Your horse’s body awareness starts with you.
In this course, we’ll take a deep dive into exploring movement patterns—both yours and your horse’s.
We will blend Angelicas movement focus with Carolines Feldenkrais practice.
Learn how the way you move impacts your horse.
Find new ways to support and synchronize with your horse when you train together.
Centaur Connection
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Feldenkrais lessons
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exercises to do with your horse
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feedback on exercises
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discussion group via FB
Maybe you've asked yourself this?
When will training with my horse finally feel easy and natural?
Many of us hope for that sense of flow, where communication with our horse feels seamless and clear. But if training feels like following one recipe after another, it can be hard to know if we’re making the right choices to see genuine progress.
How can I develop that feel for my horse's movement while being aware of my own?
Riders often strive for a deeper connection—an awareness of their movements alongside their horse’s. But developing this sensitivity requires understanding how our own movement and balance affect the horse.
Why do simple instructions seem so challenging to put into practice?
Instructors can tell us where to place our hands or legs, but doing it with ease and without overthinking can feel impossible. Knowing where we are in space and moving with coordination frees us from having to micromanage each position, allowing us to communicate more clearly and naturally with our horses.
What impact does my body language have on my horse?
Our horses pick up on more than just what we *intend* to communicate—they’re responding to everything we do to stay balanced and upright. When we’re moving efficiently and with ease, our body language becomes clearer, making our intentions less confusing for the horse.
How can I be sure I’m making the right changes in my training?
As riders, we’re part of our horse’s environment, shaping the space and energy we share. To bring the best to our training, we need to understand what we’re doing in our own movement so we can adjust it with purpose, helping us create a truly supportive environment for our horse.
How This Course Can Help:
In this course, you’ll develop a strong foundation in body awareness, allowing you to feel and respond to both your own movement and your horse’s.
Through mindful training exercises and Feldenkrais lessons, you’ll learn to move with coordination and ease, reducing the need to micromanage each position. With the guidance of Caroline and Angelica, you’ll integrate these experiences to your horse training, understanding how clear, natural body language strengthens trust and connection.
What we will do together
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3 live Feldenkrais movement lessons guided by Caroline, that we will do together over Zoom
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3 live talks about reward-based horse training and body awareness for the rider by Angelica
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Exercises to do together with your horse
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Feedback on those exercises (2 videos - maximum of 3 minutes each)
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short & powerful audio movement explorations that you can take with you to the stable
What do you need for our meetings?
-a Zoom account.
-comfy clothes, somewhere nice to lie down and maybe a blanket.
-a Facebook user account (here is where we upload material and discuss between meetings).
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Pricing
250€ (early bird 190, we can max have 12 students).
What is included:
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3 live sessions (Feldenkrais lesson, theory and small talk).
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exercises to do with your horse
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feedback on exercises
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access to Facebook group where we will share recordings and self-study exercises
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Detailed Schedule and Exercises
We meet 3 Sundays. If you can't join live: no problem, everything is recorded and you will still get feedback on your work together with your horse.
We start with Angelica going through the next week's exercise and talking riders body awareness. After that Caroline will guide us in the Feldenkrais lesson for the week. Ending with a wrap up where those who wants to share thoughts and/or experiences together with us
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1st Live meeting - Sunday, 12th of January 7pm CET (Feldenkrais and presentation of exercise for coming week).
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EXERCISE WITH HORSE FOR WEEK 1: Exploring free walk from different positions
-getting a sense of how your own and your horses movements are related even without any physical contact
-realize your own patterns and habits in walking
-improve your walking to feel lighter, effortless and even elegant
2nd live meeting - Sunday, 19th of January 7 pm CET (Feldenkrais and presentation of exercise for coming week).
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EXERCISE WITH HORSE FOR WEEK 2: Target handling: Learn to use your body image to integrate the tools you are working with
Holding a target stick is less complex than connecting to another living subject, but it nevertheless requires an awareness of where you are in space, where your boundaries sit.
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learn how to integrate the target stick into our body awareness and extend your self-image to include the target.
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explore ways to "feel" with the end of the target, so you do not have to check visually on the target´s position
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find out what’s your easy way to effortlessly hold the target up.
Learn to use it just as fluently as any other part of your body
3rd live meeting - Sunday, 26th of January 7 pm CET (Feldenkrais and wrap up theory and small talk about our weeks together).
Words from students
"Caroline and Angelica have a gift for creating a learning space that feels safe and encouraging. When I first joined, I was dealing with tension issues—both in my own body and with my horse, Bella, who always seemed a bit wary of me.
Caroline worked with me finding more connection in my own body through the Feldenkrais lessons. And Angelica looked at our practical training and how Bella and I were working together, helping me to guide clearer and make more sense to Bella. I feel didn’t just learn skills; I really felt a shift in how I connect with my horse."
Our aim is for you to show up more balanced with higher observation skills
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Expand your movement repertoire and enhance self-awareness, flexibility, range and lightness.
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Apply a higher body awareness for movement to your daily horse routines, not only to mounted riding.
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Body awareness as a path to deeper connection with your horse and your mutual practice.
Words from students
"Each session felt like a discovery, not just for me but for my horse too.
With Caroline’s gentle guidance and Angelica’s practical links to how reward-based training works, I felt like we were finally building a real communication and I understand why things happen and how I can change them".
Who are we?
We share a love for movement, horses and learning and are excited to invite you to our mutual project.
Hope to see you there!
Caroline Ritter
Caroline discovered the Feldenkrais method as a way to apply what she already knew from positive animal training - gentleness, pause, freedom of choice,... rewards! - to her self and to the relationship with her body. For her the two methods go very well together and she is enthusiastic to share how we can be the best trainers for our own selves - mind and body.
Caroline is a positive reinforcement trainer at Disco Cavallo for many years, training mostly dogs and horses. She is also a cognitive scientists and loves to learn and share about the topic of learning from every discipline out there.
Angelica Hesselius
Angelica has a huge focus on the position of the human in her teaching. Starting from the ground in our daily care to doing more gymnastics, our position matters.
We are a huge part of creating balance. Body awareness in many way, shapes and forms has always been an important part in Angelicas life. Both in her teaching and her own training.
We're often so focused on helping our horse to find better emotional and physical balance and forgetting how we show up for our sessions. "Connection starts with us" is a sentence that has guided Angelica all her life. And by focusing on developing our own movement awareness we can show up as better trainers for our lovely horses.