown feet, or green behaviour for example is a big part. Being able to tune into them on a deeper level is just as important, providing us with information about what lies underneath so to speak.

Our experience shows that it's very rare to find a horse whose education is up to date in all the important areas. We don't feel selling other people's horses, agency sales, or part exchanges are activities we want to be involved in unless current owners are willing to commit to a programme of Foundation Training with Natural Horsemanship for their horse.

Our experience with older horses suggest that it's never too late to reintroduce horses to a better way of going, and improve or remove bad habits.

We used to believe in an unofficial cut-off point in terms of age, beyond which a horse was set in his ways, and not open to change.

Having worked with older horses, and even the aged, we know that this simply isn't true. Some of our most remarkable and satisfying achievements have been with the older horse. It's as if they've been waiting for the opportunity to help release them from years of undisciplined riding, and are often active seekers for a better way of going.

Such horses have so much to give the more nervous or inexperienced rider, and we have much to learn from them as well.

From our perspective, we feel the horse is now ready mentally and physically to move foward to their new home. Of course all training is ongoing, and in a sense is never finished, even if it's only reinforcing what has been accomplished so the horse's performance doesn't slip.

Horses are sentient beings, and react favourably or otherwise to their environment, handling, and riding. Horse owners have a responsibility for ensuring future riding and management supports the horse in an appropriate way, all of which is fully covered during the pre-purchase agreement.