1. Introduction At Herd Essence, your privacy matters deeply. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and your rights. We comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Portuguese data protection law. Questions? Contact [email protected].

2. Who We Are Data Controller: Francine Burghoorn, Herd Essence, Portugal EU — [email protected]

3. What Data We Collect

When you download a free guide: First name and email address.

When you submit a coaching application: First and last name, email address, phone number (optional), information about your horse and relationship, and your application answers.

When you make a purchase: Name, email address, and billing information (processed securely by Stripe or PayPal — we never store payment card details).

When you visit our website: Basic usage data, cookies, IP address, and browser information (collected automatically by FEA Create).

4. Why We Collect Your Data (Legal Basis). We collect data based on: Consent (free guide delivery, email newsletter), Contract (purchase processing and product delivery), Legitimate interest (responding to enquiries, improving our services), and Legal obligation (compliance with applicable law).

5. How We Use Your Data To deliver products and services purchased or requested, send you free guides and email newsletters (with consent), respond to enquiries and applications, process payments, and improve our website and offerings. We will never sell, rent, or share your data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

6. Who We Share Your Data With We work with: FEA Create (website, email marketing, course delivery), Stripe (payment processing), and PayPal (payment processing). These providers only process your data as necessary to provide their services and are bound by their own privacy policies.

7. How Long We Keep Your Data Email subscribers: until you unsubscribe. Coaching clients: up to 3 years after our last interaction. Purchase records: up to 7 years (required by Portuguese tax law). Website usage data: as per FEA Create's retention policies.

8. Cookies We use essential cookies (required for the website to function) and analytics cookies (to understand visitor behavior via FEA Create). You will be asked to consent to non-essential cookies when you first visit our site. Note: if we run paid social media advertising in the future, we will update this policy to include information about tracking pixels. You can manage cookies through your browser settings at any time.

9. Your Rights Under GDPR You have the right to: access your data, correct inaccurate data, request deletion ("right to be forgotten"), restrict processing, data portability, object to processing, and withdraw consent at any time. To exercise any of these rights, contact [email protected] — we will respond within 30 days.

To lodge a complaint with the Portuguese data protection authority:

CNPD (Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados) www.cnpd.pt | [email protected]

10. Data Security We use appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your data. Our website uses SSL encryption. However, no internet transmission is 100% secure.

11. Email Communications Subscribers receive free guides they signed up for and occasional newsletters and offers. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any of our emails or by contacting [email protected].

12. Children's Privacy Our services are for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data from minors. Contact [email protected] if you believe we have done so inadvertently.

13. Changes to This Policy We may update this policy periodically. Updates will be posted here with a revised date.

14. Contact [email protected] | herdessence.com

We aim to respond within 5 business days.

© 2026 Herd Essence — Francine Burghoorn. All rights reserved.