The Creator
The Scales of Riding were developed by dressage rider Sophie Bennett. Sophie trains primarily with Carl Hester and has also trained in the UK and abroad with some of the world’s best riders including David Pincus, David Hunt and Paul Fielder in England, Leonie Bramall and Hans-Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen in Germany, and since 2026 at the Valenca Academy in Portugal and with Juan Cortez and Juan Matute Guimon in Spain.
She is a student of classical riding and is a licensed Enlightened Equitation Instructor approved by Heather Moffatt. She trains riders at every level from novice to Grand Prix in the UK and Spain. She has trained several horses to advanced level, earned nearly 1000 British Dressage points including almost 200 at FEI levels. One of her young horses recently won the Prelim Gold Championship at the BD Winter National Championship Finals and Sophie competes regularly in the UK and Spain.
The Story of The Scales
In her younger days Sophie was riding 8 horses a day and relying on instinct and time in the saddle. She later learned that it was not enough for long term progress and the seeds of the Scales were planted.
As a young rider in the 90’s she won a Joicey Scholarship for potential future Olympic riders and trainers alongside Carl Hester, Paul Hayler, Dan Sherriff and Peter Storr. But family commitments and finances put paid to the idea of becoming an international rider. Like so many of her pupils, she came back to riding in her forties feeling like a beginner again. But it was the making of her as a coach. When you have no seat anymore, your balance is shot to pieces and you have a surprising terror of falling off, you quickly gain a level of empathy that few coaches ever experience.
Sophie realised that instinct and muscle memory weren’t enough. You need more solid foundations to move up through the levels. The Scales of Riding are the result.
During her desk bound decade Sophie became a Master Practitioner of NLP, a qualified Neuroscience Practitioner, process engineer, visiting lecturer at the Cranfield School of Management and a professional public speaker. But what’s that got to do with riding? The answer is everything. She learned how the human brain learns, how your body connects to your mind and how people react under stress and what happens to your body when your mind is overwhelmed with too much information.
The most accomplished riders and trainers may use different words and seemingly different methods – but they all teach the same core principles. It is those principles that have been distilled to become The Scales of Riding.
