You Have to Be Brave Before You Can Become Good

I get many questions by riders who would like advise on how to improve their riding or groundwork. At the same time, many of them seem to focus more on limiting conditions than on what is possible.

And it is really true: if you focus on problems, you will get more problems.

One of the most common issues is that horses for some reason or another cannot be transported to clinics. Another is a lack of money. And yet another very common one is self-doubt, the fear of not being good enough.

In fact, all you really need is a bit of braveness and creativity. If you want something, just do it!

Easy for you to say, you might think.

Don’t think I was never afraid to ride in front of others in a clinic. To drive all the way alone to Denmark with a horse. To go to an internship not knowing what waits for me there. To not have any vacations for years because I spend every penny on my education. To have muscle pain and being exhausted from stable work.

I don’t have my own trailer, my friend Anna is alway so amazingly kind to lend me hers (and even the car to pull it, for that matter!) Hell, I don’t even own a horse that is fit enough to advance in the academic art of riding (Weto technically belongs to my best friend, Karolina). I drive 45min one way to the stable every day to train Nazir and Weto, because there is no good stable close by. My trainers both live over 1000km away. The academic art of riding is not well known in my country and it wasn’t always easy to ignore the comments of other riders.

I’m not writing this to say how great I think I am 😉 Far from that. I’m writing this to encourage you. If I can do it, you can do it as well!!

On my academic journey, I have met so many inspiring people, people who didn’t have optimal conditions and who despite that managed to become great horse people.

• A mother who managed to arrange for her 12 year old boy (and the husband 😉 ) so she could be an intern for 3 months.
• Many people with serious cash flow problems who often didn’t know what about next month.
• People who came from other continents and borrowed a school horse.
• People who have to travel more than 24 hours and take several ferries to get 5 lessons with their trainer.
• Many people who have only a field to train their horse.
• A mother who brought her baby to an internship.
• A person who doesn’t have her own horse but who is training every horse she can get her fingers on and who already became a fine trainer.
• I know someone oversees who taught herself (almost) only with Bent’s teaching videos and through filming herself. And she’s doing amazing!
• I know someone who beat cancer and never stopped training.
• People who with gentle methods turned their spooky and distrustful horse into a reliable partner.
• And of course, if you broaden your view you will see what amazing things people everywhere are capable of despite of impossible conditions.

So be brave. YOU CAN DO IT.

Pictures: Me with the horse Jette, borrowed from a generous breeder of New Forest ponies, at a working student for Bent Branderup in 2016, and as a working student for Marius Schneider in 2015.