I grew up in Fischerhude, a small and idyllic village of peasants and artists close to Bremen. Already as a small child of eight, I received my first pony, Filou. He became a dear friend and companion for many years. Next to school, horses were the center of my life. A horse soon joined the pony. At the age of 10, I started to compete in both dressage and jumper classes.

From 12 onwards I was riding 2-3 horses daily. Increasingly more, I preferred jumping over dressage. Three years later, I competed on M-level (1,30m/4 ¼ feet and above). The opportunity to train with well-known trainers such as Hermann Schridde (former Trainer of the German Jumping Equipe), Herbert Meyer (former trainer of the German Jumping Equipe), and George Morris (former trainer of the US Jumping Equipe), allowed me to advance quickly. I became a member of the regional jumping equipe and successfully participated in highest level jumper classes, CSIs and the German Championships. At the same time, our horse operation grew from 4 to around 30 horses. As a junior owner, apart from riding, I supervised the horses training and nutrition plan, and strongly impacted the breeding selection.

Kristin on Filou

Kristin´s empathy is highly welcomed and appreciated by all animals, not only horses.

Despite my great love and dedication for horses, I decided to keep riding as a leisure activity. This choice was confirmed by an internship with the ex-world champion in jumping, Gerd Wiltfang. Too rough were the circumstances in the professional horse business. In such a profession, I was afraid that one day, the horse would be degraded to a mere piece of sports equipment or commodity, which appalled me. At the time, I did not see an alternative to traditional horse training, thus, I chose a career in business. Nevertheless, I continued to compete successfully in advanced jumper classes (1,50m/5feet and above).

Consequently, I started my professional life in  a business field.

Kristin on Adam

Kristin on Adam

The studies in International Business following an education in banking led me from Paris to New York, South America and Luxembourg. Thereafter, I started my professional life in Business Consulting at one of the worlds' “big five“ consulting companies. Six years I basically only lived for the firm. My home base was Luxembourg, where I still live today. Many times, however, diverse projects led me beyond the borders to Frankfurt, Brussels, Warsaw, Chicago or London.

Yet, increasingly more I realized that true fulfillment I would not find in the world of business consulting. My strengths (empathy, intuition, power of observation and patience paired with persistence, etc.) were not applied at their full potential.

About Monty Roberts - the famous horse wisperer - I heard for the first time back in 1998. Nevertheless, it took until the end of 2003 to take the decision to follow my internal voice. The vita of Andrea Kutsch – in her beginning thirties she had quit her market research career to dedicate her life totally to horses. In the meantime, she is heading the Monty Roberts Learning Center near Hamburg – finally, gave me the impulse to change my own life, too, and risk a new beginning. Short after, I applied for the Introductory Course at Monty Roberts' Farm in California to learn everything about his methods in communicating with horses. It did not take long for me to be convinced. I learned something new. Despite my thirty years showing and training of horses and my thorough classical horsemanship education, at the time, I knew very little about the horse’s mind.

Monty proofed that there is an alternative way of interacting with horses, one that was always lacking in traditional horse education. My aim was to follow his example and bring about change in the minds of horse people. Only after a few weeks of putting into practice the learning insights from Monty's teaching, I sensed that horses feel much more comfortable and safe in my presence. In addition, they want to be with me, learn and please me. In the past, I have never experienced such a sensation. Consequently, I wished to deepen this new insight. My aim was not only to apply it to horses in my area but to devise ways of implementing it in advanced horse training, while in parallel addressing both horse and rider alike.

 The first exam I completed best of class. Immediately after, I completed the 12-months  advanced course at Monty Roberts International Learning Center in California successfully. Today, I am one of the few Monty Roberts' students world-wide having achieved this high level degree.

Monty and Kristin

Monty with Advance Course

Ever since, I am actively coaching both horses and his riders. My attempt is not only to solve an existing problem of the horse but moreover to unite both horse and rider to a harmonious team.

At this point, I would like to express my special admiration and gratitude to my dad, who as my biggest sponsor, enabled me to always ride high class horses and to train with the best trainers; to my mom, who always strengthened by back and encouraged me to strike a new path; to Irmi, who was always present with advise and ideas, and who guided me morally through heights and lows; to my boyfriend Thomas, who has always been there for me and who gave me the strength to endure difficult times; to my competition horse, Adam, who taught me that it is possible to regain and maintain a horses trust via patience, kindness and empathy. He has thus laid the grounds for all my work with remedial horses.