Presenter
Kirsten Nelsen
My background with horses is all over the map, from vaquero-style western riding to classical dressage. What I learned the most through a variety of riding disciplines is how much all horses and all riders have in common, more than the obvious differences.
My work centers around balance, in mind and body, for people and horses. Focusing on what all people and horses have in common on the inside has helped resolve all kinds of training issues on the outside, from fear and unsafe behavior to recovery from lameness and improving performance.
Balance just brings more ease to anything we do with horses. The objective of balance is well-being, with more mental, emotional, and physical ease for people and for the horses we all love.
Because of the Horse...
I learned how to see things from the inside out.
2026 Presentations
Kirsten Nelsen
DAY 1
★ Helping Horses Find Calmness
The simple techniques for helping horses find or restore calmness are use-as-needed and easy to apply anytime, any place. Knowing how to help your horse out of anxiety, tension, distraction or escalating energy and restore a calm, focused state is important for the safety, health and well being of both people and horses. Calm energy and maintaining mental focus indicate outwardly that the nervous system is regulated, in parasympathetic dominance, internally. When the nervous system is primarily in “rest and digest” mode, the outcome is a mind that can learn faster, retain skills, adapt safety in different situations and is more willing to work cooperatively, whether that nervous system is inside a horse or person.
★ Lunging For Balance
There are many ways to lunge horses, but not all of them result in balancing a horse’s mind and body. In order to develop calmness in all gaits, a solid mental focus and develop a balanced coordination we need to look at lunging with a specific focus and adapt as horses make changes. The simple techniques shared in this video help you become more aware of how to guide your horse towards balance, how to guide away from the imbalances of too much or too little and how to help your horse discover ease of motion, with rhythmic gaits that are both self-propelled and self-controlled.
DAY 2
★ Long Reins For Balance
Long Reins as a groundwork technique for developing horses has become almost a lost art. Learning how to use long reins safely and with a direct connection to the horse improves our balance, feel and timing from the ground. Long reins help horses stabilize balance left to right and we can alter the path of travel in order to also encourage hindquarter engagement and lifting the back. Learning to use long reins with a direct feel takes a little more time to master compared to using a surcingle or saddle, but with a direct feel we receive constant information about our horse’s weight distribution in motion and help guide our horse’s coordination into balance.
★ Mounting With Calmness
Mounting safely and gaining a horse’s calm acceptance for a rider is a skill that can take time to develop. This video covers what to look for, how to help your horse focus, when to wait, when to move forward and what to repeat. Mounting as a skill can be broken into many small steps in order to overcome fears, develop confidence, build trust and work in partnership with our horse. It does not matter if the person or horse needs to develop calm confidence, the strategy is the same. Mounting with calmness on a regular basis is what sets up a successful ride, one that is mutually beneficial to both horse and rider.
Get to know
Kirsten Nelsen
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