How it all began
At the age of 10 one of my friends needed a wing-woman to go to the local horse stables to see if we could convince them to teach her to ride. She was horse mad. I just loved all animals and had nothing much else to do.
Growing up in a small village in East Germany, for many places the exchange of money for a service was not how things worked, so the person running the place handed us a fork and a wheelbarrow and off we went to clean the stables.
After a few weeks of shovelling horses poo, and tipping over the occasional wheelbarrow, as well as finding the love of my life, a mare called ‘Fränzi’, we finally got to sit on a horse.
As an adult, the wheels started to fall off a bit and I noticed that I had lost the joy of riding horses. I was never going to give up on my mare but out relationship was strained and I couldn’t figure it out.
If only I had know that it would take me many, many years to get a slight handle on what was going on.
Fast forward to a life in Australia and a couple of ponies already being a part of our family, now teaching my own daughters to ride. In a spur of the moment situation I bought a Clydie x mare named ‘Stout’. She’s a 16.2 ft woolly giant I just wanted to wrap my arms around. We spent a lot of time being freaked out by each other but I had such deep love and connection with this beautiful creature - I needed to find a way to make her feel safe and build trust in each other.
It happened slowly with me sitting in the grass, without any expectations and teaching myself to read her subtle signs. All my horse-loving life it didn’t occur to me to just sit and spend time as part of the herd. I never used to pay attention to horses’ subtle body language which is incredibly rich and is the stuff that happens before your horse is REALLY fed up and needs to make a stronger move. Something really important for us humans to contemplate.
So Stout gently taught me a few lessons and continues to do so but she has also shown herself to clients looking for connection to self and ‘the other’.
These days you’ll find me exhaling (a lot) when I step into the paddock. Less expectations, more groundedness. A relaxed herd and the occasional Stouty hug. But most importantly the knowing that the learning journey, with horses especially, never ends.Fast forward to a life in Australia and a couple of ponies already being a part of our family, now teaching my own daughters to ride. In a spur of the moment situation I bought a Clydie x mare named ‘Stout’. She’s a 16.2 ft woolly giant I just wanted to wrap my arms around. We spent a lot of time being freaked out by each other but I had such deep love and connection with this beautiful creature - I needed to find a way to make her feel safe and build trust in each other.
It happened slowly with me sitting in the grass, without any expectations and teaching myself to read her subtle signs. All my horse-loving life it didn’t occur to me to just sit and spend time as part of the herd. I never used to pay attention to horses’ subtle body language which is incredibly rich and is the stuff that happens before your horse is REALLY fed up and needs to make a stronger move. Something really important for us humans to contemplate.
So Stout gently taught me a few lessons and continues to do so but she has also shown herself to clients looking for connection to self and ‘the other’.
These days you’ll find me exhaling (a lot) when I step into the paddock. Less expectations, more groundedness. A relaxed herd and the occasional Stouty hug. But most importantly the knowing that the learning journey, with horses especially, never ends.
my relationships with my horses have been transformative once I realised what was missing in my relationship with my horses. What was missing was right in front of me, but posed the greatest challenge. I learnt to truly learn and grow from my relationship with my beloved horses, I had to become human.
When we enter the space with our free-ranging herd member, we enter a place where kindness, grounded energy and the willingness to listen exist. Learning to make space for the needs of the horse provides the fertile ground for new relationships to begin: With ourselves and ‘the other’. These experiences transformed my life.
Having spent many years in the corporate world in Culture Change and leadership development, my desire has always been to bring together my passion and my training and experience to help individuals and groups grow and create possibilities for new beginnings.