You don’t need to be an experienced horse person to complete the course: You only need to be able to lead your horse safely to do the in-hand work. To do the riding element (this is optional) you need to have the basic skills of stopping, starting and steering and your horse needs to be safe and sound to ride in walk.

Like most things in life, the effectiveness depends on your level of commitment. It is not about quantity so much as quality. With your horse, ideally you would carry out the work over at least 3 short sessions per week (5-20 minutes for in-hand only, up to 40min for in-hand and ridden combined) per week. If you do this, you will begin to see an increase in relaxation and freedom of movement, plus an improvement in responsiveness and posture. Weekly sessions can also be effective, but progress will be slower.You will also need to set aside time for your own learning and personal development. Results depend on attunement to your horse, and in order to achieve this you need to be focused and calm as well as have good posture and control over your body movements. 

One of the key differences of this course is that it begins by removing all pressures on the horse and teaching him or her that they will not be pushed or driven or ridden with strong aids. It can take a while for the horse to begin to trust in this, especially if they have previously been ridden strongly. Therefore, if you sometimes ride or drive strongly forward, or use any strong aids whilst working through this programme, it will hinder your progress and could confuse your horse. Once you have done the work, your horse will move freely forward from light aids, and you will be able to make precise corrections to his or her posture or straightness, so the need for strong aids will be fully eliminated. If your horse enjoys a gentle trail ride or a gallop up a hill (without being pushed) then you can and should continue to do these things. If you are competing in dressage, it may be best to set aside a period of time without the pressure of competition so that you and the horse can truly become immersed in the work. When you return, the quality will be much better!

The course is designed to enhance the performance and wellbeing of any horse. Your horse should,however, be sound in walk at the start of the course. This means that he or she should be comfortable on the surface they are being worked on, and not footsore or in pain that worsens with movement. 

Progress may be limited by external factors. For example, if the horse has underlying physical or medical issues, or problems such as poor saddle fit, poor hoofcare, too heavy a rider or taking part in sports or methods that damage his or her body, then the benefit will be limited. However, the method is very gentle and consent based, and one of our core values is to do no harm. Nearly all horses will benefit in some way from the course.

Problems caused or exacerbated by poor posture. This can include restricted movement, pain, unwillingness, crookedness, tension, poor performance, incorrect muscling.

Yes. The course gives a thorough description of the steps needed to put this programme in place, from training your eye, body and mind, to assessing your horse, choosing the right exercises for your horse and carrying them out using a consent based approach.

Yes, although most of the course is taught through instructional videos that you can access whenever you want, there will also be live interactive Q&A sessions. These will be recorded and available to watch at a later time if you are unable to attend live. There will also be optional assessments for you to complete and receive feedback on. 

You will have lifetime access to the online materials and recordings made as part of the course.  The interactive live sessions run over a period of 6 weeks and you will have a total of 12 weeks to get individualised feedback and support via the private course Facebook group.

Yes, because it’s a practical course you will need a horse to work with and a space where you are able to focus without distractions. If it’s not your own horse, for example if you are borrowing somebody else’s horse, the owner needs to be happy to allow you the space to do things “your way”. It is better if you work with the same horse for the duration of the course.

A lot of effort into creating this course and there is a cost to do it as we believe it has value. We ask that you don’t share the course with your friends but please do speak to them about the methods and ideas you learnt while doing it.

The live weekly sessions start on the weekend of 1st/2nd March and run for 7 consecutive weeks. These are a really valuable part of the course where Diana troubleshoots any problems, provides extra information depending on the needs of the group, there is the chance to ask questions and learn about the exercises for the following week. If you miss any sessions, do not worry as they are always recorded and uploaded to the course space so you can watch them later.  In addition, if you know you can’t attend live you can send questions in advance for Diana to answer.

The sessions have been designed to be in waking hours for as many people around the world as possible and depending on where you are based, may either take place on a Saturday or a Sunday. Please find below the times and dates in a few different time zones.

• Sat 1st March 12pm PST, 3pm EST, 8pm GMT / Sun 2nd March at 7am AEDT
• Sat 8th March 12pm PST, 3pm EST, 8pm GMT / Sun 9th March at 7am AEDT
• Sat 15th March 1pm PDT, 4pm EDT, 8pm GMT / Sun 16th March at 7am AEDT
• Sat 22nd March 1pm PDT, 4pm EDT, 8pm GMT / Sun 23rd March at 7am AEDT
• Sat 29th March 1pm PDT, 4pm EDT, 8pm GMT / Sun 30th March at 7am AEDT
• Sat 5th April 2pm PDT, 5pm EDT, 10pm BST / Sun 6th April at 7am AEST
• Sat 12th April 2pm PDT, 5pm EDT, 10pm BST / Sun 13th April at 7am AEST