A friend of my dad had horses and that’s how my story started. Every day after school I was riding my bike towards the stable. I felt driven towards these animals and nothing was more interesting for me. After some days I was finally able to ride by myself and I thought already that that was my dream come true…

… but something was missing. Year by year I was riding more and more. As my dad noticed me crying every time they were selling a horse I was currently riding on - he got me one as a present. Mika - the name of my first horse. She was young and unexperienced and so was I. We went on my first small local riding competitions. What I remember from this the most is actually not which place I had but that we were fighting with Mika for more that an hour to load her in the trailer to get back home.

One day I asked my parents to go on two weeks vacation in a sport stable. They agreed and there was no turning back from that point. I learned in two weeks about horses more than in previous four or five years. The independent seat, the training schedule, interesting goals and like-minded people. I felt again like a dream come true. But again, something was missing.

As you could probably imagine I went all the way into equestrian sports. As an eventing rider - we had a lot to practice. From great seat in dressage, good eye in show jumping through bravery in cross country. My days were filled with training and joy. My parents bought two more horses, I moved to Germany to train in olympic equestrian center with best trainers. It all resulted in having a spot with country representations and great results in championships for young horses. All hard work paid off. I was again feeling like - yes, you guessed it - a dream come true. And yes. Something was still missing.

One day I entered the stable where I was boarding my horses. I went to their boxes but they refused to say hello - turning with their butts. Then I heard other people talking to their horses - “You stupid!”, “Stop it!”, “He’s dumb!” and many, many worse. My eyes opened up. I felt so, so sad. Why? Because I realised no friend would like to be treated like this - and if horses could - they would walk away.

And that’s when I remembered whyI started to ride horses - because I loved them. Because sitting on their back gave me a feeling of freedom and happiness. But, what if they don’t feel the same? How can I be happy if they are not? All these questions made me look for answers.

And this answer was simple

Natural Horsemanship

I made a few years break from competing. I couldn’t do it anymore knowing all of this. I had a problem that natural horsemanship movement and equestrian sports were like black and white. I didn’t know how to find myself in it. So I started digging deeper until I found a way to compete and build great relationship with my horses at the same time. Results? Still great placings on the competitions but much, much more pleasure and satisfaction.

No matter what you want to do with your horse - competing, trail riding or just playing from the ground - the answer is only one.

BE YOUR HORSE’S FRIEND FIRST.