Horse Behavior Specialist
Eddy Modde
Because so many people have told me:
“You’re my last hope”…
… I offer my knowledge and 20+ years of experience to help your horse (and you) to find a more balanced state of mind so emotions won’t get in the way of anything you want to do together with your horse.
I use all principles I know from my career as Natural Horsemanship professional and added my own insight and intuition. The goal is to help your horse find different solutions than the programmed behavior that they are showing. Programmed by instinct … or programmed by all humans that have handled your horse since it was born.
I have loaded more than 1500 into trailers. You could say this is my specialty. You can download my FREE e-book on trailer loading & how horses learn here.
How?
Almost all unwanted behavior can be solved with very basic communication. The most important ingredients are the amount, direction and the timing of the energy you use. Extreme important is knowing when to stop and do nothing, so your horse has time to digest mentally what just happened and let go of any emotion that came up. Even though what I do looks very physical, everything is energy, (personal) space and time. You need to have patience…without patience, it will take longer. For the horse to be able to re-balance himself mentally, emotionally and physically, the human needs to be as centered, calm and assertive as possible. Use clear communication that a horse can understand. If they don’t understand, they will get insecure or become dull or walk all over you.
Where?
I can come to your horse if you live in Belgium or the Netherlands. Other countries are optional. Contact me to discus possibilities.
I usually get asked for rare or difficult cases. Maybe that’s why I was often people’s last hope. But please don’t wait until your horses behavior has become too extreme. Call on me at any stage.
Follow me to know when I will be where and save on travel costs.
Read this blog post to learn about a great project getting three stallions ready to travel from a French island to Belgium.
Options and Costs?
private sessions start at 50 euro excluding travel costs.
Clinic
Up to 4 or 6 horses can come to one, good location so we can do a clinic where I work with the different horses. Owners can spectate and learn from the different cases. You can ask questions and I can share theory if you want.
Costs? Other countries? Video coaching?
Other suggestions and ideas? Contact me
Follow me on Instagram or e-mail me to know where I am and save on travel costs.
FAQ
Do I teach a program?
No, but I will help you with what you need to know to be able to solve the problem you had. There are many others that do. Of course I recommend following the Parelli program, close to the source. I can also recommend the Get Good With Horses Courses by Zoe Coade. We both studied intensively with Parelli and made it to the instructor program.
Do I ride your horse?
No, but I can coach you with many things while you are in the saddle.
Can you coach me with the first rides of my young horse?
No, unfortunately, my experience is that this doesn’t give a desired result. The reason is timing. In the saddle you respond to the feeling and energy much quicker than from eye-sight . If I stand on the ground and you need to tell me how it feels, or by the time I see something is off and before you are able to respond appropriately to what I tell you to do…. the timing will be much too late for your young horse. Or you will need to use too much force. Timing is very important, but this is only possible when you feel what happens and you know what you are doing. It can result in a dull young horse or even rearing and bucking. Find somebody well educated and experience. A good start is very important.
Do you work with foals?
Oooh, yes please. If your foal grows up with a lot of human contact, you better program it right. Most people don’t realize they are programming behavior based on human (body) language instead of horse language. Many problems arise later from what the foal has learned from humans. Let them learn the horse language among horses of all ages in a herd.
My opinion on sports and competition?
Great, if… the reason for doing it is fun for both you and your horse. Forget about wanting to ‘win’. Why compare yourself to others or worry about what a judge thinks of you that day. Focus on the connection and communication with your horse and you’ll have the best experience anytime, anywhere. Win-win for you AND your horse. Impress your horse, not others.
Any other question?
Ask me
About me
My name is Eddy Modde, born in 1972 on a farm in the south west of the Netherlands. My first love was music and our dog. We had cattle, but no horses.
I’ve always been sensitive to energy, but didn’t know what to do with it, except express it through playing guitar. I never had the gift of gab, more the quiet introvert type. But connection to nature and animals came natural to me. Horses came later into my life…along with a girlfriend at that time.
I had my first horse riding lesson at the age of 19. Didn’t like the method, but I had a strong feeling there was a lot more to learn and understand to get a true connection with this amazing creature.
After some dressage and western lessons, I found more clarity in Natural Horsemanship. This became extreme when I got into Parelli Natural Horsemanship during a backpacking trip in Australia at the age of 26. Everything started to make sense very quickly and I also knew early on that I wanted to become a certified Parelli instructor. I made it to 3-star Parelli professional and was the only instructor in the Netherlands for about 8 years. Busy 7 days a week with lots of traveling and investing in the future. In 2009 I had to make a choice between burnout or sabbatical.
I completely turned my life around …. out of the rat-race. I’m very happy I did and grateful for the life I live now.
I never went back to the professional Parelli program. The program had evolved into something that didn’t resonate with me anymore. All the principles I had learned still are very true. I have never met a horse that didn’t respond to it. Every method is as good as you are. I am very grateful for everything Pat Parelli and his senior instructors have taught me. The horse itself is the best teacher and many of them even more. I have traveled the world and met many very nice people and horses. I know I am not done learning, there are always new cases with special horses (and people).
I do hope you will also Listen to my music below. In this blog post you can also see a video of my song Horse Reflections.