Almazaan Stud

01/09/2026

Back to some normal life today.
I decided to spend the morning exploring and drove to Verden to visit Deutsches Pferdemuseum ( The German Horse Museum)
Everything was in German but kept my handy app for translation and I was able to read everything.
Then drove back to Ponys vom Klosterbach to spend the afternoon looking at some of the youngsters and chatting about all things pony related before chipping in to putting away the ponies that come in for the night and prepping yards for the morning.
Perfect weather and perfect company.

31/08/2026

Me again 👋🏼

So the dust is settling on another Bundeschampionate and a I’ve seen and learnt plenty.

What an experience this year has been. Usually Andrew and I come over, have a holiday for a week and then incorporate attending BuCha as part of that.

This year, I came on my own,determined to be a part of the team.

It’s all well and good to sit in the stands and look at the perfectly made up ponies and their perfectly presented owners and have an arm chair opinion of everything about all the ponies and the ability of their riders and it’s completely another reality behind the scenes.

I don’t think too many people, unless you’ve been there, understand how much work there really is and truly, it’s anything but glamorous.

All credit to Laura and the team behind her to get 5 ponies to this event so well prepared . Then the amazing feat that meant every pony got to the class on time perfectly turned out, that’s truly a thing!

Did we get perfect results? Nope. Did everything go perfectly to plan? Nope. Did we have curve balls? Yep. Were there disappointments? Yes.
Did we win? Depends on what you call winning?

This little team are absolutely winners in my eyes.

There was no complaints, no anger, no disrespect towards anyone on the team or off. There was cheering for other competitors, there was helping each other. It was truly all class. I honestly had nothing but admiration. And every single time, the very best attempt was made to do the best job possible on the day, at the time, with what we had.

The ponies? Superstars 👏🏼♥️⭐️

It’s a lot: living in a stable block for 5 days, almost 2 hours of travel to and from home,all the things to deal with that I mentioned in my last post. They all did the best they could. We had 2x 3 year olds, a 4 year old and 2x5 year olds. All babies really when you think about it.

To finish my report on results of the championships:
Neither Carl nor Paul could improve on their work from the day before.

Bunte came unstuck during his performance and Laura made the correct call to retire him. Super disappointing but it happens.

Miss Lily was pretty much over it all by the time it was the 3 year olds classes on the very last day and she was unable to do what we know she can do at home. Isn’t that always the way?
Still she managed to place 7th with Laura out of a field of 24 ponies and who could ask more of her than that when she gave what she could on the day ♥️👏🏼
Personally, if she would fit in my suitcase, she would be coming home with me! Such a special, sweet, sensible girl.

From there we had the packing up task, aka, throw it all in and worry about it tomorrow version which I’m very familiar with 🤣
Everyone made it home safely and I found my next hotel last night and today has been a much needed down day for ponies and people.
I had a slow start and then spent the day wandering to a few spots I haven’t been to before and I made it back to the hotel before a big thunder storm hit.

The rest of my week is hanging out with Laura, looking at youngsters and for Team Ponys vom Klosterbach to get back to the routine of running a busy equine business.

I’m here until Saturday morning and it will be nice to have some slower time with ponies and my German family this week , the weather is looking good.🇩🇪♥️
It’s truly been a big week 💪🏼

Laura Patricia Muncz
Ponys vom Klosterbach
Kira Beckmann

28/08/2026

Sorry!!
Prepare for the epic 🍷

It’s been absolutely totally crazy busy!
Think F1 pit crew but for ponies 🏎️🇩🇪♥️💪🏼😊.
It’s a privilege to be an integral part of producing ponies to the highest of levels and being part of this team.
Kira is head groom and an expert in her field and unfortunately she became unwell with a head cold day 1 ,but she’s soldiering on anyway and putting up with me 🫣( I could be making her headache worse)
By the time I’ve really got it down to perfect expertise it will be time to come home!😂

The language barrier is real, and despite my commitment to learning to speak German ,when I get back here each year Im very aware that I’m still TERRIBLE!!! Apparently, the kids tell me ,that learning a new language is good for our neoplastic brains and I won’t get dementia?? I’m so glad there’s a good reason because it’s such a hard language to learn as an adult and the progress is so slow 🐌

Anyway, I digress!

Yesterday saw a super happy owner/breeder and trainer with “Lou” being the super little mare that she is and winning a ribbon yesterday for her 14th place in the 4 year old pony class out of 41 entries!!! This lovely mare is a pleasure to groom for and I’ve enjoyed my time with her. I’m so happy for everyone who helped her get here. Lou is ridden at home by a 6 year old girl, such is her perfect ,sweet ,reliable nature..♥️♥️♥️

Training went well yesterday for everyone else but it was really hot and humid and everyone was pretty tired.. humans and ponies.

Mia had her 6th ride on Paul and Carl while Laura tweaked the training to help build these connections.

I have all the admiration for these kids that are riding professionally prepared ponies and taking on board the fact that all the trainers and ponies need and want something different from them ! Mia is a super cool little cucumber and told me that she “never gets nervous “. She just loves the opportunity that she gets to ride all these beautiful horses and ponies, at this level. I haven’t accomplished that at 60 and she’s only 16! She truly is a beautiful rider.

Today was much cooler with rain threatening, and 7.30am saw the start for the 5 year olds with Carl and Paul were in the same event.
Paul was earlier in the day, there were 32 entries in this class and all the mares,geldings and stallions are in together and must be ridden by children only.
By the time it was Carl’s turn, Mia was riding in the rain and umbrellas and windy conditions didn’t help the concentration needed for any of these young riders and their ponies and it was tough .
I didn’t know I could hold my breath for that long whilst the boys were doing their tests.
Mia piloted both of the boys around the arena so well and I loved watching every moment of their tests.

Paul didn’t get the best start because he had to recover quickly from getting a complete shock from the clapping and whistling and excitement that came after the previous pony finished the test. He’s never experienced that before and this arena is very exposed to everything, right next to a food court area and lots of people coming and going.
Quite reasonably, he was kind of thinking he should probably just leave and go away over THERE! Mia stayed stuck and stayed her cool self and honestly did a super job. 🙌🏼

Paul finished 13th and Carl was 23rd.
🏆👏🏼
The ponies that didn’t make it into the top 10 , get another final chance tomorrow where they will take the top 4 into the final🤞🏻♥️

Honestly though , I am SO excited and happy and grateful to this team for Paul’s performance and success this year. 2026 has been an amazing competition year for him and placing 13th today out of 31 top quality ponies, the best that Germany has produced, has me grinning from ear to ear!

Winners they are in my eyes!

I love this little stallion and I’ve spent hours with him this week and he’s an absolute cool character. He’s still so young and has much to learn but he’s matured so much since last year.

We have Miss Lily (competing tomorrow. She’s the sweetest 3 year old buckskin filly and she really has a mature personality beyond her years. Bred by Laura, she is a baby sister to Carl, with big shoes to fill, but she’s a cracking type and her future looks bright. I’m really looking forward to her test tomorrow.

Bunte is also up tomorrow and he has been a little overwhelmed at times as any of the young ponies, let alone the stallions can be, but today he really settled in and showed us that he is feeling more comfortable and confident.

Finally I really can’t describe how incredible it is to watch all of these young horses and ponies deal with something as big as this event.
IT IS A LOT!!
There are just as many stallions,as there are mares and geldings.

There is dressage and jumping and cross country. There are people and people and people and bikes and scooters and tractors and flags and tents and lights and loud speakers and grand stands and large screens and music and dogs ( so many dogs) and ATVs and cars and floats and trucks and kids and a jumping castle.. and I’m sure there is something I haven’t thought of..
Honestly, I’m finding it challenging and I’m HUMAN!!

Once again I’m reminded of how incredibly these creatures truly are, how trainable they are and how fortunate we are as humans to have them in our lives. It truly is something quite magical 🙏🏻♥️

Until the next time I get a chance to post👋🏼 😘
Laura Patricia Muncz
Ponys vom Klosterbach
Kira Beckmann

25/08/2026

What a day!!!
Laura rode all 5 ponies this morning
to make sure everyone was feeling fabulous and ready for the week ahead.

We washed all of them and spent most of the day packing.

It was a hive of activity, with halter numbers and boot cleaning, packing the “transporters” and tack boxes with all the things 5 ponies competing at the federal championships could need, and then some!

Then we spent two hours driving to Warendorf and then unpacked and settled all the ponies into their stables that will be home for the next 5 days.

It was all a bit crazy and suddenly it was time to find my hotel in Münster. It was way too late for dinner by the time I arrived ,but that hot shower was most welcome. It’s warm here again. 25°C ish most of the day.

I will sleep well- this being a groom life is busy, but rewarding and lots to fun!

Looking forward to tomorrow.
Ponys vom Klosterbach
Laura Patricia Muncz

24/08/2026

It was fabulous to get to Ponys vom Klosterbach yesterday and catch up with Laura and Vera and to see my ponies and meet all of the 2026 foals, two of whom are Pauli’s kids.

It’s a hive of activity here and the ponies are all so inquisitive and looking shiny and happy and healthy in their summer coats. Different to the mud monsters at home that’s for sure!

The clock is ticking to get everything ready to head to Warendorf tomorrow and there is lots to be done.

23/08/2026

Surfacing this morning after lots of travel and a drive from Hamburg airport that should have taken an hour but took two because the traffic was terrible. I did 10km/hr on the 120km/hr Autobahn because it was so congested!

Getting out of Hamburg tested me. I thought I’d lost my phone at the airport , then when I did find it , I had no service, the GPS in the car couldn’t find my hotel so I just put in the township.
When I pulled out into the traffic there seemed to be a mass exodus of travellers and it was raining and there were so many roadworks. Still , nobody died and driving on the other side of the road came back to me fairly well.

Feeling a tad ordinary but not horrendous this morning, though I may need a nanny nap later . It’s cool enough for a vest but not a jumper here in Stuhr- not far from Bremen. My little hotel is super cute and with a restaurant attached, dinner last night and breakfast this morning was easy for a tired traveller.

By chance , there are paddocks and ponies next to the hotel and I felt right at home.

I didn’t get into town soon enough to go and watch Laura and Paul have one more show before Bundeschampionate this week as a last practice run, but when my phone decided to behave, it was lovely to get the news that he won his test on 77% and was impeccably behaved.
Let’s hope he can be on his best behaviour and cope with all that the next week will throw at him and with young Mia on board. A new combination still, it is all part of his learning and I can’t wait to meet Mia and to see them together.

Heading over to the barn soon. It’s 9.30am on Saturday morning here.

22/08/2026

So important for our horses 🙌🏼

The Biomechanical Problem Sitting on Your Horse🔥

We spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to improve our horses.

More balanced. Better transitions. More engagement. More relaxed. Better behaviour.

Meanwhile, sitting on top of this entire biomechanical improvement project is 50 to 90+ kilograms of human, listing slightly to left, gripping with one thigh and wondering why the horse is crooked.

Awkward.

So here is today's Collectable Advice:

🚩If you want to improve how your horse moves and behaves under saddle, have a look at the body sitting on top of it.😎

Because your horse doesn't just carry your weight.

➡️Your horse has to manage what your body does while it carries you.💥

Riding position isn't really a position

We tend to teach riding position as though someone might burst into the arena with a protractor.

Shoulder. Hip. Heel.

Excellent. Nobody move.

Unfortunately, the horse has.

Horses don't experience our position as a photograph. They experience us as *mass in motion*.🫣

Every stride, the horse is generating, absorbing and transferring forces through its body. Its back moves. Its limbs load and unload. It accelerates, decelerates, bends and changes direction.

And perched on top is you.😬

You with your dodgy left hip, a collapsing ribcage and that might not have done anything resembling cardiovascular exercise since 2017.🫠

The horse must now incorporate you into the movement.

This is riding.

Our job is essentially to manage our own body well enough that the horse doesn't have to manage it for us.❤

That requires:

1️⃣Enough stability to contain our own body.

And:

2️⃣Enough mobility to allow the horse to move underneath us.

When we can't?

If your trunk collapses every stride, the horse accommodates it.

If you consistently dump your weight onto one side, the horse accommodates that.

If an old injury means one hip doesn't move properly, the horse feels it.

And if you brace every available muscle in an attempt to “sit deep”, congratulations.

You have transformed yourself into a 70 kg backpack containing several bricks.

The horse still has to carry it.😕

And horses respond.

They may shorten their stride, rush, hollow, drift, fall through a shoulder, struggle with one rein or become tense when you sit....or just become spooky and scared of the world‼️

This doesn't mean *everything is the rider's fault*. Horses come with their own asymmetries, weaknesses, discomfort, training problems and occasionally strong opinions about wheelie bins.

But horse and rider are a *moving system*.

Change one body and you change what the other body has to manage.

Which gives us something surprisingly useful to work on😃

Ourselves.

Improve your fitness.

Develop enough muscular integrity to stop various parts of you departing independently at the trot.

Work on mobility.

Manage your injuries.

Notice your asymmetries.

Develop balance, coordination and body awareness.

Not because you need to look fabulous in beige breeches.

Because every improvement in your ability to manage *your own body* potentially changes what your horse has to manage underneath you.

There is also the minor matter of survival - you improve your chances of remaining in the saddle if s**t happens!

Which is generally preferable.

So here is something you can start asking yourself..

*“Am I making myself easy for my horse to carry?”*

Because good riding isn't about arranging yourself beautifully on a horse.

It's about having enough control of your own body that you can move *with* another one.

And before we spend another six months trying to straighten the horse, perhaps we should take a quick look at the slightly asymmetrical cripple primate sitting on top.🤪

Collectable Advice 271/365.

Please SHARE if you made it to the end of this without being offended 😆

22/08/2026

So well said my friend David 🙌🏼

“It’s easy for you, you’re a professional.”

I hear this often as a trainer.

And sometimes, it’s completely valid. Experience is totally relevant and relative. Professionals have spent years developing timing, feel, coordination and an ability to recognise situations before they escalate.

Though sometimes, if we’re willing to be a little uncomfortable, that phrase can also become a way of absolving ourselves of responsibility for developing those same skills.

Every professional was once an amateur.

And I’d argue that the best professionals still carry something of the amateur mindset not in their competence, but in their curiosity.

They are still learning. Still questioning. Still refining their timing. Still adopting new ideas, discarding old ones and examining whether what they believe about training actually holds up in front of the horse.

You don’t have to become a professional.

You don’t have to be perfect.

You just have to remain willing to become a little better than you were yesterday.

And perhaps one of the most underrated skills in horsemanship is patience.

Patience with yourself while you learn.

Patience with the process when progress isn’t linear.

And, for f sake, patience with the horse who never agreed to the timeline you created for them.

There is no universal schedule you have to follow. No grade you must reach by a certain age. No competition result that validates whether the relationship you have built with your horse is worthwhile.

Sometimes progress is spectacular.

Sometimes progress is recognising that neither you nor your horse has much to give that day, so instead of pushing through until cooperation becomes conflict, you quietly change the plan.

Sometimes the best training decision is knowing when NOT to train.

That isn’t weakness. It’s discernment!!

The longer I work professionally with horses, the more I realise that good horsemanship isn’t about having all the answers.

It’s about becoming better at listening, observing, adapting and remaining curious enough to realise that the horse in front of you still has something to teach you.

22/08/2026

I really thought that I wasn’t going to be able to get on the plane with the universe throwing many a curve ball my way in the last couple of weeks 🫣

But I’m on my way! 🇦🇺🔜🇩🇪♥️

Can’t wait to hug you Laura and to squish my ponies 💛💛💛

Small matter of catching my next flight on time, finding the hire car place, driving on the other side of the road for an hour or so and finding my hotel.

My first solo trip to Germany.🇩🇪
What could possibly go wrong?

A girl likes a challenge. Made it to Dubai so that’s a good solid start!

PS: It’s currently 36°C outside. 🔥A tad different from the 9°C I left in Adelaide last night ❄️

Thank you to my family ,friends and Brittney for holding the fort at home 🏡 🙏🏻♥️ Can everyone with 2 or 4 legs please behave until I get back! 🤞🏻🙏🏻

13/08/2026

Another Almazaan kid doing clever things with a fabulous team ♥️👏🏼