Samantha-Leah Tobias has been around dogs and horses since the age of six. Family holidays were structured around finding her somewhere to ride. She has competed in Showing, Cross Country, Show Jumping and Dressage on Ali and a previous horse of hers, Copper.

Sam, as she likes to be referred to as, says Dressage was a wonderful experience for her, as it helped with her training of Ali.

She started judging and teaching at the same time. Once she stopped competing, organizers contacted her about judging certain classes and then the same thing happened with the Dressage. After many years as a Show Judge, Sam has now retired.  

Sam teaches in the Classical style, which is a very relaxed method. You use your balance to obtain movement from the horse, rather than a lot of leg and hand action. She highly recommends ‘Centred Riding’ by Sally Swift, accompanied by her two videos as a wonderful start to this type of riding.

Classical Riding is just balanced riding. It requires very little physical effort; indeed, you let the horse do the work. The preparation of the horse for this type of work is long.

Sam makes it a point of telling all her pupils not to expect overnight miracles. After a year or so with her they will be better riders but there are NO shortcuts. She expects people to do a lot of groundwork and to take the time to get one thing right before moving on. She does make a point of ensuring that everyone does something different in their lesson, or achieves something they have been trying for so they don’t lose faith.

In the UK, which is where Sam lives, they have the Classical Riding Club. Sam is one of the few instructors in the North of England to be on their Register of Classical Instructors. (Lady Sylvia Loch who has done much to improve the way of riding in the UK runs this club. She is a highly recognized author of several books and also produces videos. Due to the difference in the style of Classical Riding to that practised by most people, Dressage Competitions in this style have not become popular.) Sam notes that judging this style of riding is also not easy if you don’t ride this way, so as an instructor, she says she truly feels that she’s forging new ground with each pupil she teaches. Sam says the good thing is, once converted to Classical Riding, they never look back.

As she watches horses coming before her in the Dressage arena, she says she can say she has noticed a slight change from the ‘old fashioned’ method of riding to this more relaxed method. After her one and only lesson with a BHS (British Horse Society) Instructor, she ached from top to toe, not in a good way either. It was enough to make her realize this was not the way she wanted to ride, nor did she want her horse subjected to this. Sam says she thinks she made a wise choice and hopes others do the same. 

To learn even more about Sam Tobias and her endeavors to better equine care and training, visit her website at: http://www.natural-horse.net