I was born in Beverwijk, the Netherlands. When I was 10 years old I moved with my parents to Westwoud where I got my first pony a C-Welsh whose name was Lucky. With Lucky I started to compete in dressage competitions and also participated in the so called ‘Kring’-championships etc. I became acquainted with the P.R.E. horses through my mother; my mother also rode dressage and when my mother bought her first P.R.E. called Fantastico I was allowed to take lessons on him.
On my 15th birthday my parents bought me Dorado; my first P.R.E. who was bred by Wim and Sonja van Poppel who own the stud farm “De Woeste Hoeve” https://www.woeste-hoeve.com/ .
At 17 years of age I went to the United States to work on a Summer Camp to take care of the horses there and teaching children how to ride and tend the horses. From there I moved to Ireland, England, Germany and Spain to work with horses and gained a lot of experience in dressage (modern and classical), doma vaquera, steeplechase, cross and last but not least: working equitation.
After that I moved to the Czech Republic and mastered the Czech language, after a lot of studying, on the University of Prague. In addition to Czech I also speak English, German, Spanish and Portuegese.
I live in the Czech Republic where I have my own stables and specialize in looking out for good blood lines of Lusitano’s and PRE’s. The process of rearing and training is entirely under my own management which leads to top results regarding health and performance. Furthermore I mediate with clients requests regarding the selection of horses, veterinary inspection and can help with arranging transport after the possible acquisition. During my many travels to Spain and Portugal I have acquired many reliable contacts.
At the moment I own 6 horses and I am a highly motivated competition rider who competes regularly on International Competitions of Working Equitation at Masters level. I participated in the WAWE World Championship 2018 in Munich (Germany) with my lusitano gelding Decurion’s Divino HP and we have qualified again for the WAWE World Championship of 2022 which will be held in France.
Competing in dressage will resume again in spring 2023 with the now 7-years old stallion Decurion’s Mercurio.
Under the heading “My Horses” you can find out more information about my horses.
