Become the best trainer for your horse
Sustainable, injury-free training for a healthy and happy horse
Develop your observational skills and senses, improve your techniques and prevent overload and injuries, by using the most recent insights in biomechanics and sustainable horse training.
Happy horse = happy you
You can feel when something’s not right. By the way your horse moves. Or by the way that his body is developing. But what is it? Train your observational skills and develop yourself to be the best trainer of your horse. Because if your horse is happy, you are too!
Prevent overloading and injuries
By far the most injuries are caused by chronic overload of limbs and tissues. It’s preventable and in most cases it’s even possible to recover from it. By bringing back the healthy, bouncy and resilient movement of the body of your horse.
Train your techniques
Changing a movement pattern in horse and rider is complex, because it’s a two-way communication. You influence each other. End the negative spiral by training your techniques step by step and by building balance. Both your horse’s balance and yours!
Riding with fun for both rider and horse.
That’s what it’s all about.
Just imagine: together with your horse you rock the riding arena, the forest or the beach! Together you are one. Every training you both experience improvement, not held back by physical discomfort or nasty injuries. You can feel the ease with which your friend moves throughout his body, how he keeps getting stronger and how he’s proud and content. You see your horse developing into a confident, powerful athlete who fully enjoys his life.
How can I train my horse to be that powerful athlete?
Does that sound like music to your ears? It’s very much possible! Through a healthy movement pattern. It seems so logical, but still this is where it often goes wrong. Healthy movement originates in a good posture, combined with the right amount of energy. This way the body of your horse can develop properly. Not only his muscle strength and coördination will increase – he will also grow mentally! Having full control over his body builds (self)confidence.
But what is a healthy posture to carry a rider in? How can you help your horse achieve that posture? And how can you make sure that your own rider posture positively influences that? We, Karin Leibbrandt (veterinarian and experienced rehabilitation trainer) and Tessa Roos (experienced instructor, specialised in horse and rider biomechanics), will help you with all of this, step by step, in this online course ‘Prevent Injuries Through Sustainable Horse Training’. We will help you develop your observational skills, improve your techniques and build your balance. First the horse’s, then yours and then your balance together.
This is what you’ll get out of this course
You become the best trainer for your horse
You minimize the risk of injuries for your horse
You know how to balance your horse when lungeing and how to ride well without sidereins.
Your horse is content and moves with balance and confidence
You know much better what to pay attention to when observing balance and body posture
You’re able to problem solve independently in your training
You develop an independent seat, with a positive effect on your horse
riders & horses helped
years of experience
online lessons
Who are Karin and Tessa?
Karin Leibbrandt
“Twenty years ago I graduated as a horse veterinarian. I’ve always had a special interest for movement and training. At the end of my education I realised just how many horses get injured in their life and the great number of horses that become unfit for riding because of it. I also discovered that this often happens in a relatively young age. It triggered me to start searching for answers. I wanted to know why this happened and most of all: how can we prevent this? For twenty years I’ve searched for answers and I’ve been rehabbing horses from day one until the day they were fit to go home. To do this I selected and studied the most effective ways of treatment and training principles and developed them in a detailed way.
Now I’m an author of the book ‘Compassionate Training For the Sport Horse‘. With the help of a few great colleagues, I also started the courses ‘Rehabilitation and Sports Trainer’ and the ‘Myofascial Release Therapy’ with Equicare-Plus. Now I teach lectures, webinars, clinics and workshops worldwide.”
Tessa Roos
“I had an education as biologist and I studied the behavior of domesticated and wild horses. My equestrian career started out by teaching riders about seat and posture. Soon I saw that both riders and horses had difficulties keeping themselves balanced. Because of that they were often struggling more with each other and their own bodies, rather than having fun together. I wanted to help riders solve this! Driven by this wish I persued education in basics of dressage, Feldenkrais practitioner for humans and rehabilitation trainer for horses.
Now I have over twenty years of experience as a riding instructor, I’m a teacher at the Rehabilitation and Sports Trainers course and I teach clinics and lessons in both the Netherlands as worldwide. My lessons are about body awareness and training for riders, groundwork for horses and balance training for rider and horse together, in order to create healthy, sustainable movement and fun for both!”
This is what our students say
“This course offered me a great starting point to start learning how to judge the proper body posture. The text and accompanying videos have a clear structure. I really liked that videos were being repeated both with and without the explanation. You get a good image of the exercises, how to execute them and what you can expect, to get to the right frame for your horse. What I also liked was the fact they don’t forget you as a rider in this process. Now I often check my own posture regularly.”
– Mandy – student
“This training gives you the insights needed to reach this ultimate goal. It’s practical, with exercises and videos to train your observational skills. And theoretical, with information about the anatomy and biomechanics of the horse. Another great thing is that they don’t forget the rider! Great tips have you work on a stable and independent seat. It’s essential if you want to guide your horse in finding his vertical balance.
Long story short, it’s a very complete course and I recommend it to every rider who’s looking for harmony in their training and wants to give their horse a solid foundation.“
– Natalie – student
What’s in this online course?
The online course ‘Prevent Injuries Through Sustainable Horse Training’ consists of seven different modules with a total of 27 lessons. You’ll get theoretical lessons as well as practical examples in photos and videos. When you’ve completed the course, you can do a quiz, after which you’ll receive a certificate!
Check the video for a sneak-peek!
Module 1 - Introduction to 'Prevent Injuries Through Sustainable Horse Training'
In this introductieon, existing of three lessons, we tell you what the goal is with horse training the way we see it, and why this is sustainable and comfortable for the horse. We’ll also tell you what you’re supposed to see when you train correctly, and what not.
Module 2 - A correct body posture
In five lessons you learn which posture is healthy and comfortable for your horse. Among other things, you discover what a correct forward-downward-out posture looks like, how the fascial system plays a big role in that and what signals to expect from your horse as an indication it’s going well.
Module 3 - Correct forward-downward-out posture: simple, but not easy
After this extensive module with seven lessons, you know about the five key ingredients that are neccesary for a biomechanically healthy forward-downward-out posture. Vertical and horizontal balance, energy, rider balance and the allowing hand. Also very handy: one lesson is completely devoted to troubleshooting, just in case it doesn’t entirely go like you expected it to.
Module 4 - Correct lungeing
Groundwork, like lungeing, is a great preparation for riding, but only if you do it correctly! Train your eye, so you know what to look at and pay attention to. After that you’ll practise lungeing techniques to help your horse get balanced without sidereins. This module exists of three lessons.
Module 5 - Rider balance
Your horse will only be able to move in balance when you are too! That’s why we spend an entire module, with two lessons, on exercises both with and without the horse, to improve your rider seat and posture. Your horse will thank you for it!
Module 6 - Training the horse under the saddle
Module 6 will be even more practical: you’ll be practising balance under the saddle. In the first lesson we explain how to gather information while riding, about the balance, energy and posture of your horse, so you know what steps you need to take next. In the two following lessons we explain two techniques to restore and improve the vertical balance of your horse.
Module 7 - Let's get started!
In this last module with three lessons we wrap up the online course. You can test your knowledge and observational skills one more time in assignments with videos and then… let’s get started!
We’ll add these bonuses for free!
Bonus 1: Online workshop 'core stability for riders'
In this live online workshop you will work on your own core stability with Tessa Roos. With the help of various calm, relaxed exercises, you will feel where in your body you are still holding tension and can release it, and you will recognize movement patterns. You also practice with Tessa how a stable core feels for you as a rider and what you should do or should not do for that. You will definitely notice a difference when you go for a ride again!
This workshop will be held october 4th. No worries if you can’t make it live. We’ll record it, so you can watch it later!
Bonus 2: Personal feedback in live Q&A's!
Let’s face it: implementing the knowledge from an online course correctly is quite difficult without feedback. Therefore, as a bonus, you get three online Q&A’s with Karin Leibbrandt and Tessa Roos, spread over two months. You can send in your questions for each Q&A or even a video, to get personal feedback that you can put to practice the next day.
The dates of these live Q&A’s are september 27th, october 18th and november 1st. No worries if you can’t always be there live, you can send in your question beforehand and watch the recording later.
Bonus 3: One year of access to the online course and Q&A recordings
Of course, it may be that after these first three months you will continue to practice and would like to (re)watch and (re)listen to the video’s and Q&A recordings. Therefore you’ll have access to the course and the recordings for a year. We’ll also give you access to the live Q&A’s that are organized throughout the rest of the year for the next rounds of students.
Aw, the course is closed at the moment… But no worries!
The course is open for registration only a couple of times per year. If you enter your name and email below, we’ll put you on the waiting list and email you as soon as the course is about to reopen again. You definitely want to be on this list if you’re interested, because you’ll get the best offer! 😉
“After reading Karin’s book I already was very excited about everything I’ve learned. When I saw that Karin and Tessa had an online course available, I didn’t hesitate for a second to sign up for it.
I benefited a lot from the part about posture and seat. The videos about this topic have opened my eyes. I realised that I often rode with a hollow back and I had nowhere near an independent seat. Through the exercises I became aware of this and I was able to adjust. Much better for my horses, but also for myself! I can definitely recommend this course.”
– Daniëlle – student
Any questions?
We have conveniently compile a list of the most frequently asked questions. If you can’t find your question below, please email your question to info@horseinmind.eu and we’ll help you as soon as possible.
When does the course start?
After signing up, you’ll receive your login details immediately. Make sure to check your spam folder if you can’t find them right away. You can go through the course in your own pace.
For how long do I have access to this course?
For one year. Perfect if you want to refresh your memory after a few months and rewatch some or all of the video’s or Q&A recordings.
I have a young horse, is this course suitable for me?
Definitely! The sooner you start with correct training for optimal balance, the more benefits you’ll both reap in the future. Young horses can benefit tremendously from doing a lot of groundwork first, making sure they move in balance before you add the weight of the rider. And module 4 is all about lungeing with balance, so that’s perfect for young horses too!
Will I receive a certificate after completing the course?
Yes, at. theend of this course, you’ll find an online quiz. If you get good results, you’ll receive the certificate!