School

Rosie had turned 3 in April and now she had to be shown what it was like to be ridden.

Over the last year or two, we had got to know a brand new, very large equestrian centre specialising in western riding. Angie had taken part in some courses with probably the father of western riding in Europe,  a Swiss man Jean-Claude Dysli who had done years of hard work connected with horses in California but was an extremely talented horseman who could would tell you that there was little difference between any of the types of riding whether classical "English", Spanish or western. A wonderful person and a great joy to be in his company during the breaks and especially in the evenings over meals and the odd beer.


There is a detailed entry on Wiki about him but sadly only in German.

While at the stables, we got to know the full-time employed western horse trainer, an American named Joedy Cunningham and we both got to like his style as well as getting on with him extremely well. He particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to speak English with me. He has since moved to Austria near Vienna where he has his own training stables. A very nice guy.

So it was not a difficult decision when we were looking for someone to break in Rosie. Here she is in her new home for about 8 weeks. Silvan was to stay at home and we would DIY his breaking in with the help of friend Alois, a totally untrained but gifted natural horseman.

The equestrian centre has now changed hands but is still in existence as the photos in their website confirm. In the photo, Rosie getting to inspect her stall for the next weeks.