What was your first thought seeing this picture of Watt and me cantering on these gallops?Most thoughts will have been positive: a lovely bit of cantering, "oh I would love that", and some of you can nearly feel the air passing their face because you know how it feels to have a nice canter on a good surface.Snapshots like these: of a rider doing th...

foto Imke Lamsma

This is an old piece (4 years ago to be precise) I wrote after being part of the Dutch team for the 2019 European Championships. It still resonates very much with me, especially now I have taken a little break from endurance until the youngsters are old enough to start. Watt and me will be doing other fun stuff in the mean time. Have a read, s...

I was reminded of this phrase in a chat with an endurance friend recently, don't dive before you can swim, or perhaps in horse riding terms: Don't gallop before you can walk.  Some might want that 100 miler, some might want "that special ride" and some want to win the biggest races.  Big goals are amazing, but often there i...

How to make the training schedule: Once we have done all our preparations we can start working on the training schedule that brings is to our goal. In series 3we have talked about all the theory for training, but we will quickly look back at the phases of the season, the stimuli to use and how to increase the overall intensity bit by bit ...

How to make the training schedule: Once we have done all our preparations we can start working on the training schedule that brings is to our goal. In series 3we have talked about all the theory for training, but we will quickly look back at the phases of the season, the stimuli to use and how to increase the overall intensity bit by bit ...

You can have the best training schedule in the world, but things can still go wrong if we do not take into account any weak links we might have in our horse. This is why we start the "Endurance: Step by Step" endurance coaching course with evaluations and assessments, to have an idea of what we need to be careful of, and what we need to i...

You can have the best training schedule in the world, but things can still go wrong if we do not take into account any weak links we might have in our horse. This is why we start the "Endurance: Step by Step" endurance coaching course with evaluations and assessments, to have an idea of what we need to be careful of, and what we need to i...

This is the first tutorial of series 4 where we talk about  "Turning theory into actual training". Perhaps you have seen the quote I have used as promotion a couple of times: Be careful if you don't know where you are going, you might not get there! So true! Before we start training we have to plan, know what we have to look out for ...

jThis is the first tutorial of series 4 where we talk about  "Turning theory into actual training". Perhaps you have seen the quote I have used as promotion a couple of times: Be careful if you don't know where you are going, you might not get there! So true! Before we start training we have to plan, know what we have to look out for...

Goals! Plenty of those, I want to do 160 km!  Oh wait, do they need to be feasible? I'm afraid that goals are not the same as dreams… But we can all dream of course, and try to make them true. I have done it, so why wouldn't you too? But we have to start small, learn about our capacities and take steps up every time. It takes a minimum of...

Goals! Plenty of those, I want to do 160 km!  Oh wait, do they need to be feasible? I'm afraid that goals are not the same as dreams… But we can all dream of course, and try to make them true. I have done it, so why wouldn't you too? But we have to start small, learn about our capacities and take steps up every time. It takes a minimum of...

A while ago I turned 50... And I took stock of my body and how it is doing, looks and wear-and-tear wise. And I must say, I have seen a lot of 50 year olds that look a lot worse (and a good few who look better 😂), but overall I'm not too bad. Wear-and-tear wise it's probably a little less, I am getting more and more aches and pains, but t...

Nominated! You might have seen that the Wonderful Watt and me have been nominatively entered for the European Championships 2021 in Ermelo The Netherlands! We have worked hard for it, and even though the preparation did not all quite go as planned, but I am proud to be on that list. Even more exciting as it is in our home country and it would ...

I have done Windsor twice now, both with experienced horses coming back to a big ride after a competing break. And both times not with good results. Of course, there is always some (bad) luck involved in bit rides, but most of the time there are lessons to be learned from mistakes. They are lessons, not nit-picking or putting myself down. We a...

 2020 was the weirdest year (so far ;) ) ...  No competing in my case, not only because of Covid, but mostly because I had no means of transport for a good part of the year..). Not much IRL coaching because of Covid... Several horses with little health scares (colic mostly due to the weird temperature ch...