September 5-7, 2025, Woodside, CA
With the support of the SFP Chapter of CDS and the hospitality of the town of Woodside, a lucky group of us recently had the opportunity to spend three days with Jillian Kreinbring, a master horsewoman who brings a truly unique ability to meaningfully connect the dots among equine anatomy, conformation, movement and training.
I first came across Jillian Kreinbring through her connection with mentor Manolo Mendez, the first Head Rider and one of six founding members of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, based in Jerez, Spain. I continued to hear her name positively mentioned in conjunction with the Equitopia Center, Wendy Murdoch’s Sure Foot Program and many other valuable holistic resources for horses and riders. But I wasn’t sure exactly where Jillian fits in and how I would benefit from a 3-day, primarily lecture-driven “Functional Anatomy and Dynamic Posture” course.
The three days were everything I hoped for and more. Jillian is one of those rare horse people who can combine deep intellectual curiosity and scientific perspective with great insight and EQ on practical implications for equine development and training. She is also a warm and engaging teacher who effectively made her knowledge accessible and impactful while tapping the wisdom and experience of the like-minded horse owners, riders and professionals in the group.
From head to tail, we all walked away with a more informed view of the equine scaffolding (bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments…), benefiting from her curation of leading scientific research and terminology as well hands-on opportunities to manipulate bones to see how key joints move or don’t move. And we spent an afternoon assessing the conformation of and manipulating a live demo horse in a ‘lab’ setting. In each anatomical section, Jillian helped us to apply the learnings, exploring a range of approaches and tools for developing horses in different disciplines (dressage, hunter jumper, reining, gaited) and helping us to train our eyes to identify both desired physical traits and risks to longevity.
Most importantly, the course met our collective aspirations to be better and more effective partners to the horses we work with. What an amazing and inspirational three days – Thank you Jillian!
I can’t wait for Jillian’s next course, Rhythm, and the opportunity to refine my ‘feel’ in the work with my horse, building on the understanding of the mechanics developed in this foundational course.
- Liz Arrington
