Can you please not talk about horses?
This is a regular comment of my family. I fail all the time. I never really wondered where this fascination – let’s say addiction- comes from. I see horses everywhere and it makes me happy. These fantastic creatures have that effect on me. So I love to talk about them and be around them. I have turned my passion into my work in various ways. Riding and teaching is alternated with judging dressage and mucking out stables at home. I am still an active competition rider (once even international).
I also write about horses and horse riding. Because of my work for equestrian magazines and the many books I have written, I regularly attend training sessions, seminars & clinics and I can ask all my questions to professionals. Sometimes I see something I have reservations about. Not all developments are automatically better. Sometimes something just does not suit me. But usually such an exchange of knowledge is a source of inspiration and new insights.
I have looked around in the horse world for quite some years now. I like to share the acquired knowledge and experience. After lectures or lessons I regularly get asked if I have something in writing. It is not useful if you have to search several volumes of a magazine or several books for this. Moreover, I want to add my personal comments and experiences. So this book is new text, here and there interlaced with previously written material. I have so much that I would like to share with you that this book may sometimes jump from one subject to the other. We never finish learning about horses and horse riding so who knows, maybe I’ll start with part two in a while…
Tessa van Daalen-de Graaff