During my last webinar, a participant said in the chat: "I hope to have a better relationship with my horse". My answer was: "Don't hope! Just work on it. Then you WILL have a better relationship with your horse!". It's funny sometimes how horse owners ...
We should let go of the idea that everything and every moment (or training with our horse) should be a happy, joyful, or successful moment. When that would be the case, we would not learn a lot, and we would less appreciate the good moments.
Tip #1 - Horses are attracted to people who are calm and centered. Bringing your awareness to your breath is the simplest way to (re)connect with yourself. It's free, it's simple and it's effective! Even only giving attention to your breath will already make ...
When leading your horse, regularly ask him to stay out of your personal space = min 3 to 4 meters distance. When you lead your horse at a distance, you are leading your horse from the "lead position". Be calm and polite when you ask for more distance.But there's also something else that is important, and that is:
If you’re not connected to yourself, your horse will also be less connected to you, and thus it will be harder for your horse to stay focused on you and the training you're offering him. So whenever you feel you are losing your groundedness, when you lose your calmness,
I recently had a conversation with a new student. This new student - my guess is he was about 50 years old - came to me because he had a few problems with his 14-year-old mare: biting him when he wants to saddle her, pushing him against the wall when he wants to clean her hoofs, pulling on the rope
Some days, some situations, and some experiences can be difficult... You might wonder how you will cope with it, or if you will be able to solve the problem you're facing. This is also the case when it comes to horses and training horses...
Horses are intelligent creatures and are able to find solutions to problems, challenges or questions they are faced with. Take simply the fact of putting on a halter. What often happens is that the trainer brings the halter up to the head.
It has now been 1 week since my family and I returned home from a month-long road trip to and through Portugal. The trip was fantastic, and we made a lot of great memories. However, there's 1 memory I don't like to think back on ...
Big Deal was a horse at the stable in Portugal where I worked 20 years ago when I was 23-24 years old. I moved to Portugal in 2001 to work for a riding stable to teach riding classes, and train horses in dressage and trail riding. The day I arrived at the stables ...
When I advise people to spend time on Bonding Time with their horse, the answer is sometimes: "I already spend undemanding time with my horse in the field, so I know how it works, and I know how to do it". However, ...
A Connection Circle is a live online workshop that has a specific subject, with a duration of 2 to 4 hours . At the start, we come together online, I get you all set up, and give you the instructions for the first exercise.
In the riding school where I rode as a teenager, there was a mare, Muguette. She wouldn’t let anybody touch or halter her without pinning her ears and giving you a (very!) nasty look.
Joey was about 4 months old when he was taken from his mother in a brutal and aggressive way. Three strong men cornered him to grab him, then they forced him to go on a trailer without his mother while screaming at him and hitting him with a whip.
Today is International Women's Day. And that is necessary. Because worldwide women still receive less or worse education, violence against women is higher than against men, women are still paid less for their job, etc.
My first own horse was Niki. She was 12 when she was given to me by an acquaintance. She was sweet and willing, but very energetic and quickly stressed. She also couldn’t stand still easily.
I was 15 when one day I arrived at the riding school and a young black horse named Farao was standing in one of the boxes. He was beautiful, but there were quite some problems: Farao didn’t like to be touched and he didn’t let himself be haltered without trying to kick you first.
Fella was a 12-year old mare, that was tensed and angry during lunging. No bend, short strides, ears flat, swishing tail, nasty looks. The previous weeks her owner focussed mainly on liberty training, to build a..
I’m standing next to a small mare, named Bet, and her owner Myriam in a muddy arena. Myriam has tears in her eyes while she’s explaining: “Karine, I’m struggling so much with my mare Bet. ..
You live in your body. Your body is your home. It’s your instrument. With your body – your senses – you observe the world. Thanks to your body, you can express yourself and move around in this life. ..
“Sometimes you think your body is relaxed, but when you do the Softness Response you notice that there was still some tension somewhere. After doing the SR technique your body just feels better, and you just..
Too tense muscles in the rider. You would think that mainly novice riders have it, but you also see it quite often with very experienced riders. And you also see it when people do groundwork, or liberty. It often..
Years ago… I lie on a leather couch, in the office of a relaxation therapist with an enormous black mustache. He teaches me to release unnecessary tension in my muscles on “command”. I had read a..
“Bonding Time” is the first connection exercise of Horsefulness Liberty Training. While you are doing it, it’s important to practice yourself in being fully present. This means: no distractions like reading or..