I want to tell you a short story about Sir Simple and me. Sir Simple, my friend and companion, has taught me a lot of things in life that matter.

Sir Simple is a Haflinger from the line of Silbersee and he was born in Bavaria, Germany, 1985.

When Sir Simple came to me, more than 16 years ago, we didn’t understand each other. We had total different ideas of life. He did not trust humans, I was afraid of him. He had lots of energy but my skills were not sufficient to effectuate a change and therefore improve our relation.

The usual methods in taming a horse didn't work with Simple, he was too strong both in body and mind. I began following a path completely unknown to me or any other person around me. Instead of 'making' Simple obeying to me, I began watching his movements, his signals, one can also say I 'surrendered' to Sir Simple. Day by day we made progress in understanding each other. The process is not finished today, nor will it be on a certain day in the future.

I have come to call the path Sir Simple and I began to follow as The way of Jaan, the path of balance, harmony and rhythm.

One of the things Sir Simple showed and shows me along the path, bringing joy and pleasure, is what friendship can mean. Delight in seeing each other, curiousness about the other individual and his/her idea of life, common interests but also totally different interests, to have fun and to enjoy each other. To feel confident and appreciated for the person one is. To find and to get support and comfort on the path of finding your own identity, of exploring what is more or less important for each one. To be there if needed. To be independent but also addicted to each other without feeling limited or constrained. To be an individual.

This is one of the gifts Sir Simple, my strong, determined but fun-loving horse, who still has the power and energy I now come to love and enjoy, gave me.

A further gift I met on our way is the Academic Art of Riding. Our daily work either performed in the riding house, outside in the paddock or in the forest and fields, is strongly influenced by the Academic Art of Riding to work and to develop horses.

Sir Simple and I are working in a friendly and composed atmosphere where there is room for laughter and romps and have come to the exercises of piaffe, passage and serial changes in the gallop. Our favourite exercise is the pirouette in every gait!

My vision is to achieve enough knowledge and understanding for the horse to help it to its mastery without the use of a bit, just with a rope around the neck.