In-person events in 2025

Starting a young horse under saddle

Do you own a young horse and are dreaming about riding one day?

You may be considering training yourself but you aren’t sure if that’s the best strategy.

The alternative is to find a professional trainer who could take on that task, at least the most critical parts.

Both options are valid but the decision has to be yours based on your skills and the availability of trainers you trust in your area.

Ask a professional trainer?

There is a huge variety of training approaches out there and even more trainers. How do you choose?

The riding discipline isn’t necessarily a deciding factor. More important is whether the trainer’s values and ethics match with yours.

Most trainers will tell you what you want to hear: the horse’s wellbeing is a priority, taking the time it needs etc. That all sounds good but is all that implemented in practice?

You need to attend regular training sessions to get a better idea about how a particular trainer works. Watch the horses at their barn. How do they look, how do they behave, are there senior horses among them?

The variety of training approaches is too wide to describe what could be expected if you visit a “conventional” training barn. But I can describe how Anja Beran trains young horses, which is an approach that matches my own values and ethics.

In 2013, I was so fortunate to be able to send my young mare to Anja Beran to start her under saddle. Graya was there for 3.5 months. We both learned a lot from Anja.

If you can find a trainer like Anja Beran for your horse, you should go for it. She will give your youngster a good start.

I attend Anja Beran’s classical dressage workshops every year since 2011, that’s how good they are. Anja is my reference point for good riding and healthy movements.

Anja’s workshop takes place from 4th to 9th of August 2025 at her barn “Gut Rosenhof” in the south of Germany. Her program starts at 10 am to 5 pm with a lunch break from 1 to 3 pm. Wednesday is a free day. (Read here more details)

We will meet before (8:30 to 10 am) and after Anja’s programme (5-7:30 pm extending to dinner), as well as during the breaks , i.e. lunch and the full day on Wednesday. (If there is interest, we could extend to Sunday.)

The format will be presentations with lots of video. The videos will prepare us for what Anja and her riders will show us. You will be recognise to see live what we discussed and watched before. This will help you to see it in your own training.

I will share with you how I connected Clicker training as I learned it from Alexandra Kurland with the work that Anja does, focussing specifically on starting a young horse under saddle and transitioning a ridden horse who had a bad start to clicker training.

If you are curious about how we started 4-yo QH mare “Malou” under saddle and how that compared to transitioning QH mare “Blondie” who had had a rough start under saddle, then I recommend following the Equiosity podcast episodes #302-304 where we talk about these two wonderful horses and their training.