The things I learnt while working with horses are insurmountable. That feeling of completely understanding the connection between yourself and your horse, that’s exactly what I want to share with the world.
“My message is that every horse can be confident and relaxed. It just takes the right training.”
I was born a Cornish boy in Cornwall England, and soon after emigrated to Australia with my parents in the pursuit of a better lifestyle and greater opportunities.
I grew up with horses from the influence of my mother and grandfather. My grandfather always said that you could learn to speak to horses if you earned their trust. That mindset was installed in me from a very young age.
I was always by my mum’s side at the racing stables where she worked. I came up through the pony club as a novelty, jumping and eventing rider, and moved on to track work with racehorses and driving trotting horses in the sulky.
I first travelled to Europe in the end of 1999 where I met my long time trainer Morten Thomsen, who inspired me further in his way of thinking and approach to teaching horses.
Morten had introduced me to both the classical ways of training and riding but also to the mysterious way of the circus trainers.
On my return home I finished my University education with an Arts degree and then began my own business training horses.
I wanted to learn from whoever I could that could do something good with horses.
While working with horsemanship gurus from the Australian horse culture, I started to realize the importance of horsemanship and really understanding a horse.
At my own stable near Melbourne Australia, I was starting up to 100 horses a year from all different breeds and disciplines. It was a time period to which I credit alot of my knowledge from. As much of a cliché it may be, the horses were my biggest mentors.
In 2011 I began to travel for training with my dressage Grand Prix horse, at that time, Gronskovlunds Marquis. In 2012, I moved permanently to the Netherlands to be more central in Europe. I now own my own stable in Langenboom (Noord-Brabant) in the Netherlands.
After working at a stable with 26 Jazz offspring, people soon realised that I knew how to work with horses. That I understood them.
No matter what you do, the basis is that you have a horse. So you need a person who understands the horse, regardless of the discipline.
I learnt many things about myself by working with horses. If you understand a horse, you understand parts of yourself. You learn to see possibilities that were impossibilities before. If I want to leave a mark on this world, it’s to share that exact feeling with as many people as possible.
That’s how the online training with Conny and TRT came together.
At my stable, I train horses from the beginning to Grand Prix, teach students who are competing at international level and give demonstrations and clinics all over the world about my own developed TRT method.
I want to help every horse and rider, no matter the level ore their goals. I want to teach people that they shouldn’t control their horse, but that they need to understand them. To trade feelings of expectation for appreciation.
Due to the overwhelming demand for training and clinics worldwide, I launched the online program TRT method in September 2015 with Dutch co-founder Conny Loonstra.
And that’s were you come in.