The Highlight of 2026
Days of Learning, Connection and Celebration
It was the highlight of 2026: the 19th EAHAE International Conference in Germany, from August 14 to 16.
In the year in which HorseDream celebrated 30 years of learning with horses, members and friends of the international EAHAE community came together to meet, exchange experiences, learn from one another – and, above all, learn with the horses.
The conference was more than an annual gathering. It became a moment to look back at three decades of development and, at the same time, to look ahead.
Thirty Years of Learning with HorsesWhat started in Germany in 1996 as an experiment with a very simple question has developed into an international approach to experiential learning with horses.
At the conference, we returned to some of the beginnings.
Original video recordings took us back to the first HorseDream corporate seminar in 1997, the first Train the Trainer program in 2004, and the first Partner License Workshop in 2006.
Watching these early moments thirty years later raised an important question:
What has changed – and what has remained?
Methods have developed. Experience has grown. The international community has expanded. New perspectives and approaches have become part of the work.
But at its heart, something has remained remarkably simple:
The horses are the trainers.
They do not need to know our theories, positions or intentions. They respond to what is present in the moment.
And that is where learning begins.
From Doing to Being
One of the themes running through the conference was the movement from doing to being.
Much of professional life is about action: achieving goals, solving problems, making decisions and producing results.
Working with horses opens another dimension.
Before we act, how are we present?
Before we lead, how do we connect?
Before we try to influence others, what are we communicating through our own behavior?
The horses make these questions tangible.
There is no need for them to explain anything. Their reactions create experiences from which participants can develop their own insights.
HorseDream is the shortest way from human doing to human being.
Different Perspectives – One International Community
The conference brought together different perspectives on equine-assisted learning, leadership, coaching, marketing and the development of our profession.
We explored how equine coaching has developed in different countries, how practitioners can communicate what they do without losing their authenticity, and how a passion for this work can become a sustainable professional practice.
The exchange continued beyond presentations and workshops.
Conversations over meals, encounters around the arena, informal discussions and moments with the horses were just as much a part of the conference as the official program.
This has always been one of the strengths of EAHAE:
We do not have to work in exactly the same way in order to learn from one another.
The Horses at the Center
And then there were the horses.
Again and again, the conference returned from words and concepts to direct experience.
Observe.
Connect.
Experiment.
Notice what happens.
Reflect.
Take the experience back into the human world.
The horses did not provide ready-made answers. They created the conditions in which new questions could emerge.
That is the essence of the work we have been developing for thirty years.
We don't use horses. We accept their help.
More Than a Conference
The 19th EAHAE International Conference was embedded in an extraordinary eight-day journey through the HorseDream concept.
From the first observation of the horses to the final Integral HorseMapping, participants experienced different dimensions of horse-assisted learning and explored the system from multiple perspectives.
It was a journey through thirty years of experience – but it was not about recreating the past.
It was about discovering what remains relevant today.
Presence.
Trust.
Clarity.
Connection.
Authenticity.
And the willingness to learn from what happens rather than from what we expected to happen.
The Story Continues
Thirty years after HorseDream began and more than twenty years after the founding of EAHAE International, the conference demonstrated something important:
The idea is still alive because it has never belonged to one person, one method or one country.
It lives through the people who bring their own experience, culture and perspective to the work.
And it lives through the horses.
The 19th EAHAE International Conference was therefore not only a celebration of what has been achieved.
It was another beginning.
Thirty years behind us.
New questions ahead.
And the horses still beside us.
The conference was more than an annual gathering. It became a moment to look back at three decades of development and, at the same time, to look ahead.
Thirty Years of Learning with HorsesWhat started in Germany in 1996 as an experiment with a very simple question has developed into an international approach to experiential learning with horses.
At the conference, we returned to some of the beginnings.
Original video recordings took us back to the first HorseDream corporate seminar in 1997, the first Train the Trainer program in 2004, and the first Partner License Workshop in 2006.
Watching these early moments thirty years later raised an important question:
What has changed – and what has remained?
Methods have developed. Experience has grown. The international community has expanded. New perspectives and approaches have become part of the work.
But at its heart, something has remained remarkably simple:
The horses are the trainers.
They do not need to know our theories, positions or intentions. They respond to what is present in the moment.
And that is where learning begins.
From Doing to Being
One of the themes running through the conference was the movement from doing to being.
Much of professional life is about action: achieving goals, solving problems, making decisions and producing results.
Working with horses opens another dimension.
Before we act, how are we present?
Before we lead, how do we connect?
Before we try to influence others, what are we communicating through our own behavior?
The horses make these questions tangible.
There is no need for them to explain anything. Their reactions create experiences from which participants can develop their own insights.
HorseDream is the shortest way from human doing to human being.
Different Perspectives – One International Community
The conference brought together different perspectives on equine-assisted learning, leadership, coaching, marketing and the development of our profession.
We explored how equine coaching has developed in different countries, how practitioners can communicate what they do without losing their authenticity, and how a passion for this work can become a sustainable professional practice.
The exchange continued beyond presentations and workshops.
Conversations over meals, encounters around the arena, informal discussions and moments with the horses were just as much a part of the conference as the official program.
This has always been one of the strengths of EAHAE:
We do not have to work in exactly the same way in order to learn from one another.
The Horses at the Center
And then there were the horses.
Again and again, the conference returned from words and concepts to direct experience.
Observe.
Connect.
Experiment.
Notice what happens.
Reflect.
Take the experience back into the human world.
The horses did not provide ready-made answers. They created the conditions in which new questions could emerge.
That is the essence of the work we have been developing for thirty years.
We don't use horses. We accept their help.
More Than a Conference
The 19th EAHAE International Conference was embedded in an extraordinary eight-day journey through the HorseDream concept.
From the first observation of the horses to the final Integral HorseMapping, participants experienced different dimensions of horse-assisted learning and explored the system from multiple perspectives.
It was a journey through thirty years of experience – but it was not about recreating the past.
It was about discovering what remains relevant today.
Presence.
Trust.
Clarity.
Connection.
Authenticity.
And the willingness to learn from what happens rather than from what we expected to happen.
The Story Continues
Thirty years after HorseDream began and more than twenty years after the founding of EAHAE International, the conference demonstrated something important:
The idea is still alive because it has never belonged to one person, one method or one country.
It lives through the people who bring their own experience, culture and perspective to the work.
And it lives through the horses.
The 19th EAHAE International Conference was therefore not only a celebration of what has been achieved.
It was another beginning.
Thirty years behind us.
New questions ahead.
And the horses still beside us.