Do I need knowledge of anatomy? No anatomical experience is required for Module One.  It's helpful to know the common names of the parts of the horse (ie. poll, fetlock, stifle, etc.) and as you progress through the levels you will surely want to familiarize yourself with the names and functions of many equine muscles, so you feel comfortable navigating and referencing the more advanced EHS Protocols. In the course Manual Eleanor provides a bibliography of resources that she recommends for your independent study between modules.

Do I need to have any previous training?  The minimum requirement is that you already have enough horse experience to be safe working around and close to horses. Most of our students have already invested in learning some (or several) sorts of equine therapy or hands-on modality for helping horses, but are still looking for that 'missing link' to really helping horses get reliable results that really last, and without hurting their own body in the process. About 1/3 of our students are horse owners who want to solve their own horse(s) problems, and the rest are equine industry professionals with backgrounds including: DVMs, Osteopaths, Naturopaths or other alternative practitioners and equine bodyworkers of various modalities who are wanting to add a new tool to their skillset, or equine science students interested in beginning a new career as Equine Hanna Somatics Educators.

Do I need to have a computer? Yes, or one available to use. The Equine Hanna Somatics Professional Training Program is offered online through live Zoom trainings, videos, downloads and assessments. During the training, you must be able to be present live on Zoom during the morning 'classroom' sessions, and live via Zoom with a wifi connection with your horse during the afternoon sessions. There are no recordings. 

Do I need to have a horse to work with? Yes!  During the afternoon sessions of the live Zoom training you'll need to have a horse so you can practice the techniques with Eleanor and Alissa's virtual supervision. (If no horses are available, it is possible to use a dog.  The dog would need to be able to stay still for you to work with.??)

Are there any physical requirements? While the goal of EHS is to invite the horses to participate in moving their own bodies during our sessions, you will still be moving and bending/squatting near your horse and need to keep yourself safe, so some physical capabilities are required. As long as you are physically comfortable and feel safe picking up horses' front and back legs, you'll be fine.

Is Travel required? No, travel is not required.  All three Modules are currently offered online only.

Tuition for each module is $1000 USD. A sliding scale option from $750-1000 is available for those with financial hardships, and may be requested in writing after you are accepted into the program.

To secure your space in the next module and apply, a $200 deposit is required up front. If the training is already full or your application is otherwise denied, this deposit is refundable (less processing fees) or may be deferred to the following year.

If you choose to join our professional organization (the AEHSE), as one of your membership benefits you will be invited to become an affiliate for our EHS Session 1 video, and earn a commission for each sale that you refer - which is one way you can start to earn back your tuition and dues!

The Equine Hanna Somatics Professional Training Program can be completed in just over 2 years. The modules are offered once per year at the end of May, and you may only complete one module each year. This gives you time between modules to practice your protocols, study your anatomy and neurophysiology, and get experience working with many different horses.

Each module must be completed before enrolling in the next one, and you may take longer than one year between modules if you feel you want or need the extra time to master what you learn at each level. You are required to do a minimum number of sessions between modules, with several different horses. After completing Module Three, you become eligible for certification, pending an individual assessment by Eleanor Criswell, which is scheduled when you feel prepared and both of your schedules align - usually within a few to several weeks or months following completion of the third module.

You must take the modules in order, and may only register for one each year. You will have different materials and protocols to learn and study for each of the three Modules - but the live classes are held concurrently. This means we have students from all 3 levels in the Zoom classroom together. This allows you to continue to deepen your understanding of the key topics and EHS principles, to experience peer-peer learning and sharing, and to get direct coaching and instruction from Eleanor and Alissa. We encourage our level 2 and level 3 students to participate in coaching the lower levels and they will also be presenting cases from their between-modules practical studies.

For each module, there are some pre-recorded materials that will be made available for you to download or watch starting on May 1st. Some of these materials are best consumed before the live course begins (like the EHS Session 1 instructional video, our welcome video series, and printing and reviewing the Program Manual), and some are meant to be used as a supplement to the live zoom classes, to deepen your understanding of key topics. These materials are occasionally updated, but we expect they will take 2-4 hours at the most to work through.

The live Zoom sessions will be Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm (Pacific Time). The mornings will be dedicated to lecture, demonstration, simulations and Somatics for horse handlers and EHS practitioners. The afternoon sessions will be hands-on classes with your horse. You will need a good internet connection and quiet workspace with safe and level footing at your barn or the location where you plan to join with your horse, and we recommend inviting an assistant to help you by holding your horse - although it is permissible to tie your horse if necessary.

During these sessions, you will be practicing the level-specific protocols taught in your module, with real-time feedback and coaching from Eleanor & Alissa, and peer-peer coaching in breakout groups by level. It is worthwhile to haul your horse to another facility if you don't have a strong wifi signal, or to work with a different horse if that makes it easier to get a good internet connection. You will miss a significant portion of the training if you miss these live sessions, and there will NOT be a replay available of these sessions. If you absolutely cannot participate with your horse live, it is permissible to observe the afternoon sessions and then practice the work on your own each day.

Dates for all three modules of the program are posted at the top of this page - scroll to the top for current details and to apply or get on the waiting list.

Because you are joining from home over Zoom, we know it can be tempting to try to do ALL the things - horse chores, family/child care, and continue working around the course schedule. For you to get the maximum value from the training program, we do NOT recommend you do this! Our most successful students have found it best to pretend that they are actually in California with us for the week of the training, and adjust their schedules accordingly - as if they were out of town. We usually break for lunch from 12-2 pacific time, but the exact time can vary depending on the days material.

The $200 deposit that is required along with your application is refundable (less processing fees) if the training you are applying for is already full, or if your application is otherwise denied. Once you pay the balance of your tuition for a module, requests for refunds are taken on a case-by-case basis. If there is a natural disaster or medical emergency that prevents you from attending the training, or causes us to have to reschedule a module, all affected students tuition will be either refunded or carried over to the rescheduled dates.

Yes, EHS can be modified to work with all animals, because this work is based on the tendency of vertebrate animals to pandiculate. Many of our students are also interested in working with dogs, and Eleanor has developed a Canine Hanna Somatics® Protocol that is taught in the optional half-day workshop at the end of each EHS Module.

We encourage you to begin working somatically with horses right away* - in fact, it’s ideal if you have already watched our introductory instructional video called Equine Hanna Somatics - Session 1, and have tried the Session 1 Protocol with at least one horse before your Module One training begins. ***Please note that we do not teach basic horsemanship or safety skills in this program, and we require that you already have horse experience to be considered for the program.

We do not have a firm rule about when you begin to charge clients for your EHS sessions, because many of our students are already working with horses and clients, either with their own professional practice, or in other areas of the equine industry. We do discuss ethics and the Scope of Practice for EHS Educators, and we expect all of our students and graduates to behave ethically and professionally, and to always disclose their level of study or certification in EHS to clients or potential clients and in promotional materials.

All modules come with access to our private Facebook community for EHS Education students and graduates where you can get support from your peers, graduates of the program and the EHS Teaching Team. For additional help, one-on-one support between modules and to join the quarterly EHS Mastermind meetings with Eleanor and Alissa, you can join the Association for Equine Hanna Somatics Education (AEHSE). Click here to learn about all the AEHSE membership benefits!

Equine Hanna Somatics (EHS) is an adaptation of Hanna Somatics (work developed for humans) that works with pure physiology to instantly reverse chronic muscle tension, by working directly WITH the horses brain, instead of working ON the body... so even though it looks a lot like it, EHS isn't actually bodywork, but is an educational and experiential process that we facilitate for the horse, where the horse is choosing to participate by following our requests to move their body around.

EHS is the only hands-on ‘healing’ modality that teaches equine bodyworkers, vets and hands-on horse owners how to access a horse’s Pandiculation reflex to rapidly reverse the most common misdiagnosed and undiagnosed soundness issues, so they can reliably enhance performance and make horses feel amazing, without doing any manual manipulation, stretching, woo-woo or invasive procedures.

We do not work ON horses, but invite them to participate WITH us during EHS. In this way, we are working directly with the horses Motor Cortex, effectively interacting with the horses Central Nervous System far ‘upstream’ of any other modality or method we have yet found.

This is the ONLY training program that offers a certification in EHS, and the only training program authorized by Eleanor Criswell, the creator of EHS, to certify practitioners in Equine Somatics. By becoming a student, you get access to our global community of EHS practitioners and practitioners-in-training, and get listed on the AEHSE practitioner directory.

In EHS we actively avoid stretching a horse. Instead, we focus on encouraging the horse to Pandiculate their muscles.

Stretching happens when a mechanical force is applied to a muscle or connective tissue. This can be force from the outside, when someone or something puts pressure or pulls on a body, or can happen when an individual braces a part of their own body and uses leverage and gravity to apply the stretch to themselves.

When horses pandiculate, groups of muscles will be lengthening, and others shortening, as part of the natural process of bodily movements. When muscles lengthen during EHS, they are either lengthening passively (because the opposing muscle is contracting) or are being consciously lengthened or shortened via an eccentric contraction (during the slow de-contraction phase of each exercise). We NEVER pull on or force the horse while doing EHS, and are actively avoiding the application of mechanical stretching forces while guiding a horse through the EHS movements.

In short, a stretch is something that happens TO a muscle. In contrast, the lengthening that happens in EHS is in response to the horse deciding to move WITH the practitioner.

In our basic instructional video, we teach a simplified version of the first EHS Protocol developed by Eleanor Criswell, the creator of EHS. In the EHS Professional Training Program, you will learn the complete Ideal Protocol that the intro video is based on, plus the additional 7 Complete EHS Protocols, the neuroscience behind how the method works, and more!

If you are here on this website, it’s because you care about helping horses, and we love that! We also want you to feel really good about making decisions about how you invest your money and your time, and we don’t want you to have to wait until you’ve completed one of these training modules to know if EHS is right for you. That is partly what motivated us to create our instructional video Equine Hanna Somatics - Session 1, so you can learn how to do a basic EHS session with your horse and experience how easy and effective EHS can be, for just $39 - less than the price of some fancy horse cookies or a new set of grooming tools, right?