Anna Kerckhoff de Sacchi – Trainer and Coach
Equus Coach – Certified Monty Roberts Trainer – Coach of The Work® – CQM
Hello, I am Anna, equine Equus Coach as well as horse trainer and I mediate between humans and horses.
I have made my love and passion for animals and people, for learning and teaching, for feeling and living from the heart my profession. Ever since I can remember, the magical energy of horses has touched me.
I live with my husband Claudio, who is a veterinarian, our two sons Joshua and Nicolas, 6 horses, 5 dogs, 1 tomcat and 2 guinea pigs in the beautiful Algarve in Portugal near the pretty village of Barão de Sao Joaõ.
How I came to the horses and stayed
When I was a little girl, I loved to ride my best friend’s ponies bareback and only with a halter through nature or just spend time with them. Later I got to feel the reality of many riding stables, where coercion and violence was part of the horse / human relationship. I stepped back from that and created my own time with horses, but changed my career direction.
This changed when I joined Monty Roberts in California in 2002. Here I experienced and learned a loving and non-violent way of dealing with horses, based on understanding, communication and cooperation. I stayed at Flag Is Up Farms for 3 years and was certified as an instructor in 2005. Since then I have been teaching the Join-Up methods and have continued my education in other areas of Natural Horsemanship, e.g. I have attended courses with Richard Winters, Pete Kreinberg, Alfonso and Arien Aguilar and organized them at our place.
With many people in my courses I could observe what I felt myself – horses touch us and trigger something in us that is sometimes difficult to put into words. As Winston Churchill said: “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good about the inside of a man.
Through this and a personal experience, I decided to train as an Equine Assisted Coach and a Coach for the Work of Byron Katie.
For more than 10 years now, I have been certified as an Equus Coach and accompany people together with horses in equine assisted coaching. I love this work and it gives me great pleasure to help people in their development and to share the magic of horses with them. In consultation with my instructor and mentor, Koelle Simpson, I decided to teach and share this work myself. Since the year 2019 I offer the training as an equine assisted coach with us on in Portugal. I call my “method” Cavalo Coaching, from the Portuguese Cavalo = horse.
I am deeply grateful that I get to teach transformative work to wonderful people in a peaceful place in beautiful nature.
My education and professional stations:
1995 – 2000 Studies of Applied Cultural Sciences with focus on language and communication at the University of Lueneburg
2000 – 2002 Work in the agency for new media “Next Level GmbH” in Hamburg
2002 – 2005 Stay with Monty Roberts in California
2004 Certification as Monty Roberts Instructor
2005 Relocation to Portugal and opening of my own Learning Center
2009 Further training as an Equus Coach with Koelle Simpson and as a coach for “the Work” with Ralf Giesen with certification
Furthermore, I am constantly educating myself and working on myself and have especially studied CQM by Gabriele Eckert, the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza and of Anke Evertz and incorporate it into my work.
My greatest teachers were and are the horses, my children and my students and course participants.
Bea – Cavalo Coach
My name is Béatrice Esser. I was born in Germany in 1983. Since 2019 I live with my family in Portugal. From childhood I grew up with horses. After a break of many years, my passion for these wonderful animals has rekindled here in the Algarve: by a lucky coincidence I met Anna and her horses in the summer of 2021 and have been connected with them ever since. After completing my training as a certified equine assisted coach with Anna, I regularly assist her with her courses and provide support. Thus, I am gradually expanding my wealth of experience and contributing my strengths as an observer and coach.
Languages: German, French, English, Dutch and Portuguese (basic knowledge).
Chris – Riding Instructor + Cavalo Coach
I have been involved with horses since I was 5 years old. In the process, I have been able to gather a wide variety of experiences. For example, I did research on horse husbandry in Mongolia and also wrote my bachelor’s thesis on the topic. My training as a Cavalo Coach allows me to bring together areas of knowledge of humans and horses. I see myself as an interpreter between man and horse. In my view, communication in which the horse’s needs are also understood and taken into account is the basis for a trusting partnership. My goal is that man and horse can grow together mentally and spiritually and thus experience a deep connection. I offer profound knowledge in the field of “reading and understanding horses”, especially concerning physical condition and behavior. In doing so, I show people room for maneuver for a fulfilling togetherness, which at the same time does justice to the needs of the horses.
The four-legged team
