Hi everybody!
My name is Stefanie - formerly known to Karen and others as "Vanilla" who posted Jospeha's and Bianca's email-addresses at the NHE-Forum... I changed that posting and just offered to contact me by PM and ask for the addresses... But the thread was soon deleted completely afterwards, so I do not think many people had the chance to stay in touch
Anyways, I am very happy to be here!!!
A few words about me: I started horseback riding when I was 9 years old. The traditional way - a riding school with horses that spent their life in small stalls (boxes) and only leave their prisons in order to be "ridden". Horses which had either given up - or were still fighting. Either way wasn't easy for a young girl to handle.
For me, it was the way it was! I did not know any alternative then. At least, I learned to stay on top of the horse - most of the time...
Soon, I was offered to ride "private" horses which were more sensitive and more "alive" - they taught me that I was dealing with an individual - with feelings, fears, desires, likes and dislikes. After a couple of years our family moved to another place and I stopped working with horses. But I never forgot - and I missed it a lot over the years. When I turned 25, I decided to take riding lessons, again. I started riding private horses, partly caring for them as if they were my own (because the owner didn't have the time
), moving from one stable to another.
To cut a long story short: Two years ago, I decided that I wanted to do it "my way" - with "my" horse. So I looked for a horse which would touch me
And I found "Daiquiri Noir" - a young Hannoverian gelding, almost 4 years old. I had seen just a picture of him, but that made me jump in my car one morning at 6 o' clock, drive 5 hours to the northern part of Germany - to fall in love immediately!
Daiquiri was meant to become what you would call a "dressage horse", a "sports horse" - on his father's side it's all "Donnerhall", on his mother's side it's all "Rubinstein" (for those of you who know a bit about German Dressage horses). What a terrific fate for a young horse
Daiquiri had been trained to be sold on a huge "Auktion" (auction oder Horse-fair??) in Northern Germany - he was still a baby then, as all other horses were there. Hardly 4 years old. Together with 23 other horses he was sold to the United states. Due to some problems with paper-work, these horses had to wait 3 weeks in their auction-stable to be flown out of the country. During those 3 weeks,not much happened with them - 3 of the horses developed "stereotypes". I do not know the exact translation. Is "weaving" and "wind-sucking" correct? Daiquiri did the latter - and therefore was returned do his breeder. That's where I found him.
I moved him to the stable where I used to ride some horses, then. Soon, Daiquiri decided that this was not the place where he wanted to live. Over night, the horses were inside, in stalls (or "boxes"). If the weather was really bad, they had to stay inside also during the day. He started running around in his stall like mad and would not stop until you took him outside. If the weather was good enough, they were turned outside onto sand-paddocks. Small things, most of them only for one horse. Daiquiri was lucky enough to have one of the few "2-horse-paddocks". But they did not have any hay out there, just water. For almost 8 hours! My horse started walking along the fence, back and forth, for hours. A heart-breaking sight to me!!
Most people told me "He will calm down - he will get used." But to me it was not a matter of "calming down". It was mere frustration! So I decided to move to another stable (although I had to leave many friends at my old stable). Now, he has a little hut with a 300 square-meter paddock, he can move freely day and night, he can eat hay or straw whenever he feels like it. He lives with a beautiful little Haflinger-mare his age. I had planned another gelding as his partner - but he had fallen in love with that little "Blondie"-mare... what can you do?!?
They have 4 geldings, left and right to their paddock. Two of them are Daiquiris buddies - I love to see him running with them over the paddock like crazy... I am glad, I moved...
With my moving to the new stable I started looking for a different way of riding and working with my horse. He was frightened of the bit, he had back-pain - the first couple of months I did not do much riding. The traditional way of riding lessons I had had so far started to become a neverending story of frustration - because I had the feeling I had to fight my horse instead of working and communicating with him. He did not have any fun - so I didn't have, either.
I have been working with a classical dressage teacher for a year, now. The first thing, he told me was, how the bit can cause pain - especially to the tongue. How you should use it without causing pain - actually using it so that you end up not having to use it at all.... well... I know, that my horse is not frightened any more, I know, that I do not hurt him with the bit any more. But I know he doesn't like it - he feels more comfortable without it. I started riding bitless and also with a neck ring. I am still experimenting and learning. I still take my classical lessons (and I am soooo thankful to my teacher who is teaching me to LISTEN to my horse very carefully and to COMMUNICATE instead of imposing orders!!) - and I still use the bit for that. But my aim is to eventually be able to work entirely bitless - and even bridleless. But I have to go a long way... And I hope to find some inspirations and some help, here!
I will add some pictures next week, of my handsome and now VERY self-confident 6-year-old beautiful horse.
Stefanie