Connection Through Collection

Connection Through Natural Collection - 
How It All Started
We both individually had dreams that we would be with, and ride, our horses just like the books and movies portrayed - like the Black Stallion, Fury and My Friend Flicka - where our horses loved us, wanted to be with us and allowed us to ride them in High Collection, like Piaffe, Passage, Collected Canter, Mezair, Levade and more, BUT that "dream" turned into a "nightmare"…
We were like so many horse lovers the world over…frustrated, stuck, not satisfied with our relationship with our horses, the responses we received, the pressure we were taught to use and the overriding fact that we could not ride any Collection with our ordinary horses.
Each day we interacted with our horses, we were unsatisfied to the point where we truly felt that dissatisfaction, even guilt, of how we treated and let down our horse, all day long and it crossed over and affected our  relationships with other people in our lives.
The Problem: Why The Old Way Kept Us Stuck
For years, we had been trapped in a frustrating cycle, getting told our horses are too ordinary, the wrong breed, wrong conformation  and simply not athletic enough. We'd been also told that achieving collection required more control, stronger bits, and harsher aids. We'd been preached to that more years of foundation, more basics, more forward, more riding hours were the ONLY way to prepare for Collection - not even actually "doing it"
This old approach led us to constant struggle. We tried to force our horses into a frame, but instead of lightness, we got heaviness more on the forehand. Instead of a willing partner, we faced resistance, tension, and mentally "checked out" horses.
The Cycle of Frustration
Myths & Sayings
Conventional riding is built on Myths and Lies about how horses move, collect and connect with humans.
Resistance & Tension
Conventional horse training relies on Obedience, Control, Demanding that the horse submits and serves the human, which sets in resistance & tension
Rider Confusion
You must "teach" the horse Collection through more forward, more faster. Then try to "half-haul" the horse into some form of "collection" - this simply causes more front-end loading.
Unattainable Connection
Using conventional horse training, the horse becomes more of a robot, machine or a "dumb" lump of meat with no right of involvement.
The result? We felt like failures - The joy of riding was replaced with confusion and disappointment. But here's the truth: it was not our fault and it certainly was not our horse's fault. We were simply trying to follow and implement a flawed, unworkable system.
We Needed A New Solution: 
But First We Had To Remove Our Limiting Beliefs
In 2019, we were standing at the edge of our emotional capacity, ready to jump off the cliff of desperation - we HAD to find a new way to be with our horses or it was time to "give up on our big horse dream completely" - and that was not going to happen.
We had already tried so many different "systems" - Participated in Live Courses worldwide in Horsemanship, Legerete, Academic Riding Art, Straightness Training, Ride With Your Mind,… watched 1000's of hours of videos, read heaps of books from Old Masters and modern trainers and none of these gave us even close to the feelings and connection WE wanted
We searched high and low for a Mentor, someone who had walked the path and could show us how to develop Powerful Collected Moves with our own horses…the search was long and arduous, but we finally found a High Collection Rider and Teacher and we eventually convinced her to allow us to "move into" her property and learn, and that is what we did.
The next 5 months were a whirlwind of discovery, emotions, exaltations and disappointments.
The most life changing experience was that we literally witnessed virtually any type of horse and any type of rider being able to do Collection and High Collection - this was a Game Changer for us - it blew our Limiting Beliefs (which had been installed by the conventional horse world) completely and utterly to pieces and opened up our minds to the possibilities which we now enjoy everyday.
What we were still not happy with was the fact that still too much force and demand was needed to get these phenomenal moves…this we had to change.
This put us on the path to understanding that the conventional horse training world had it wrong - horses did not need "training", they can already do everything a person wants to do with them - instead, people needed to be developed so their own Awareness and Body Control can "talk" congruently to their horses.
The New Solution: Connection Through Natural Collection
We flip the old model on its head. Our unique method, Connection Through Natural Collection, isn't about "training" our horse at all. It's about developing us into the person our horse wants to connect with.
Our horse's were born fully able to do Collected movements. Our process simply unlocks that innate, Natural ability. We removed the guesswork, the struggle, and the force, making the result - a majestic, strong, and willingly Collected horse - inevitable.
This is the path to true connection.
Franzi & Tony
The Complete Transformation Journey 
Our journey has been turbulent, frustrating, exciting, confusing, exhilarating and nothing short of miraculous even though we both were in different parts of the world, at different times in our own lives. Here's what happened:
1
Years of Frustration & Unknowing
Starting in horses, unknowing, uncontrolled and finding out that horses are big, strong, scared and a complete mystery to us.
2
Horsemanship Awakening
Tony & Franzi found out that Natural Horsemanship which offered a whole new world of understanding horses, both becoming Instructors.
3
Wanting So Much More
As great as HMS was, both Tony & Franzi knew there was more and it was not being unveiled by the Horsemanship "world". Both wanted Collection, but HMS could not deliver.
4
Discovery From Sonja Leitenstern
The Limiting Beliefs "shatter" and evoke hope, curiosity, enthusiasm. There was now "light at the end of the tunnel", a glimpse that Collection is achievable for every horse & person!
5
The Dream
Franzi wanted Collected Movements for Health, Tony wanted Collected Movements for excitement and fun. However they wanted to do this with more empathy, more connection, more allowing so their horses would "enjoy" the process too.
6
Deepening Connection Through Dialogue - the Dream is Realised!
They discovered that so much of what the horse world said and did was TOTALLY AGAINST a horse's natural processes that they decided that "training" no longer existed in their horse world. Instead, communication, conversation and Dialogue evolved, and allowed them to truly "live their horse dream"
7
Connection Through Natural Collection
As Tony & Franzi taught their students these new discoveries, people and horses were "blown away" with the closeness and the ease of Collection. However what ALL the students exclaimed as the BEST result was the Connection they now felt with their horse - Connection Through Natural Collection.
Currently we have worldwide 11,000+ people introduced to and experienced of Connection Through Natural Collection. 
Point 1: Years of Frustration & Unknowing
Starting in horses, unknowing, uncontrolled and finding out that horses are big, strong, scared and a complete mystery to us.
We felt like kings & queens to be able to own a horse…
and then reality set in
Both of us started with horses that did not fill us with trust, enthusiasm and joy. Our dreams seemed to be slipping away, though we never lost the "bug" of horses, we both endured years of frustration and feeling like failures. Nothing came "naturally" to either Franzi or Tony, most everything felt like a battle, a misunderstanding and at times a misery.
What it did do: these experiences gave us the fortitude to carry on and find some different ways to deal with horses.

Points 2 & 3: Parelli & Horsemanship
Pat Parelli - turned on the light
Tony went to his first Parelli clinic in November 1993 and it was like Pat turned on a light that shone understanding about horses for Tony. From that day Tony knew he could learn so much about horses from Pat that he had to follow him intently - so he became one of Pat's top dedicated Instructors for the next 8 years.
Franzi also studied Parelli through another Instructor in Germany and also began her Instructing career too, finding great joy in helping others to understand horses.
The Horsemanship Promise
HMS did promise a great deal including Collection, yet it disappointed both Tony and Franzi with the lack of pathway to Collection and High Collection.
However, on top of this, both felt that what they were achieving with their horse looked great, and was amazing from where they had started, however it never felt great to them and especially to their horses. 
There was just too much demanding, conditioning and making which all felt frustrating and frankly horrible.
Point 4: Journey of Discovery
01
The search for Answers
We tried may different "trainers/systems" including Legerete, Bent Branderup, Straightness Training, Ride With Your Mind and more.
Tony was demonstrating HMS at 2017 Equitana in Germany and he watched other presenters doing Collected moves on horses that were not special and the riders were not elite…this started a Mindshift in Tony - that maybe the horse world's beliefs were not true.
02
SEATology is born…
Tony read hundreds of books from Old Masters, Classical Dressage, Modern Dressage. He watched hours and hours of videos looking for answers yet more and more he felt the dream was slipping further away.
As he tried to do as the books, the videos and trainers said to do, his horses did not respond "correctly"…so he went a different direction by "following" his horse instead of demanding or forcing his horse to conform to the "rules" of books and masters - from this, a way of riding that allows a true communication between rider and horse that does not need reins and lower legs to "demand" obedience and control 
03
Sonja Leitenstern 
Franzi saw Instagram posts from Sonja showing incredibly powerful high collected moves with her horses. They both agreed they needed to find out what Sonja did that looked so different than all the other "trainers".
They contacted Sonja and even moved themselves and their horse to Sonja's property and studied intensely for 5 months.
What happened was mind blowing as they saw "ordinary horses" and "ordinary riders" doing Collected and High Collected moves thus shattering the beliefs perpetuated by the horse world…a new world opened up!
Points 5–7: Dreams, Dialogues and Depth
The Dream Re-Ignited
Now, with a renewed sense of optimism, both Franzi's and Tony's dreams could become reality…however first they had to figure out HOW to remove the need to use so much demanding, force and making while still encouraging the horses to develop their Collected movements
Discovering Dialogue
We discovered that horses can all do Collection, it is within them and all we humans need to do is STOP interfering - we need to learn how to "speak" congruently between our mind & body so the right "words" are sent from our bodies and then let our horses respond. This Dialogue allows our horses to "organise their bodies" to produce the most magnificent Collected and High Collected moves - that they could actually do since hours old foals.
Once we discovered how to Dialogue, our childhood dreams started to become reality. We could now communicate in a way that allowed us to have conversations and experiences with our horses that felt phenomenal and provided the long held wish to be able to ride Collected and High Collected moves all the while building the deep Connection we longed for - we are now "living the dream".
Connection Through Natural Collection
The most profound benefits we see in horses such as health, strength, balance, coordination, and longevity emerge when they learn to organise themselves into Natural High Collection.
What surprises many riders is that something just as powerful happens on the human side of the partnership. The connection between horse and human deepens, steadies, and becomes more profound. For most horse lovers, this deep connection is the real dream. Not just better movement, but a better relationship.
Today, Connection Through Natural Collection is growing beyond a single approach and into a shared vision. What began as a personal journey is now reaching riders across disciplines, countries, and backgrounds who believe that more is possible for ordinary horses and everyday people. As this work continues to spread, our vision is clear: to make this way of thinking and relating accessible worldwide, reshaping how horses develop and how humans experience true partnership. The growth is already happening, and this is only the beginning.
Come and join us today, we would love to be your guides, mentors, supporters and greatest fans. Do it for your horse!
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