Holland

Europe

Home Country

I was born and raised in a small village 40 km from Amsterdam. I was raised in an extremely loving , supportive “artsy”, intellectual and open minded family. I could’nt wish for better parents. They made me believe in myself and supported me in everything I really wanted.

When I started my education in Belgium, I also started to coach people and their horses. The people that came to me for help were mostly having problems riding or working with their horses. They were looking for different ways to solve them. The “normal” way did’nt work, or even made their problem worse.

Besides the dressage and groundwork lessons, the majority of the horses I worked with are trauma or rehabilitation cases.

This made me gather a network of people around me that helped me and the horses I worked with. I believe that in order to help our horses the best we can we need to work together and support the horses’ needs from all levels.

Anne van Diemen

Founder

traininG

Starting young horses in handling and riding

I really enjoy starting young horses under saddle. I work mostly, whenever it feels right, at liberty, so the horse is free to leave when it doesn’t feel safe. I start horses bitless and in a bareback pad and whenever I feel they are ready, I will introduce them to a bit and saddle. The start of the horse’s riding career has to be a happy and relaxed experience all the way through. And we only expose them to new things when they are ready and feel safe.

coaching

Classical dressage & behavior training

Most of my days were filled being on the road to clients, coaching, training horses, analyzing behaviour, organise training plans and doing assesments. It was an exciting time in my life, buzzing from energy and feeling strong in my passion. I met amazing people that put their trust in me . I rode at beautiful stables like “t Balingehof and Moravita Classical breeding and training centre. In these places my love for the Baroque horses grows.

I taught and trained horses from South holland to North of Holland, I also worked in Hospitality, wich is my other passion and I was still studying to become a school teacher and at the International School for Professional Horsemanship.

VULNERABILITY

Rock Bottom

As you can Imagine I was very busy and at the same time I was in a difficult relationship,
it became one of the hardest years of my life.

I really had the intention to grow my business, but I was also focused on so many other levels. Working with traumatized or dangerous horses requires a certain focus to stay safe. . The culmination of all the things going on in my life, being a highly sensitive person and working through my own insecurities and trauma led me to the dark side of an addiction which crashed me into burnout followed by cold-turkey rehab. It took my whole 21^st year of life to recover and put my life back together.

I’m sharing this story, because it might seem that I have the perfect life. I have come very far and worked through a lot to become the person that I am today.

Courage

Manifesting your dreams

Manifesting your dreams, is something that requires courage. Many people told me I wasn’t good enough, I would never make it in the equestrian business. This triggered me to work harder, go that extra mile. I am very dedicated. I don’t like givin up, wich is both a blessing and a curse. After recovering I slowly returned to work, but I knew something has to change. My therapist said to me “anne, you are not your work”. I was really angry, because at work is the only place I felt that I was being myself. With the horses my mind was calm and I knew what to do.

However I accepted this as a challenge and decide to go to Curacao (a small island in the Caribbean) and not work with horses for 3 months to see how I would feel and what I would discover about myself.

I discovered my love for other cultures, lifestyles and the way i live my life forever changed. I realized I was no longer happy in the situation I was in, and after a much unexpected death of one of my horses, I decide to completely change my life. I left Holland.