Vanessa Hardy Equine Therapy

03/11/2026

IN | SYNC — our first Horse & Rider Alignment Workshop.

On Saturday, we brought together two perspectives, one shared philosophy and a lot of curiosity at Derby College Equestrian Centre.

Our aim was simple: to encourage people to slow down, observe more carefully and explore the relationship between how a horse moves, how a rider moves, and what happens when we bring the two together.

From observing the horse standing and in motion, to exploring our own posture, balance and movement through Pilates, we finished by bringing those observations together with a live horse-and-rider demonstration.

Throughout the day, we kept returning to one important idea:

Observe first. Stay curious. Don’t rush to conclusions.

There were thoughtful conversations, plenty of questions and some really interesting moments of discovery.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to making our first workshop happen, particularly Charlie and Dom for being our demonstration partnership, and Derby College Equestrian Centre for hosting us.

And, of course, thank you to the ladies who joined us and approached the day with such openness and curiosity.

For Nicola and me, it was wonderful to finally bring something we’d spent so long developing into a real, practical learning environment.

Better awareness. Better partnership. Better performance.

IN | SYNC
A collaboration between Vanessa Hardy Equine Therapy and Nicola Burrell Pilates.

30/10/2026

Tomorrow.

After months of planning, tomorrow Nic and I finally get to welcome our first IN | SYNC group to Derby College.

The workbooks are printed.
The resources are ready.
The baking is underway.

And we still have room for a few more people to join us.

If you’ve been following along and thinking “I’d actually really like to do that” — you haven’t missed your chance.

IN | SYNC — Horse & Rider Alignment Workshop
Saturday 31 October | 10am–2pm
Derby College Equestrian Centre
£99 per person

Booking is open today and we can accommodate last-minute bookings tomorrow morning too.

Come and join us.

25/10/2026

Next Saturday: four hours looking at the horse and rider partnership from both sides.

If you’ve seen IN | SYNC mentioned over the last few weeks but still aren’t quite sure what the morning actually involves, here’s what we’ll be doing.

We’ll start with the horse.

Together we’ll observe stance and travel and I’ll introduce you to my STOP framework — a practical way of organising what you see, looking for patterns and deciding what might be useful to explore next.

Then the focus moves to the rider.

Nic will take you through a practical rider movement and awareness session, exploring your own alignment, movement and the patterns you may bring to the partnership.

Finally, we bring the two sides together with a live horse and rider demonstration — looking at what happens when two moving bodies influence one another and discussing what we can observe from both perspectives.

This is a non-ridden workshop. You don’t need to bring your horse and you don’t need specialist knowledge.

You’ll have your own IN | SYNC workbook to use throughout the morning and take home, plus follow-up video resources from both of us to help you revisit the key ideas afterwards.

IN | SYNC — Horse & Rider Alignment Workshop

Saturday 31 October
10am–2pm
Derby College Equestrian Centre
£99 per person

We still have places available for next Saturday.

If this sounds like your kind of morning, we’d love you to join us.

Booking details are in the event.

13/10/2026

Thank you for such a lovely introduction. Really pleased to be joining the APBBF and to be part of such a great professional community.

Welcome to the APBBF, Vanessa Hardy!

We are thrilled to welcome Vanessa Hardy to the Association of Professional Bit and Bridle Fitters as an approved Certified Professional Fitter Member.

Vanessa brings a wealth of expertise and a true whole-horse approach to tack fitting, with over 20 years of professional experience across the equestrian industry.

Alongside being a LANTRA-qualified Bit and Bridle Fitter, she holds a BSc (Hons) in Animal Behaviour Science, BHS Intermediate Stable Manager, UKCC Level 2 coaching qualifications, and is a qualified Equine Sports & Remedial Massage Therapist.

Through her business, Vanessa Hardy Equine Therapy she uniquely bridges tack assessment, bodywork, and ridden coaching.

Rather than viewing the bit or bridle in isolation, Vanessa's welfare-led approach evaluates cranial conformation, oral structures, postural asymmetry, and dynamic movement under saddle to help owners truly understand what their horse is communicating.

Coverage Area: Based in Leicestershire, Vanessa covers Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, southern Derbyshire, and parts of Lincolnshire (travelling within an approximate 45-50 mile radius).

Postcodes covered: LE, LN, NG, PE

Whether you are looking to address ridden contact challenges or simply want to ensure your horse's setup is anatomically comfortable and supportive, Vanessa is ready to help.
View Vanessa's full APBBF profile and get in touch:

https://apbbf.com/member/vanessa-hardy

Therapy Midlands Horses

11/10/2026

Your horse feels different. But what do you actually DO with that information?

Maybe one rein feels easier.
One transition is always harder.
Your horse drifts, braces, rushes or feels different from one side to the other.

It’s very easy to jump straight to “What’s wrong?” — or “Is it me or my horse?”

At IN | SYNC, we want to slow that process down.

First, we observe the horse — stance, movement and patterns.
Then we look at you — what you notice and feel in your own movement, balance and control.
Then we bring those two perspectives together.

Not to give you a list of faults to fix, but to help you notice more, ask better questions and make more informed decisions about what to explore next.

🐴 IN | SYNC — Horse & Rider Alignment Workshop
📍 Derby College Equestrian Centre
📅 31 October | 10am–2pm
🎟 Early Bird £89 until 14 October
Non-ridden | Only 12 places

🔗 Book via the link in bio.

08/10/2026

What if we observed before we interpreted?

We’re often very quick to decide what our horse’s behaviour means — awkward, difficult, ignoring us, a “bad rein”.

But what changes when we stop for a moment and simply look at what’s happening?

And what happens to that picture when we add the rider?

This is exactly the thinking behind IN SYNC — bringing together observation of the horse and rider to explore how two bodies may influence one another.

IN SYNC | Horse & Rider Alignment Workshop
📍 Derby College Equestrian Centre
📅 31 October
🎟 Early Bird £89 until 14 October
Non-ridden — no horse needed

Booking link in bio

EXPLORE | OBSERVE | UNDERSTAND

07/10/2026

What if your horse isn’t being difficult… but is finding something difficult?

As horse owners and riders, we interpret behaviour all the time.

She’s being awkward.
He’s ignoring my leg.
That’s just his bad rein.
She knows how to do it.

But before we decide what a behaviour means, there’s another question we can ask:

What can I actually observe?

How is the horse standing?
How are they organising their body?
What happens when they move?
What changes when the task changes?

And when we ride, there’s another layer — us.

Our own posture, balance and movement become part of the picture too.

This is exactly why Nicola Burrell and I created IN SYNC: Horse & Rider Alignment Workshop.

During this practical day, we’ll explore the rider and the horse separately before bringing the two together and observing what happens as we add the rider, movement, aids and contact.

This isn’t about diagnosing problems or finding fault. It’s about developing a better eye, questioning our first interpretation and learning to observe the whole picture.

If you’ve ever wondered why one rein feels different, why a particular movement seems harder, why your horse responds differently to certain requests, or what your own body might be contributing to the picture — this day is for you.

IN SYNC | Horse & Rider Alignment Workshop
📅 31 October
📍 Derby College Equestrian Centre
🎟️ Early Bird £89 — ends Wednesday 14 October
£99 thereafter
🐴 Non-ridden — you don’t need to bring your horse

Ready to look at the horse–rider partnership differently?
👉 Booking link in bio

EXPLORE | OBSERVE | UNDERSTAND