The second influence on my horsemanship was my teacher and friend Harald, whom I met when I was 16. He ran a little therapy stable in a neighbouring village to where my boyfriend lived. I spend several school holidays at his place and worked in return for lessons. Harald was influenced by Claus Penquitt, who founded a school called academic riding for leisure riders based on old-Californian and old-Iberian riding, as well as by Linda Tellington-Jones and Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling. Most of our lessons took place in the forest. We practiced standing still, circles, figures and transitions. During the fly season, we sat on the horses at six in the morning and enjoyed the cool forest air. Often, we would not speak at all. Then he would ask me questions about the seat, about giving aids and educating horses. He never just “told” me things but first let me have a guess or find the answer myself. And he worked the horses in much the same way. Despite my age, he gave me responsibilities. I was given a project horse, a Fjord horse with trust issues and a hard mouth, whom I helped to become a safe riding horse again. Harald also let me take care of his entire stable once when he and his wife were on holidays. I was very proud that someone put so much trust in me and fulfilled my tasks with great care. Sometimes, Harald let me teach some of the kids that came for lessons. Harald’s lessons were very different from the regular riding lessons one could get. He explained everything in detail and never lost his patience. He, too, emphasised soft aids and respect for the horse.

During this time, Harald became interested in Buddhism and because of him, I met my Buddhist teacher and took refuge at the age of 18. According to Buddhist philosophy, all beings want to avoid suffering and want to experience happiness. We just often don’t know how to do it. Furthermore, all beings have the Buddha nature, the potential to develop all the inherent qualities of the mind. In this regard, animals are no different than people. Harming others, also animals, creates bad impressions in our mind which become our future reality. If we want to sow the seeds for happiness, we have help others and be kind. It was this feeling of coming home, of recognising the values I already knew since childhood, that attracted me to Buddhism.

On the other hand, it brought me away from my horse training. As I went to university and had to leave Harald and his little stable behind, I tried to find other places to ride, but all around me people were being quite brutal to horses. So, having no money to buy my own horse, I just could not bear the brutality anymore and quit riding for some years.

During a holiday semester, I met the fourth great influence on my horse training philosophy – the beautiful Irish landscape around the village of Grange, Sligo. I had taken a term off at university and had enough of papers and classrooms. I needed fresh air and some horse spirit. So I went to work at a horse operation called Horse Holiday Farm in Sligo, Ireland, for a few months. Riding through the moor and along the endless beaches, I had one of the greatest times of my life. The horses were carrying me as fast as their feet would go, and my mind would be at peace. For me, these were the ingredients of happiness: the ocean, the fields, the wind, and the steady companionship of the horses. During the long rides, my mind would forget all the tomorrows and yesterdays. There was only the present moment, and the horses snorted approvingly. Then there was no separation between my thoughts and the horse’s thought, between my body and his body. We moved as one and the intense Irish landscape was just as much a part of it as human and horse.

So, basically, I was on my own and had to educate myself. What started out as a depressing fact turned out to be the biggest motor for my development.

I started to read books about classical horse education and tried out some of the concepts with Nazir, but since I didn’t have a trainer that could show me how it’s done, progress was rather slow.

Then, in 2014, I read a book that changed everything for me: “Academic Art of Riding: A riding method for the ambitious leasure rider” by Bent Branderup. With every sentence I read, I thought, “Yes! That’s it!”. I watched some of Bent’s online videos and was totally hooked.

I saw on Bent’s website that it is possible to apply for an internship at his place in Denmark, which I did immediately. In July 2014, I drove all the way to Denmark for one of Bent’s public evenings so I could meet him in person and see him train. What I saw convinced me even more that I had found my way. I had never seen the art of riding on such a high level before. These horses wanted to shine for Bent. I asked about the internship and got the polite reply that all the places for 2015 were already taken, and that it would be advisable to first learn some basics with one of Bent’s trainers. Which of course made total sense. Bent even recommended some trainers to me of which he knew they take interns and do a good job education them. One of them was Marius Schneider, who actually lives only a 15min drive from my parents! I really liked how “normal” Bent and his wife Kathrin seemed and how patiently Bent answered all of my questions.