Since the publication of Philippe Karl’s book “Long Reining”, which lay on my gift table at Christmas 1990, I wanted to be trained in this discipline. I asked Richard Hinrichs, who refused to teach me for good reasons: “Oh, you know, first of all it’s a fad (he was right about that), and secondly I don't need it to train my horses.” I see it the same way now.

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Nevertheless I remained curious, even started to give lessons in this specialty myself and kept in mind that I wanted to be trained/checked by the author himself.

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This finally succeeded in October 1998, when I organised the first clinic with Philippe Karl in Schneverdingen, Germany. I was enthusiastic about what he was teaching and, from then on, trained only with him.

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It quickly became clear to me what potential this man had, and with other clinic participants we repeatedly urged him to offer a teacher training.

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Since I was now well placed to push further, as life united us soon also privately, the first teacher training courses – and with them the Ecole de Légèreté – were created in 2004.

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I attended two of the first training courses in Germany, the one in the Würzburg/Frankfurt area and the one in Harbarnsen/Pegestorf. In 2007, I passed my exam there with my stallion BeauCadeau, achieving Level 4.

 

In my riding life, I had never wanted to commit myself to anything in order to remain open for everything and to keep far-sighted:

… not to the sex, the breed, the age, let alone the colour of my horses: I have had of everything – chestnut pony gelding Ben and grey pony mare Anouk, Portuguese Barros and BeauCadeau (both first as stallions but then gelded), Trakehner mares Tabea and Skamilla (dark brown), Anglo Arabian mare Monodie (brown) and Islandic mix mare Schnucki (dun).

… and not to a way of riding: I’ve done all sorts of things with these horses – leisure riding, classical dressage, western riding, ground work (LTJ and horsemanship), lungeing/long reining, jumping, driving, work in hand, circus training, clicker training.

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But there is one thing I have been committed to since 1998: the riding philosophy of the Ecole de Légèreté, because it covers everything and is absolutely compelling for both horse and rider. In the Ecole de Légèreté, I find well-founded answers to all my questions.

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Now one could say, yes, it is clear that Philippe Karl’s wife, out of love for him, is standing behind his cause. But these rose-tinted love glasses, which veil reality at the beginning, tend to lose their effect after some time. The long-term test, however, is done and passed.

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My husband “convinces” me not only as a life partner, but also again and again as a teacher.

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To this day, I attend his training courses, currently the one in Geneva, and am regularly overwhelmed by admiration for him.

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What a brilliant teacher,

• Patient because he has so many solutions at his disposal that he never needs to get loud or impatient

• Tireless as on the first day and full of strength and enthusiasm for what he does

• Unbeatable and lightning-fast in his argumentation

• Precise and effective in the implementation

• Fully convinced of what he is doing

• Endlessly motivated

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Bravo Philippe Karl! Stay with us for a long time. We need you.

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