​Hartsop Farm Equine Training Centre

IAN VANDENBERGHE

Ian Vandenberghe has a lifetime experience in a range of equestrianism, from Dressage to Stud Management & foal handling via Farriery.  By 1991 he realised that he had an equal fascination for training people & added a teaching qualification to his CV.  The development of Hartsop Farm as a centre for training & learning (for horses & people) has been his prime focus for the past 20 years.

Ian has worked with Monty Roberts & Kelly Marks since 1993 & played a key part in the development of the first ever training courses in Montys methods.  His skills are recognised by Monty, who has made him a ‘Master Instructor’ in his global training network, he is also a Recommended Associate for Kellys’ Intelligent Horsemanship (IH) organisation.  Ians considerable expertise is pivotal to the formulation & delivery of training programmes for individual horses at Hartsop; delivery of teaching components for IH toward Monty Roberts Preliminary Certificate & facilitating a range of additional specialised learning opportunities at the Farm.  Ian is renowned for entertaining & educating students on his courses, illustrating his lectures with tales drawn from his vast expanse of experience & learning. Ian is powerfully aware of the importance of teamwork in achieving success with horses (& their people) so really values working with others – as he says “there is an ‘I’ in Ian … but not in ‘Hartsop’”

Background

Ians experience with horses began as a child in his home country of Belgium. He learned to ride at a riding school (his family were not particularly ‘horsey’) & progressed to become a talented dressage rider. Ian is the first to say that in the days of big ‘old fashioned’ Warmbloods in Belgium, sheer physical strength was as key to dressage performance as other aspects of ridden skills!

Searching for a viable career path in equestrianism the schoolboy Ian started attending the Farriers school in Brussels at weekends, graduating from there after 2 years study. His growing interest in the Thoroughbred industry led him to venture out of Belgium so upon leaving school at 18 he arrived in the UK in search of the career he wanted.  After a year working at a riding school in Devon where he gained his BHSAI he located the only specialised Thoroughbred Management training course running at the time & moved his study to West Oxfordshire College in Witney.  Graduating from this course enabled Ian to gain the specialised employment he was interested in, after a year on one thoroughbred breeding  yard he obtained a significant promotion to a position at Aston Park where he remained for 5 years as ‘stallion man’ & stud groom to Dominion.  Throughout this time, along with partner Sandy, he was looking for the opportunity to set up his own facility, an chance that arose after he was ‘head-hunted’ by West Oxfordshire College to return to them as a full-time lecturer in stud management & practice – a position he remained in for 10 years.  During this time Ian & Sandy managed to secure the parcel of land just outside of Witney that has become Hartsop Farm.

Ian first saw Monty Roberts at work in Newmarket, prior to the advent of his more renowned ‘public’ demonstrations – as many others have been, he was struck by how much of this ‘cowboys’ work resonated with his own approach to horses.  Kelly arrived at Witney college as a lecturer & had her subsequent ‘serendipidous’ meeting with Monty whilst on a college trip to France.  The rest, as they say, became history – Ian joined forces with Kelly to begin the realisation of Montys dream of developing a global network of trainers & courses in his methods.  In tandem with this Harstop was becoming an effective yard with both training & breeding activity on the increase.  In recent years Ian has reduced their breeding programme & they now only retain one stallion, ‘Antics’ whose breeding activity supports the childrens’ charity that Sandy & Ian have set up (www.anticscharity.org.uk). They remain fully active in the training & re-training of a range of horses & ponies & are now the home of all the practical IH courses.

In addition to his phenomenal span of experience, skill & knowledge with horses Ian’s main passion is undoubtedly that of being a dad - Warren, William & Clayton are testimony to his investment in parenting.  This is closely followed by football, a passion shared by all of his boys - his capacity to cite the facts & figures that evidence the ‘truth’ of Liverpool FC being the greatest club in British history is almost convincing!!