Welcome to
the Relationship and Riding Partnership of Your Dreams with Horses
the Relationship and Riding Partnership of Your Dreams with Horses
Empowering you to be the best you
can be for your horse.
This is no ordinary path. It is an extraordinary process,
producing the Beste results for you and your horse.
Welcome to the Mastery Relationship, Ground and Riding Foundation Program (MFP), where we believe
the relationship, regulation, and harmony between horse and rider are paramount to training.
There are many reasons why the MFP works for all horses. For starters, it's method teaches you how
to assess your horse so you can meet them where they are. This is so important to developing the level
of trust and safety horses need to want to engage, interact, connect and forge deep
and meaningful relationships with us.
The program teaches you about strategy, approach and technique so you learn which one works best
for you and your horse during the training process. This is how you personalize the experience, creating learning (training) that is positive, enjoyable and motivating - your horse wants more!
The programs training system offers a holistic, comprehensive and progressive (step-by-step) curriculum
that is designed to teach you how to develop your horsemanship and your horse together - as one in heart (relationship), mind (thought) and body (movement).
It doesn't matter where you are on your journey, your level of experience, or your age. The program is designed to work for every horse and equestrian, empowering you to reach the relationship
and riding partnership of your dreams together every step of the way.
And, last but not least, it offers a complete education, riding foundation, teaching you everything Caroline
knows about horses and training - from relationship-building to behavior, rehab to recovery, approach
and technique, problem-solving (strategies that work for the horse, not against them), horse care to handling, management, nutrition, young horse development, groundwork, in-hand work, the art of lunging, liberty biomechanics, starting and re-starting, the art of horsemanship (riding), beginner to 2nd-level dressage -
bitless and bareback (pad), if you so choose.
It's that comprehensive; it covers it all.
The learning journey begins with the MFP's three training fundamentals, the cornerstone of its success.
3 Pillars of Training
The Mastery Foundation Program™ offers a clear and effective path for all horses and equestrians.
It achieves this through its comprehensive and in-depth education, combining a holistic approach with emerging science and classical horsemanship. Combined, these teachings create the relationship,
ground and riding foundation needed to develop you and your horse together
in true partnership, naturally, easily, and harmoniously.
Holism
Feel and Think as One™
Holism is about considering the whole horse and rider - the emotional, mental, physical and spiritual aspects of well-being, balance and happiness.
Holism teaches you how to be a horse listener so you can read, understand and assess your horse's well-being in every interaction and training.
Science
Where Evidence Supports Data
The #1 rule to developing horses is regulation. An unregulated horse is a disconnected horse - in heart, mind and body.
The program provides advanced knowledge in the science of movement, behavioral research and neuroscience, providing you with a comprehensive education in equine behavior, psychology, instincts and physiology.
Classical Training
Ride as One™
Develop the level of riding partnership with your horse where you feel as one,
think as one and move as one.
The program merges natural horsemanship, biomechanics, and classical training with a
holistic approach to developing, training, re-training and refining horses.
Upon full payment, you receive immediate and lifetime access to everything,
and a personal email from Caroline inviting you to schedule
an introduction and walk-through.
The Mastery Foundation Program offers it all.
The program will take you and your horse on a journey that will profoundly
transform your relationship, partnership, and training forever.
For over 25 years, Caroline has brought her highly successful methods to thousands of horses and
people from varying disciplines and backgrounds, helping them achieve the relationship and
riding partnership of their dreams with horses.
One of the things that separates her experience from most professional trainers is her work
with wild horses and traumatized horses.
Working with wild horses is like working with an untainted, unhandled foal. They are a clean slate; everything they do is emotionally regulated, natural, healthy, and honest.
Until we get our hands on them.
In Caroline's experience, 98% of our domesticated horses are damaged on some level. This is because
our training industry teaches us the wrong way to train, re-train, and handle horses.
Instead of working with the horse's nature, needs, and instincts, we've been taught to work against them,
forcing them to comply with our industry standards as machines, not sentient beings.
Damaged horses are emotionally dysregulated from too much stress, pressure, mechanics, and repetition.
They can no longer think, connect, or focus on us or the work. This is why they need rehabilitation before training to learn how to self-regulate, connect, and focus.
This is where 98% of you are. Your horse's nervous systems are dysregulated on some level.
That's why you're experiencing what you are experiencing. This means if your horse is one or more
of the following, they are dysregulated: reactive, spooky, tense, dull, hard to catch, doesn't like to be touched, bites, kicks, stressed with vets, farriers, new environments, change, restless, preoccupied,
can't focus or stand still, can't connect, tense under saddle, pushes through contact, avoids aids,
bucks, rears, bolts, tosses its head, jigs on the trail, doesn't do well with other horses,
can't socialize, food aggressive, aggressive, shuts down, unconfident.
And what about you? Do you fear riding, handling or feel disconnected from your horse?
Maybe you feel lost in your horsemanship and don't know where to begin developing the relationship
and riding partnership. Or perhaps you want more skills, deeper connection, and better riding,
but you need to learn how to refine and need a personalized roadmap to help you reach
your and your horse's potential.
You're in the Beste place! The Mastery Foundation Program (MFP) is designed to help horses and equestrians, wherever they are, reach their potential together.
It achieves this by teaching you how to work with your horse, not against them so that you can meet them
where they need to be met, reset their nervous system so they can regulate,
and develop them into a confident learner and partner.
Caroline's experience and expertise resulted in the creation of her apprenticeship program called
Tao of Horsemanship™, a model she pioneered in 2008 and now teaches online in her MFP.
The program is 100% effective because it fuses a holistic approach, science, and classical training. The holistic approach works best for horses and humans because it personalizes the experience with
your horse as you learn who they are and what they need as individuals, learners, and partners.
This is the secret to Caroline's fantastic success with horses and why her program can take any horse and equestrian and develop them entirely from the inside out, rehab to recovery, ground to riding,
start to finish, beginner to pro.
While you're developing your horse, you will learn how to work with your horse's nature, needs,
and natural agility without harsh or painful equipment, excessive pressure, aids, submission, or force.
This means you learn how to develop yourself, your horsemanship, and your horse together using a
holistic approach combined with the latest science and classical training —
to 2nd-level dressage, bitless, and bareback if you choose.
In addition, the program teaches an advanced understanding of horse care, management, handling, training, and re-training, emphasizing connection, communication, feel and timing, correct biomechanics,
technique, the equine nervous system, and riding in true, consensual partnership.
Caroline infuses her classical training throughout the in-hand, lunging, and riding lessons.
Her trained eye teaches you how to develop your and your horse's movement through biomechanics
and calisthenics. This is how Caroline teaches you to embody your horse's movement on the ground first so you can transfer that connection to riding and Ride as One™.
You will also gain advanced knowledge in the science of movement, behavioral research, the equine nervous system, and neuroscience, thus gaining a comprehensive education in equine behavior, psychology, instincts, and physiology.
It's that comprehensive; it covers it all.
8 Modules of Foundation
Creating a relationship and riding foundation that will last forever.
The program's training system consists of eight powerful and proven areas designed to develop
a solid, well-rounded, connected relationship, ground, and riding foundation.
These modules are the foundation and cornerstone of the program's proven success for horses
and equestrians. They represent a well-rounded, comprehensive, inclusive education
designed to develop a lasting foundation.
A lasting foundation means walking away for weeks, months, and years and picking up
where you left off with your horse.
This means no more mindless lunging and riding because your horse is "hot". When you work holistically, you simultaneously exercise the mind, emotions, and body, producing a calm,
relaxed and balanced horse.
In addition, the training system provides a comprehensive curriculum, including a detailed table of contents, hundreds of step-by-step instructional and problem-solving videos, presentations,
Q&A webinars, podcasts, worksheets, and a manual (study guide).
While the curriculum's step-by-step lessons are layered with education and skill-building techniques, they are also designed as a path for exploration, growth, personalization,
problem-solving, and thinking outside the box.
It doesn't get any better than this!
A virtual one-stop educational center for everything horses and more!
No more wasting your time and money on training that isn’t
aligned with you and your horse.
Invest in this program, and you will be making the Beste investment in yourself, your horsemanship, and your horse's health, soundness, and happiness.
What’s Included
A personalized apprenticeship program.
The program includes 12 courses and over 500 video lessons; 300 step-by-step videos comprise
the core curriculum.
The core curriculum's lessons are detailed with theory, application, and problem-solving strategies,
providing the critical building blocks needed to develop the safest and most solid relationship,
liberty, ground, lunging, and riding foundation.
Its design makes the educational system so powerful and works so well.
Each lesson has been designed as a building block for the next to follow, meaning each lesson
builds upon the preceding lesson's principles and skills. This helps ensure that both horse and rider
build the level of foundation required for the skills needed to pursue higher levels of
education, connection, and partnership.
Remember, foundations last a lifetime.
In addition to the hundreds of step-by-step video lessons, you receive the following:
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Welcome/Intro Section
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Table of Contents, 12 pages - it’s that huge!
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Manual/Study guide
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Practice Work Sheets
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Supplemental Reading Material/Articles by Leading professionals
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2-years of Weekly Recorded Q&A Webinars & Table of Contents
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Short Courses
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Unedited Clinics
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Problem Solving Courses
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Open Forum, questions answered by Caroline personally
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Private Facebook Group – join students of like-mind from around the World!
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FREE Mobile App to take your lessons on the go!
There's nothing else out there this complete, transformational, and professional.
COURSE DETAIL
The following courses comprise the core curriculum and offer the support needed to develop you, your horsemanship, and your horse together from the inside out, rehab to recovery, ground to riding, start to finish, beginner to pro.
This means it starts with the inside of you and your horse. Then, it helps you learn who your horse is, its nature and behaviors, whether it is regulated (confident) or dysregulated (unconfident), and how to use a holistic approach
to reading (assessing) and understanding your horse so you can connect and communicate clearly.
You are then guided through the curriculum, where you will learn how to develop, train, or rehab your horse
so they become happy, confident partners who choose you and want to learn with you.
In addition to developing you into the partner and leader your horse needs and wants, the program is designed to create a well-rounded, skilled, versatile horse and rider—to second-level dressage bitless and bareback.
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Intro
Preparation is key!
This section comprises over 50 written, video and audio lessons and your study guides.
It is packed full of education, including, but not limited to, study guides (your manual), slide shows, theory, principles of training, podcasts, and inspirational videos about what you can achieve when you complete the program.
Course 1
Spirituality of Horsemanship
This course comprises over 30 written,
video and audio lessons.
This course is about a way of being and working together. It is the foundation of Caroline’s work and is the "glue" that binds horses and humans in everything
they do together.
Course 2
Tao Training System
This course comprises approximately 200 lessons and 30 worksheets.
This course is the most comprehensive and expands on the first course, diving deeper and offering the necessary building blocks of knowledge and skill to develop the
ground and riding foundation.
Art of Lunging
Pilates for You & Your Horse
This course includes 17 lessons.
Many things are designed to happen simultaneously here. While you are learning how to develop your horse’s movement,
before you ride it, you are learning how
to embody energy and rhythm so you
can train your body to ride it.
In addition, you are developing a deeper feel and timing of your aids, connection, energy alignment, communication, and regulation.
Course 3
Problem-solving Strategies
This course comprises over 25 video lessons.
This course provides more insight and education and shows you how to resolve
some of the most difficult challenges that arise when rehabbing, learning, and training.
This course follows the curriculum, providing support, insight, and strategies for the most complicated lessons.
Course 4
Holistic Horse Care
& Wellness Guide
This course includes 17 lessons and supplemental reading.
This guide offers a holistic perspective and approach to horse care, health, wellness, and well-being. Caroline provides you with personal experience and time-tested results ranging from all-natural nutrition, saddle fitting, and farrier to chiropractic, lameness, nutrition, equine emotions, transportation, trailering, and so much more!
Course 5
Connection & Communication Workshop
This course comprises three days and over 25 hours of unedited filming of Caroline, her students, and their horses.
This workshop shows you how to apply the program's first course's theory and lessons to any horse, helping dysregulated and
distrustful horses become more
regulated and trusting.
Course 6
Riding as One™
(Art of Connected Riding)
This course comprises two days and over 18 hours of unedited filming of Caroline, her students, and their horses.
This course covers lunging and riding in the program and shows Caroline working with students in real-time as they go through the lunging, permission to get on, and riding lessons.
Course 7
Contact & Suppling
This course is approximately one hour long.
This course may only be an hour long, and it's packed full of approaches and techniques that you won't find anywhere else!
Students learn the importance of feel and timing when it comes to asking your horse to trust your contact and give. Horses learn how to trust and soften into contact.
Suppling is done both in-hand and riding and bitless.
Course 8
Saddle Fitting & Topline Evaluation
This course is approximately an hour long.
Like the suppling course, Caroline offers her expertise a common sense approach and breaks down both the topline
evaluation and saddle fitting so it's
easy to understand.
Course 9
Re-starting the Traumatized
Riding Horse
This course includes 10 video lessons.
This course shows you how to apply what you're learning in the program to an older horse who is not confident being ridden and is prone to freezing, bolting, and bucking.
Caroline shows you how to work on the ground first, get permission to mount, and keep the process slow and connected.
Course 10
Starting the Young Horse
This course comprises 6 lessons, supplemental reading, and 4 podcasts.
This course talks (podcasts) about how and where to begin with a foal to a young horse.
It also includes a short course on starting a yearling (Blue) and how to apply what you're learning in the program, the first steps, and the first few days of training.
Course 11
Supplemental Reading
This course includes approximately 38 published articles, some of which were
written by Caroline.
Topics range from bitless to barefoot, trauma, and training. Tao training philosophy, how the brain works, equine intelligence, energy,
and healing.
Course 12
Recorded Q&A Webinars
This course includes 2 years of weekly recorded Q&A webinars with MFP students, over 100 recordings.
The webinars are unedited, with many lasting up to 3 hours each. They are a great resource for enlightenment and problem-solving.They are detailed, covering the lessons, courses, everything horses, and more.
There's More!
New material is added yearly.
Caroline loves to learn. She is a forever student of both horses and humans and is always looking for ways to make learning easier for both, especially the horse.
This means you can expect new
material added that will enhance you and your horse's learning journey.
What Sets the MFP Apart From the Rest?
#1 Spiritual
The MFP offers a personalized learning journey for both you and your horse that embodies spirituality and personal exploration and growth.
This journey is unique to each two and four-legged student and what makes the learning journey special, meaningful and enriching for both.
#2 Holistic
While the program teaches you basic to advanced mechanics, skills and biomechanics, the holistic approach is what makes the connection and level of communication clear and possible between horse
and human. This is what makes the learning experience for both so inspiring, positive, motivating - your horse looks forward to learning.
#3 Scientific
Caroline is an expert in rehabilitation. She knows what's needed first and foremost to training, and unfortunately too often it's not about relationship or connection. Most horses need self regulation first
so they can be open
to relationship and connection.
You will also learn the science of movement, and neuroscience, providing you with a comprehensive education in equine behavior, psychology, instincts and physiology.
#4 Classical
Caroline teaches a way of riding that is parralell to none. Combining classical training (she is a certified Working Equitation instructor) with the theory and practices of energy alignment, Caroline teaches you how to ride as one with your horse in heart-coherence, thought
and movement.
Her knowledge of classical training provides a training system that teaches you how to develop you and your horse's potential without compromising integrity, well-being
or spirit.
Caroline Beste
Founder, Teacher & Educator
Hi! A little about me:) I am an international clinician, certified Working Equitation Instructor, relationship, rehab, and riding foundation specialist.
I was a featured clinician at the major horse world expos from 2009 to 2015.
I have also published articles and am featured as one of Feedspot's top 50 podcasters.
I am globally recognized for my holistic approach, cutting-edge science, and classical training for the whole horse and rider.
I offer the largest, most comprehensive, and holistic online educational platform, The Tao of Horsemanship Academy. It hosts a variety of courses
and in-person programs produced and personally taught by Caroline and her schoolmasters.
Additionally, my podcast, Everything Horses & More!, is just as informative, engaging, and filled with heart-warming stories, nuggets of wisdom, and inspiration.
I live with my husband, stepson, and animal family on our 20-acre farm, where we enjoy cooking, gardening, nature, and the outdoors.
Choose Your Package
All three packages include the whole program (all 12 courses).
Like you, our community is filled with equestrians who want the Beste for their horses.
If this resonates with you we would be delighted to have you join our global community of equestrians!
GOLD
Includes Lifetime Access to:
Everything in the
MasteryMembership™ Program!
(Program alone is valued at $2,148)
+
1 BONUS Course
(Course is valued at $497)
$2,645 VALUE
PACKAGE PRICE: $1,999
SAVE
$646
PLATINUM
Includes Lifetime Access to:
Everything in the
MasteryMembership™ Program!
(Program alone is valued at $2,148)
+
5 BONUS Courses
(Courses valued at $2,985 total)
Bitless, Balanced, Confident Rider Course
OTTB (any horse) Retraining Course
Young Horse Retraining Course
Taming the Wild Horse Course
Video Library & Monthly Coaching
$5,133 VALUE
PACKAGE PRICE: $2,999
SAVE
$2,134
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Will more lessons or courses be added in the future?Yes, new lessons are added to the program each year, and in the form of a closer perspective, or break down, of the lessons already provided.
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How long will it take me to develop my horse’s ground and riding skills using your program?For the average horse owner, who owns 1-3 horses, you can satisfactorily complete the entire program in 2 years. This means you would need to work 3-5 sessions a week and with the easiest horse first. The more challenging the horse, the more you will need to learn and know. The program offers it all and in stages. First, you must learn the basics, which the program teaches you. Once you develop the first level of foundation, you can dive deeper into the lessons and method, learning what you need to specialize in rehabbing and retraining, as well as refinement and advanced liberty and riding.
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Does this program work with traditional training and disciplines?No, and yes. The program offers an entirely new and different methodology for developing horses, with a focus on ethical, pain-free training, building blocks, compassion, patience, and consensual partnership. This means NO bits, spurs, excessive aids, force, or stress. Should you enjoy competing and showing and want a better training and learning experience for you and your horse, this method will enhance your current situation and increase your horse's desire to be with and work with you.
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Does this program work for older horses?Yes. While some older horses are jaded and can take longer to learn new ways of being, doing and perceiving, some learn faster, it just depends on the horse’s nature and nurture (experience), temperament and learned behaviors. The program teaches you how to figure all of this out.
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What is the difference between your holistic training method (program) and natural horsemanship?The Dream Riding Partnership Program's (DRPP) holistic horsemanship training creates real, authentic connection, whereas natural horsemanship creates mechanics. The DRPP's method focuses on four holistic guiding principles designed to create a deep and lasting level of connection, communication, consensual partnership, and safety. They are, in this order, attunement, grounding, energy connection, and dwell time. In addition to the 4 guiding principles, DRPP's method includes the science of coherence and regulation, which is the key to ensuring the horse's well-being, fostering a sense of empathy, and achieving a successful training process without force, excessive pressure, or submission. Too often, natural horsemanship and general horsemanship practices are founded on the principles of pressure and release, repetition, and force. In horses, this creates a dysregulated nervous system, flight/fight response, or learned helplessness. In the end, holistic horsemanship teaches you a compassionate and natural way to work with horses.
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Does this program offer certification?The Dream Riding Partnership Program is an apprenticeship program for students wanting to become certified. Passing the program with excellence is the first step to achieving certification at the foundation level. Should you be interested in more information, please contact caroline@taoofhorsemanship.com.
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Does this program work for all horses and riders?Yes. The program is about foundation and finesse. When you have a solid and correct ground and riding foundation, you and your horse can maintain and progress easily. Without a solid foundation you will have gaps, holes, stagnation, and continued challenges. The program accomplishes this by combining the core teachings of classical horsemanship, holistic horsemanship and the latest science. When combined the following philosophies and practices create what we all seek in ourselves and in our equine partners: a well-adjusted, well-balanced, confident, and agile learner and athlete.
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Can I use this course to re-train or rehabilitate a horse?Yes. The program focuses on teaching you how to assess, learn and rebuild your horse while developing a safe and solid ground and riding foundation.
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Do you have certified instructors?No, not currently. Caroline Beste is the only person certified to teach in her method.
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Can I start a young horse or weanling with this program?Yes. The program begins with bonding rituals, relationship building, developing authentic connection and conversation. These areas create the foundation of trust and confidence needed in our young horses to be confident and open learners moving forward.
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What type of access do I have?Upon full payment, you have immediate and lifetime access to everything. You can also access the program from any device, anytime and anywhere there is reliable internet.
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How does this program work for show horses?While the program can enhance any performance horse and rider, it’s core beliefs and practices are not aligned with traditional training methods. It is an ethical and compassionate training program and does not endorse pain, pressure and release tactics, excessive aids, bits, spurs, or force when training or developing horses as professional athletes and performers.
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What is an FAQ section?An FAQ section can be used to quickly answer common questions about you or your business, such as “Where do you ship to?”, “What are your opening hours?” or “How can I book a service?” It’s a great way to help people navigate your site and can even boost your site’s SEO.