Light Hands Equitation

[Flyme21]

Is anyone following this style of horsemanship? I managed to get a day to myself on Saturday and went to watch a clinic with Stephen Halfpenny teaching and really enjoyed it. The idea of being light with my horses is really appealing, but it feels like it would be a massive change to make.

I've not heard of this, what is it?

It was explained as being influenced by the Californian vaquero style of horsemanship, and the teacher Stephen Halfpenny told us he had also worked with Manolo Mendez, Buck Brannaman and other names I didn't make a note of. They did some work on the ground that reminded me of how you might work classically in hand, most of it was riding. Very much about never pulling on your horse, not having weight in the reins, trying to always work in balance. I was quite inspired but coming home I wonder if I'd find it hard to change old habits! Found a some nice videos on You Tube to watch. There is a website. I might have to go and have another look again at some point...

There was a real mix of people there, western tack, english tack, one lady riding bareback. It was obvious that some were more experienced people and horses than others.