November 15th,  2023 By Karine Vandenborre Unlock Your Horsewoman Power Within  Free Webinar Today, I'd like to transport you back to 1992 when I was 15 years old. A racehorse named Farao came to our riding school. He was young, black and very beautiful, but there was a big problem: he was aggressive, angry, and nobody could touch or even approach him. Initially, I lured him in and out of his box with food to be able to muck out his box, but I felt compelled to change that. I wanted him to trust me! So, every day, I bravely entered his box, trembling on my legs ..read more

March 27th,  2023 By Karine Vandenborre Eddy & his mare Pandora: Liberty Leading Eddy bought Pandora when she was 5 years old through a video on YouTube. She was very nervous, not yet broken in, never even trimmed. Eddy followed my online Horsefulness Liberty Connection Program with Pandora and learned about communication with horses, giving his horse freedom of choice, developing a natural connection, and much more. The connection with Pandora became so strong, that Eddy can take her out for long walks on the road and in nature at liberty (= no lead rope). Eddy ..read more

August 30th,  2022 By Karine Vandenborre Become a professional Horsefulness Training Coach I was 13 and rode a horse for the very first time. I was immediately hooked and from that moment on I could only think of horses, horses, and more horses. Very soon I knew that I wanted to devote my whole life to them, there was no doubt about that. Only, my environment would not go along with it... My parents, grandparents, teachers at school and all the other people who insisted on having their say said the same thing: "No, don’t do that! You will earn zero. You will have to ..read more

July 31st,  2022 By Karine Vandenborre Remaining calm and patient when training your horse. “You always remain so calm and patient when working with horses, also in challenging situations. How do you do that?” The answer is very simple: I just know that things will get better and a solution is on its way. This will be within 5 minutes, the next day, within the next week, or within a few months. Therefore I feel self-confident: there always comes this moment where the horse understands, or the moment where the horse overcomes his fear, where the horse starts to coopera ..read more

July 30th,  2022 By Karine Vandenborre Groundwork training with horses: 5 tips 1. First Connection, Then Training When a horse doesn't feel a connection with you, when the relationship is not strong, it will be harder/more difficult to train your horse in groundwork. It's logical: the more trust, the deeper the connection, the more your horse will be willing to do things together with you. I advise building on your relationship in Liberty first, as liberty is the most natural way of being/living for a horse. Also, before you start a groundwork session, always take yo ..read more

July 28th,  2022 By Karine Vandenborre Your sensitivity, softness & sweetness is your power. "I'm very emotional, and my horse feels that. How can I be less emotional?" "I'm too sensitive and soft to be able to train my horse well. How can I be more firm? " "Whenever I'm stressed I start to cry. And this also happens when I'm with my horse. I don't want my horse to think I'm weak." "I love to be sweet and kind to my horse, but horses need someone who is firm and strict " It happens that students tell me those things, they think that they are "too weak", "too soft ..read more

July 22nd  2022 By Karine Vandenborre Courage is daring to say you're too scared to ride. A famous quote says: "Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway".  I know, this quote is a philosophy on living life. However, the sad truth is, that in the horse world, it's still common to reason that way. I would never get on a horse if I'm afraid to ride that horse. As a professional trainer, it took me a long time to admit that. And that's because there still is that myth that a "good" rider dares to ride every single horse. And I wanted to be seen as a g ..read more

July 18th,  2022 By Karine Vandenborre Every day in your (horse) life is valuable. 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. There is no good without bad. There is no happiness without unhappiness There is no success without failure. If we don't know how failure feels, we can't know how success feels. If we don't know how sadness feels, we can't know how joy feels. If we ..read more

July 25th,  2022 By Karine Vandenborre 10 fun exercises with a tarpaulin on the ground 1⃣ Leading your horse over it in the lead position, the partner position, and the drive position in walk and trot. Circling your horse over the tarpaulin in walk, trot, and canter. Asking your horse to halt and then back up on the tarpaulin. Put a tarpaulin at the entrance of the field/paddock/box.  Your horse has to walk over it to be able to go into the field/paddock/box.  Put 2 or more tarpaulins next to each other and practice with this “huge” tarpaulin (this is ..read more

July 20th,  2022 By Karine Vandenborre Do you hope to have a better relationship with your horse? 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 doubt the fact that they can improve their relationship with their horse. I've worked with horses that attacked, were completely shut down, were traumatized severely, and didn't trust anybody, ... However, there was not ..read more