About MJF Equestrian

For as long as I can remember, I have always loved horses. At first, it was the pure fascination at the sound their shoes made on tarmac, but soon I was captivated by their incredible gentleness and their innate ability to read and connect with humans, despite never understanding a word we say.

From the moment I first touched a horse (probably around age 2) I knew I wanted to work with them, which proved to be a bit of a challenge growing up in a non horsey family! Fortunately for me, my dad made the fatal mistake of taking me for a pony ride when I was 3, and there was no turning back from there. I kept begging for a pony until my parents finally agreed to allow me to learn to ride. Growing up in Germany, the first 10 years of my ridden education were very much focused on dressage, although my real passion always lied with show jumping and eventing. As I did not own a horse, I would ride any horse or pony that was offered to me , which meant I sat on quite a few young and green horses from a young age. I also worked on the local livery yard to afford riding lessons. After I finished school, I took a gap year in Australia where I worked in racing and out on a cattle station, mustering cattle on horseback and helping with the breaking in of the young horses. After returning to Germany, I tried going to university but soon found myself once again spending more time working on yards and riding horses than attending my lectures. Subsequently, I decided to leave university to be a working student on a farm near Tryon, North Carolina, which proved to be the kickstart to living my dream due to the incredible support I received from the owner and trainer there, allowing me to get more competition experience under my belt , getting me out eventing and letting me work with some very talented sales horses. When I returned to Germany this time, I went to work on  a big eventing stud in Bavaria, where I gained insight not only into the breeding side of things, but also got to break in and ride away their lovely youngsters as well as riding the stallions regularity. However, my love for eventing had me want to visit England, so in 2017, I put my horse on a lorry to the UK and moved to experience a season of eventing. I went to work for a family of eventers in Devon, who not only showed me the proper way of eventing and horse care, but also helped me grow tremendously as a rider and helped me finding my first "proper" horse. Having ben captivated by the english system of working horses, I enrolled for an apprenticeship in Horse Care and Management, which I completed in 2018.  I was meant to return to Germany after completing my apprenticeship, but instead I stayed on and went to work for several professionals in Eventing, which allowed me not only to learn about the sport, but equally about managing top level horses, managing a competition yard, and producing horses up the levels. In addition to that, I was involved with producing horses for sale, as well as backing and riding away youngsters. As well as my love for eventing, I found my love for the racing industry ever since working with racehorses in Australia, which means I enjoy riding out pointers and National Hunt horses during the winter months. 

This year, a very exciting opportunity arose for me, which has me riding and competing horses for owners, including some very lovely stallions at stud. In the future, I am hoping to continue producing young horses up the levels, with my ultimate dream being reaching the top level of the sport.