Tanja : THE MIND BEHIND YOUR SUCCESS
Like so many of you I started riding as a child, beginning my riding career in Germany. Coming from a non-horsey family, it took some time convincing my parents to let me ride. After that, there was no stopping me anymore.
At 18 years of age I made horses not only my passion but also my life. First working as a groom in a German Show Jumping Stable and then gradually getting rides and eventually being allowed to compete. From there my journey took me to the famous Schockemöhle Stables and then onto an apprenticeship in an Equine Hospital to become a qualified Vet Nurse.
From there I went to England and eventually to Australia. I became an Equestrian Australia accredited Coach and an NLP ( Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Master Coach. I was an educator at EQUITANA and the Mindset Coach of the Australian High Performance Dressage and Para Squad.
I learned from my own experience that our mind is more powerful than our actions. You achieve what you believe you can and success only comes when you are willing to change.
My journey began as a competitor and trainer, focusing on external results and outcomes. Competition wins were important to me and external validation kept me looking for more.
Now 40 years on I finally start to understand what really counts. Most of us are looking outwardly for proof of success, worthiness, and love but it is not until we learn to look inwards that we are able to find what we are searching for.
This awareness has greatly influenced my teaching and now I look for the horses' guidance rather than trying to dominate them.
By default, my coaching has developed into two main areas that are so crucially connected. The rider's mind and the rider's posture on the horse.
I have understood how much our mind, our thinking influences our posture on the horse and how much horses respond to the smallest movements we make in the saddle.
I constantly hear riders say "I have a good position, I don't need a lesson on that. I need help with training my horse." But here is the point.
Horses reflect the rider in the way they respond and move. If you have training issues you first need to address yourself because horses more often than not become our mirror.
Addressing your mind is where it begins and improving your posture comes after that. So many riders struggle with self believe and fear issues. Some are directly related to the horse and the riding but most are unrelated, stemming from things that happened way back in our childhood when we were growing up. I commonly find that these 'bottom drawer' issues come up when we least expect them and they keep haunting us until we find a way to resolve them.
Horses have a way to open these bottom drawers for us and in there lays the opportunity to grow. If you are ready to grow then I am here to guide you along your journey by sharing with you my own, very personal experiences that made me who I am today.
So, let the journey begin...!
