My journey to the art of riding
I am passionate about horses since I was a child, and so I attended "normal" German riding lessons for children for some years. These lessons consisted mainly of commands and were usually lacking any kind of explanation. So I understood hardly anything of what I felt and what I felt did not feel good. When I faced difficulties in riding I was usually encouraged to force the horse to do what it was expected to.
At a certain point of my "carreer" as a rider I decided to give up that kind of lessons. Trusting my feelings I was able to ride some horses in a way that I thought was quite presentable. But I was lacking skills and knowledge to face difficulties in a good way. Because the horse I used to ride at that time (Naidoo) had big problems with his body, we got to the point where none of us enjoyed riding anymore. Everything changed when I atteded the first weekend clinic with Bent Branderup in 2006. He wakened my interest for the old masters. It was the first time that I understood something about the physiological context of riding and I was fascinated about the pedagogic concept and the philosophy of the Academic Art of Riding. Now i started intensive studies in riding literature and tried what I had learned with every horse that I got the chance to work with. Since 2006 I attended several clinics with Bent Branderup each year. 2011 I got the chance to stay at his place "Lindegaard" for three months as a working student. As it fills me with deep satisfaction to see the positive changes in horses and riders who chose to open up for each other and the Academic Art of Riding, I decided to accompany them as a professional. This is why I started teaching and giving clinics.
Naidoo
Like many other people I got into contact with the Academic Art of Riding due to a horse with big difficulties in his body. Naidoo, a Standard-Bred-Arabian-Mix born
in 1996, was my mothers horse. When we found out, that the reason for his problems is a damage on the neck vertebrae and that he suffers from ataxie, we stopped working with him for a longer
period. But we found out that he loses quality in life and that his ability to move suffers a lot when he does not work at all. In 2012 I started to train him very regularly in hand again.
Additionally I started to train him between the pilars with the help of Bent, to make him more flexible in the hindquarters. After a period I could ride him again. We had many ups and downs
during the the last years, but at the moment he is quite stable. Meanwhile I sopped riding but use Work in Hand to give him some gymnastics. That keeps him movable and so he is happy on the
field, together with his friend Tyson. For this horse gymnastics is an essential part of life.
Naidoo is still alive for two reasons: the Academic Art of Riding and his strong mind. It is due to him, that I got to know the Academic Art of Riding. I have done many, many mistakes that
affected this horse, in the beginning, but also in the last years. Naidoo lived with my errors and waited - more or less patient - until I realized what was going wrong. Of all my eagerness there
is nothing left than the willingness to keep him movable enough for a worthy life with other horses and to enjoy the time together with him. This is a lot. Thank you, Naidoo, for
everything!
Nebo
My Welsh Cob Nebo was born in 2006 and chose me to be his human when he was 2 years old. It was not my plan to by a horse, but
nevertheless, I made the decision. The breeder, Joachim Clement, used to call this little black, shy youngster "Touch me". You can guess he has lot of humor. In 2010 Nebo left the field where he
grew up with oter young horses and came to me. The day I met him I started learning from him and that never stopped. Nebo is the first "unspoiled" horse I had the pleasure to work with. So he
became the first horse for me to educate from the very basics acording to the principles of the Academic Art of Riding. I was lucky to have spent a few years studying the Academic Art of Riding,
before I started working with him. Now I had the chance to try all the things I had learned in practise. Nebos unbroken enthusiasm and his progress in the education give me the impression to be
on the right path (most of the time). Training with the horse can be incredibly joyful, no matter what level the education has reached.
This pony is extremely sensitive, has a lot of energy and always tries hard. He might be missing e few points in his exterieur compared to a "perfect" riding horse,
but he compensates this with his will to please and with his eagernes to solve new challenges. And if I take a wrong path - and this can happen from time to time - he will let me know in his very
own way. Maybe there are details I expected to be different, but I could not be more lucky than I am with this horse.
Indus
Indus is a Frederiksborger horse and was born in 2017. I met him in 2013 at his breeder Lene Dursben who had some of her horses for sale. I decided, that this horse
should come to me. Until that day Indus had basibally spenthis life going to the field togehter with other young horses during the day and staying in a well kept stable during the night. He was
used to human contact and hoofcare and had left the farm once to go to a breeding show. But most of the time he was together with a stable herd, the breeding mares just on the other side of
a low fence. When I met him he seemed to be a quite confident young stallion.
I underestimated what it would meand for him to move to a new stable with other stallions and to come to surroundings where horses on the neighbour field change
every week.
Of course I had expected him to be upset in the beginning. It took a few weeks until he was ok to be led anywhere. Now we could start with groundwork and lungeing. He made good progress so I
started to ride him after half a year, without any problems. He was developing well, but... he had big problems to relax. He was tensed even though he tried to do everything right and even
understood what kind of "relaxed expression" I was looking for. But deep inside he was NOT supple and relaxed. This tension even caused a couple of colics. There were several reasons that kept me
from having him gelded immediately, but in January 2016 I desided to make this step. I did not regret it. Since that day we did not have another colic, Indus is more social with other geldings
and he found to mentally relaxed stability.
Indus is an amazing horse who is challenging for me in some regards. But he rewards my efforts by letting me dance with him.