How To Choose An Online Horse Course - ForTheHorse

How To Choose An Online Horse Course

Have you ever taken an online horse course and you felt like you're further behind than when you started the course?

Have you taken an online course and registered for it, paid for it, and never actually finished?

How about....

Have you enrolled in an online program or a course been giving things to do, but it just made you feel "less than" or more "not good enough" than when you started?

...it made you feel like you couldn't do it?!

I want to share with you some common mistakes that I see riders making when they take online courses, where the online piece actually starts, and how to get results with your horse... even if you don't consider yourself to be a talented rider, and  what specifically you need to look for in an online course.

In our Harmony For the Horse Program we offer a multi-disciplinary program that is deeply customized to you and your horse to help you to achieve an everlasting transformation with your horse partner.

CLICK HERE to discover more about how we can help you to reach freedom, achievement, oneness and joy that you most seek with your horse.

#1.  Choose A Program Rather Than A Course


The number one mistake that I see riders making is that they choose piecemeal. So if you get nothing else out of this training that I'm doing here today, don't choose piecemeal.

So for example, topics might be:  "How to do lead changes", or "How to do pole exercises".

This is where a rider will choose a piecemeal approach to working with here horse. I would rather you look for and what's going to be more beneficial for you and that is to choose a program.

Choose a program, which means choosing a school or a program, or somewhere that has a system to it.

And the system is better if it's multidisciplinary, covering several different disciplines like mindset, technique, horse psychology.

And make sure there is a natural progression throughout the program. This is a program that anyone has taken the time to sort out what the steps are. And it's a natural progression in a deliberate fashion for you to follow.

We have a whole library of trainings, free trainings, if you would like to access some of those, just like if you put in the notes for me. Just let me know, "I'm struggling with ___________", then we'll get back to you and give you the link to a training that I've already done that's free. It's in our library for people to access. 

#2.  Learning To Ride Online Is Possible


I've seen it work, I have students who are doing it and they're very successful with what they're doing. 

I have seen our students go from being fearful, making excuses not to ride, getting hurt all the time, lacking confidence and feeling like a complete failure to absolutely loving their life, loving the relationships that they have in their life and really frankly, I didn't think, that some of the students that I'm seeing the results they're getting now, I wouldn't have believed it's possible.

But it's true. They're doing it. They're looking forward to their riding. They are understanding dressage better and understanding it, with excitement.

#3.  Where Does The Online Course Start?


If you're learning through an online program, where do you think it actually starts?

How it starts for me and for my students is by showing you HOW not just what to do, not just giving you a bunch of videos to do certain poll exercises, and you can now set the polls up this way and go over this way...

That's what to do...that's not how.

Where the actual online piece starts is by showing you how, just like I'm doing here, in this training.

I'm showing you how to choose an online program.

It's not just stuff to do all the time, and then try it on your own, see how it works. And "okay, I feel lousy because it didn't really work". 

Another example...

If you have a horse that has anxiety, "I can't calm my horse down". "I lack the confidence to be able to call my horse down". If that's something that you're struggling with. You need a program that's actually going to show you how to get your horse calm.

To find out what is the cause of what's happening. Dig deep into finding out why that is happening first.

Then how do we change that?

How do we give comfort?

How we be comforted?

How do I really get there?

What are the steps for me to get there? 

It's starts with recognizing also, that it's not going to be easy.

My students in our program work very hard at what they're doing, my students work really hard at getting the results that they're getting, it's not going to be easy, but you know what it is?

It's simple, and it's clear.

If you can find a program that is very simple, very clear, step by step that holds you and takes you along the journey. That's what you're looking for.

#4.  Deeply Customized


Even if you consider yourself not a talented rider or a talented rider, to get results you need individual attention.

You're not going to get results with just having a piecemeal course do on your own time and you have no support - you need individual specific attention for you and for your horse.

Because we are all unique, having a blanket approach will not work, will not get you the transformation that you are looking for, the transformation where you can understand yourself better, and therefore understand your horse better, and have it be everlasting.

#5.  Everlasting Transformation


We want an everlasting transformation for ourselves.

And therefore a program that honors you and honors your horse. 

If it doesn't do that, then you're not going to get your transformation that you're looking for.

CLICK HERE to discover more about how we can help you to reach freedom, achievement, oneness and joy that you most seek with your horse.


In our program we go very deeply customized into the mindset, into riding techniques, into exercises, unlimited help desk support...

You have my life's work that I've done, access to that, in perpetuity.

And going deep is where the gold is doing stuff on the surface is only going to get you a small fraction of the way, you're just going to get to maybe one little step but actually going deep. That's where the gold is. That's where you make the actual connections.

And I know if you're here, that's what you want with your horse.

You want an actual connection with yourself, with your learning, with your abilities, with your style, your uniqueness and actual connection with yourself, and the connection with your horse.

#6.  Someone With Experience


So you want to look specifically for someone who's done it before, someone who's been there, where you want to go.

Not only have they been there and done that before (because they may have gotten there intuitively or through a natural talent and not really know how to communicate that or explain it and to educate) but someone who's done it before AND who is able to explain that and who is able to communicate and educate.

You want someone, also who is like you further along from you in the journey.

Choosing someone to study with or a program, an intensive program with someone who is not at all like you that you don't resonate with won't work. 

Choosing or example, a 300 pound man would not work for me. I'm a woman, I'm a small person, the things that I need to do with horses are different from what that other person would do with horses, how that person becomes successful is different.

How a man approaches things is different from how a woman approaches things with horses.

So you want to look for someone who is like you and further ahead on the timeline than you are.

You also want to look for someone in a program who can shorten the timeline, who can shorten your journey, make your time that you spend less so they can collapse time for you and you can get it sooner.

...someone who has distilled their success, their knowledge and everything that they do, and then created a process. It's no sense just mimicking what somebody else does, and not having the process behind it. 

And we all know that short horses have relatively long life spans but... Life is short you never know with a horse when something's going to happen.

 Something instantly something tragedy can happen an injury can happen, you never know when that's going to happen.

So you want to shorten your time that you spend to as short as possible so you can get results and success and transformation sooner. And you want to look for someone who was in the trenches doing this workshop all the time, not someone who's done it 30 years ago, perhaps or even centuries ago, not actively working all the time now.

So someone who's actually in the trenches with horses, doing it, working on it, because I believe that things change universally, there are principles that we follow, but like science, it changes, there are certain things that don't change.

But there are things that can change and will change because of the universe and what's happening in the universe, someone who's working actively with horses all the time.

BONUS:  This is a bonus if you can find someone who has rehabbed horses in the past, because as I mentioned, you never know when your horse is going to get injured, or why the horse is injured.

But if you can find a program and work with someone who has rehabbed horses, they have a wealth of knowledge in this not about winning ribbons or awards. But when you can actually rehab a horse from injury, This is very real, this is true.

And this is where knowledge really resides when you brought a horse back from an injury through correct training that reinforces it in your mind and your body.

And that's the knowledge you want to tap into. That's the excellence that you want to tap into, if that's what you're looking for, you're in the right place, because that's what our program is all about.

If that resonates with you, click on that link to apply to work with us. Like I said, I only work with five people maximum at any one time. So there's a lot of attention to you, to your uniqueness. If you have any questions you can put questions in for me. 

CLICK HERE to schedule a call with us!

About the Author Chris Adderson

Chris Adderson teaches riders and horses how to move with ease and grace to create astounding results and lifelong relationships of their dreams. She teaches valuable skills and educational strategies to help you re-ignite your ultimate confidence and self-belief so that your horse willingly partners with you, in lightness, and then helps you establish a step by step plan and strategy to support your growth together. This will leave you feeling confident, capable and available to step into your genius as a rider to serve your horse.

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  • johanna says:

    Hi Chris. I’m very interested in your online harmony program. Do you have an outline of the scope of lessons, what’s included and costs that you could send me? Thank you.

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