Intelligent Horsemanship Trainer – Ian Vandenberghe

Ian Vandenberghe & Hartsop Farm

Witney, Oxfordshire
Hartsop Farm is a specialised equine backing and retraining yard
01993 868914 or ian@hartsopfarm.co.uk
www.hartsopfarm.com

About Ian…

Ian Vandenberghe, based at Hartsop Farm, Witney, has a lifetime of equine experience in many areas including; dressage, stud management, foal handling, farriery and performance nutrition. Ian has worked with Monty Roberts & Kelly Marks since 1993; playing a key role in the development of the first ever training courses in Montys methods. He is one of Monty’s ‘Master Instructors’ in his global network; as well as one of Intelligent Horsemanship’s most experienced trainers.

Ian’s considerable expertise are pivotal to the formulation & delivery of training programmes for individual horses at his yard. In addition, Ian is a key instructor on many of IH training courses, most of which are based at Hartsop.

In recent years Ian has reduced his breeding programme to focus mainly on training & re-training work. He retains one stallion ‘Antics’, whose breeding activity supports their very own children’s’ charity set up by Ian and his wife Sandy.

A Q&A with IH Trainer Ian Vandenberghe

(The Intelligent Horsemanship Magazine)

How long have you been involved with horses?

My parents were not horsey but their neighbour had horses and my interest was ignited. The horses were the old-fashioned warmbloods that were much heavier and more versatile than today’s warmbloods. They could be in a riding club competition one day and ploughing the fields the next day, so I gained a huge amount of experience.

How did you become involved with Monty and Kelly?

I first saw Monty in the early 90’s at a demo in Newmarket where we sat on straw bales and Sheik Mohammed was in the audience. I was initially sceptical, as a lot of people were, but I knew the handler who brought in the starter. I managed to ask the handler if the horse had been backed or started before going in the pen with Monty. He confirmed the horse was genuinely unstarted and on the strength of that I thought there must be something in this. Kelly and I also taught together at Abingdon College, before Intelligent Horsemanship existed. In the early days, I was already taking horses in for training, and Kelly and Monty would recommend demonstration horses to be sent to me for further training and support. Then, when the Intelligent Horsemanship courses were developed, I was invited to teach alongside Kelly and everything blossomed from there.

What is a typical day for you?

A typical day will usually start with chauffeuring the foster children to school, then back to the yard to work all of the horses in for training alongside Jake (resident rider at Hartsop Farm and Monty Roberts’ tour rider). Depending on the time of year, there will also be days when I’m teaching on the Intelligent Horsemanship courses.

What’s important to you when you see an owner and their horse for the first time?

A significant number of owners misunderstand their horse. I like to ask the owner questions about their horse and then go and see what the horse is telling me and then see how this information differs. I try to explain to the horse owner how we perceive the behaviour of their horse and how that differs from their perception.