Episode 2 Equestrian Journeys | Mastering the Rider's Seat with Dr. Marcella Becker

Welcome to Equestrian Journeys. I'm Sandy Colling, your guide to the captivating world of European horse culture. Each episode, we'll talk about century-old traditions, rich history, and the vibrant modern horse scene. You'll hear, you'll hear great stories, get insider tips, and meet wonderful guests who share our passion. Whether you're planning your next adventure or exploring from home, Equestrian Journeys offers a unique perspective on travel and the equestrian, as well as the non-equestrian culture all over Europe. So join me each week as we uncover hidden gems and stories from Europe's magnificent equestrian heritage. And today I have the pleasure of introducing and having a guest here, Dr. Marcella Becker. Hi, Marcella. How are you today? All the way from Germany.

Thank you for having me here. Nice seeing you, Sandy.

Absolutely.

I'm fine, and I'm having fun doing this here. Nice.

And it is fun. So Marcela and I, we actually have known each other for quite some time virtually. And we met through the horse world. And in July we met for the first time in person, but it seemed like we'd known each other forever, right?

Sisterhood.

Exactly. So horse people connect, but horse people also with the same mission, right? With the same outcome in mind. And Dr. Marcela Becker, who also lived in America for several years, is deeply ingrained in the horse World has been featured in Cavallo Magazine a few times now, Marcela.

It's been adding up. Yeah.

It's been adding up. That's so exciting. And she's actually going to Singapore next week to teach a clinic in Singapore. How exciting is that? And so Marcela, tell us just a little bit about your, your background in equestrianism, and then we'll share a little bit about the story, how we found each other and created this amazing collaboration that really is just a win?

Well, where to start without blabbing for hours? I think taking the story from the hind end, from now, in a way it makes perfect sense for how I do things now and what my focus is in teaching riding and working with horses and working with riders and really wanting to bring those 2 beings together in a good being state. Yeah, all of that I think is an outcome from a somewhat bumpy road as a rider because I'm not from a horse family. So it was just as a really little child, I wanted to be a Native American actually.

I love that.

Because they were riding horses. And, and then I wanted to ride horses and it just wasn't really part of my family makeup. So I secretly biked with my little wrecked bike to wherever there were horses. And of course, the secret was blown when I came home smelling like the ponies did. So—

Can't keep that away, right?

Yeah, yeah, you can't hide that. And there was cleaning stalls for riding one round of walk on a horse. The day was blessed when that was done. And really riding lessons in between a little bit, and then the horses were gone again. And then I started once a week in a writing club type situation. But the writing really that formed me and that I was seeking out and my heart wanted really started actually in the US when I was there as an exchange student. And there I had the first teacher, she was working really with the mind of the horse. And that was really my start into what I wanted to do. And then of course, because I was studying graduate school, and All of that intensive work. There were interruptions, but as soon as it was possible to structure my time in a way that allowed for the writing too, that started taking up a good chunk of my extra time. And so from there, those were my beginnings. And to pull this together with now, it really is that a big focus of my work is on the rider and on the seat, on feeling. And my mission really is to help riders to avoid some of the, oh, I don't know, dead-end roads that we do have to go some of them, but if I can avoid a few of them and help riders to find to be a feeling, caring, self-feeling rider, then I can help riders and I can help their horses. And that's where we'll be talking more about that, where my studio idea and all of that stems from.

So that's really awesome. And it's unlike a lot of German people who have their, their start in the horse world as little girls. You really, you wanted to be an Indian. I love that. And—

That was Native American. They had horses. That's what I wanted to be.

And that's what little girls, they love their horses. Some of you, and I'd mentioned it last week, I had this idea of there's a lot of like horseback riding trips to Europe, but Europe is so incredibly rich and especially of course, Germany. In the horse tradition, in the horse culture. A lot of our, our classical books, they, they're German, Steinbrecht and et cetera, Bürger, and I'm not gonna go into that cuz that's not what this is about. I really wanted to lead people and showcase and see it in person because it's different watching documentaries and reading books, but actually taking people to these wonderful, also off-the-beaten-track places. And so Marcela and I were on a Zoom call once and we were talking about Joker's Pluto, which is the kinesthetic riding simulator with the riding studio that Marcella just mentioned. So we came up with this idea to incorporate both pieces, have people get to know and see in person, like the last trip. And maybe Marcella, you can talk a little more about it. But the last trip we did a Planwagenfahrt, which is a covered wagon carriage drive, whatever. And it's a farm. 5 generations handed down from generation to generation. And the horses that were pulling the cart were Altwürttemberger. Altwürttemberger is a breed that's nearly extinct. So that was for the participants that were there. There was one, one of the travelers, she was desperately wanting to bring one of them home.

The breeder wouldn't give them away. He did.

He actually said, you can have this one or this one. And she says, no, I want that one and that one. Or that one. And, and he said, no, my wife wants to keep those. So off the beaten track things, Marbach, and I honestly can't remember Marbach and the Altwürttemberger, aren't they like tied?

What I just want to jump in on, and this is having lived quite a few years on the West Coast and finding a lot of things to love about there, like wilderness, which we don't really have here in Germany. But at the same time, I can also see how it is really fascinating for visitors from the US to go to places where you walk along down, down a cobblestone road and there is on the, oh, on the door, above the door of a house is like 1500 and something or 1400 and something, right about the time when, when the first white folks hit the Americas. So it's a whole different experience. Or when you guys, when you were planning for Marbach, it's been a state stud for centuries. In the— as a small one for centuries and then the big one. So I find it really fascinating then for US people to come here and see that. And of course, because I am here and we figured out that particular trip together and you have others for the other trips, it's always more interesting to be right there and do the little things that usually if you travel from the US, you don't get to see them. You need natives So to speak, to point you to go there. This is real original. Do this. And then of course the combination with my riding simulator studio. If you want to, I just talk a little bit more about that too. That's been a vision of mine because of the lack of good school horses and good school horses, horses that are really supple through, highly schooled. Where can you find them and how can you make maintain a highly schooled horse, every time a beginner sits on it, it needs to be in a way rewritten and corrected. And it's hard on the horses, and I'm one of those riders. It's hard on the horses when you have starting riders and they're trying to figure out their body. It's an effort for the horses. And so that's where I got the idea to create a studio. That was my vision, where I have a riding simulator where people can work out their own issues in a safe, fun, mutually encouraging, empathetic environment. And so it's good for the people. For beginners, it would be great, but also just for dealing with some issues that anybody accumulates at some point, and to do it on a horse that's very neutral, very patient, and forever supple.

And it— and I do want to stress here, it's definitely not just for beginners, because on this last trip, there were 2 professional horse trainers riding horse trainers, and they were absolutely blown away of the minute. And again, we can't see or can't— our blind spots, right? You can have eyes on the ground, but getting the instant feedback from Jokers, Pluto, is really pretty powerful. And the environment, the studio, it's so fun. And like Marcello said, it's so safe. And then at lunchtime, going to a local grocery store and getting a Brezel and the good German food. And it's just so fun getting to know the culture while improving your work. riding, it's really truly the best of both worlds.

Doing it in a playful way. And if I just may add that with the simulator that I have, because there are of course different types of simulators out there, the one that I settled on a hunch, honestly, and I'm still excited. And every time I discover new stuff, it's a purely kinesthetic construction, actually very simple. It works with springs. So we're talking about very slight vibrations. And this is why it is so effective as especially also for people that actually ride a lot, that train horses or whatnot, because just as the horses take on compensatory patterns to accommodate us, our body does the same. If I ride a lot of correction horses, for example, with issues with crookedness, with hardness or whatnot, my body, whether I want it or not, does something to accommodate that. Or for people who Even far advanced people that have 1 or 2 horses, yeah, they also accommodate to each other. And so in that case, working on Joker's blue toe is just something that for any rider at any level gives a really good baseline from where to start again. And the 2 instructors that were here were really giving super feedback in terms of being newly recalibrated on a very good neutral. And the other thing, I'm all excited as you can tell, or if you can't tell, is that I'm working together with a colleague and she is trained in different possibilities on working with horse, with human. I call her the woman with the magic hands.

Which she really does.

Which she really has, definitely. Steffi Dietz. And we've been, I don't know. This was another thing where we feel like we've known each other for a long time, but it's been now a year or something that we're working that closely together, and we've got tons of plans and ideas.

And tuned.

Yeah, it's, it's a really good cooperation, and it's in that way I really think it's a super unique opportunity to come to my studio and get a complete recalibration of Fine-tuning of your seat.

While visiting castles, while eating amazing German food and going to century-old, literally 5 generations of farms. And one of the feedback we got in for testimonials and feedback, you can visit equestrianjourneys.com and also Dr. Marcela Becker, and we'll link all the links in the show notes so you'll be able to visit those yourself. But one of the feedback that we got from a participant last time on our July trip, she said it would be great to ride after that. So for the December trip that's coming up, we actually have a ride planned after 2 days in the studio. And it's just a fun ride. It's not a dressage lesson. It's not a lesson. It's a ride. But that's when you really can feel it. So we've, we've tweaked, we've changed some things, and of course Christmas Time in Germany.

It's called the Adventszeit.

I was just gonna say, you have to talk about the Christmas markets. Yep, die Adventszeit. So Advent is the, the 4 Advent are the 4 Sundays prior to Christmas. So we're obviously not going at Christmas, but we're going in the Adventszeit and we're gonna visit some Christmas markets, but also again, not the Christmas markets that you may hear of, the big ones like the Nürnberger Christkindlmarkt, which is one of the most famous ones, but there's some that are really off the beaten track and I'm not gonna share anymore, but they are different.

And, and Chocolat in Tübingen.

Oh yes!

If you love chocolate.

See, I, I've never been to Chocolat. I've been to Tübingen, which is a great town.

I have.

I know. Touch a little bit on that because I try to explain it to people and I really can't, but you've been, so you can talk a little bit about it.

Yeah, well, it's, I don't know, it's just, it's a chocolate festival. And there is, of course, the old town in Tübingen also is centuries old.

Yeah.

Tübingen is one of the old university cities. And so you've got a lot of these— oh, I always miss the word— Fachwerkhäuser.

Half-timber houses. Thank you.

That's a word I keep wondering about. Half-timbered houses and old houses, cobblestone streets. Yeah. And there were all these booths located at, and they were offering chocolate in all variations. They're also coming from different countries. I do remember quite a few. With Italian-style chocolate stuff.

100 countries is what I read.

100 different countries. Okay, and so it's— if you love chocolate, go there.

I'm like super excited.

And wear some pants that have some extra space and just enjoy.

Yeah, why not? Once you're there, you might as well indulge.

And also, Sandy already planned it accordingly. The in December, it's planned that you guys also go there when it's starting to get dark because then you have all the light and it's, it also has a Christmassy feeling in a way, but with the special focus on chocolate and Glühwein, which I think is mulled wine, but it's different.

It's not really mulled wine.

Yeah, the mulled wine.

It's the closest thing to it. Glühwein is really, really special. So, and I know a lot of people love the Christmas market. So combining that with the equestrian highlights, Obviously Marbach, which we've talked about Marbach several times, and the Altwürttemberger, which this breed, they were so adorable and it was just so amazing.

If I may interject, because Marbach, they, they have actually a herd of Arabs with a lot of Egyptian lines in it because there was 19th century, he just, there was a Württemberger king, I don't remember all the details, who loved Arabs.

So of course, I will have my thing.

And then started that. Then they have the Altwürttemberger, which is the heavier warmblood breed, actually quite important in these days to maintain that genetic base. Then the Sportswürttemberger, of course, and then they have the Schwarzwälder, which are extremely It's basically a light coldblood from the state of Baden-Württemberg. They're dark chestnut with flaxen mane, and I love them.

They're so cute.

Yeah, and they're super intelligent. They've also been used, or are being used, to pull logs when you do logging in areas where you don't want to do clear-cut, but you do selective logging, and then you're better off with a horse.

Black Forest, right? So that's where it traditionally comes from.

It's steep, so you can't— you need a smaller but strong horse. And personally, I've taught quite a few of those Schwarzwälder, and even though they're heavier muscled, because they're so intelligent, they're like, oh, I'm a dressage coldblood. I know, they're so beautiful.

I've never actually seen one in America, and so I'm not saying they don't exist, but I have not seen one in America. Probably very few. All these like off-the-beaten-path beat track things are so fun to learn about. So we have a lot of stuff in store for you guys, so stay tuned both virtually and in person. And I'm just super excited to, to really share this, this unbelievable culture that really goes back centuries and centuries. And we've just scratched the surface. Marcela?

One more thing to the centuries and centuries. Esslingen Mittelalter Middle— medieval age Christmas market. I think it's one of the few that does that.

It is. It combines— so it's a medieval Christmas market in Esslingen, which is very close to where we will be staying. And then another one, not set in stone yet, but I'm working on it. It's called Aalen, is the name of the town. So Aalen is a small town and it has a Christmas market that you go into a mine. So you go down and the Christmas market is I want to say downstairs, but the Christmas market is down in the mine. And so that's also really unusual. I'm from a very small town called Zweibrücken, and we even— not that we're going there, but we even had a small Christmas market that was absolutely charming. And I loved going. And you go from booth to booth and there's so much fun things to look at, crafts and food, of course, and the mulled wine. And it's just such a special time to visit Germany. And the smells. Oh my gosh.

And you can buy Christmas carvings and Räuchermännchen.

Yep.

I brought a Räuchermännchen to a friend in Eugene and she loved it.

Yep. I have 2 of them. And then also the windmill with the candles and the nutcrackers. There's so much fun, fun stuff to do and see. And combining it with the horse stuff, again, horses and Europe are just so intertwined. And for Germany is such a wonderful country for the horse culture. Now we will be looking at other countries as well, but I'm just super excited about Christmas. I'm super excited about sharing this, what's so dear to my heart, and then combining it with the smiling faces that I see because people were skeptical. I'm not going to lie. People, of course, they didn't know what to expect. And but they did because they trusted and they were just absolutely blown away. So I'm just super excited that we've combined these 2 wonderful things because going to Germany for just 2, 3 days.

Yeah.

Let's face it, when you make that trip, you wanna have some fun. Marcela, do you have anything else to add before we wrap it up?

Not that I can think of. If anybody has questions regarding the chokers Pluto part, you can contact me anytime.

Everything will be in the show notes to get ahold of Marcela. So this wraps up another episode of Equestrian Journeys Podcast, and I wanna thank you for joining us. It's, it's brand new. It's a subject that's near and dear to my heart, and if you enjoyed our journey today, Then share it with a friend who loves to travel and loves horses. So don't forget to subscribe to Equestrian Journeys on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode. And content, travel tips, and more images can be found on websites that again are linked in the show notes. And if you have questions or suggestions for future episodes, reach out to us on social media. So until next time, keep your passion for horses and travel alive.