Joyce de Vos
I was born Born February 27th, 1982 and live in Ruinerwold, Drenthe, The Netherlands. I started riding at a young age at a traditional English stable. When I got my own horse, I began competing in dressage & jumping at a moderate level.
At age 19, I switched from English to Western riding. Upon starting Western lessons, I learned the basics of groundwork. Bit by bit, I learned more about Natural Horsemanship, groundwork, freestyle training, riding bareback and bitless (or even bridleless), and a great deal more about horse behaviour. My focus was on learning how to train horses through their natural behaviour combined with positive reinforcement.
Today, I have 3 horses of my own, 3 Appaloosa mares: Rach, Indy, and Bo. Western Riding is the basis of my under-saddle work, but I also love to ride freestyle with a natural hackamore or sidepull and bareback pad, or even without any tack. I work a lot on the ground doing exercises on-line or at liberty – sometimes as a serious training exercise, sometimes just as an opportunity to play.
I also love to do trick training with my horses. I started to play with horses this way about 6 years ago. I have learned a lot by trying a wide variety of tricks and by having to develop my own way of teaching various tricks. Every horse needs his own approach to the different exercises. I’ve found that most horses like trick training as an alternative to the usual daily training. They like to puzzle-out the exercises and to have to find out what exactly the trainer wants. Because they get a positive reward for puzzle-solving, trick training is also a great way to develop strong communication between horse and trainer.
I believe in only working with a horse in a friendly way, without force or excessive pressure. I use the natural behaviour of the horse combined with positive conditioning. The horse gets a cue and after that, a reward – sometimes a treat.
My friend, Mariska, and I recently started giving exhibitions with our horses at events to show people what kind of things you can achieve with your horse. What we demonstrate is based on communication, trust, respect, and pleasure. We demonstrate groundwork, obstacle training, freestyle riding, and trick training.
In the future, I hope to learn a lot more about horse behaviour and other horse training techniques to become increasingly better with horses. I would like to take some courses with trainers like Honza Blaha, of whom I am a big fan. I would also like to become more involved in giving lessons specific to groundwork and trick training.
My horses and I have a lot of fun doing exhibitions and demonstrations. We always get a lot of positive and enthusiastic reactions. So, we will continue with this and hope to inspire many others with our work.
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