1. Horse Adventures in Europe 2019!

I’m home from another horse adventure!  Last year, I wrote about my travels, which you can find here  1. Horse Adventures in Europe 2018!    This year I returned to both Germany and Italy.  Michaela had organised a two week, non stop itinerary, which started with Anja Beran’s 9th International Workshop.

First, let’s start at the beginning.  I made the long haul flight from Australia to UK several days before we all met up – and then I flew to Milan, Italy, where Michaela, the wonderful organiser of this two week adventure, met Alex, Lisa and myself.  We headed to her home in Parma overnight and spent some hours touring Parma and eating gelato!

As you can see from the photos – the detail in the buildings are outstanding!  Something you never see on my side of the world!!!

The following day we set off – through Italy, Switzerland and Austria – to Germany.  Michaela had organised the most wonderful house for us for the week.  And it was here that we met the rest of the group of nine.

Our group of nine consisted of Michaela, Alex, Lisa, Caeli, Rebekka, Martina, Ingrid, Manu and myself!  Last year, Michaela, Alex, Rebekka and myself were ‘The Travelling Four’ – and I knew Caeli and Lisa – from US – from previous clinics and the Five Go To Sea cruises.  Ingrid and Manu came together – and even though they are both Austrian, it was lovely to know that Ingrid has been a fellow Aussie for quite a few years.  Martina, from Germany, had done a superb and inspiring job to learn as much English as she could for the two week adventure.  By the end of the fortnight she was speaking so well.  I’m always  in awe of  people who can speak more than one language!

Here we are enjoying lunch on our rest day – photo by Caeli Collins – and also one of Caeli at our outdoor table.

I’ve added some photos of our house for the week.  It was incredibly roomy and had a beautiful garden.

We spent quite a few hours at the outdoor table – discussing all manner of things.  The weather was perfect (perhaps a little too hot!) so it was easy to stay outdoors.

Our days were very full and Anja had created an interesting and varied programme for the week.  You can see the detail here. – Anja Beran – 9th International Workshop.

I’m not going to repeat all that is on that page which you can read for yourself, but I’m going to talk about my impressions of the week – what stood out for me, what I learnt.

First, I’m thinking in a short sentence, how would I describe it…. hmmm…. I’m not sure I can sum it up in just a few words – but one word which has sprung to mind is ‘calming’ – which surprises me!  Of course I know that Anja and her fellow riders work so calmly with the horses – but I’m referring to what effect it had on me!  And that was calming – in fact I became so calm I wanted to doze!  It was the riding that was calm!!!

Calm, quiet and slow – all the ingredients you need to give clear signals to the horse.

I have a lot more to say on this – but I want to start a new post to continue!  For now, here is a photo to go on with – courtesy of Anja Beran’s official page – photo by Maresa Mader.

IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS STORY, PLEASE START AT THE BEGINNING HERE – Part 1 – An Introduction

PLEASE SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR PREVIOUS BLOG POSTS