What is dressage in hand
Dressage in hand is exactly that: asking for dressage movements from the ground instead of the saddle, walking beside the horse with the reins in hand. Classical in-hand work is centuries old; Josepha Guillaume has named this approach “Dressage in Hand” and has taught it worldwide since 2004 in her own force-free way—bitless or bridleless, with positive reinforcement and without punishment. While we mostly use a soft cavesson, it can also be done with a snaffle or even a double bridle, if preferred.
Beyond Riding
The results are a trusting, joyful partnership and safe communication, leading to balance, suppleness, straightness and true self-carriage—without the weight of a rider—building posture, strength, confidence and your horse’s physical and mental well-being. It’s invaluable for starting young horses, rehabilitation and refining advanced work, and can be practised bitted, bitless or bridleless. Whatever your goals or discipline, Dressage in Hand lays a rock-solid foundation for everything you do together.
Award winning book
To share this horse-first approach more widely, Josepha published the award-winning Dressage in Hand — What Horses Want You to Know in 2021. Frequently a category bestseller on Amazon and sold on every continent from its first week, this one-of-a-kind guide places welfare and communication at the centre of classical groundwork. Josepha Guillaume distils decades of rehabilitation and in-hand teaching into step-by-step lessons—rooted in equine body language, positive reinforcement, and force-free principles—to develop balance, suppleness, straightness, and self-carriage from the ground. Its guidance on healing traumatised horses is unmatched, transforming horses’ quality of life worldwide. Featured in numerous equestrian magazines, the book received an Equus Award in 2022 and, since 2025, is also available in Dutch.
Watch Josepha work
After teaching around the world for over two decades (2004–2025), Josepha has stepped back from teaching for health reasons. If you’d like to watch videos of Josepha and her horses—plus occasional new training sessions whenever her health allows—you can become a member of her personal Patreon.
“Dressage movements are the Horse’s language and self-expression.
Dressage in Hand is our invitation to dance.”
Josepha Guillaume
Horse First Magazine
In 2025, Josepha’s team published Yellow Horse Revolution Magazine—the first equestrian publication built on the shared foundation beneath all disciplines and putting the Horse first in every scenario, while still offering fun, performance-minded activities for trainers, owners and riders. Whether leisure or professional, ridden or non-ridden, stallion or mare, Shetland or Shire, this magazine is for everyone who loves Horses and wants inspiration for a Horse-first approach. It gives a platform to experts from around the world, offering a unique blend of classical wisdom, welfare science and practical how-tos from an internationally experienced Horse-first collective.
International School
If you’re interested in Dressage in Hand or classical, force-free dressage lessons—or in becoming a qualified teacher—explore the Equus Universalis School for Classical Dressage and Equine Welfare. This international, Horse-first institute was founded by Josepha Guillaume in 2012. Rooted in the Viennese classical tradition, Dressage in Hand, positive reinforcement, and species-appropriate, welfare-led principles, it helps horses and humans find health, safety, balance, confidence, soft classical expression, and joy. In 2019, for health reasons, Josepha entrusted the school to Sandy van den Goorbergh, who continues to carry the same ethos forward.